When taking notes during the lectures, you do not need to write down all the historical facts; just put down an identifier about the piece (i.e., Bull Lyre or Venus/Willendorf) so you can look up the information on slide list and in your book. Both have the images, titles, dates, locations, and stylistic periods for the pieces you will need to know for the exam.
What you need to get from the lectures is how the specific works of art express the ideals of the artist and the historical time in which he/she lived so it is more important to write down the ideas. For example, when we were looking at cave paintings last week it was not important to write down every title and location but it was important to note what was represented (variety of animals, both carnivores and herbivores) how the images were represented (as naturalistically as possible, using a variety of materials for paint, and as seen from the side with frontal horns and eyes), what the culture was like (hunter/gatherer societies), and why they might have been made (rituals, etc.).