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13th Dec, 2023
Take better notes in class or bring ideas together in one base. These note-taking applications are perfect for students that need an all-round notes day-to-day.
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Students collect class notes, PDFs, presentations, ideas, research titles, and many millions of links across a typical study day. That's enough to make your head explode if you're not using some form of app or system for bringing that all into one location.
Many students have apps like Apple Notes, Google Keep, or maybe even notebooks, which are good but might not be able to provide the large-scale function that our curated list of best student-focused note-taking apps can help with.
Leveling up your notes app in university or college is probably one of the best investments you can make during your study years, as unlike the calendar and task management app (which become more helpful later in life) the notes app is your second brain of wisdom and knowledge you're bringing together in one location.
As a former student, at university one of the key lessons I learned was that I cannot store everything in my brain. This was paramount from concepts in books I'd read like Getting Things Done by David Allen and the newly formed concept at the time, Second Brain by Tiago Forte.
"Your brain should be a thinking tool, not a storage tool" is how one of the quotes went in the book by David Allen and this quote always stuck with me as an effective way to think about how your brain uses knowledge and information.
So, students think of it this way - the more you store in a notes app, the better - the more your brain can be freed up for thinking through a problem or concept, the more insightful results you'll have in the long-term. This changed the way I thought about notes and can really activate true learning for many people trapped in "your brain needs to store all this".
So, what apps do students use to take notes in university and college? Let's unpack:
Let's dig into the list we have in a moment, but look at why we chose all of these tools:
We came down to three core criteria when selecting these applications
Okay, let's get into that list now:
RemNote is one of the best student notes apps because it is, at the core, designed for students with flashcards, unlimited notes and an app on all your devices. Inside of RemNote, you can create a note and turn it into a flashcard almost instantaneously.
RemNote also packs in powerful PDF annotation (Pro feature) and connection to notes meaning any presentation or PDF that your lecturer sends you can connect to a note which makes for an easy experience, but you can also annotate it to add more value. You get 3 PDF note annotations as part of your free plan on RemNote.
Advice: RemNote is best for more serious student note-takers. Great for structured note management - there's a little bit of education to learn it but all-in-all this is the best of our list for all round student note taking management.
Supernotes provides us with a good firm base of your notes, used beyond student note-taking, it has grown on many people thanks to the clean, minimal nature of the app and the focus on notecards instead of constant folder organization. This makes it easier to connect notes up using backlinks and to share notes with other students.
Collaborative notes are one of the gem features in Supernotes for students to take notes and simply share them with other students using Supernotes too. This makes life so much easier when it comes to missing a lecture (intentionally or not) and sharing those notes post it happening.
Advice: Supernotes is a clean, beautiful way to take notes with daily notes too for light journal entries, to-dos for bringing items together and much more note abilities. With the limit of 100 cards, likely chance unless you have lots of friends (note referral gives you 20 extra cards) then you'll be looking to get the premium pricing.
Powerful search, powerful PDF management & powerful extended abilities to with tasks and calendar management. This is more of a notes app for students but beyond so think of Evernote has more of a notes app for life allowing you to store work project notes in, or maybe even meeting notes and lightweight tasks too.
Evernote used to be the hottest app for student note-taking purely due to the ability to add attachments to notes, but one of the features that still appears to student note-takers is the ability to capture into notebooks with the Evernote Web Clipper. It still reigns as a brilliant notes app clipper for allowing you to capture links or snippets from pieces you're researching making the hunt for links and references 3x as easy.
Advice: Evernote is much more extensive if you go over the limitations and the more power features like tasks, search, offline and large uploads are locked under premium. So whilst the free plan is good, it will only take you so far (yes, that is a line from Oppenheimer).
If budget is your concern, look no further than Microsoft OneNote. It offers the best free notes app for students, hands-down. The notes experience allows you to take notes in a tab format allowing you to have almost a ring-binder feel to your notes app along with solid apps for iPad and Microsoft Surface meaning you can make notes and sketches all in one.
Microsoft OneNote is one that I always recommend when it comes to managing your notes with Microsoft account. If your school, university or college offers a Microsoft for Education plan that is tied into your email, it is highly likely you. have OneNote with free access and storage, so we'd recommend taking advantage of that.
Advice: Microsoft OneNote is practical and offers a good free experience. It isn't for everyone. Some people don't like their notes being in the Microsoft ecosystem, but for many it'll hit the nail on the head for an upgraded, more focused Microsoft Word-like notes application that meets the bill.
GoodNotes 6 has had a big face lift in the last year and much more focused on AI note-taking meaning better hand-writing support, typed notes and beyond. GoodNotes works wonders for taking sketch notes but also using it to record lectures or audio files for coming back to important notes you've made.
GoodNotes offers good levels of customisation for notebooks including stickers, templates and even a big store for that (locked under premium) but this level of customisation appeals to many of those students wanting that BuJo style notes app with sketch abilities.
Advice: If you don't have an iPad, there's no point looking at GoodNotes, but if you do, this is going to be one of the best investments for the lower cost of $9.99 for a year.
Bear Notes provides many people with a solid iOS and macOS app for handling their notes. A lot of people like Bear for the markdown abilities and for students looking something more than Apple Notes, then Bear Notes is a great option for them.
The way Bear Notes allows you to organize your notes is focused on hashtags and note normal notebooks, meaning you can create nested hashtags perfect for multiple spanning notes. Meaning a note with a revision for an exam that spans multiple classes, could be connected the multiple places. You can use the sketch abilities on the iOS app to better handle ideas and thoughts you're bringing together.
Bear Notes has one of the best experiences for macOS users for note-taking, it is lightweight and provides one of the better mac experiences and winner of the Apple Design in 2017 for just this.
This is a tough one because it depends on your needs, so let's determine based on the needs we have above us and pick the best notes app for your study endeavours.
The functions and AI focus of GoodNotes 6 makes it a great companion for iPad users. There are lots of iPad notes apps out there that take advantage of Apple Pencil out there, and GoodNotes is only one of the many.
Want to save a buck? Well in this case Microsoft OneNote might be your best option. It works wonders for managing your digital filing cabinet and with sketch make notes more interactive if you do have an iPad or tablet device.
This is perfect for all round user, pre-and-post university or college. So we'd recommend Evernote for making the most of your notes.
If you want to commit to a notes app, upgrade and be with it longer than 3 years, RemNote is the best app on the market for students and the premium features offer superb features ideal for hunkering down with your notes and optimizing.
The build quality of Bear Notes presents a great experience for students looking for a better way to take notes on their new Macbooks as they start university, the low cost fee of $29.99 makes it a light, yet approachable way to take notes that can be shared and exported to other people for use later on.
That's our recommendations, but it is worth exploring the range of notes apps we have all over Tool Finder, they'll help you pick from more of a range of tools.
Looking for to-do list apps as a student, we have you covered!
Combine tasks, calendar, meeting booking links & task consolidation into one.
Bring tasks from ClickUp, Notion, Gmail, Todoist & more in Akiflow for organizing in one.
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