Note Taking Supplies and Note Taking Tips
I am a huge fan of school supplies and other stationaries! They help me want to take pretty notes and give a little more excitement when studying. Making your notes aesthetically pleasing is an excellent step to getting good grades because you will feel way more organized than chicken scratch written here and there. I am not saying you need to go all out on notes and spend hours and hours turning your notes into artwork, but depending on the subject and denseness of class (lectures), you will need to adjust the time you choose to commit on taking notes. For example, although I love Spanish, because it is not the most important class in my major (nursing), I cannot afford to spend more than 30 minutes on taking notes for that class. On the other hand, anatomy and physiology II is one of the most important class I need to drill in my brain, thus I spend between an hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours to take notes. Now, here is the list of school supplies I use to take notes along with the cost, function of each object, and alternatives for them.
1) Ipad air 2 (and touch pen/pencil) –120$
Function: I use my Ipad to download the powerpoints/slides that my professors post before class and use my touch pen/pencil to add important information and details the teacher mentions. I use the apple books app to add notes since it’s free. At this point, I don’t really care about making the slides/ppt pretty because I am going to transcribe them on a word document afterward. The important tip to remember here is that you need to really listen to what the teacher says; a good way to make sure this happens is to write what the teacher says in your own words.
Alternative: Any tablet with a “matching” pen will do. Also, you can just use your laptop, but I prefer to use a tablet because when I transfer my notes on a word document, it’s easier to simply have the tablet next to my laptop. The cheapest (but not crappy) option would be the Amazon Fire HD tablet (80$).
2) MacBook Air 2015 –550$ (refurbished)
Function: I use my MacBook to take notes on the Microsoft Word document. To add a little excitement, I download new fonts to make my notes a little more unique. I first take notes without adding pictures, and then once I finish them, I add appropriate pictures that help me understand the material better. Don’t add pictures if you think they don’t help. I prefer to make my notes with a lot of details because those extra pieces of information help me comprehend the lecture better, but if you prefer super concise notes, just make sure you completely understand the material.
Alternative: Any laptop or even Chromebook will do. I like MacBook Air because it’s pretty light, and the battery life is long enough that I don’t have to carry the charger. I would not recommend a laptop with a screen smaller than 12 inches because it may decrease your attention span and vision. Also, instead of using Microsoft Word (since it’s pricy), you can simply use the free google docs. You can find pretty affordable laptops/Chromebook (between 300-500$) if you look on eBay.
3) Walmart binder –7$
Function: I use my binder to put my printed notes out together.
Alternative: Any binder will work. Notebooks do not work unless you are willing to write out your notes, which take way more time than typing.
4) Highlighters –21$
Function: I love my Stabilo highlighters! They have a variety of colors which allows me to color code my notes when I need to. However, they are pricy compared to Sharpie highlighters or other neon colors. I am a person who needs to be active while learning, meaning I need to write, highlight, or do something while reading or listening to lectures. Also, highlighting keywords can help you look for a definition in your notes much faster.
Alternative: As I mentioned, you can simply get the cheap ones (4~10$) from Walmart. However, I do encourage you to get at least 4 or 5 colors.
5) Ink pen set –12$
Function: I bought my ink pet set on Amazon. It has 6 different width tips. However, I realized that I only really use 0.05 and 0.1 for most of my notes. I type 95% of my notes, so I honestly will be okay with a cheap 2$ pen. However, my handwriting sucks with ball pens, thus I do make sure that I get ink pen whenever I’m buying one. I add information that I forgot to include on my already printed notes or add really simple, small diagrams or concept maps that help me look at the big picture of the chapter.
Alternative: If you are planning on printing your notes, you really don’t need a fancy pen set, however, it is a very good idea to know what type of pen (ink, ball, gel, etc.) your write better with. Once you find that out, you can pretty much get cheap pens for all types online or Walmart (1~5$).
6) Whiteout –4$ (for 2)
Function: Duh, I use it to erase mistakes made by pens (since I don’t like crossing off stuff).
Alternative: If you use a gel pen, there are certain pens that can be erased with a special eraser, so if your handwriting is best when written with gel pens, that’s a great option. Also, mine is a little more pricy because I bought character whiteouts. You easily find 1$ options at Walmart.
1) Ipad air 2 (and touch pen/pencil) –120$
Function: I use my Ipad to download the powerpoints/slides that my professors post before class and use my touch pen/pencil to add important information and details the teacher mentions. I use the apple books app to add notes since it’s free. At this point, I don’t really care about making the slides/ppt pretty because I am going to transcribe them on a word document afterward. The important tip to remember here is that you need to really listen to what the teacher says; a good way to make sure this happens is to write what the teacher says in your own words.
Alternative: Any tablet with a “matching” pen will do. Also, you can just use your laptop, but I prefer to use a tablet because when I transfer my notes on a word document, it’s easier to simply have the tablet next to my laptop. The cheapest (but not crappy) option would be the Amazon Fire HD tablet (80$).
2) MacBook Air 2015 –550$ (refurbished)
Function: I use my MacBook to take notes on the Microsoft Word document. To add a little excitement, I download new fonts to make my notes a little more unique. I first take notes without adding pictures, and then once I finish them, I add appropriate pictures that help me understand the material better. Don’t add pictures if you think they don’t help. I prefer to make my notes with a lot of details because those extra pieces of information help me comprehend the lecture better, but if you prefer super concise notes, just make sure you completely understand the material.
Alternative: Any laptop or even Chromebook will do. I like MacBook Air because it’s pretty light, and the battery life is long enough that I don’t have to carry the charger. I would not recommend a laptop with a screen smaller than 12 inches because it may decrease your attention span and vision. Also, instead of using Microsoft Word (since it’s pricy), you can simply use the free google docs. You can find pretty affordable laptops/Chromebook (between 300-500$) if you look on eBay.
3) Walmart binder –7$
Function: I use my binder to put my printed notes out together.
Alternative: Any binder will work. Notebooks do not work unless you are willing to write out your notes, which take way more time than typing.
4) Highlighters –21$
Function: I love my Stabilo highlighters! They have a variety of colors which allows me to color code my notes when I need to. However, they are pricy compared to Sharpie highlighters or other neon colors. I am a person who needs to be active while learning, meaning I need to write, highlight, or do something while reading or listening to lectures. Also, highlighting keywords can help you look for a definition in your notes much faster.
Alternative: As I mentioned, you can simply get the cheap ones (4~10$) from Walmart. However, I do encourage you to get at least 4 or 5 colors.
5) Ink pen set –12$
Function: I bought my ink pet set on Amazon. It has 6 different width tips. However, I realized that I only really use 0.05 and 0.1 for most of my notes. I type 95% of my notes, so I honestly will be okay with a cheap 2$ pen. However, my handwriting sucks with ball pens, thus I do make sure that I get ink pen whenever I’m buying one. I add information that I forgot to include on my already printed notes or add really simple, small diagrams or concept maps that help me look at the big picture of the chapter.
Alternative: If you are planning on printing your notes, you really don’t need a fancy pen set, however, it is a very good idea to know what type of pen (ink, ball, gel, etc.) your write better with. Once you find that out, you can pretty much get cheap pens for all types online or Walmart (1~5$).
6) Whiteout –4$ (for 2)
Function: Duh, I use it to erase mistakes made by pens (since I don’t like crossing off stuff).
Alternative: If you use a gel pen, there are certain pens that can be erased with a special eraser, so if your handwriting is best when written with gel pens, that’s a great option. Also, mine is a little more pricy because I bought character whiteouts. You easily find 1$ options at Walmart.