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Cornell notes: a worked example and free template
Learn Cornell note-taking with a complete lesson example, a recall question and a free editable TXT template for your own lecture or PDF notes.
What is the Cornell note-taking method?
Give a page three jobs: recording notes, prompting recall with questions, and summarising the main idea. Covering the notes and answering the questions adds a study step beyond rereading. See the Cornell University Learning Strategies Center's explanation for the underlying method.
Here we apply that layout to a short maths lesson. The source, filled notes and exercise below are teaching examples created for LectureSift, not a customer's recording or the result of an automated processing job.
Example lesson: the starting value in percentage change
Example source: A question bank contained 80 questions last week and 100 this week. The increase is 20 questions. To find the percentage increase, divide that difference by the starting 80: 20 ÷ 80 × 100 = 25%. If the book returns to 80 questions, the decrease is 20 questions. This time the starting value is 100, so the percentage decrease is 20%. Adding and removing the same number does not imply equal percentage changes.
On your first pass, keep three things instead of copying the entire paragraph: the starting number, the size of the change, and the number used as the denominator. Recalculate both examples yourself.
What do completed Cornell notes look like?
| Cue / question | Lesson note |
|---|---|
| What changed from 80 to 100? | 20 questions were added. The starting value is 80, so 20 ÷ 80 × 100 = a 25% increase. |
| Why is returning from 100 to 80 not a 25% decrease? | The decrease starts at 100. The calculation is 20 ÷ 100 × 100 = 20%. |
| What should I identify before calculating? | The starting value. The same difference of 20 questions is divided by a different starting number. |
Short summary: Percentage change compares the difference with the starting value. 80 → 100 is a 25% increase; 100 → 80 is a 20% decrease. Reversing the change also changes the starting value.
Source location: The “Example lesson” paragraph on this page. In your own notes, substitute an actual page number or a recording range you have checked. Do not add an unverified timestamp.
Cover the notes and try a new question
Hide the right-hand column. First answer “which number goes in the denominator?” Then solve the problem below. Open the answer to compare the reasoning with your own calculation.
A book of 120 questions grows by 25%. How many questions does it contain, and what percentage decrease returns it to 120?
25% of 120 is 30, giving 150 questions. Returning from 150 to 120 removes 30 from a starting value of 150: 30 ÷ 150 × 100 = a 20% decrease. If you used 25% for the return, add “choose the starting value again for each calculation” to your notes.
Mark the step that was difficult and try again later. Reading a familiar answer is not evidence that you recalled it correctly. The active recall guide shows how to carry mistakes into your next study session.
How can you use this with a video, PDF or slides?
- Choose a small section. Work on one concept or one solved example. Record its heading and source location.
- Separate notes from interpretation. Label the source's definition, its worked calculation and your own inference separately. Mark an unclear spoken term instead of filling it in with a guess.
- Turn the heading into a question. Replace “percentage change” with “why is the increase from 80 to 100 equal to 25%?” Make the question specific enough to answer without looking.
- Keep the conditions in the summary. “20 questions changed” is insufficient in this example; the starting value matters too.
- Correct against the source. Check the formula, units and any exception. If you make a mistake on the new problem, revise the relevant line.
You can manually organise a LectureSift recording summary and transcript or document summary into this layout. Do not assume the product automatically exports a Cornell worksheet; check its output against your source. See how to check AI notes for worked correction examples.
Download a free, editable Cornell notes template
The template is a TXT file you can fill in with a text editor or paste into a document. No account is required. For a paper layout, put questions on the left, fuller notes on the right and the summary below. You can also print this guide using your browser's print menu.
Download the Cornell TXT template
Topic and source location: NOTE: Definition / condition / example CUE: What will I explain without looking? SUMMARY: Main idea and its limits CHECK: What was wrong, and how did I correct it?
You do not need to force every course into this layout. A long proof, diagram or connected sequence of steps may need more space; bring only the review questions and short summary back to this page. The template helps you reuse your notes. It does not promise a particular exam result.