I also studied Biology and I went through many different ways before settling on the best way for me.
- First I just wrote my notes on plain lined paper. This didn't work for me because the lectures were quite fast-paced and included diagrams which I couldn't copy down fast enough. This resulted in my notes being incomprehensible with gaps where I had missed the information. It also meant I had missed what my lecturer was actually saying because I was so focussed on the content on the board.
- Then I printed out handouts and annotated them. I liked this method because I could sit and listen knowing all the stuff on the board was already in front of me, and I could annotate my notes with what the lecturer was saying. However it used a lotttt of ink and paper and just seemed quite wasteful and some of the diagrams would be too small to read properly.
- Finally I just started bringing my laptop in with me, opened up the Powerpoint and wrote in the "presenter's notes" section underneath each slide. This was the best method for me because I could listen to the lecturer properly and I can type much faster than I can write. There were so many times where a complicated diagram was shown on the board and we would get told by the lecturer that we didn't have to learn it for the exam, or that a topic was included to aid our understanding but wouldn't be on the exam, etc. Whereas if I had just written notes I would have forgotten that by the time it came to revise, so I always noted things like that down on the Powerpoint. It also meant I always had my notes with me if I went to the library, etc. Also when revising it was easier to quickly open a Powerpoint than get up, grab my folder and sift through pages of notes to find the topic. By final year I would say probably 70% of the class was using laptops whereas in first year not many did.