In HiH, I highly recommend taking notes.  They help you immensely on quizzes, some tests, and generally collecting information.  If you like typing, there is an excellent option under the Courses tab labelled my notebooks to start taking notes.  However, if you like writing, you might just want to keep a physical notebook.  Each one has its own pros and cons, but they are both great options.

Computer Notes:

Pros:

- Typing speed may be much quicker than writing

- Easy to save notes to computer

- Grammar and spelling errors are corrected

Cons:

- May be slower than writing

- Can be lost if not saved

- Auto-correct can be irritating when trying to abbreviate

As you can see the pros can turn into the cons.  I just depends on how good you are with a computer and keyboard to be typing notes.

Conventional Notes:

Pros:

- Can do different formats harder to use on computers

- Does not require a technological device

- May be faster than typing

Cons:

- Easier to lose or destroy 

- May be messy and hard to read

- may require more effort than typing

Between computer and conventional notes, I use conventional notes.  However, both are both possible and plausible.

Formats:

Freestyle- This is what I call a series of bullets and points in an organized fashion to make sense to the note taker.  Every note is a bullet and subtopics can be a different bullet.  For example, your main note is -Cows are happy.  Your related topic can be a. Cows go moo.     

Note that there are many different types of bullets.  Some of them are a dash (-), to a bullet (a period in midair), an asterisk. (*), letters (a.), numbers (1.), etc.

Diagram- This is where a diagram is drawn to show relationships between information.  A personal diagram is best for this.  However, some excellent generic diagrams include bubbled maps (main idea in the middle and details sprouting out wards), a flow map (logical sequencing of events), or a tree map (categorizing details of different ideas).  

Shorthand- This uses an abbreviation of commonly used words, whether it is your own or texting lingo.  Some common ones are: 

With=w/

People=ppl or peeps

Are=r

You=u

Someone=some1

Ttyl= talk to you later

Irl= in real life

The list goes on and on, and you can make your own for note taking purposes as well.  For example, Class-A Transfigurative Spells can be CATS.

Doodling- This is a series of pictures in which there are short descriptions or key words or phrases besides each one.  These are supposed to spark your memory with something associated in life.  For example in Astronomy you could draw a picture of someone with a rash and name it the Great Red Spot to remember Jupiter.  You can then add more detail by putting smaller people next to that person to remember it is Jupiter.  

Cornell-  This is a standard format used consisting of a title, subtitles on the margins, and notes in the main body of the paper.  This is a clear and organized format, which is used at many of the schools where I am.  At the end there is a summary and normally there is a question below the subtopic in order to review what has been learned.

      Hopefully these formats gave you some kind of note taking.  If you are still stuck, take a look at My Notes, from a Ravenclaw (Year One) by Anne Pickering or Notes from a Ravenclaw (Year Two) by Anne Pickering.  However, there are many different formats, so just find one that suits you.  Good luck!