Leave yourself a useful question
Cornell Notes Template With a Worked Example
A Cornell notes page separates the information you record from the questions you will use to review it. Keep a main notes area, a narrower cue area and a short summary. Afterward, cover the notes, answer the cues in your own words and check the answer against the source. A tidy page is useful only if you can do something with it.
By Rain Night Café · Updated 6 November 2026. We make the café linked here. This original worksheet is free and is not an official Cornell University handout or an endorsement.
Copy the template before your next lesson
Download the original plain-text Cornell notes template, or copy the fields below into a document. On paper, draw a vertical line to separate cues from notes and leave a little room at the bottom for a summary. Exact proportions are less important than being able to hide the answers while keeping the questions visible.
| What to put there | What to avoid | |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | Topic, date, source and a page or section locator | A title too broad to find again |
| Notes | Main idea, example, working and questions to check | A transcript you cannot finish or use |
| Cues | Specific questions that ask for an explanation or decision | Only labels such as important or chapter three |
| Summary | A short account of the point and the remaining uncertainty | Copying the entire page a second time |
Leave space for corrections. A question mark beside an unfinished explanation is more useful than a confident sentence you guessed. Keep quoted wording visibly separate from your paraphrase, and retain a locator for any definition you will need to cite in an assignment.
Use the layout as a process
Cornell’s Learning Strategies Center presents several note-taking approaches and encourages choosing a method for the situation. Its official procedural explanation includes recording, developing questions, reciting, reflecting and reviewing. Our worksheet translates that process into a small task; it does not reproduce the university’s designed handout.
- During the explanation, capture the central claim and one example. Use your own abbreviations only if you will understand them later.
- Soon afterward, read the notes and write cue questions. Turn “percentage change” into “Which value is the starting denominator, and why?”
- Cover the notes. Answer one cue aloud, in writing or using another accessible response method before looking back.
- Check, correct and connect. Record where the answer failed and what you will try at the next review.
A worked page: percentage change
Here is an original, simplified maths example. Imagine your lesson compares a value rising from 40 to 50 with the same value falling from 50 to 40. The question is not whether the change has size ten in both cases. It is what that change means relative to the starting value.
| Notes to hide during review | |
|---|---|
| How do I calculate a percentage increase? | Change divided by starting value, multiplied by 100. From 40 to 50: 10 ÷ 40 × 100 = 25%. |
| Why is the reverse decrease different? | The starting value is now 50. From 50 to 40: 10 ÷ 50 × 100 = 20%. |
| What mistake would make the two answers look equal? | Using the same denominator without checking which quantity came first. |
| Can I explain the distinction without the formula? | The same absolute change is a different share of two different starting amounts. |
A useful summary might be: “Percentage change compares a difference with the starting amount. Reversing a change changes that starting amount, so the percentage need not match.” That summary is a checkable explanation, not a second copy of all the working.
For the first review, hide the right column and explain the denominator choice. Then try a fresh pair, such as 80 to 100 and 100 to 80. If you simply remember the earlier numbers, your new example helps distinguish remembering the page from understanding the calculation. Check your working afterward.
Make cues specific enough to expose a gap
“What did the lecturer say?” asks for too much at once. “Why is the denominator 40 here?” gives you a decision to explain. For a history lesson, a cue might ask which evidence supports a comparison. For a diagram, ask what changes when one part is removed, provided your course material supports the answer.
Use different cue types when the task needs them: define a term, compare two ideas, explain a step, or give a counterexample. You do not need all four on every page. Two useful questions beat a crowded margin of vague keywords. For a fuller question-and-check routine, see our active recall guide.
Adapt the page to the subject and your access needs
A fast lecture may leave little time to organise columns. Capture first and make cues afterward. A mathematical proof may need an uninterrupted sequence of working; place cues beside whole sections rather than splitting every line. For a dense reading, the SQ3R reading example can help establish your questions before you start taking notes.
Use headings instead of a visual table if that works better with a screen reader or narrow display. You can put prompts above answers in a document, fold a sheet of paper or use a separate question page. The retrieval step matters more than a particular app, colour scheme or notebook. Do not spend the entire study block decorating the template.
Finish with a small review appointment
Before leaving the page, choose which two cues to revisit and when. Put the review into your existing study routine. On return, attempt the answers before opening the notes, then correct the specific gap. If you repeatedly cannot explain the source, the next action may be to ask a teacher or consult another explanation, rather than rewrite the page again.
Rain Night Café can provide a camera-free setting for that review. Its shared timer follows a 45/10 rhythm, so check the current phase; it does not schedule your personal reviews or assess your answers. Keep the document on your device, use quiet audio or silence, and remember that host bots are not human study partners and attendance varies.
Frequently asked questions
- What goes in a Cornell notes template?
- Use a main area for notes, a narrower area for questions or cues, and a short summary area. Add the topic, date and source so you can check uncertain details later. The purpose is to make the notes usable for explanation and review, rather than to fill every space.
- When should I write the cue questions?
- Record the main explanation first, then create questions as soon as practical after the lesson or reading. Ask something you can answer without seeing the note column. Mark missing information for checking rather than inventing an answer to complete the page.
- Do Cornell notes have to be handwritten?
- No. You can use paper, an accessible digital document or another layout that lets you separate prompts from answers. Choose a format you can capture and revisit comfortably. This guide does not claim one medium works best for every learner or subject.
- Is the Cornell notes template free?
- Yes. The original plain-text template in this guide is available without an email or account. Rain Night Café is an optional free background for the review session. A Café Pass is separate and is not needed to download the template or use the method.