But surely taking notes on the fly when you have been barely introduced to the subject isn't going to help with that.
I found that taking structured, detailed notes in lectures forced me to pay close attention & work constantly to keep up with the lecturer. For the courses I did that for, it felt like it was equivalent to doing an entire extra revision session with the lecture material for me - I had to do much less work to go over the material after the lecture in order to make sure I understood it, so it was a far more efficient use of my time that just 'attending' the lectures and then doing revision work afterwards.
Some people can maintain that level of connection with the lecture without taking notes of course, but that’s what worked for me.
Me neither. However, what I do once in a while is after I've sat through a tutorial (in person or video) I recall and make notes. It helps me immensely to a) Structure my thoughts b) Recall the actual content which reinforces it in my memory.
As a student, I always found that writing notes/answers on a topic/question made me understand the concept that much better as well as connect them to form a larger picture (e.g., connect concepts in math and physics).
I found that taking structured, detailed notes in lectures forced me to pay close attention & work constantly to keep up with the lecturer. For the courses I did that for, it felt like it was equivalent to doing an entire extra revision session with the lecture material for me - I had to do much less work to go over the material after the lecture in order to make sure I understood it, so it was a far more efficient use of my time that just 'attending' the lectures and then doing revision work afterwards.
Some people can maintain that level of connection with the lecture without taking notes of course, but that’s what worked for me.