What goes in the left column?

Questions the notes answer, keywords, and anything you want to be able to test yourself on with the right side covered. It is filled in after the lesson, not during it.

How wide should the cue column be?

Around a third of the page is the traditional advice, which on Letter is roughly 55 to 65 mm of the printable width. Narrower suits keywords, wider suits full questions.

Can I print it without the summary band?

Set the summary height to zero and the ruled area runs to the bottom of the page, leaving the cue column in place.

Cornell notes template

The three-part note-taking page: a narrow cue column on the left, the note area on the right and a summary band across the bottom, with the proportions under your control.

Grade 6–Grade 12 · every refresh draws a new set · answer key included

Name Date

1 problems · US Letter — 1 sheet, page breaks marked in the preview

What this worksheet is for

The Cornell layout divides a page into three areas that each do a different job: notes go on the right during the lesson, questions and keywords go in the narrow column on the left afterwards, and a summary in your own words goes along the bottom at the end. The structure is the method — the reason it works is that filling in the left column and the summary forces a second pass over material you would otherwise file and never reread.

Who it suits

Grade 6 upwards, through secondary school and university. It is a poor fit for younger children, who rarely take notes from a lesson at all, and an excellent one for anyone revising from lectures.

How to use the settings

The default proportions follow the usual advice: a cue column wide enough for a short question, and a summary band of five or six lines. Widen the cue column if you write questions rather than keywords in it. Set the summary height to zero if you prefer to summarise on a separate sheet, and the page becomes a two-column note layout. Line height works the same way as on ordinary ruled paper.

What goes wrong

The commonest failure is not using the left column at all, which turns the page into ruled paper with a wasted margin. The second is writing the summary immediately, while the lesson is still fresh — it is meant to be written from the notes rather than from memory, which is what makes it a test of whether the notes are any good.

Questions

What goes in the left column?: Questions the notes answer, keywords, and anything you want to be able to test yourself on with the right side covered. It is filled in after the lesson, not during it.
How wide should the cue column be?: Around a third of the page is the traditional advice, which on Letter is roughly 55 to 65 mm of the printable width. Narrower suits keywords, wider suits full questions.
Can I print it without the summary band?: Set the summary height to zero and the ruled area runs to the bottom of the page, leaving the cue column in place.