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Pen & Paper vs iPad vs Laptop?

Im starting A levels at college in September (doing maths, history, environmental science) and I am already fortunate enough to have an ipad (albeit 6th gen) and a chromebook. However im not sure if i should use folders with paper, or the ipad with an apple pencil, or the chromebook when I am in lessons. Any advice?

Reply 1

CatLover1

I use an iPad for my notes at A Level. I do OCR A biology, Edexcel chemistry, OCR history.
I have found it very useful as all of my notes are available when I need them. I use GoodNotes 5. I also make flash cards on Quizlet and so can access them when I need to. It also allows you to, if your teacher provides PowerPoints, to copy or screenshot some of the pictures on the PowerPoint especially for science based A Levels. GoodNotes is good as you can access everything offline and then they will back up when you have Wi-Fi access if your school does not allow you. To download anything onto your iPad or GoodNotes then you will need Wi-Fi access or data.

If you can find the pdf of your textbook then you put that on there and so will not need to carry the heavy textbooks. I also really like to do past papers as revision and it is easy to show your teachers.

For history, one of my teachers teaches slowly and so you can ‘hand write’ notes on your iPad, but my other history teacher mostly lecture talks and so I use a word document and then send a PDF copy onto a GoodNotes notebook. I don’t personally like the whole page typing on GoodNotes. Just as a heads up, GoodNotes does not work with Word documents and so you will need to turn word documents into PDFs. Also, unless you do AQA, it is really hard to find the online textbook. Especially for my lecture style teacher who then gives worksheets or huge A3 tables, I like that I can scan the page and fill it online or make a table on a word document. I do not like the scanner on GoodNotes, so I use Adobe Scan, for the basic features you need it is free.

My friends do maths and say that the iPad works really well for them. They can take a screenshot of the question they are answering and can easily move things around or erase it and can show teachers.

I started by doing paper notes as I did not have an iPad that would work for notes. I now have an iPad Air 5, but previously had a very old iPad mini. For paper notes, you need to be very organised. For history I kept all my notes in a poly pocket folder and separated them out per lesson when in a specific unit with readings at the back along with assessments. After I was done I would move it into a folder at home. For biology and chemistry, I got given a notebook and so I highlighted the key terms and tried to space notes out.

Also, each day I then wrote my notes up onto a word documents for each of my subjects, so I wouldn’t lose it and could add more notes and then made flash cards. This meant that when I switched to digital in January, I did not have to have paper notes as well.

I know there is a debate about GoodNotes vs Notability. Personally I have not used Notability, but you have to pay each year and their organisation is very different and there is a limit to the sub folders you can have. GoodNotes is free up to 3 notebooks, Notability you have to pay to use.

I would recommend the iPad, but make sure that your school and teachers allow it. However, make sure you still have a notebook and some basic stationary as any exams you do in class or get given test papers they create, it is more effort to scan them. Sorry this is long and a bit wafflely. Let me know if you have any more questions

Reply 2

mymelo

Original post by nathanstudent

if you're used to writing on an ipad and it comes as naturally as paper and pen, then ipad is a good way to stay organised and avoid losing notes and make sure they're neat. but for essay subjects i think laptop is best. i only use my laptop for english (aside from annotations in books) and much prefer that to paper and pen. persoanlly i am so bad at keeping my folder organised, usually lose half my notes or they end up completely torn up so ipad/laptop is really helpful. you could use a combination of all maybe?

Reply 3

CatLover1

Just as an addition to my earlier post.
I found it ok typing on the iPad keyboard and could type relatively fast.
But a week before the end of term I ordered a wireless keyboard in prime day and it works really well.
I got the Logitech K380 keyboard. It is expensive (my parents got it for my bday along with an Apple Pencil), but quiet.
You need to decide what you want more. The feeling of writing on paper (paperlike screen protector will make it more like paper but not perfect and will wear down your Apple Pencil or stylus) and the speed of writing on paper (imo quicker than iPad) or the organisation and portability of an iPad.
Also if you do all your practice papers online, you need to do some paper ones as well so you know how to structure the maths questions and write an essay.

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 4

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

If you have an ipad and chromebook already then you could try each of the study methods during your first days of college and see which one works best for you.

-Kao (Lancaster Maths & Stats Student Ambassador)