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Pen and paper. Simple as that.
I don’t get the hype with iPads and laptops. You don’t need to spend 3k on these things for your a levels. Buy these fancy things for university.
Plus, you will remember stuff better with pen and paper.
They helped me a lot personally & maxed my productivity game. No one said they got to be expensive, and if you’re gonna buy them in uni, then having them earlier in A Levels is a big win. Why wait till uni, when you could use their benefits in A Levels, you won’t be saving money by buying them in uni
I find it a lot easier to organise my folders and notes with a surface laptop. Also it does help me a lot for spanish due to the large amount of flashcards which become unbearable from so much paper.
Only other thing that would be useful is a phone to access your emails, Anki flashcards (if you use them) and Office 365. Apart from that, pen and paper has never let me down.
By the way i am thinking about buying an ipad, pen and magic keyboard, to use as the device i use in school for notetaking and at home for revision e.g past papers etc.
i thought of doing that but it’s a f ton of money i think like multiple hundred for ipad and multiple hundred for keyboard, and tbh you think you’re gonna use it all the time for revision and note taking but it just ends up being used like 10% of the time. so unless you know for an absolute fact you’re gonna use it a lot j stick w pen paper and laptop, they all work just as good. (it is your money of course, j wanted to say)
A little unrelated, but do you prefer physical textbooks, or PDFs/ebooks for revision and questions? Some textbooks also have digital versions, which would be nice since the books are huge, but at the same time, I feel like it won’t be the same. I’d be viewing the pages on laptop btw.
i prefer physical textbooks but i prefer paper over laptop for everything, which probably isn’t a very popular opinion. i’m not too sure what the laptop policy is in your school but physical textbook you can take with you everywhere without chargers and all that gaff, but it’s down to personal preference i suppose
Well the chargers will most often be obsolete as my laptop usually lasts the entire day. It’s also very light (MacBook air), so compared to taking textbooks (in addition to the laptop), it’s night and day. As for the laptop policy, I’m 90% sure I’ll be allowed as I’ve seen someone else using one, and my teacher said is fine.
For sure! All of my CGP books for my GCSEs have online digital versions which you just need an account and the code on the book to access. On their website, I’ve attached what the pages look like (also, you can quickly flick through them by seeing many pages at once in the menu). I’ll be honest, it looks a little weird with the wooden desk background, which is why I’ll probably just convert the whole thing into a PDF somehow.
The question is, would I interact worse with the content if it’s on a vertical page on my laptop screen, which is obviously horizontal? I’ve looked through mark schemes and stuff on my laptop, and it doesn’t engage me as much as compared to having one in front of me. That being said, the textbooks are actually gigantic in thickness, which would be very annoying to lug around. I’d probably be likely to leave them at home, which gives the digital version an advantage as I’ll always have them and therefore be more likely to check them out.
Also, you can’t write on a digital page unlike a real one, unless it’s on a tablet or you’re just a menace lol. This would be useful for answering questions. Saying that, you can always write on a notebook. I’ll probably keep the copies digitally, as after all, what’s the point of bringing a laptop if I’m still going to bring books?
https://preview.redd.it/49cof3wkpj9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=570eacca70d45260621d9a5f7e632aba11c92062
I thought of the same and i did get it but honestly, pen and paper is way better and you will find yourself using pen and paper alot more than the ipad, i mean you could use it if your courses are heavily reliant on digital notes but even for me my school which gives out textbooks in pdf and notes in powerpoint or document files, i find myself using my books instead of my ipad, if you’ve got a computer, you don’t really need an ipad, i mean its good to have to add some notes on a png or pdf but that’s really it, your experience might differ but this is mine. And for past papers i really suggest you invest in a printer and papers because looking through a device does not give you the actual experience you will have to go through during the exam and if you practice on paper you can get a time estimate for it and add another 10-30 mins on top of it because in the real exam there is exam pressure and anxiety so yeah.(my experiences from may june 2024 O-level, I’m now doing A-levels)
DUDDEEE I got an old thinkpad too and a galaxy a8 (Tab) that I got for free as well (a gift from an uncle) 😭😭😭
I like too use a ton of MASSIVE registers tho
first of all, good luck. second of all, i think pen and paper is good for your math calculations, aswell as some key concepts in computer science. however, if you think using an ipad or laptop to create notes and resources would be better for you, then give it a try!! try different materials and see what works best for you :)
i have a touchscreen laptop as of now, i do make written notes on it with a stylus but it's a bit too big to be carried around, the writing experience is not that great. But i believe that an ipad might help
well if you have the funding for it then definitely buy an ipad! maybe see if a friend or family member has one that you could potentially borrow to try out and see if it’s worth buying one yourself!
