Taking down notes at A-level... (Help)

Hi All.
I start sixth form this Thursday and I was wondering how do I actually take down notes effectively in lessons. At Gcse's we were pretty much spoon fed everything, and told what to write down. From what I've heard it's very different at A-level. So how do I take effective notes and filter out what is necessary.
I'm doing History, Sociology, Gov&Politics and English Lit.
Also how is a day to day lesson like with the subjects above?
Thanks.

So no one can help??This is vital for me to understand before I start sixth form. Please give me some advice if anyone can.

You could use the Cornell note method

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xSYnGhlnzyw

For sociology you will need to get a textbook and read through it and pick out the relevant bits of info that stands out and make a note of any key words in bold and write down their definitions on a separate piece of paper.

Dude, chill. It's only been a few hours since you originally posted, people might not find your post straight away and there's probably a lot of threads like this around right now.

You'll find that you will get into the flow of what to write down and what to leave out pretty quickly - I didn't take the same subjects as you (or anything similar, tbh), but I'd say just write down any info that the teacher is talking about/make notes of stuff as you are working in the lesson, and then rewrite your notes later on (that evening/end of that week perhaps). When you rewrite them, take out any waffle/unnecessary parts and make sure it is neat and easy to revise from later (it's much easier to revise from 'clean'/reviewed notes than messy ones straight from lessons! Perhaps use one of the note methods like the Cornell method, or look up others online...). Try to not write what they say word for word, as this just takes ages and you might not get it all down in time. Use shorthand if you need to, otherwise just make sure you have all the key points/important info down. Lots of colour, imagery, and things like spider diagrams can be useful too!

I'll give you some specific examples of how my lessons usually were, but my subjects were very different to yours and were in very small classes, so I don't know if any of your lessons would have similar formats...

e.g1 - In one of my subjects, in 'theory-based' lessons the teacher would have a powerpoint up and would talk us through the concepts; we would also watch videos and have discussions throughout the session and ask the teacher questions as we went through the slides (it was a very small class, so I don't know if this would be as easy in larger classes). I'd jot down notes on all relevant parts and usually print off the powerpoint slides later. The notes were pretty comprehensive because of the slower pace, so I found I didn't need to make new 'neat' ones straight away.
e.g2 - In a different subject most of our class-based theory stuff was done with whiteboard + pen, with us calling out answers/suggestions & the teacher making spider diagrams or drawings of it throughout; the diagrams weren't as comprehensive but we also got booklets and had practical lessons to actually use the methods in real life (to make it easier to remember). In these sorts of lessons, some of us took notes (either pen+paper, or on computer), and we all took pictures of the board to revise/make new notes from later.

Hi All.
I start sixth form this Thursday and I was wondering how do I actually take down notes effectively in lessons. At Gcse's we were pretty much spoon fed everything, and told what to write down. From what I've heard it's very different at A-level. So how do I take effective notes and filter out what is necessary.
I'm doing History, Sociology, Gov&Politics and English Lit.
Also how is a day to day lesson like with the subjects above?
Thanks.

At A-level and at uni as well, it is most helpful to have a set of notes in front of you. By that I mean have whatever is in your textbook or whatever lecture notes you can access before the lesson. Then you look at it as you are being taught something and take down notes where you think something is important but not captured in the original text. Then you are not wasting time and copying without absorbing, but saving time and ink and concentration.

Also one thing my chem teacher said was to never take notes whilst she was talking, and it made sense because it just doesn't go in and you don't listen properly whilst taking notes. The best thing to do is to listen, engage with what the teacher is saying and then take notes from what you remember afterwards.

Thanks for the great tip. It does make sense to not take down notes while the teacher is talking and that was one thing I was worried about. As it's hard to process all the information well and actually understanding what's being said whilst noting it down.
Also I am planning to read ahead the class, by reading from the textbook the night before so I can have in mind what we will be covering in the lesson therefore I'll be able to not waste time and note down the important bits in the lesson.
Thanks again.

Exactly - reading ahead helps so you can prepare any questions if necessary and you can give your brain a chance to absorb the information. That's not to say study ahead for chapters and chapters but studying a lesson ahead is pretty useful.

Buy good study guides (e.g: Philip Allan books)...I didn't really bother with notes at A-Level because the revision books were sufficient (but I did all sciences so it may be different)....

notes are very time consuming and as the specifications are so specific, it is generally easier to use a revision guide (or several) produced by a company

You could use the Cornell note method

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xSYnGhlnzyw

For sociology you will need to get a textbook and read through it and pick out the relevant bits of info that stands out and make a note of any key words in bold and write down their definitions on a separate piece of paper.

Hi All.
I start sixth form this Thursday and I was wondering how do I actually take down notes effectively in lessons. At Gcse's we were pretty much spoon fed everything, and told what to write down. From what I've heard it's very different at A-level. So how do I take effective notes and filter out what is necessary.
I'm doing History, Sociology, Gov&Politics and English Lit.
Also how is a day to day lesson like with the subjects above?
Thanks.

With alevels you need to filter through information because you'll be given a lot of it. Doing past papers and looking at mark schemes will tell you what examiners are looking for
With sociology we were literally given the studies to learn to use in the exam so your college or sixth form will have stuff prepared for you