According to a study published in Psychological Science, students who took notes by hand performed better on recall tests than those who took notes on their laptop.

It makes sense when you think about it. Typing is faster than writing, so the temptation is always to “type now, figure it out later.” Taking written notes requires figuring out what to write since taking notes word-for-word is not possible. As a result, it is possible that taking handwritten notes results in more on-the-spot learning and understanding.

Of course, if you can’t read what you’ve written it’s hard to study for a test later on, so it’s worth making sure your handwriting is legible. Besides, there’s just something aesthetically wonderful about good handwriting.