Free tool
Cornell notes template
Set it up the way you write, then print it or save it as a PDF. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to download first.
Opens your browser's print dialog — choose "Save as PDF" as the destination to download it.
How to use the layout
The three areas aren't decoration — each one is filled in at a different moment, and that sequence is what makes the method work.
- 1
Take notes in the wide right column
During the lecture, write in the large area on the right. Catch headings and main points rather than every word, and leave gaps you can fill in later.
- 2
Add cues in the narrow left column
Afterwards, write keywords and questions in the left column that point at the notes beside them. These become the prompts you quiz yourself with.
- 3
Write the summary along the bottom
In a sentence or two, say what the page was actually about. If you cannot, that is the signal you have found a gap worth going back for.
- 4
Review by covering the notes
Fold or cover the right column and answer your own cues from memory. Uncover to check. This is the part that makes the layout worth using.
Why the proportions matter
A cue column that's too narrow can't hold a real question, so it ends up holding single words that prompt nothing. One that's too wide eats the space you need mid-lecture, when you're writing fastest. The default here — a little under a third of the page — is the conventional balance, but the right answer depends on how big you write and how dense the subject is.
The same goes for line spacing. Tight lines fit more on a page and are miserable to write between; generous lines leave room to add corrections during review, which is when notes actually improve. Set it once against your own handwriting and you won't think about it again.
Notes worth keeping are notes worth selling
The qualities that make notes good to revise from — clear headings, a logical flow, detail that stands on its own without your memory of the room — are the same ones that make them useful to someone else on your course. If you're already writing them, they can keep earning after your exam.
How to take better lecture notes · What makes notes worth buying · How to sell study notes online
Frequently asked questions
It is a page layout that builds reviewing into the note-taking itself. The page is split into three areas: a wide column for notes taken during the lecture, a narrow column on the left for cue words and questions added afterwards, and a band across the bottom for a short summary in your own words. Covering the notes and answering your own cues turns a page of notes into a self-test.
The usual layout gives the cue column about 2.5 inches (roughly 6cm) on a Letter or A4 page, and the summary band about 2 inches (5cm) along the bottom, leaving the rest for notes. Those are conventions rather than rules — the generator above starts at those proportions and lets you move both if a different balance suits your handwriting or your subject.
Yes, and there is nothing to sign up for. Printing uses your browser’s own print dialog — choose “Save as PDF” as the destination if you want a file rather than paper.
Yes. Pick your paper size in the settings and the sheet is sized to match, so the proportions stay right whichever paper your printer holds. You can also set a page count to print a small pack of blank sheets in one go.
It suits dense, fact-heavy material best — anything you will need to revise hard from later. For subjects taught as a clear hierarchy an outline is faster, and for ideas that connect rather than stack, a mind map shows more. Pick by the shape of the material rather than using one layout for everything.
Your own notes, in your own words, are your work and other students on your course will pay to download them. What you cannot sell is material you did not make, such as a lecturer’s slides or scans from a textbook. Clean, well-structured notes are exactly what sells, which is the useful overlap with taking good notes in the first place.