i'd like to keep growing

It’s almost 5am here so bear with me here.

I think that it heavily depends on your learning preferences. Personally, my current preferred notebook is the spirax lecture book. The margins are printed. The pages can be torn out easily and have holes for binders (even though I don’t use binders). I use notebooks for subjects where there are too many slides and the pacing is too fast. For other subjects, especially maths, print out the lecture slides and just write on them. Find a way to organise them that suits you. I like having a notepad that acts as scrap paper. These are cheap and essential in civil engineering. You will be doing a lot of calculations and it’s nice to not have to worry about whether or not it is neat and wasting the books/paper you do like. Notepads also keep the sheets together, making organisation easier. When sharing ideas or working out with your peers, it’s nice to have a dedicated space for writing. I know that it makes me feel better when people aren’t writing all over my notes but can still explain their calculations to me.

I think the less you get attached to your lecture notes, the better. I find it easier to engage with the material when I am writing so I try to not let their appearance affect me. I refine my lecture notes into study notes later on.

Some of my friends use a surface pro so they can take notes on the lecture slides. Some of them have five in one books. Some of them type out their lecture notes.

I tried using lecture pads before. I could organise lecture notes and slides in binders but I found that it was a little time consuming. I would rather spend my time practicing and understanding concepts as opposed to organising them.

In the end it depends on what makes you happy. Consider what page weights you like, how far you like the lines ruled, do you want printed margins? What makes you comfortable? When you look at the cover, does it make you want to do work? One of my favourite notebooks is an A4 hardcover black and red book. The lines are black and a little less than 7mm apart. There are no printed margins but the paper is amazing to write on. It makes me feel productive and happy. I hope you find the little black and red notebook of your heart.

Also get one of those plastic document holders so your notes are all in one place.

I hope this helps,Anna

hello! i’m an asian-australian based in sydney