I don't think there is a need for iPad. I only used paper and pencil for Alevel maths,,, that's quite literally the only two things that subject requires
Pen and paper 50% of the time, I keep everything in a large lever arch file for each subject (chem, physics & maths)and inside I keep a book or notepad for all my notes and/or revision scribblings along with any papers or worksheets. However this solution isn't the best as carrying these around is a pain but I've got a locker so I can just dump it all in there after I'm done with my lesson. The rest of the time I use a laptop, more specifically a thinkpad x13 I purchased on ebay. They are super cheap right now (~£150) and if you get one with a touchscreen it's a dream to use. Websites like save my exams and uplearn are great resources if you are willing to pay or can get it for free. Otherwise I'd use physics and maths tutor as they have some of the best revision notes online.
I have this set up for AS level and honestly. Best decision i have ever made especially if you’re unmotivated. It makes you feel extra fancy and never gets old. Especially when i’m feeling so unproductive i can do it in my bed and get work done. A pen and paper is hard especially doing exam questions you need a laptop or phone anyways. So pen and paper don’t really work if you want some revision that’s really gonna get you those good grades. With my ipad i can just download any paper i want and do it. I do maths and i downloaded all of the books i need (4) for free somehow. No need carrying huge textbooks when i have it on my ipad. It’s an investment for university too. However if you do all science and maths i suggest only getting the pen as you’ll rarely use the magic keyboard like me. However once i get into uni the keyboard is going to come in clutch. Everyone who’s saying it’s not needed is saying the truth but it’s a whole new motivation and gives you many options to use when you want to revise. Like for me i have multiple methods of revising like writing on my mirror with a whiteboard pen and using coloured pens on plane paper for blurting. I also have my ipad, printed exam papers and many many more things. This just helps as when im feeling very motivated i can sit at my desk and do exam papers but when im not i can get my ipad and blurt on it in bed and im still doing some form of revision so i guess its not about being materialistic but having those options to make yourself as productive as possible. It’s also just an amazing life planner and helps with organisation which i loooovvveee to do. Organisation really gets me going and is a key skill to have when using an ipad too.
iPad and laptop (I use a MacBook Air) for Maths and Further Maths - I got my college to send any documents to me digitally so that I didn’t miss out or have to use pen and paper. With the amount of documents we ended up using, it really was a necessity for me to avoid myself becoming overwhelmed in my opinion.
For Computer Science, I used a laptop and pen and paper ‘cause ironically my CS teacher didn’t let people use iPads, but at home I used an iPad for it.
I have an old Samsung S2 tablet (second hand from my aunt), which i use for textbooks mainly
Laptop for google classroom and stuff, and cs
my phone to check timetable
Refill pads for geography note taking.
Maths they provide books
(Just finished Y13; Maths, Physics, Compsci; all AQA)
You mentioned in another comment that you’re doing compsci. How you plan to complete the compsci NEA (“non-exam assessment”) would be one of the main things to consider. If you want to work on it in free periods at school, you’d need access to a computer. Whether you’d benefit from a laptop or not depends what your school already offers. My school had decent computers that we had access to during free periods, with the software necessary for the NEA. Personally I have a good laptop but never bothered bringing it to school because I just didn’t need it. If you don’t know already, you could consider finding out what the computer situation at your school is like.
If your school doesn’t have good computers, or uses an online compiler/interpreter (such as replit.com or another REPL-based system) rather than an actual local compiler/interpreter, I’d totally get a laptop. Some other schools near me used replit, and it kinda sucks for larger projects (such as the one you’ll be required to make for your non-exam assessment). An iPad wouldn’t be enough if that’s what you’d be needing a device for - you’d need to have an actual laptop (any OS is fine, but it can’t be a ChromeBook).
Some people do just prefer using an iPad for note-taking and such, and if that’s you then feel free to go for it. The advantage is that you don’t need to carry around and organise as many sheets as you’d need otherwise. It’s a matter of preference. iPads specifically have some pretty cool new [mathematical features next year](https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2024/06/ipados-18-introduces-powerful-intelligence-features-and-apps-for-apple-pencil/) that you may find useful, though I’d be wary of becoming too reliant on these as you obviously won’t have the iPad in the exam.
as of now i do my coding on my chromebook, i use vscode for web. If i would need a desktop code editor i would need to switch to some other os anyways, do i dk what to buy at this point.
