Summary
- Getting an iPad Pro allowed me to study more efficiently and effectively
- Apps like Liquid Text, GoodNote significantly changed how I read articles and write essays
- Going paperless means less clutter and better focus
When I was just starting university, I quickly became overwhelmed with the amounts of readings I had to do for lectures, seminars and assignments. And when you are in lectures or seminars, they give you new handouts and documents, and I always struggled to keep them organised. As a result, I just ended up forgetting where I put them and never saw them again.
Moreover, note-taking was a nightmare. I used to have a notebook for each subject (e.g. one for macroeconomics, one for statistics, etc). A mistake I often made was that I brought a different notebook for a different class. So, I decided to carry all the notebooks to campus with me. But the problem was my bag became so heavy with all the notebooks, textbooks, and other documents.
Eventually, I got sick of the ever-growing pile of paper and walking to campus with a bulky bag every day. So I decided to get an iPad to go paperless and become free of notebooks, textbooks and documents.
It’s been almost 3 years since I got my iPad, and it is now something I can’t live without. It certainly made my university life much easier in many aspects. In this blog post, I’d like to share how an iPad helped me study more efficiently and effectively.
Taking Notes
Since I got an iPad, note-taking became a breeze. I no longer had to carry 5 different notebooks to campus. Instead, I just took my iPad with me. There are many great note-taking apps available for the iPad, but my choice is GoodNotes 5.
Having tried many note-taking apps, I’d say most of them have exactly the same functions and features. But what I love about GoodNotes 5 is its tab functions. Just like a web browser, you can keep multiple notebooks open as a tab at the same time.
This feature is very useful when, for instance, I quickly need to review some concepts I learned in calculus class when I’m in statistics class. I can just switch notebooks with one tap.
GoodNotes 5 costs $7.99, which is about the same price as the other premium note-taking apps. It’s definitely worth the price, but if you don’t want to spend money, I’d recommend Microsoft’s OneNote. It may not have as many features as GoodNotes, but writing feels as smooth and it has a polished design.
Reading Articles and Papers
Reading articles became so easy with an app called Liquid Text. I fell in love with this app because it makes reading multiple articles and organising highlights so easy. Liquid Text is a PDF reader, but not an ordinary one.
My favourite feature is that you can keep multiple (more than 10) articles open at the same time so can you easily switch between them.
Also, I love how this app lets you organise highlights from every article in one place like a mind map. This feature saved me so much time when writing essays or reports because it lets me remember which author said what in which article.
If you’d like to know more about this app, I also made a video on my Youtube channel!
Organising Files
Finally, Evernote with Evernote Scannable is the best when it comes to file organisation. Evernote is free and has a beautiful design. It allows you to access your data from multiple devices too. All you need is to create a notebook for each subject, and folders for lecture, seminars and assignments within it.
Evernote Scannable also makes it effortless to scan all kinds of paper and save them into Evernote. Whenever I get a handout or new documents in lectures or seminars, I scan them with the app when I get home so I don’t forget where I put them and spend hours searching.
Closing Remarks
And there you have it! This is how an iPad made my uni life so much easier. If you’re planning to buy an iPad, I’d recommend getting an iPad Pro because you can use an Apple Pencil with it. iPad Pro still costs more than several hundred dollars, but you can get a much cheaper second-hand one from eBay or Facebook Market Place.
