What the Cornell note-taking method is
Walter Pauk developed the Cornell method at Cornell University so a single page could hold the notes, the questions that make you recall them, and a short summary. The sheet is split on purpose. About a third of the width is the cue column. The rest is the notes column. A band across the bottom is the summary. That layout is the whole Cornell notes template: cues, notes, summary.
During a lecture or while you read, you write in the notes column. You do not try to make a transcript. You keep phrases, examples, and anything you would want to find again. Soon after, while the material is still fresh, you write questions and keywords in the cue column. Each cue should be something you can answer with the notes beside it. Later you cover the notes, read the cues, and say the answers out loud. The summary is the last step: a few sentences in your own words, written only after the page makes sense.
The recall step is what separates this from a page of highlights. Reading your notes again feels like studying, but it mostly checks whether the page looks familiar. Answering a cue without looking is a harder and more useful check. If you cannot answer it, the cue is telling you what to review.
How to use this Cornell notes template
- Name the page. Fill in the title, date, and topic at the top of the sheet.
- Take notes. Write the lecture or reading in the notes column, in your own shorthand.
- Add cues. After class or after you finish the reading, write questions and keywords in the left column.
- Recite and summarize. Cover the notes, answer the cues from memory, then write the summary at the bottom in your own words.
- Keep a copy. Print the page, or download a PDF, Obsidian Markdown, a Notion CSV, or a GoodNotes image.
How to take Cornell notes: read the guide →
The draft is saved in this browser as you type, using localStorage. Come back to the same address on the same device and the sheet is still there. Clear draft removes it. Another browser, or a private window, starts empty.
Blank PDF, filled PDF, and the iPad page
Blank PDF (A4) and Blank PDF (Letter) are empty ruled sheets: a header for the title, date, and topic, a cue column, lined notes, and a summary band. Print one when you want to write by hand. Filled PDF (A4) and Filled PDF (Letter) use the text on the page now, with the same ruling. If the notes run past one page, the PDF continues on the next page and keeps the Cornell layout.
GoodNotes PDF and GoodNotes PNG use a portrait iPad proportion, 768 by 1024 points, which is the classic 4:3 tablet page. The PNG is drawn at three times that resolution, 2304 by 3072 pixels, so the lines stay fine when you zoom in and write over them. Import either file as a notebook page. The PNG is the first page only. Use the PDF when the sheet is longer than a page.
Obsidian Markdown opens as a note with YAML frontmatter (title, date, topic, and a cornell-notes tag), headings for cues and notes, and a summary callout. Notion Markdown uses headings Notion's importer already understands. Notion CSV is a single row — Title, Date, Topic, Cues, Notes, Summary — for a database import. Commas and line breaks inside a field stay inside that field.
A useful cue is a question
"Mitochondria" is a label. "What do mitochondria produce, and from what?" is a cue. The second one forces you to recall a sentence, not a word. Write cues after the notes, not during, so you are not splitting your attention while the lecture is still moving.