The Best Notetaking Apps for Grad Students | My Favorite iPad & Macbook Notetaking Apps

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The most common questions I get on my blog posts are what apps I use as a grad student and specifically, what apps I use for notetaking! Today, I'm happy to share with ya'll my TOP FIVE notetaking apps and how I use each of them in academic and personal life. They each have their own pros and cons and what works for me may not always work for you - so I hope that sharing my experiences will help you determine what app is the best fit for you work style!

First Off - My Tech Setup:

I have a Macbook Pro and iPad Pro that I primarily use for notetaking. The reason I mention this is because it has a huge impact on what notetaking apps I use. I also have an iPhone and an Apple Watch that also work together with my Macbook and iPad so working on platforms that all sync seamlessly between my devices makes my life a lot easier and has a huge impact on what platforms I end up using.

My MacBook Pro Setup

• 13 inch MacBook Pro

• MacBook Pro Hard Case

• Keyboard Cover (best, thinnest keyboard cover ever!)

• Apple Magic Mouse

• Apple Magic Keyboard

My iPad Pro Setup

• 12.9 inch iPad Pro, 256 GB

• Apple Pencil 2

• Apple Pencil case

• Thin case from Amazon

• Keyboard case from Amazon

• Matte screen protector

(1) ONENOTE

OneNote is hands down my top used note-taking app of all time. I've been using OneNote for over ten years and for as long as I've owned an iPad. It's free on the iPad and usually free for most students with Microsoft Office. I love OneNote because it has pretty much any feature you could possibly ask for. Is it a little clunkier than some newer apps? Yes, absolutely - but every time I try to completely switch over to a new notetaking platform, I always end up back on OneNote because it has remained the most consistent and offers the most variety in features.

As a grad student and academic, I use pretty much every feature under the sun on OneNote. I love being able to type, draw, insert voice memos, insert pictures, embed links and videos, and attach entire files to OneNote files. On top of that, OneNote also has a really convenient tool that allows you to share an entire note as a PDF to collaborators. This tool has been so convenient for me because I often think through research projects on OneNote - I'll copy and paste images and tables, draw out models, insert output files and then export that all into one easy document that my collaborators can review rather having to send them 100 files to review. With how many different files and components are necessary in academic life, I find that OneNote is the most powerful when it comes to putting that all together.

I've also found that OneNote tends to be the most reliable platform for how powerful it is. Usually within seconds of adding something on my iPad, I can already see it on my laptop which is a huge help when I'm bouncing between the two devices. Though it's structure may be a little clunkier than some newer notetaking platforms with how high stakes some projects are, OneNote has always served me best in reliability and consistency. If I had to give up every notetaking platform but one, OneNote would be my pick.

Best For: reliability, consistency, and an already organized platform that has pretty much any feature you could possibly want. OneNote is my favorite platform for working on research projects and keeping all project ideas organized and separated. In my experience, it also syncs seamlessly and is the most consistent across devices.

Some Cons: If you're someone who doesn't like a pre-created structure, OneNote may be a struggle for you. It can be a little clunky because there aren't as many keyboard shortcut available to use and you are forced to organize things by notebooks and sections.

(2) ICLOUD NOTES

A close second for notetaking is actually Apple's in-house notes app. The notes app actually also offers the ability to create folders, different text sizes/styles, and different colors. Though it's more limited in what it can offer, the notes app wins by a landslide when it comes to jotting down to do lists and shorter notes. It's an app that I visit every single day for work-related thoughts but also personal notes on what recipes I want to make, books I want to read, or workouts I want to try. Every list I've ever made generally lives on my notes app.

Personally, I use my iCloud notes most for both personal and work-related planning and goal setting. On a monthly and semester long basis, I like having the flexibility to update and check off the goals I set on a simple, easy to use platform. For daily planning, I use my iCloud notes on busier days where I need to check off errands and it's nice to be able to see everything on a smaller screen as I'm running around!

Another huge pro of iCloud notes for me is that syncing is super fast and seamless. Because I use nearly all apple products, that means I can access my tasks and goals on any of my devices which makes my life SO much easier.

Best For: Apple users of course! Also great for planning and organizing tasks and to-do lists because it has such a simple interface and isn't too overwhelming. Free for apple users.

Some Cons: May be somewhat lacking if you are someone who likes to have a lot of different tools for notetaking since it's so simple and to the point.

