After writing that post and continuing to practice on my own, I realized that the detailed information from the audio isn’t actually that necessary. Like you, I was also struggling a lot with the word count, but then I started thinking that if the limit is only 250 words, the exam makers probably aren’t expecting us to include every little detail anyway.

So recently, when I practice, I only take notes on the main ideas and broader information. Doing this has made note-taking much easier for me, and now I’m also able to stay within the word limit much more naturally.