You should probably ask yourself why you're taking it. But if you don't want to touch that issue, here are a few pointers.
1. You don't necessarily have to take notes, if you understand particular concepts.
2. dates are something you will have to memorize. There's no logic associated with it. It's boring but it must be done.
3. Think about history as cause and effect relationships rather than just dates and facts. What happened. what caused it to happen? Is it reasonable that something caused it to happen. what are the consequences of the events in question.
You'll learn that history eerily repeats itself. We're all humans, and we'll stay human as long as we can survive. you'll learn that every generation has its own troubles and misfortunes, and maybe you'll find some parallels of history as relating to your own personal life.