(3) NOTABILITY

I've talked extensively about Notability because it (along with Goodnotes at number 5 on my list) are two of the most popular apps for taking notes on an iPad - and for good reason! For me, Notability functions as my filing cabinet for books and articles that have A LOT of notes on them (aka when I'm writing a paper on a specific article's theory or if I'm reading the article for a class and need to highlight and take notes on the article pretty extensively). Notability is by far the best, most intuitive tool for PDF annotating because all of the annotation tools are available right at the top, you can flag your favorite pages, and even leave post-it notes.

The way in which you organize files in Notability is also relatively similar to a filing cabinet in which you would store each document separately but in different file folders. This is different than a platform like OneNote where you either attach a PDF file to the note or insert a printout of the pages onto a note. The issue with storing each file individually is that sometimes my notability page can get a bit unruly and it takes up a lot of space - causing slow downs in syncing or no syncing at all when my devices run out of space.

Best For: Annotating and taking notes on existing PDFs! Super, super great if you're a grad student reading 1000000000 pages of articles/books each week and don't want to waste paper printing it all out.

Some Cons: Syncing tends to be slower than comparable platforms. Because files are stored separately, organizing everything can be time consuming and not very intuitive. Paid app on both Mac and iPad so you need to buy both apps in order to sync across them, which can be expensive!

(4) NOTION

Alright y'all - it's time to talk about Notion. Notion is hot, hot, hot in the productivity space and I have some thoughts. I actually do love Notion and am using it as I type this! - But, there are pros and cons to every tool and I think that's exactly how everyone should view Notion - as a tool rather than an all encompassing life management platform.

I'm going to start with the goods. Notions database functions are completely unmatched - seriously. If you need a database that has notes within the database where you can link a million different notes together and create different ways to display that information - you NEED Notion. The two primary ways I use Notion are for planning & writing blog posts and for doing literature reviews when writing research papers. Both of these tasks benefit hugely from having linked databases where I can tag concepts, link notes to other notes, and sort through those notes in multiple different ways.

My biggest gripe though is Notion's instability. If you do a quick reddit or google search on "is Notion down?" you'll find tons of people wondering why they can't access their Notion notes. I've been using Notion for several years now and though I've only experienced Notion being down 4-5 times over that time period, that's 4-5 times more than I've experienced it with any other notetaking app. A huge reason for this is because Notion does not have an offline mode. When other notetaking apps are offline, you can continue to access and work on your notes, though the updates you make on those notes might not sync until you're reconnected. In my experience, when Notion is offline, I either cannot access any of my notes at all OR all of the updates I make on notes while offline are completely wiped as soon as I'm back online.

One time, Notion was down while I was preparing for a big research meeting (of which I was the lead) and as a result, my notes were completely lost and inaccessible to me until several hours after the meeting was over. For me, this is a HUGE dealbreaker in a notetaking app. Prior to this experience, I'd been considering Notion for a majority of my notes but after this experience - I now use it more as a temporary tool for organizing my thoughts rather than a place to store long-term high stakes notes.

Best For: Great for linked databases! In grad school - awesome for organizing and connecting articles/article notes for a literature search.

Some Cons: No offline mode so when Notion is offline, you can't access your notes and any updates you make while you're unknowingly offline might not be saved!

(5) GOODNOTES

Though Goodnotes is #5 on my list, it is by no means least! I use Goodnotes on a daily basis because it serves as my digital planner platform and I absolutely LOVE using it for digital planning. Because of the way Goodnotes is formatted, I find that it's best for use as a digital planner because it allows you to visually see your documents as "notebooks" where you can customize the covers of each notebook. I've found that this has psychologically helped me with the transition from paper to digital planning because it still feels like I'm opening up a notebook to visit the pages of a planner.

Goodnotes definitely rivals Notability when it comes to ability to annotate documents and has many of the same annotation tools. I think both are comparable when it comes to this function. For me personally, I just like to have my planner function and my school article notetaking function separated so I house them in different apps.

Best For: Using as a digital planner or notebook! Also really good for annotating documents and taking notes/highlighting things on a digital textbook or article

Some Cons: Similar to notability, sometimes syncing is a little slow and both the macbook app and iOS iPad app are paid so you have to buy both apps in order for it to sync across devices.

Honorable Mention: EVERNOTE

Although Evernote is a very popular notetaking app, I do not personally use it for notetaking anymore so I didn't include it in the main list - However, it has easily become my favorite app for another reason - as a digital filing cabinet.

