Studying/Note-Taking in Math

Compared to all other subjects, math is by far the most different when it comes to learning the content. Whilst most subjects are heavily centred around taking notes for each new topic, mathematics don't exactly follow that form.

You aren't generally pushed to ordinarily take notes with each incoming topic when it comes to math, and the content doesn't really allow for that sort of structure or flow compared to other subjects. Unlike topics like chemistry, history, geography, you're learning extremely information-heavy content from, focusing more on the direct knowledge or facts of unchanging and immutable situations or processes, and the large advantage of the note taking here is that it acts as a tool to help us absorb that knowledge.

However, topic-by-topic math doesn't exactly operate the same way. Whilst you do have a new process or concept in other subjects, with math, you're expected to understand the process with the goal not to repeat it exactly, to to be able to apply it across a large variety of different situations. On top of these, mathematical methods and process are taught to chain into one another, often in a wider variety of situations.

So rather than it being a understanding a information heavy process or situations, instead we are learning a directionally simple process, but the difficulty lies in being able to apply it in any situation, in any context, and connect it under these constraints with other processes too.

So note-taking or studying for math isn't optimally done the exact same way as other subjects, instead it should be done such that it focuses on encapsulating the simple process itself, and recording the situations in which applying that process aren't as straightforward as others.

And this isn't something which can be interpretation as the topic comes out, often it comes from trying a variety of questions and writing notes even on past topics for a situation you hadn't realised/tried even when you first learnt the process.