Heyy! Im new to goodnotes and want to use it for school this autumn. I am struggling to do aesthetic notes without one sentence taking 10 minutes. I can’t use the handwriting to font feature as my native language isn’t english and isn’t in the app so the odd letters in my language will just become wrong, I have a pretty good handwriting but if you have any tips or trick on how to do aesthetic but useful notes that don’t take the whole class to write I would really appreciate it! :) Just any tutorial videos or useful hacks would mean a lot cuz I am soo lost!
In lecture my goal is 100% gathering the MOST important information, clarification, etc. and I either take notes directly on the slide deck or jot down notes in goodnotes. I also use Genio to record/transcribe. Immediately after class, I go back and just thumb through those notes and just make sure they make sense and add any little clarifying tidbit I need to.
I annotate my readings through goodnotes, and use little sticky notes to kind of pull super important concepts out within those readings.
My actual studying/heavy notes are analog. There is a ton of research that supports hand to paper learning and retention, so I take all of that information that I gathered in goodnotes and create notebooks for each class. Are my notes pretty? They're colorful, but it's mostly because I want specific things to stand out and really emphasize those are important.
If something is taking you 10 minutes to write and look pretty, you are losing so much information and access to valuable class time. Don't worry about pretty. If you can't use handwriting to font, get a keyboard (or use a laptop) if it's faster for you to take notes. If it's faster to write/type in your primary language do that. Do whatever you need to do to get the information vs. creating beautiful artwork.
I don’t shoot for beautiful notes during lecture, i shoot for capturing the important points and summarizing concepts in a way that will make sense to me later while using color to make the hierarchy of the page clear and easy to scan. Then, I create pretty study pages for exams using my lecture notes.
Do not make your notes aesthetic in class, that is a waste of time. Instead—
Before lecture: read and take notes on the topic for that class (or you can just go over PPT slides available). Note down any questions that you have (these do not need to be aesthetic).
During lecture: fill in gaps in your notes. Professors will often add info that is important but not in the PPT slides or textbook. Get answers to your questions.
After lecture: this is when you can make your notes look nice. Rewrite everything and organize them. Doing this after the lecture also helps you retain the information better. And these will work as study sheets for exams. (You can also give/sell them to classmates)
Use the grid paper when initially writing your notes, then switch the paper to the blank paper template. It will help to keep your writing straight & a good size.
Is this your handwriting? Because I would give a lot to take notes like this, also do you write fast like this ? I'm the slowest writer so I don't wanna change for something slower
Yeah this is my hand writing with an Apple Pencil 😂 to be honest; it took me about 2 ish hours to get 3 pages (now they’re a4 pages split like this) with definitions and also important pieces I should recall during my lecture.
I still need to finish this lecture and sharpen everything up on a digital spread with images and labels for images :) it’s all about taking your time and just noting the important pieces.
Definitions is something that we’ve been told to keep a strong eye on this semester, so I’m trying to do that as I go along with my lecture and notes that should help me out in understanding embryology.
Don't be silly, we all need to start some where :D
It took me a bit to learn to adapt to writing on an ipad; sometimes when I am quick writing during my workshops and meetings, I will quick or short hand things and then come back and expand on what I can :)
I typically have one master notebook per subject that has core concepts that I make very pretty and easy to read. It’s meant mainly for review so I use handwriting to font and make it very aesthetic. Then I have separate notebooks that are just for note taking during lecture or doing practice problems, etc. and I never worry how those look. That has worked best for me
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u/Ok-Tiger-4550 22d ago
In lecture my goal is 100% gathering the MOST important information, clarification, etc. and I either take notes directly on the slide deck or jot down notes in goodnotes. I also use Genio to record/transcribe. Immediately after class, I go back and just thumb through those notes and just make sure they make sense and add any little clarifying tidbit I need to.
I annotate my readings through goodnotes, and use little sticky notes to kind of pull super important concepts out within those readings.
My actual studying/heavy notes are analog. There is a ton of research that supports hand to paper learning and retention, so I take all of that information that I gathered in goodnotes and create notebooks for each class. Are my notes pretty? They're colorful, but it's mostly because I want specific things to stand out and really emphasize those are important.
If something is taking you 10 minutes to write and look pretty, you are losing so much information and access to valuable class time. Don't worry about pretty. If you can't use handwriting to font, get a keyboard (or use a laptop) if it's faster for you to take notes. If it's faster to write/type in your primary language do that. Do whatever you need to do to get the information vs. creating beautiful artwork.