<p>I don't know if there's already a thread discussing this somewhere, but I'm curious whether you prefer to use the laptop or the ol'-fashioned pen and paper for taking notes and such in the classroom, and why.</p>
<p>I like using a notebook because when I write something down I remember it better than when I type it. But I think that’s more of a personal preference. I just like to get one big five-subject notebook.</p>
<p>Plus then you can doodle more easily 
I do bring my laptop to class though to check email/facebook and stuff before class (and during class if it’s boring, lol)</p>
<p>If there’s math involved, I go for the pen and paper. If not, I take notes on the computer. Computer notes are just easier to deal with and will always be legible/easy to find. Also, having a computer open during lecture keeps me awake.</p>
<p>I tried the whole laptop notes thing: epic fail. I am now back to good ol’ notebook and pen. PENCIL is my preference for math classes though.</p>
<p>^ Haha…same here. But I think that it depends on the class if it’s just straight out notes then I’ll use my laptop but if there’s graphs/charts involved I’ll go for paper.</p>
<p>I always go for paper and pencil. It’s too hard for me to format my notes on a laptop and pay attention at the same time. Maybe it’s just me…</p>
<p>I always do paper and pen. In my classes maybe ten people at the most out of the 300 or so are crazy enough to bring it to class.</p>
<p>I use my laptop. It keeps me awake, and with my disability I can’t really write with pen anyway. I never got to experience what school was like when you could genuinely take notes until junior year of high school, so being able to type makes a big difference for me. But it’s just more convenient anyway to have all the files right there, my friends and I end up sharing notes a lot and that makes it easier, and when I am writing a paper and I KNOW it says what I am looking for in there SOMEWHERE but I don’t know where, it’s nice to be able to ctrl f.</p>
<p>Definitely pen/pencil and paper. I get too distracted if I have my laptop on me, and I don’t think I take very good notes that way anyway. I’m never able to figure out the balance between typing down the words verbatim and paraphrasing them, since I type faster than I write but not fast enough to keep up with speech. (And if I do try to type that fast, I end up focusing more on getting the words down than on absorbing the information.) Plus, my typed notes always end up being more disorganized, which drives me insane.</p>
<p>I use my laptop, with a nifty piece of software specifically designed for taking notes. I can type way faster than I can handwrite, and years of frantic field interviewing has reduced my penmanship to an illegible journalist’s scribble anyway.</p>
<p>I’m really a pen and paper person. I always write with pen and paper, even when I’m writing something I need to hand in. I write it on paper before typing it. I’m so old-fashioned ^^</p>
<p>I guess its because I get distracted too easily when on the computer. I check facebook, CC, my email and do pretty much everything except what I’m supposed to do.</p>
<p>Pen and paper. I remember stuff better when I actually write it out. At my school people rarely bring laptops to class…I think there’s been one person in maybe two of my classes that has brought a laptop to class (in the past 2.5 years that I’ve been at my school).</p>
<p>Most of my classes are math and physics so pencil and paper is much better, especially for physics because you have to draw a lot of diagrams and figures.</p>
<p>Definitely pen and paper, although pencil if it’s math. I can’t focus when I have a computer in front of me - to many ways to distract myself and I’m really picky about formatting my notes, so that slows me up. Better to just do it by hand.</p>
<p>It depends on your personal preference. I’m a lefty, so I am extremely slow at writing! Because of that I try focusing on getting caught up in my notes, the teacher, my cramping hand, etc that it becomes too much of a distraction. Although, I am really fast at typing, so I prefer to type my notes with my computer when possible.</p>
<p>Another nice thing to do is to record your classes, especially if you ever get the luxury of a review day. From there you can listen to the class again and slow it down to write a study guide. Most professors/teachers do mind if you place your recorder close by them; just ask. </p>
<p>You can find some really nice digital recorders at staples for $40 to $60. Some of them you can download those files to your computer (which is nice if you or your friend is sick and missed a couple classes).</p>
<p>I had a professor say the other day “I expect everyone to be taking notes with a pen and paper. I know you are not sitting in the back of the classroom on your laptop taking notes.”</p>
<p>This was in a Computer Theory/Numerical Analysis (Math intensive) class. There is no possible way to take adequate notes in a math class on a laptop.</p>
<p>I had no idea laptops were allowed.</p>
<p>I usually prefer to take notes on my computer unless I’m in a math class. My computer keeps me awake, like many others said and I can type significantly faster than I can write. I can also study better from a screen, I have no idea why. But it makes things much easier for me.
As for math though, I just suck at math and I couldn’t even devise a quick way to do things on the computer in calc. I will stick to pencils for that…</p>
<p>Depends on the class. I’m not allowed my laptop in Japanese (because active discussion is required) and some English profs don’t like them (also for active discussion reasons). </p>
<p>For bigger classes, especially note-heavy classes like Soc/Psych/etc., I always use my laptop because, like most people, I can type a lot faster than I can write. </p>
<p>I haven’t taken math yet (though I have three required for my major), but that’s also a non-laptop subject, obviously. Taking math notes is usually something best done by hand.</p>
<p>Laptops are way too much trouble to carry around all day. It’s so much more simple to grab a notebook and pen. Plus eventually I do get tired of having to turn to the computer for everything, and I think it would get really old staring at a screen and typing all day in class, that puts too much strain on my eyes :(</p>