Anytime I receive a paper document, I try to digitize it as quickly as possible so that I don't lose it and can find it easily later on. Evernote has an amazing app called Scannable that works seamlessly in tandem with Evernote where you can scan the document and then immediately file it away in Evernote. This also makes it super easy to find anything I've ever scanned because it's already filed away into the correct category and is searchable based on a couple key words. Though it's not directly related to notetaking, I've found this so, so, so useful and it has saved me so much time in the long run that I thought it was worth an honorable mention!

Best For: Digitizing and saving documents!

Some Cons: Once you hit a certain upload amount or a certain device count, evernote is a month to month paid subscription. If you're sticking with the free version like I am, you can only sync 2 devices and usually can only upload 60 MB of content per month.

Whew that was a long one! Long story short though - every notetaking platform has its own pros and cons and I find that it always helps to view each platform as a tool rather than the end-all-be-all-only-app-you'll-ever-use. Not all of them are good for everything and you definitely don't NEED all of these notetaking apps. It's just about finding the tool that you need for your specific notetaking style that will help make your life easier :)

I hope this was helpful! Have any other questions about notetaking, apps, productivity, studying - all of the above? Leave me a comment or send me a message - I'd love to hear from you!

How I Study for Final Exams as a Grad Student | PhD & Productivity

Good morning, my friends! I hope you all are surviving the end of your semester okay - you've got this! Today I'm excited to share my study strategy as a grad student taking final exams. It's actually the same strategy I used in college (albeit a more sophisticated version) and the same one I used to study for my preliminary exams so it's a system that works for me at every level of education - And one that I hope will help you study for your upcoming exams, too!

MY STUDY STRATEGY

I'll break it down further in this post but at a baseline, my study strategy consists of just THREE pieces.

1. Review the materials and pull out things that I think will be important

2. Cement that important stuff in my brain in as many ways as possible.

3. Sleep 🙂

1) REVIEW THE MATERIAL + PULL OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT

For me, the best first step is to review the material I've learned over the course of the semester and pull out what I think is most important. This is usually the most time consuming part of studying, but part of the reason I go through the process of reviewing it and compiling the important parts of the course is because the actual process of evaluating what's important is already one way of studying the material.

Questions to Ask Yourself When Reviewing Articles

In grad school, most of the class material is peer-reviewed journal articles so I make sure to ask the following questions when I'm deciding what is most important to remember from an article (because frankly, you CANNOT possibly remember all of it!)

• What were the article's main findings and contributions to existing research?

• How does it relate to other articles in this area?

• What method did they use to answer their research question?

  • (e.g., what was the type of sample, research methodology, and analysis strategy?)

• What did my instructor want us to GET out of this article?

  • (especially in grad school, there's usually a reason that your instructor wanted you to read that article - was it a historically significant piece? did it create controversy? was the method incorrectly done? etc.)

By asking myself these questions during the review process, what it actually does is that it makes sure that I'm not studying everything. As idealistic as you may want to be in your studying goals, there are only so many hours in a day and your brain can only hold so much information, so the most important part of studying is being able to efficiently boil down your notes to the most important pieces.

Make a Study Guide

As I'm reviewing the material, I'm also simultaneously making a study guide where I compile all of the most important notes. To do this, I like to use Notability or OneNote on my iPad because it allows me to type notes, insert photos, and write on/highlight anything I want. This level of flexibility is so, so nice because I can make whatever notes are needed to help me remember the information better.

For my favorite iPad apps and how I've set up my iPad check out these posts below:

2 ) CEMENT IT IN YOUR BRAIN IN AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE

One of the most effective ways to learn something is to try and learn it through multiple different methods through as many of your senses as possible! That's why you often find that in classes you are not only reading concepts from a textbook but also listening to a lecture and applying those topics to a discussion or activity. Having those multiple input methods allows you to learn and memorize that information more effectively.

The same thing can be said when you're studying. One of the crazier things I do to study is I read my study guides out loud to myself, record myself, and then listen to those recordings on repeat. Is it a little cringe to listen to myself? Absolutely. Has it paid off on my exams? Absolutely. Here are the 5 input methods I utilize in studying:

1. Reading - reviewing the material and pulling out what is important is already a method of reading the material and visually inputting it into your brain

2. Writing - by creating a study guide as I'm reviewing the material, I'm physically writing out the concepts or typing down the concepts.

3. Speaking - I usually record myself reading the study guides out loud and this both serves as another input and allows me to catch things in the study guide that I'm not as familiar with or things that I have to revisit that don't make sense! This can be time-consuming but it is so, so worth so that you can listen to it later as well.

