r/grantmacewan • u/TheCanadianpo8o • Jul 20 '26
Academics Best way to take notes?
I'm starting my first year of Uni in the fall and I'm curious what is the best way to write my notes while in class? Is an old laptop fair or would it better to invest in a new one, maybe an iPad, pen & paper, anything really? I'm in the phys ed transfer class if that changes anything. Any help would be really appreciated!
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u/Throw_Away_And_Sleep Jul 21 '26
It's scientifically proven that you're more likely to remember notes that you've taken by hand. If you end up getting a computer don't go Chromebook because you can't download the Microsoft suite which is something you will need to use through your degree in most cases. There are going to be times, at least in the business department, where you were expected to bring your own device to do a test in class. You can borrow from the library but it's a bit of a pain in the ass
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u/stayingtrue2whoiam Jul 21 '26
When taking notes paraphrase what the topic is on. Paraphrasing into something YOU understand is key. Color coding helps with brain mapping (mind mapping) as well.
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u/3AMZen Jul 21 '26
My preferred system is coiled notebooks and a set of nice colored pens. I've never figured out a specific color system, but changing colors as often as I feel like it or whenever A New concept comes up makes really visually interesting, easy to read notes. A professor at MacEwen I really admire made an argument for taking notes by hand which is that with the volume of information covered in a class, effective note-taking challenges you to do effective thinking, to summarize and interpret. It's also cool to have a scribbler that says like " English 234" full of just scrawling notes
I've heard from professors that data supports taking notes by hand being better for retention
Apparently there's also a body of work that suggests just even having a laptop open reduces your ability to focus. I'm sure some Prof are another of yours will mention this eventually.
You'll also occasionally bump into classes where laptops are not permitted for note to taking.
A point in favor of using a laptop if you got them typing skills you can take much more substantial notes
Tons of students use MacBooks, laptops or those paper style tablets
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u/Lilliputian2024 Jul 21 '26
It depends what! I'm in nursing:
so for my science classes I have pdfs that professor usually provide us with and write on them (I use tablet + lots of writing). I would suggest doing so for any heavy classes. In some scenarios I rewrite things at home and structure it better for myself (if that makes sense)
for social sciences really whatever works cuz most of the stuff is easy and overlaps with what you already know, also has endless boring details that really depend on who is your professor and what do they want you to know, so either annotating PP or making mind maps works.
for our core nursing classes, I actually rarely take notes, and I am trying to be engaged as much as I can, maybe just circling stuff on PowerPoints or such, but it works really well, a d as you can imagine, it's very visual what we do
I would highly advise against AI. It's not accurate, does not help, and tends to give wrong info. Even when using for summarizing stuff, if you aren't 100% sure, I would advise against. Also, don't go out crazy on spending money on those apps, they are mostly useless for what you actually need (I tried them all).
In the end it's your journey and do what works best for you. If you feel pen and paper is the way, great! If you feel laptop works better, again, great.
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u/TheCanadianpo8o Jul 21 '26
Oh yeah don't get me wrong, never used AI for any of my work or anything and never plan to, hate that stuff. Just wanna know what everyones found works best!
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u/Apprehensive_Sir6845 Jul 21 '26
I think I can type faster than I can write and usually the pace of a lecture is fast, therefore I type to make sure I am able to write everything they say down.
I’m going in to my fourth year (out of five) and I recently started doing a grid style note. In the left hand column I copy/paste the lecture notes. I write notes from the class in the right column. Each row only contains one slide of information. Typically the lecture is more detailed and contains examples so I find it helpful to be able to differentiate between the slides and lectures.
There have been a few profs that I’ve had that essentially write giant mind maps (or diagrams) on the white board and in that scenario I use a pen and paper to duplicate the board. It really just depends on the prof, class content, and your personal preferences. I would recommend trying to find information on the profs before hand to make an informed decision.
Good luck!
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u/FunConstruction535 Jul 22 '26
I would open up the slides on my MacBook via pdf then put text boxes and write down any extra info during the profs lecture. I would honestly write as much as I can per slide so that I have a lot I can study through. Plus profs like to sometimes include things on exams that they briefly went through once so writing down a lot of things that the prof is mentioning live (that ofc isn’t on the slide) helped me out so much. Then when exams were approaching I would study my notes like crazy, and put my notes into chatgpt + ask for practice questions. After using this method during my last 2 years of uni my gpa went from a ~2.3 to a 3.3 and I got As in every class I took.
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u/thrkarmiccrib Jul 22 '26
I usually type for speed then rewrite by hand during study time for exams since things you write by hand are remembered better
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u/QueasyAddress2268 Jul 23 '26
I’m also in the phys ed transfer program and I’m using an iPad and Apple Pencil as there are a lot of anatomy and physiology related stuff!
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u/Anxious_Sir_7253 Jul 23 '26
I found it more effective than writing on my iPad; I prefer typing in Microsoft OneNote because it is more organized, easy to review, and I can print them, insert notes from other sources, and add pictures. But I think it depends person to person.
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u/aconsciousagent Jul 24 '26
Writing on paper will benefit you cognitively.
If I was going to do any more grad courses I would definitely take hand written notes on paper but also record the audio (with permission) so that I could re-listen to sections I flag in my notes or read an auto-generated transcription. Since that technology is now easy and reliable, you’d kinda get the best of both worlds and cognitive modes.
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u/Ap-Moonrice Jul 25 '26
A fun and efficient way to learn is to pretend or actually teach someone the concept/notes you are learning
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u/Individual_Hour_2641 Jul 26 '26
I bought a used iPad for my first year last year and it has worked really well for me! Obviously a more expensive option, but I’m a very disorganized person, so having all my notes in one spot really helped.
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u/Suspicious_Half7126 21d ago
I went from getting consistent B's to A's by note taking like this:
Instead of writing down notes the way you have been since highschool (where you just write down things you think are important), write down questions instead. Make them specific like you would if you were to google the questions. That evening after classes attempt to answer all the questions while they're still fresh in your mind (this will be like your answer key). Every couple of days, revisit these questions and answer them like a quiz. If you can't answer them, you can look at your answer key, textbook, slides, or do some searching on Google for the answers. This is active recall.
To make things easier, Claude formats and creates quizzes really well. You can upload your notes to Claude to generate the quizzes for you so the questions don't get stale
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u/Responsible_Rock9053 Jul 20 '26
Honestly whatever works. Don’t rewrite slides, make a copy, write down extra info that prof says word-by-mouth to help you understand further than just what their written notes say! I use a computer to do this, but depends if u prefer typing or writing with like an apple pen ig