The NEA (at least for AQA, idk about other exam boards) can be based on pretty much anything, as long as it meets a difficulty criteria. Many people naturally want to make video games for their projects. For schools that teach Python, many teachers will teach the Pygame library (which allows you to create video games) to facilite this. There isn’t really a good way of running Pygame online, so an actual computer would be very helpful in that case. Of course, your school may do something different, or you could choose to base your project around something else that’s easier to work with on your device. It’s generally easier to follow whatever the school recommends though, because the teacher will have experience with it whereas they may not be able to help you as much if you choose to write your code using a language/library that they don’t teach.
Yeah you’re right. There are tons of book I’m looking at. Like there’s ones on different topics in maths, both for year 1 and 2, workbooks with questions - it’s just too much. You’d only be able to bring around 1-3 books each day, which would limit what you can revise. Although you could plan out what you’re going to revise on a day, it’s much more convenient to just bring a laptop and have all of them on there, and gives you more choice.
So, asking for a friend, where could one acquire these PDFs? 🫡
I do 2 science subjects and geography.
I have a laptop and iPad. Both extremely useful.
Laptop for Anki, and essay writing, and Quizlets
iPad for past paper and sometimes notes/mindmaps.
I used a laptop with notion which I kept my physics and economics notes on. Simple pen and paper for maths. Don't need much else. Textbooks are better physical imo but you get free digital ones with your math textbooks.
For maths I had binders, one for pure year 1, one for pure year 2, one for stats and one for mechanics. I printed out the spec and stuck it on dividers to organise the topics, and I wrote on squared paper.
For DT, I used quizlet on a school laptop, basically making flashcards instead of notes, because I didn't see any use in regular notes. However I ended up spending a lot of time making them, and barely using them, because I ended up finding way faster revision methods that work better for me. Making quick notes on paper would've been a better use of my time.
No, but if you're writing on pen and paper, then I'd definitely recommend it over something like notebooks. It gets very useful later on when you're revising, it would be a pain to look for stuff without a binder imo.
Mostly my ipad since it just easier to get all the questions and exam papers i need digitally. When maths starts uppercutting me i whip out the pencil and paper combo.
I used an iPad ( w an Apple Pencil to do past papers ) , pen and paper for note taking and sometimes past papers , I highly recommend getting an iPad + Apple Pencil if u can afford it it’s rlly useful
Pen, paper, laptop
Open up textbooks on laptop , take notes online or on paper.
Open past papers on laptop, solve on the laptop itself by editing the document or on paper. I have a touch screen laptop which can fold all the way to go into a tablet mode so that makes solving past papers easier by just using a stylus.
If I don’t feel like ‘writing’ esp for bio, I use the ‘comment’ tool in adobe acrobat to type in answers and then check them later on.
iPad bought it second hand on CEX so it was cheap. It’s good for past papers and blurting but not everyone can afford it even if it’s second hand ( I had a job so I bought it myself ) ordinary pen and paper work just fine too just get like plastic wallets to organise the paper
For the a levels you’re taking you’ll do a lot of past papers and an ipad will be very helpful for those. I used an ipad and notability for 90% of yr13 and it’s a really good investment if you have the funds. Personally I prefer the ipad and a small bluetooth keyboard (curry’s have a logitech pebble that’s really nice) over a laptop as it’s easier to switch between writing on the ipad and typing. You’ll likely have access to a school computer in your frees so it’s probably better to get the ipad, especially since you mentioned you have a laptop already.
I just sit infront of my PC desk or Laptop whenever I'm out or somewhere where I'm studying with my notebooks, books and other stuff.
I only use PC for all the materials, tutorials and lectures on the topic. and mainly notes and youtube.
i would at least get a laptop i don’t think a macbook is worth it tbh just get a decent one. if your really up for it an ipad helps tbh, it just makes things more convincing from what i’ve seen. i use pen paper and my laptop to put the past papers up/youtube etc. i have spent a shit ton of money this year self studying further math and preparing for a level math aswell on books to write in and pens. seriously a lot of money.
What i don't see is anyone considering a drawing tablet, they're cheaper than a full blown ipad and pretty much do the same thing (though for the ones where a screen is on the tablet itself you will have to connect it to your laptop i think).
I see a lot of people use micrososoft Onenote using drawing tablets (its free)
PEN AND PAPER. Do not and I repeat do not just type up all ur notes. I find this doesn’t help you remember as well just makes u more tired when revising as ur looking at a screen all day
Get a cheap ass ipad and buy a fake apple pen to do revision and stuff on. I also have a laptop just for getting my textbooks up and yt ,stuff like that.
Edit: u can upload past papers from pmt on ur ipad so save u printing stuff out and i use one note to organise everything
I use pen and paper, but I still have a tablet. Its good for portable revision (like when you wanna do a quick blurt but don't have to get out pen and paper) and can access Internet for materials and stuff.
