Hello everyone! I've recently been accepted into PT school and was wondering what any current PT students would recommend in terms of supplies they found useful, as well as how they took notes in and out of class? I am planning on getting a 2 inch binder to hold printed powerpoint slides for each class and after each exam switch the material to a larger binder. Do you think that is feasible? Is there too much material to print off all those slides (3-6 slides per side of a page), or should I invest in an ipad, apple pen and notability for example? Thanks!
Recommended Supplies & Note-taking/Studying Method for PT School?
- Thread starter Yogic
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Nice I would like to see current students take notes, what supplies they use, and for each class specifically. I'd imagine patho is different than therapeutic exercise.
Most people in my class use their laptops or tablets to take notes on, the professors upload the ppt before class and everyone downloads it, personally I just write directly on my slides on my computer. I think a few of my classmates did paper notes for a bit but at least 95% of the class uses full electronic now, and as for how many slides per page, that would have to be your decision with trial/error of what personally works for you - but it is A LOT of information so be prepared to burn through your printer allowance (not sure your schools policy on this) and then have to spend more $$ and then you just have binders full of notes at the end, electronic is they way to go (all your info will always be in the same place with easy access).
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We learned from mostly Powerpoints, but I'm still in my first year. I know that most students just download the Powerpoints and take notes underneath each slide. I think only one student uses her tablet to take notes directly on the slide. A lot of students like printing out all the slides, but that can be very expensive. We have access to free printing from another university, and that is the only reason that I print out some of the powerpoint slides.
I've been printing 6 slides per page, but some people print 2 or 3 per page. It's hard to see some figures, but I can read most of the information. Some classes use too many photos, so it wouldn't be useful for me to print those slides out (like Anatomy and Kinesiology).
I would see how much your school charges for printing.
I usually keep one 1.5 inch binder in my backpack with all the current handouts for all my classes, because I mostly use my laptop. At home, I'll have more binders for the older handouts that I don't need to take to class every day. Many classmates use a planner, but I just use Google Calendar so that I always have my planner with me (on my computer or on my phone). I recommend getting college-ruled paper and solid white computer paper for drawing on, dividers for the binder, post-it notes, index cards (if you want to make flashcards), a bunch of pens or colored pencils in different colors (my favorite are the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens), stapler, printer, 3-hole puncher, highlighers and a whiteboard and whiteboard markers.
I've been printing 6 slides per page, but some people print 2 or 3 per page. It's hard to see some figures, but I can read most of the information. Some classes use too many photos, so it wouldn't be useful for me to print those slides out (like Anatomy and Kinesiology).
I would see how much your school charges for printing.
I usually keep one 1.5 inch binder in my backpack with all the current handouts for all my classes, because I mostly use my laptop. At home, I'll have more binders for the older handouts that I don't need to take to class every day. Many classmates use a planner, but I just use Google Calendar so that I always have my planner with me (on my computer or on my phone). I recommend getting college-ruled paper and solid white computer paper for drawing on, dividers for the binder, post-it notes, index cards (if you want to make flashcards), a bunch of pens or colored pencils in different colors (my favorite are the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens), stapler, printer, 3-hole puncher, highlighers and a whiteboard and whiteboard markers.
iPad + Bluetooth keyboard/case + Notability + automatic backup to Google Drive works fantastic for me, and I think the majority of my classmates feel the same. We all have iPads as we have to take our exams on them (couple people use laptops instead but 90% use iPads for the better portability and battery life). We do have a few paper note takers. I don't think there is anybody who prints off slides though, I think the ones that hand write notes still download the pdfs and then take notes in a notebook.
I wouldn't try to go fully paper unless you feel strongly that is the only way you can learn effectively. Printing off all the course materials provided in PT school would probably be an unmanageable amount of paper in a semester where you have 6+ classes and 3 or more of them also have labs. I also find having quick digital access to all of my course materials from previous semesters to be very helpful when I need to do a quick lookup of something that is relevant to a current class, and that wouldn't be possible with paper. Services like Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, etc also allow you to take notes on whatever device you choose in school (ipad for me), pull them up on a different device when studying at home if desired (eg my laptop), and even pull them up on a phone if you want to do a little reading when you are out and about, sitting in a waiting room or something.
So for me, going 100% digital with course materials was the way to go. I do like having hard copies of textbooks though, but I don't usually tote them to school. With all that said, some people really feel strongly they learn better with paper. For me I learn better if I can type notes so that get things written faster and I can spend more time listening to what is being said by the teacher and less time distracted by the process of writing. But some people can write and listen at the same time better (though evidence strongly suggests true 100% multi-tasking by the brain doesn't really happen), and some say you "deep learn" better by hand writing on paper because it makes you process information more because you have to try to shorten it down to the key words.
So you'll have to think about it and weigh out the pros and cons and decide what works for you. But realistically for the amount of course materials you're going to want to have easy access to on a daily basis, it would be a lot of paper to tote around without going at least partially digital. I guess all the PT students in the days before laptops did it and graduated just fine...but they also had to walk uphill in the snow both ways to school and use their own severed left arm as a goniometer, so they were tougher than us modern day whiny millenials. 😉 We also get provided with a lot more slides and content then PT students of former generations did.
I wouldn't try to go fully paper unless you feel strongly that is the only way you can learn effectively. Printing off all the course materials provided in PT school would probably be an unmanageable amount of paper in a semester where you have 6+ classes and 3 or more of them also have labs. I also find having quick digital access to all of my course materials from previous semesters to be very helpful when I need to do a quick lookup of something that is relevant to a current class, and that wouldn't be possible with paper. Services like Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, etc also allow you to take notes on whatever device you choose in school (ipad for me), pull them up on a different device when studying at home if desired (eg my laptop), and even pull them up on a phone if you want to do a little reading when you are out and about, sitting in a waiting room or something.
So for me, going 100% digital with course materials was the way to go. I do like having hard copies of textbooks though, but I don't usually tote them to school. With all that said, some people really feel strongly they learn better with paper. For me I learn better if I can type notes so that get things written faster and I can spend more time listening to what is being said by the teacher and less time distracted by the process of writing. But some people can write and listen at the same time better (though evidence strongly suggests true 100% multi-tasking by the brain doesn't really happen), and some say you "deep learn" better by hand writing on paper because it makes you process information more because you have to try to shorten it down to the key words.
So you'll have to think about it and weigh out the pros and cons and decide what works for you. But realistically for the amount of course materials you're going to want to have easy access to on a daily basis, it would be a lot of paper to tote around without going at least partially digital. I guess all the PT students in the days before laptops did it and graduated just fine...but they also had to walk uphill in the snow both ways to school and use their own severed left arm as a goniometer, so they were tougher than us modern day whiny millenials. 😉 We also get provided with a lot more slides and content then PT students of former generations did.
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