How to Take Notes Faster: The Ultimate Guide to Shorthand for Students

In the fast-paced environment of a college lecture, do you ever feel like you’re fighting a losing battle against the clock? Your professor is blazing through slides, dropping crucial information, and your hand is cramping as you struggle to write everything down. It’s a common problem: how do you capture detailed notes without sacrificing speed and, more importantly, without missing the actual concepts being taught? Today, we’re going to explore powerful techniques to help you take handwritten notes faster, drawing inspiration from both modern technology and ancient writing systems.

First, let’s consider the digital world. Think about how much of our online communication involves repetition. I receive a massive volume of email, and many messages ask for the same thing, requiring an almost identical response. Instead of typing out a long, polite “no, thank you, I’m currently too busy” message every time, I use a simple browser extension that creates text templates. I can type a short keyword like “busy,” hit the Tab key, and a full, pre-written paragraph instantly appears. This small trick has saved me countless hours of typing.

This principle of using shortcuts to expand on a small input is incredibly efficient. Tools like Gorgias for Chrome, TextExpander for Mac and iOS, or PhraseExpress for Windows and Android are all built on this idea: do more with less effort. So, the big question is, how can we apply this brilliant concept of “text expansion” to the analog world of pen and paper?

The Ancient Art of Writing Faster: An Introduction to Shorthand

While you can’t install a browser extension on your notebook, a powerful equivalent has existed for millennia: shorthand writing systems. Shorthand is any system that dramatically reduces the number of characters or pen strokes needed to represent words and ideas. The practice of writing in shorthand, known as stenography, was an essential skill for journalists, secretaries, and court reporters long before digital recorders became commonplace.

The history of shorthand is fascinating, dating all the way back to Ancient Greece in the 4th century B.C. Even earlier, scribes in Ancient Egypt developed faster writing styles like the Hieratic and Demotic scripts as alternatives to the time-consuming and complex hieroglyphics. These early innovators understood a fundamental truth: the need for speed in recording information is universal.

In more recent history, two major shorthand systems emerged and dominated the English-speaking world:

• Gregg shorthand: The most widely used system in the United States, known for its flowing, cursive-based symbols.
• Pitman shorthand: The preferred system in the United Kingdom, which uses geometric strokes of varying thickness.

These systems are incredibly powerful because they are phonetic. Instead of having a symbol for each letter of the alphabet, their symbols represent the sounds of speech. A skilled stenographer using Gregg or Pitman can write at speeds exceeding 200 words per minute, allowing them to capture spoken language verbatim. This level of accuracy is critical in professional fields, but it comes at a significant cost.

The Problem with Traditional Shorthand for Students

Here’s the reality for a busy student: learning a system like Gregg or Pitman is a monumental undertaking. It’s like learning a whole new language. Becoming proficient requires structured courses, dedicated study, and months, if not years, of rigorous practice. Your primary goal in a lecture is not to create a perfect transcript; it’s to understand and retain core concepts. Spending your mental energy trying to recall complex phonetic symbols can actually detract from learning.

To illustrate, here is a simple statement written in Gregg shorthand. It took a significant amount of time just to look up the symbols in an alphabet reference and piece this together.

As a student, your time is your most valuable asset. Dedicating that time to mastering a complex stenography system is simply not a practical or efficient use of your resources. This leaves us with a dilemma: writing in longhand is too slow and can lead to hand fatigue, but traditional shorthand is too difficult to learn. What is the solution?

Fortunately, there are two excellent, practical approaches you can take to speed up your handwriting without the steep learning curve.

Solution 1: Adopt a Simpler Shorthand System

Not all shorthand systems are as complex as Gregg or Pitman. Over the years, many innovators have developed simplified methods designed for faster learning and everyday use. These systems offer a fantastic middle ground, providing a significant speed boost without demanding a huge time investment.

One popular category is alphabetic shorthand systems. These systems use the familiar letters you already know but increase speed by applying simple rules, like dropping most vowels and using abbreviations for common words. They feel more like creating a super-efficient code than learning a new alphabet. Examples include:

• Personal Shorthand
• Speedwriting
• Stenoscript

Another great option is to use a system with its own unique symbols, but one that is designed for simplicity and rapid learning. The most famous example is likely Teeline, which is still used by many journalists today. Teeline works by stripping letters down to their essential, most basic forms, making them much faster to write.

A more recent system called Ford Improved Shorthand is particularly intriguing because it claims it can be learned in as little as 15 minutes. After trying to write the same sentence from before using this system, I found that I could indeed memorize the core characters after just a couple of tries. While reading it back still took a moment of thought, the learning process was worlds apart from the complexity of Gregg.

Solution 2: Create Your Own Personalized Shorthand System

This is arguably the most powerful and flexible solution for any student. Since your notes are for your eyes only, who says you have to follow an established system? By designing your own custom shorthand, you can create a method perfectly tailored to your subjects, your way of thinking, and your handwriting style.

The key is to create what I call “mnemonic glyphs”—simple symbols or abbreviations that are easy for you to remember because they have a personal meaning or a logical connection to the word they represent. The process is gradual, intuitive, and incredibly effective.

Let’s look at how to get started. Consider these three words that appear frequently in academic writing:

• Procrastination
• Litigation
• Allegation

Each word ends with the suffix “-tion,” which takes six distinct pen strokes to write in longhand. Let’s create a simple, two-stroke symbol to represent it. It could be a simple loop, a slash, or a dot—whatever feels fastest and most natural to you.

Just like that, you’ve created a custom shortcut that will save you time every single time you write a word ending in “-tion.” Now, apply this concept to other areas. Here are the best targets for creating your own mnemonic glyphs:

• Common Prefixes and Suffixes: Think of “-ing,” “-ment,” “pre-,” “con-,” “-ology,” and others. Creating symbols for these can drastically cut down your writing time.
• Function Words (Sentence Glue): These are the small, common words that connect your sentences. Develop symbols for words like “and” (&), “with” (w/), “because” (b/c), “therefore” (∴), “for,” and “the.”
• Lecture-Specific Keywords: This is a game-changer. If you’re in a history class about the American Revolution, you’ll be writing “Washington” or “revolution” dozens of times. Create a unique symbol for each key term at the beginning of the lecture. For example, a simple “W” in a circle could stand for Washington.

The beauty of developing your own system is that you can do it gradually. Start with just a few symbols. At first, most of your notes will still be in longhand, which provides context to help you remember what your new symbols mean. As you get comfortable, you can add more glyphs. This method eliminates the steep learning curve and integrates seamlessly into your existing note-taking habits.

Remember, shorthand is just one tool in your arsenal. You can also speed up note-taking by drawing diagrams, using arrows to connect ideas, and adopting a structured layout like the Cornell Method. The goal is to create rich, comprehensive notes that are both quick to write and easy to study from.

Looking for More Study Tips?

If you found this guide on faster note-taking helpful, you will love my free 100+ page e-book, 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less).

This book delves deeper into essential student skills, covering topics like:

• How to defeat procrastination for good
• Strategies for getting more out of every class
• Advanced techniques for taking effective notes
• How to read textbooks efficiently without wasting time

It also includes my top recommendations for tools and resources that can make your academic life easier and more productive. If you’d like a free copy, just let me know where to send it.

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I’ll also keep you updated with new articles and videos designed to help you succeed in college and beyond.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about the history of shorthand systems
• A comprehensive list of English prefixes and suffixes
• A useful list of common abbreviations

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