Empirical studies show cognitive barriers in translating reality to mathmatics in reality-based tasks (Galbraith & Stillman, 2006). Note-taking is a promising strategy (Graham et al., 2020; Schukajlow et al., 2012; Wienecke et al., 2023). Data from 424 students revealed common note-taking strategies, e.g. marking, writing out important information and using structuring features (RQ1). It also shows that the socioeconomic status significantly correlates with note-taking (RQ2), and notes predict reality-based task success, even factoring in mathematical and language skills (RQ3).