Note taking Question

[DoCt0rPeTe]

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I was just wondering-

what do you guys use for note taking in med school? I want to buy a tablet for my laptop, and I was even considering buying an ipad with a stylus pen to write on it.

If you do use a tablet, whether it be pc or external, which ones work well?

 

[DrYoda]

No one really takes notes at my school. They hand out gigantor detailed note packets and everyone just reads those. Rarely there might be something worth scribbling into the margin in pen.

 

[islandCrazy]

I really wanted a tablet but since I'm trying to come out of this with the least amount of debt I got a netbook. However I now know it was the best idea because I hardly take notes and when I do its old school pencil and pen.

I say wait until after the first week of school then buy it.

 

[ShinyDome19]

I got the HP TouchSmart Tm2 and it has been pretty useful. I dont really take notes in class, but for drawing out pathways and stuff when I study it has been nice. Its also pretty nice for taking practice tests and not having to print them out, just write directly on the PDF

 

[link2swim06]

What notes? I have not been to class in 2 months lol.

Really, class is a waste of time for most. For most schools everything you need is in powerpoints or a book.

My advice, sleep in, don't waste your time with class or trying to take notes unless the activity of taking notes MAKES you memorize it. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

 

[marele86]

My advice, sleep in, don't waste your time with class or trying to take notes unless the activity of taking notes MAKES you memorize it. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

I agree with this. I'm trying to train myself to learn without taking notes, since I'll be expected to do that when attendings tell me things in the clinical years.

I don't take notes until a few days before the test, when I condense everything down to 2-3 pages. Working pretty well so far.

 

[SirGecko]

To be honest I love the idea of tablets (and even have a tablet computer that I only recently replaced with a traditional laptop because it was acting up) but I cannot honestly recommend it as a useful purchase for medical school. When I was an engineer it was great because I used it to collect all of my notes for the year into a searchable notebook. I even did my problem sets on the thing, it was great. As a medical student though the only thing I ever make in the way of notes is summary sheets while watching videos of lectures and for that I just use the good old pens and blank white printer paper. A lot of classes last year just gave me a note set and this year it is either watching micro lectures or reading robbins.

The only way I'd say this was a worthwhile purchase is if the majority of classes at your school lend themselves to note taking on a slide set. (for me that was only biochem, and even then it was much more effective just to create my pen and paper review sheets)

Now of course your experience could differ but I was disappointed with how much use I could get out of my tablet. (it was great for engineering so it wasn't a waste of money but as a med school tool I didn't find it useful)

 

[ImNotBritish]

I've got to cast a vote in favor of the HP TouchSmart tm2. It is easily the best purchase I made for med school--even over my books and stethoscope. My school deals with powerpoints only (and even notes on the board, for one class), and we definitely do not get note packets or videos of the lecture. Many of our anatomy lectures consist of about 10 unlabelled diagrams for 2 hours worth of lecture. It's awesome to be able to draw in labels, circle things, and get the benefit of having written it all out myself - I think it makes it stick more. It's especially great for histology, where I can just circle a cell, and draw a line out of the slide to label it. I favor the tm2 over a plain tablet, because you can use it in tablet and traditional form. So, if you're typing a paper or an email you can just use the regular keyboard rather than the on-screen keyboard. Also, Ctrl+F searches any text already on the slides as well as my handwriting, and all of my notes are in one place with no risk of losing a piece of paper, etc.

 

[Cruzinman]

MD school 1970-74. Now I really regret cutting 12th grade typing class. Never thought I would need it..

 

[Benu]

I use this:

And I'm not even kidding.

 

[Cruzinman]

Agree. I used to carry my battery powered pencil sharpener to class, and it really pissed people off.