Studying with OneNote: Cornell notes, revision plans and shortcuts

Aysel is preparing for her end-of-year exams. Her notebook is tidy now, but simply re-reading notes doesn't help much. In this lesson you will turn OneNote into a learning tool: you will take Cornell notes, test yourself, build a revision plan, listen to your text read aloud and save time with shortcuts.

Cornell notes in a table

The Cornell method divides a page into three zones: a wide column for notes during the lesson, a narrow column on the left for key words and questions that you fill in afterwards, and a summary at the bottom. In OneNote you can build such a page from a table in a minute.

1. 1
   Make a table

   Type “Questions / key words”, press Tab, then type “Notes” — a two-column table appears.

2. 2
   Adjust the widths

   Drag the border between the columns so the notes column is about twice as wide.

3. 3
   Add the summary

   Below the table, type the heading “Summary” (Ctrl+Alt+2) — after the lesson, sum up the page in 2–3 sentences.

4. 4
   Save it as a template

   Choose Insert › Page Templates › Save current page as a template — the Cornell layout is now one click away for every new page.

Don't just re-read — test yourself

To test yourself, cover the notes column and answer the questions on the left out loud. OneNote offers an even faster way: write each question as its own line and indent its answer underneath with Tab. Alt+Shift+1 collapses the page to the first level so only the questions are visible; Alt+Shift+2 shows the answers again.

A revision plan with `To Do` tags

Create a page called “Revision plan” with a table: date, topic, what to do. Mark each task with Ctrl+1 (a To Do checkbox). Instead of cramming a topic into one long night before the exam, split it into several short sessions — for example, revise it the next day, after three days and after a week. Before the exam, Home › Find Tags showing only unchecked items tells you what's left.

Listen, dictate and dock

View › Immersive Reader opens the page full screen and can read it aloud — handy for revising by ear. Home › Dictate lets you speak your notes instead of typing them (you need a microphone and a Microsoft 365 subscription). View › Dock to Desktop (Ctrl+Alt+D) pins OneNote to the side of the screen, so you can watch an online lesson and take notes right next to it. Ctrl+Shift+M (or Win+Alt+N) opens a Quick Note — a small window for a sudden idea — which is saved to the Quick Notes section.

Practise the shortcuts