For certain lectures, especially if the material that is being covered is complicated or confusing, a professor may supply the individual with a note taking aid that helps the individual to follow the material being covered in the lecture. These aids are intended to either lead the individual's note taking or to provide the individual with specific key facts that he or she should know. In fact, there are two primary types of note-taking aids that are separated based on the purpose of each aid and these aids are referred to as guided lecture notes and complete lecture notes.
Complete lecture notes are notes that the professor has prepared and most likely handed out before class that detail everything that the professor is going to cover during class. Basically, complete lecture notes are usually a copy of the notes that the professor is using to conduct the lecture and teach the subject. Unlike guided lecture notes, complete lecture notes give the individual all of the information that the professor believes is important about a particular topic so the individual does not necessarily need to take any additional notes on that specific topic. In other words, the notes are already complete beforehand and, as a result, the individual does not need to fill-in the blanks next to key details and topics. However, it is usually wise for an individual to expand on the notes that the professor has handed out during the lecture, even though he or she already has all of the most important notes, as this will encourage the individual to pay attention and remain focused. Complete lecture notes can be extremely useful as they provide the individual with all of the information that he or she will most likely need to note, but the individual needs to avoid the temptation to lose focus. It can be very easy for an individual to lose focus if he or she receives complete lecture notes because the individual may believe that he or she does not need to pay attention since he or she already has all of the notes that he or she needs to take. This is not the case, however, as complete lecture notes will make sure that the individual does not miss any key details, but they do not necessarily guarantee that the individual will understand the material being covered.