4. LISTENING - This might be #4 on the list but it is my TOP TIP for studying in less time. I get easily exhausted constantly looking at a screen when I'm studying but guess what you can do while you're listening to a study guide? Pretty much anything! I find that this is so, so powerful because it allows me to continue to process and memorize the information in my head while I'm taking a walk, preparing dinner, getting ready for bed, working out, cleaning my home, or when I'm simple resting. A lot of space during the day that I normally would not be able to use for studying can now be spaces where I can continue to encourage my brain to process the information.

5. Drawing - Last but not least, if there's some info that I'm really struggling to memorize or understand, I'll usually draw out the information in some kind of creative picture. You do NOT have to be an artsy person to do this! This has helped me SO much because even if I don't remember every concept perfectly, I find that I'll often remember the ridiculous picture I drew and that usually allows me to remember a whole host of other things about the topic! It's much easier for us to remember an image than a huge list of items so try to use that in your favor.

3) SLEEP

Since I'm not the cutest when I'm asleep, please enjoy some adorable photos of my foster cats sleeping the day away 😊

BUT in all seriousness. PRIORITIZE SLEEP! I know I might sound like your mom right now but damn does it make a difference. I was a migraine sufferer for most of my teens and early twenties and the main thing that ended up causing those migraines was lack of sleep. Nowadays, sleep trumps nearly everything else in my life because the level at which I function without sleep just does not compare to how I function when I've had my full 8, 9, or 10 hours of sleep. I totally empathize with the fact that you often feel pressured to stay up to study more but after having a good night's sleep your brain is able to make new connections and is sharper the next morning - which I think ultimately shows in your performance (at least it does for me!)

I hope this was helpful as you're studying for your final exams! Leave me a comment down below if you have any other study recommendations for our little community here - I'd love to learn from your experiences! Good luck with your exams - you've got this!

Gift Ideas for Grad Students | A Little Gift Guide for the Grad Student in Your Life!

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It’s that time of year friends! I feel like grad students are notoriously hard to shop for, especially since most of us spend almost all of our time studying in our free time (oops! 🙈) So, here are some of my favorite grad school centered products for the grad student in your life! 

Pomodoro Timer 

If you haven’t heard of the pomodoro method, it’s a productivity method where you work for a set amount of time and then take periodic breaks throughout! It’s a method works for me especially when I need to get through tough slogs of writing or data work! Though we now have tons of timers available to us, I find that having a physical pomodoro timer that I can see right in front of me really helps to keep me on track and I’m sure many other grad students would appreciate it as well! 

Spotify Subscription 

One of the best things I’ve invested in during my grad school years is a paid Spotify subscription. I’m constantly listening to podcasts and music while I’m working and not being interrupted constantly by ads is wonderful for maintaining focus. In grad school, it’s vital to be able to focus for extended amounts of time and having uninterrupted access to great lo-fi playlists has been a god send!

Noise Cancelling Headphones 

I know I’ve said this a thousand times at this point but I really can’t emphasize it enough. Noise canceling headphones are a game 👏 changer 👏 if you want to be productive and not get distracted by every person that walks by your office! Personally, I own both the BOSE Q35 over ear headphones and a pair of Airpods Pro that I use on daily basis.

Meal Kit Services

One of the easiest ways to support a stressed out grad student is by buying them a meal or two! I’m really fortunate to have a partner who is super supportive and does most of the cooking for us, but for busy grad students who don’t have that kind of support, a meal kit service makes a world of difference because it saves them time and energy but still allows them to make their own healthy, home-cooked meals. 

Planners & Notebooks

I feel like you can never go wrong with a planner or a notebook - there are always so many thing to organize in phd life and studies show that writing things down by hand are the key to getting things done. My favorites right now are the Erin Condren weekly planners, The Daily Page, and the Day Designer! 

Robot Vacuum

Right before I started my PhD program, my fiance gifted me the cutest little robot vacuum and it has quickly become one of the best things I own. I’m not a naturally clean person so being able to just let our robot vacuum run around the apartment while I’m doing other work (or being a blob on the couch) is amazing 🤪

Grad School Themed Books

I received a number of grad school themed books from friends and family before and during the first couple of years of my PhD program. I always found these books to be such thoughtful gifts because it really showed that they understood how stressful grad school life could be and wanted to gift something that pass down wisdom from academics who have been through the process before. I also highly recommend them in general if you’re a 1st generation grad student - there are a lot of unwritten rules in academia and these books are extremely helpful if you don’t have a social network that can help you along the way. The two books I still reference and use the most in grad school are The Professor is In and Graduate Study for the 21st Century. 

I hope this little gift guide was helpful for giving you some ideas for your grad student friends and loved ones! HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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