Note taking

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I find the more notes I have to take in a shorter period of time, the harder I grip the pencil and press down on the paper. My handwriting becomes even more incoherent and embolden throughout the session. I try to sum up definitions and rule out unimportant information, but sometimes I have to practically copy down something word-for-word so that I have the correct amount of details. By the end of class, I am both mentally and physically (through the right arm) beat up.

What about you guys?

I find note taking very tiring and I get bored of it really easily. I also find it very difficult to lsiten and take notes at the same time. I think more in pictures so I often take my notes in symbol form now, I find it to be so much easier and I can remember the facts better.

You could try learning shorthand, that way you don't have to write down all the words. Sometimes I write down too much information and I do it without thinking about what it really means, kind of like in a kinetic trance. My pen is moving and I am writing what is being said, my hand is trying to write as fast as possible so, my handwriting might be hard to read later.
When I look at it later, sometimes I don't remember what the lecture was about and I'll think "did he really talk about that?" It's funny.

The way you're describing note taking is exausting, yes. When I'm taking notes on a lecture where it's not clear what's important, and what's just a minor detail, I get confused easily. I always just try to write almost everything they talk about and I end up with tons of useless information to sort through. There was one teacher that I had that was great though. He made us take notes every day and I really enjoyed it actually because he wrote down the notes he wanted you take on the board. He did it like this.

Title
A. Main point

1)important detail
2)important detail
3)important detail

B. Main point

It was so clear and organized I actually looked forward to note taking in his class.

I start jumbling up the words and writing the wrong letters and stuff...and yeah..in class..I had no idea what was improtant and what wasn't and would frantically jot down everything and wind up with pages and pages of pathetic illegible scrawl.

I was ok in undergrad because I was in engineering, so I just had to copy down formulas and examples. This was not too hard.

But I can't filter or sort when there is tons of information, so I just write it all down. In my next degree I had a laptop, so I would just type really fast, profs words verbatim. This ended up to be way too many notes, and often I would write the wrong word down (see previous post about using heart attach instead of heart attack). I found that often I wasn't really listening to what was being said, I was just writing.

Laptop + typing class. Never looked back. With your AS and (likely) enhanced rote memory skills, you should be able to clear 70-90wpm, no sweat (other limitations notwithstanding). If financing is an issue, get an older laptop. You don't need cutting edge for word processing.

Can't bring a laptop? Use a portable recorder and transcribe later. Focus note-taking on graphs or pictures that you cannot write down or record easily.

I had to have a note taker while I was in college (college provided this service for me along with testing accommodation). It's is simply impossible for me to pay attention to a conversation and record in writing or take notes on what is happening with out losing track or one of the others. Procedural memory does not seem to be a strong suit with me either. Finally, I seem to lack fine motor control skills all together, and gross motor skills I seem to do fine in either hand, people ask me what handed I am and I reply I am non-dexterous. Laptops help a little but I still can lose track. I tend to think though the processing has more to do with audio processing with me because any other sound can distract me, including the hard drive on the laptop running. As for my memory, I have poor procedural, and cannot multitask at all, a lot of things that you are supposed to learn that are supposed to become subconsciously done, are still cognitive for me, and thus quite draining as well. Writing usually become as the say "second nature" or nearly a sub-conscious process, however, I was told it is not to common for it to stay conscious and cognitive in people with autism (Doctor told me this, don't know if it is true), however, even a normal has trouble doing multiple cognitive task, without quickly wearing them down.

This is me 100%!

Can't do it. It's exhausting, and it's not like a NEED to take notes. People (mostly NT's) can't seem to grasp the fact that I can simply listen to someone speak the first time, and remember exactly what they've said.

Like most with AS I have a horrible short term memory, so I take notes a lot. Even when I write the words down I'm forgetting. I do copy things down word-for-word and then my hand gets a cramp.

I find it hard to catch everything the prof is saying if I'm also taking notes. It's difficult because listening to someone speak takes all my concentration.

A laptop would be very helpful. A C programming class I'm in, where we have computers, allows me to type note effortlessly. But a laptop costs money, naturally.

I found that most of the time I didn't use notes anyway, even if I attempted to take them. It depends on the teacher, though. Some teachers will start out by saying, "There are three aspects of _____" and then as they lecture, they talk about two different things, or four different things, but not three. Or they'll go off on a tangent, and you think that's Point 3, but actually it's not.

I did have one university history professor who told us on the first day of class that the the tests would be multiple choice, and would cover ONLY what he said in lecture, and NOTHING in the $60 book we were required to purchase. His lectures were very well organized, but he read them from notes, word for word. So, for that class, I wrote down every word he said, as fast as he said it, including his many editorial comments, like, "The Declaration of Independence is a page full of pathetic whining, and is an absolute piece of garbage." In those days I could write fast because I didn't use a computer. Using a computer has wrecked my hand, so I can't write for an hour at a time any more, but only for a few minutes.

I HATE that teachers make kids take notes in school. My AS 11 year old learns just fine by listening to the lecture and that kind of thing. Requiring him to take notes just messes him up. He's so busy stressing over that, that he doesn't learn. Of course, learning isn't the point. The point is being able to spew forth the correct answers on the annual state test so that the school will show improvement over the previous year, and thus receive more funding. Every Child Left Behind. That's how it is in the US, at least. And to see how much a kid can carry in a backpack before he suffers a permanent injury.

I have no idea what is important so therefore I don't know what to write down. It's easier if the teacher wrote everything on the board and asks us to write down everything he writes. Because I can't listen for long periods of the time and I tend to forget anyway what was said, it doesn't matter if I copy down what the teacher wrote. Listening had never been my forte. If it's something I'm interested in, I still have difficulty in note taking because I would need to hear it again to write it down. Guess how many times I rewind audio commentaries when I have them on? A lot because I am trying to catch what the director said. It's frustrating hearing what a teacher is saying and it's very interesting but yet my mind and ears can't seem to keep up so I am missing some interesting facts. But thank god this is behind me but I deal with this at the autism groups now when the leaders go bla bla bla.

I have heard that even normal people have this problem so in college people have to buy notes from a group of people who take them and students buy them from them. I am sure they make copies of course. I knew a girl in my high school who could not take notes as she listens or she misses what the teacher is saying because she is busy writing. She was not in special ed.