Medical School Note-Taking

[Member 0922]

So what does everyone use to take notes in medical school?

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a convertible PC/tablet to take notes on. Does anyone use these?

Or do you just type notes, like on Microsoft Word?

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[WillburCobb]

So what does everyone use to take notes in medical school?

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a convertible PC/tablet to take notes on. Does anyone use these?

Or do you just type notes, like on Microsoft Word?

I think it's somewhat school dependent. At my school most print slides and add notes by hand. Per the SDN populous OneNote and Notability on a tablet are quite popular. FWIW I personally like printing slides and taking notes by hand. I just bought an iPad and a Bluetooth enabled stylus and will try it with different note taking programs to see what I like best. If I can't find anything comparable to printing and annotating then I'll just go back to that.

 

[Anicetus]

I was about to create a new thread for this, but good thing I found this thread!!

Any sorts of note taking strategies would be greatly appreciated on this thread!! I was a horrible note-taker in college (Just used spiral notebook+chicken scratch to supplement the slides, which I ultimately memorized to death), so I am looking for good note strategies in lecture settings or even PBL settings with some clinical cases that we may be responsible for on exams.

Is it really worth purchasing an iPad for the popular applications?

BUMP!

 

[frosted_flake]

I think it's somewhat school dependent. At my school most print slides and add notes by hand. Per the SDN populous OneNote and Notability on a tablet are quite popular. FWIW I personally like printing slides and taking notes by hand. I just bought an iPad and a Bluetooth enabled stylus and will try it with different note taking programs to see what I like best. If I can't find anything comparable to printing and annotating then I'll just go back to that.

There is nothing like pen to paper! I had the SurfacePro and I felt as if I couldn't absorb the material as well when it was not on the paper.

 

[Leslie_Knope]

There is nothing like pen to paper! I had the SurfacePro and I felt as if I couldn't absorb the material as well when it was not on the paper.

I'll never give up paper. Maybe it shows my age, but I seem to learn better when pen and paper are involved.

 

[Shazam243]

I prefer printing out slides and writing on them, as well. But, isn't that a lot of printing? Aren't medical school powerpoints like 200-300 slides per lecture or something?

Edit: Or do you mean you simply write in lined notebook?

 

[frosted_flake]

I'll never give up paper. Maybe it shows my age, but I seem to learn better when pen and paper are involved.

When I start med school (hopefully 2016!) I won't be the only one using paper. Even at my college people use laptops to take notes in class. I find it so distracting and disconnected.

 

[BABSstudent]

I didn't take a single page of notes during my first year. Instead, I focused on only listening and understanding when I went to class. There was just too much info to take notes and our powerpoints contained lecture notes in the notes section. That was enough for me.

 

[Anicetus]

I didn't take a single page of notes during my first year. Instead, I focused on only listening and understanding when I went to class. There was just too much info to take notes and our powerpoints contained lecture notes in the notes section. That was enough for me.

There was a number of your type in undergrad. It wasn't something I could really grasp but it works for those that are purely good listeners with good memory.

 

[BABSstudent]

There was a number of your type in undergrad. It wasn't something I could really grasp but it works for those that are purely good listeners with good memory.

I wasn't like that in undergrad. I quickly learned my note taking method wouldn't work in medical school (day 1 of medical school anatomy). It took me 2 quarters to find my best way of learning, which was listening and then talking it through with other medical students. But whatever works best for you, do it!