Ross, I don’t understand the last part of your sentence.

He had somebody take notes for him?

no. the original implies that other students ditched some classes hence they didn't take any notes. but this guy was a good student (I suppose) so he didn't miss a class and therefore had all lecture notes written into his textbook(s)

makes sense?

Yes, but your translation doesn’t match that explanation. It’s extremely wordy. And the first sentence should have the past perfect.

past perfect, that's right. didn't think about it. as for too wordy, what's wrong with a wordy sentence?

The fact that it ends up sounding more like an explanation than it does a translation. That’s the case in your translation.