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I don't think it's the quality of notes that makes the difference but the act of taking them in a physical sense.

So optimal system for a better grade may be writing it by hand.

Optimal performance for producing a good course reference could be a spread sheet with tags erc

I dont see how having the most organized/tagged notes is so much of a benefit to make somebody a top 1% performer.

If the precision of your notes were the deciding factor affecting your performance, the process of education would be much simpler.