Should I go fully digital? Need some opinions ASAP!

[zbolland]

Hey guys,

For Christmas, I managed to score myself an iPad + Apple Pencil which obviously has a built-in note-taking function thanks to Noteability! As such, I am really considering moving completely online for my notes and my study. Over the past term, I have battled with an array of worksheets, random pages and books that are in the most random of locations. So my question to the ATARNotes community:

Is it worth transferring from writing notes/studying in book to completely online?

Whilst I understand the arguments for writing in my book (i.e. better memory retention), it might be worthwhile writing notes online and study/remembering them through active recall mechanisms, using both Notion and Anki. Could anyone vouch for this? I would love to be able to get this clear before the term begins so that I can transfer myself fully online.

For the record, I do primarily writing-based subjects. I do History Ext, Modern, Economics, Legal Studies, Mathematics and English Adv. I would either write my notes in notability on my iPad or directly onto my laptop, to which I will write them into AnkiApp and Notion to begin a process of an active recall by interrupting the so-called 'forgetting curve' (yes, I have watched a lot of Ali Abdaal videos and have been inspired, but I used this for BIO last year and it worked out well).

Really unsure about how to go about it! Thank you!

[The Cat In The Hat]

Hey guys,

For Christmas, I managed to score myself an iPad + Apple Pencil which obviously has a built-in note-taking function thanks to Noteability! As such, I am really considering moving completely online for my notes and my study. Over the past term, I have battled with an array of worksheets, random pages and books that are in the most random of locations. So my question to the ATARNotes community:

Is it worth transferring from writing notes/studying in book to completely online?

Whilst I understand the arguments for writing in my book (i.e. better memory retention), it might be worthwhile writing notes online and study/remembering them through active recall mechanisms, using both Notion and Anki. Could anyone vouch for this? I would love to be able to get this clear before the term begins so that I can transfer myself fully online.

For the record, I do primarily writing-based subjects. I do History Ext, Modern, Economics, Legal Studies, Mathematics and English Adv. I would either write my notes in notability on my iPad or directly onto my laptop, to which I will write them into AnkiApp and Notion to begin a process of an active recall by interrupting the so-called 'forgetting curve' (yes, I have watched a lot of Ali Abdaal videos and have been inspired, but I used this for BIO last year and it worked out well).

Really unsure about how to go about it! Thank you!

Can you take handwritten notes on your iPad? Thus, it would be (almost) like handwriting, only online or something (I've never done anything like that so I don't know what it's like)?
(I typed all my notes during year 12 and expect to do as much the same as I can for uni, btw.)

[angrybiscuit]

I used digital notetaking this year and here's my experience:

1. Your writing will be much slower.
MUCH slower online than it is on paper, so bear that in mind. So no, I did not use notability for writing essays because the 'feel' of it was different. But this is different for everyone.

2. You still need to organise physical handouts provided by your teachers.
While you can scan physical handouts and transfer it onto Notability or whatever app, it is troublesome and you might find that keeping hard copies are a better option in this manner. Teachers might not also be too fond of this idea as I found. In the end, you might do a hybrid of digital and traditional note-taking.

3. Eye fatigue
The headaches were often unbearable. Especially on those days where I used my iPad for hours on end, so bear this in mind too.

A couple of suggestions:
- keep your notes succinct. I wrote biology and psychology notes on iPad, which I could condense and make diagrams for. Avoid unnecessary note-taking as you will find that you will barely look over them. The whole premise of active recall is to be able to recall information without aid, and so simply rereading notes defeats its purpose.

- use notability for doing practice exams/tests.
This was perhaps the BEST use throughout the year. I didn't use it to write notes per se, I used it for practice exams/tests. Instead of a buttload of papers stacked in my room, I only had an iPad which was awesome in terms of organisation. I would simply upload the exam to notability and start writing away.

- use notion to make your own questions
I used notion to list down ALL questions regarding the topic in question. I went through them answering them on the iPad. For revision or study, I went through the questions, picking out the ones I didn't get and went from there. It's a great method for active recall

If you have any questions or want any more advice on digital note taking or active recall, let me know

[zbolland]

I used digital notetaking this year and here's my experience:

1. Your writing will be much slower.
MUCH slower online than it is on paper, so bear that in mind. So no, I did not use notability for writing essays because the 'feel' of it was different. But this is different for everyone.

2. You still need to organise physical handouts provided by your teachers.
While you can scan physical handouts and transfer it onto Notability or whatever app, it is troublesome and you might find that keeping hard copies are a better option in this manner. Teachers might not also be too fond of this idea as I found. In the end, you might do a hybrid of digital and traditional note-taking.

3. Eye fatigue
The headaches were often unbearable. Especially on those days where I used my iPad for hours on end, so bear this in mind too.

A couple of suggestions:
- keep your notes succinct. I wrote biology and psychology notes on iPad, which I could condense and make diagrams for. Avoid unnecessary note-taking as you will find that you will barely look over them. The whole premise of active recall is to be able to recall information without aid, and so simply rereading notes defeats its purpose.

- use notability for doing practice exams/tests.
This was perhaps the BEST use throughout the year. I didn't use it to write notes per se, I used it for practice exams/tests. Instead of a buttload of papers stacked in my room, I only had an iPad which was awesome in terms of organisation. I would simply upload the exam to notability and start writing away.

- use notion to make your own questions
I used notion to list down ALL questions regarding the topic in question. I went through them answering them on the iPad. For revision or study, I went through the questions, picking out the ones I didn't get and went from there. It's a great method for active recall

If you have any questions or want any more advice on digital note taking or active recall, let me know

Interesting thought! Notion has been a dream so far these holidays, allowing me to actively recall almost all my content from my subjects. Also, the iPad practice exam situation is incredible. I did a few practice exams/questions before a mid-holiday exam for tutoring and it was a dream. So easy to keep track of them as well!

Thanks for the advice! I agree with you about slower note-taking on the iPad, but I will see what works for me in the early weeks of next term and adjust accordingly. Rereading notes has never and will never work for me, so I have condensed my notes and created summaries for each subject, which I think have been working?? Anyway, thank you so much for the input, much appreciated