<p>This might be an odd question, but how do most students at Penn take notes? Do people still take notes on binder paper/notebooks or do most people now just bring their computers to lectures and take electronic notes??</p>
<p>It’s mixed in terms of electronic notes vs. traditional handwritten. My laptop’s kind of big/annoying to lug around so I go with a notebook (in high school I used binder/paper, but found it a lot easier with a notebook here at Penn because you don’t have to worry about the loose leaf getting out of order or whatever)</p>
<p>I use a different notebook for every class. I take more mathy classes though so a laptop isn’t the best anyway. In my humanities classes plenty of people used laptops to take notes.</p>
<p>I’d recommend just bringing a different notebook for every class, like Venkat suggested. Such notebooks are incredibly inexpensive as well, and you will likely not even use all of it.</p>
<p>do u take notes in writing seminars or is it basically just peer editing?</p>
<p>You have discussions in writing seminars. I never took notes, but if you’re a super over achiever (or if you have an abnoxiously difficult one) you might want to/need to take notes.</p>
<p>i stopped using notebooks my last year in favor of my netbook (10" screen laptop)</p>
<p>fun if you can manage with only that, but i was also good at copying formulas into word with it (which takes some practice) - since i didn’t even use pencil and notebook for my engineering classes</p>
<p>Is it common to record lectures?? I’m debating whether I should buy all these gadgets like a voice recorder / Live Scribe Pen / computer note taking programs or just go old school with notebooks and pens.</p>
<p>No need for any of those gadgets, lol.</p>
<p>xxmichellexx, i think you’re a bit anxious about Penn (from reading this post and others), which is natural, but a voice recorder or something is waaaay overboard. It sounds like you really, really want to do well at Penn, and I’m sure you will since you seem to be the type of person who is really concerned about their grades. However, make sure you have some fun too and enjoy yourself; there is really no need to stress out before you get to Penn. Experiment around w/ classes, and you’ll find what type of note-taking, etc, suits you! Just don’t worry about it now.</p>
<p>People do use voice recorders (some professors even record the lectures and put them online in case you have to miss a lecture or ten), but it’s rare to see that. I’m a personal fan of traditional pen & paper… using a laptop just encourages messing around on websites like this, and some professors don’t allow laptops… but really, just do what feels comfortable and efficient for you.</p>