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Yo, I just started studying for the LSAT with 7Sage and I am starting by going through the core curriculum that the study plan chose for me. My question is, should I be taking notes while I am watching the videos and reading, or no? Thanks!
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I would saw flaws and conditionals are the only parts notes may be needed. My personal opinion.
I honestly don't think taking notes is a good use of my time. I drill existing flashcards for the most important things (e.g. common flaws), but the rest is very strategy-based and you'll see things come up in explanations to questions you got wrong. Every 5 minutes spent taking notes is 5 minutes I could have been doing practice problems, and answering questions/reviewing the strategies in practice is a much better use of my time imo
I absolutely take notes while going through the Foundations / Core Curriculum. I don't take notes on every little thing, but for example I made a table with the Lawgic translation group indicators, valid argument forms, and random things I struggled with (negation, quantifiers, etc). If I found that something in the lessons just stuck and I was doing good on the questions I didn't bother taking notes.
I haven't had to go back to reference the notes I'm taking yet, but I find it's been helpful even just to slow the lessons down and check in to make sure I am understanding what's being taught before I move on. Writing notes by hand has also always helped me with retention!
I've been taking some basic notes of concepts while going through the foundations so far. Just in case I get stuck and need something to look back on.
I type notes as I'm going along in 7Sage and mark the info that I struggle with so I can go back and study that material in more depth.
Personally, physically writing certain things down helped me focus in on the content. I have never went back to refer the notes, as I have the original content here, but I do feel the process of the note taking helped my retention of the material.
For the foundations, yes absolutely. At least when you get to the part on the logic of intersecting sets and the formal arguments and formal flaws. Even later on in the CC i am often going back to reference the formal arguments, and what yields a valid conclusion. Also, watching one of the free videos on study plans helps, and the instructor might mention what they recommend making cheat sheets on.
For the rest, depends on your study style. I personally find that physically writing down notes helps me understand the content better but could be different for everyone. Once I got to LR, I made a note sheet for every different LR question type, which included patterns in the right answers, and patterns in the wrong answers and that helped me.
Ultimately is whatever helps your understanding and works for you!