<p>In high school, and well all my other years of school before that, I've always taken notes by hand in just a binder or notebook like everyone else in my class does. I've only brought my computer to school when we had finals and were going over study guides or for when we were working on essays in English because it was just easier than remembering to email it to myself each night. I can type pretty fast and would like the ability to have neat, printed out notes in college to help with organization, but I'm not sure if its a good idea/typical to take notes on a computer? Or does everyone use their laptops? I'm just wondering what method you/most people in your classes use to take notes? Thanks for any responses!</p>
<p>Not everyone use a laptop, some still use the old pen and paper. In fact, most people don’t use a laptop to take notes in college. Many I’ve seen write it in their notebooks or memorize it in their heads.</p>
<p>My experience has been that in small classes (<20 students), everyone takes notes by hand. In medium ones (<50-60), maybe about a quarter use their laptops. In large lectures, it’s half and half. Personally, I type very fast, but I still MUCH prefer to take notes by hand. When you have your computer in front of you, it’s extremely difficult to stick to note-taking and not have the internet open on the side. I see it every single day in class-- everyone has Facebook open, and it’s just a completely unnecessary distraction. Also, handwriting things (for me at least) helps me remember the information better because I’m not just mindlessly typing it. I’d recommend taking a notebook to class for the first week and then decide on a class-by-class basis what you want to do.</p>
<p>Ok thanks! Maybe I’ll just bring both and see what works for each class</p>
<p>I still use pen and paper in all of my classes because it is just easier for me plus the laptop and Internet are just a big distraction. I always bring my laptop to lectures just in case I ever need.</p>
<p>It really depends on your school and your classes so I’d do without your laptop for the first few classes and see what other people do.</p>
<p>I go to a semi-small LAC and honestly, most everyone uses pen and paper and the people who use laptops can be annoying when everyone else is hearing their keys clicking or they’re just on Pinterest anyway.</p>
<p>Try googling the Cornell Method. It helps.</p>
<p>^Personally, i hated the Cornell method. Notes are kind of a personal thing though.</p>
<p>I tried taking notes on a computer, but I found that I remembered better with a pen and paper. I take notes on looseleaf paper, neatly organized in a little binder. I have a separate binder for each class that contains the syllabus, notes, returned classwork, assignments to turn it, etc. Keeps me completely organized:)</p>
<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I’m a biochem major/ Vagelos scholar at Penn. For my freshmen year, I took 4 science/math classes each sem and one humanities. From my experience, most people in my humanities classes took notes on their laptops…it was more convenient that way since most people can type faster than they write + many humanities classes are more “relaxed” so it’s inevitable that people like to occasionally check Facebook or go online shopping during class. In the science and math classes, most people use pen and paper b/c there’s a lot of formulas/greek symbols involved so it’s harder to type out. Plus, professors often go over example problems and those are much easier to copy down by hand.</p>
<p>With my eyes closed. </p>
<p>Sent from my HTC Glacier using CC</p>
<p>I use a digital recorder than write things down later if need be on my computer.</p>
<p>You should ask a professor before recording them.</p>
<p>I know it probably sounds really geeky, and expensive, but I use my Livescribe pen for note heavy classes. You have to use a special paper to take notes, you can also print some as well though I never have.</p>
<p>What I really loved about this pen is that while I was writing notes, the microphone in the pen was recording the lectures. So later, I could tap my writing and it’d play back what the instructor was saying at the time. A lifesaver during exam studying! You can upload the writing/recording to the software on your computer. I plan on using this pen often for my French classes this fall.</p>
<p>I use a laptop and Evernote for my Bio class and use pen and paper for just about everything else.</p>
<p>It depends on the class. For science classes, pen and paper because there’s often diagrams and what not. For other classes, I use my netbook.</p>
<p>Tracy described it perfectly. Small classes usually see people taking notes by hand just because some professors don’t want you to take notes on a laptop and not see your face in a class of 15 people. On the other hand, in large impersonal lectures (50+ kids) about 50-60% take notes on laptops while the others take notes by hand… and some don’t take notes at all.</p>
<p>I usually just remember the information, but I’m going to try to start taking notes, by hand of course, at my new college this Fall.</p>
<p>I take notes by hand. I learned how to take notes in 9th grade (thanks to my history teacher who exclusively lectured (no handouts, no board, no overhead projector) and I cannot type fast enough, with enough accuracy to take notes by computer. I carry a computer throughout the day regardless, but that is not for note taking. As far as methodology goes, I pretty much take as much information down as possible.</p>
<p>I always take notes on my laptop in lectures because the professors tend to move so quickly that I can’t get everything down by hand. But if I’m in a smaller class that is more discussion-based, I always use a pen and paper.</p>
<p>I prefer pen and paper; you can memorize more than just typing away on your laptop.</p>