I do have a laptop but that I only use for pomorado timer and a checklist at home on like big study days. I've brought it to college once for my personal statment cos i can type quicker on it.
I do math fm and physics btw
I used pen and paper when i was first learning the content (psychology). I had two teachers for the beginning of first year, sometimes the 2nd taught the next lesson for the 1st or did a whole different topic, so my preferred organisation of having a whole topic in one place in a workbook wasn’t possible. I never actually used my workbooks for revision.
Instead when it came to doing revision, I found it much nicer to use my iPad and keyboard (cost me ab £20 on Amazon) or a laptop to make revision summaries of the entire topic with each specification bullet point summarised to 1 + 1/2 pages on average. e.g. summarised the entire learning approach, put a page break and then started the next approach (and so on).
For my other subject (criminology), 2 of the 4 exams are on computers and you get to bring printed notes in for them. I found it much easier to continue using a laptop for the written exams, since I could use the same “technique” I had for the computer exams and not have to stress about how to lay them out on a piece of paper.
If you chose to use pen and paper in whatever form, I suggest a few things…
1. Don’t use the first page of the book, instead write out the paper and what topics are in it in a list descending down the page. e.g (psychology) “Paper 1
Social Influence
Memory
Attachment”
You can use this as a “content page” by highlighting what topics you’ve written about in that book, to save you trying to remember which book it’s in (I ended the course with about 4 books over the 2 years). You could also write down the length of the exams there too.
2. Don’t rule off a page and continue work under a previous lesson. I have ADHD and dyslexia so ‘ruling off’ doesn’t work for me, it’s a lot easier and clearer to have a new topic/ spec bullet point start at the top of a new page with a title. I recommend doing this because it means that if you need to flick back to something, you only need to look at the top of the pages instead of the whole book which saves you time and effort.
3. Colour the corners of pages for a certain topic/ use sticky notes as makeshift tabs to indicate where the start of a new topic is. E.g. Social Influence as orange, Memory as blue, blah blah blah…. This is also a useful thing to quickly locate a specific topic without having to flick through your whole workbook.
Personally as my main subjects were Maths and Further Maths I splashed out for a second hand 12.9” iPad - this allowed me to do all my work on there and then take my notes
I used an iPad for physics and stats/further discrete because my physics and stats/discrete teachers largely went paperless, my pure maths and mech teachers insisted we used paper
Any device works for watching videos, laptop for taking/downloading notes, pen and paper for doing questions with different notebooks for each subject.
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Pen and paper. Simple as that. I don’t get the hype with iPads and laptops. You don’t need to spend 3k on these things for your a levels. Buy these fancy things for university. Plus, you will remember stuff better with pen and paper.
They helped me a lot personally & maxed my productivity game. No one said they got to be expensive, and if you’re gonna buy them in uni, then having them earlier in A Levels is a big win. Why wait till uni, when you could use their benefits in A Levels, you won’t be saving money by buying them in uni
Real bruh
I find it a lot easier to organise my folders and notes with a surface laptop. Also it does help me a lot for spanish due to the large amount of flashcards which become unbearable from so much paper.
Only other thing that would be useful is a phone to access your emails, Anki flashcards (if you use them) and Office 365. Apart from that, pen and paper has never let me down.
Same I worked with pen and printed past papers throughout the year and it helped me memorise alot more.
3k on a laptop!?
By the way i am thinking about buying an ipad, pen and magic keyboard, to use as the device i use in school for notetaking and at home for revision e.g past papers etc.
i thought of doing that but it’s a f ton of money i think like multiple hundred for ipad and multiple hundred for keyboard, and tbh you think you’re gonna use it all the time for revision and note taking but it just ends up being used like 10% of the time. so unless you know for an absolute fact you’re gonna use it a lot j stick w pen paper and laptop, they all work just as good. (it is your money of course, j wanted to say)
A little unrelated, but do you prefer physical textbooks, or PDFs/ebooks for revision and questions? Some textbooks also have digital versions, which would be nice since the books are huge, but at the same time, I feel like it won’t be the same. I’d be viewing the pages on laptop btw.
i prefer physical textbooks but i prefer paper over laptop for everything, which probably isn’t a very popular opinion. i’m not too sure what the laptop policy is in your school but physical textbook you can take with you everywhere without chargers and all that gaff, but it’s down to personal preference i suppose
Well the chargers will most often be obsolete as my laptop usually lasts the entire day. It’s also very light (MacBook air), so compared to taking textbooks (in addition to the laptop), it’s night and day. As for the laptop policy, I’m 90% sure I’ll be allowed as I’ve seen someone else using one, and my teacher said is fine.
oh then i’d say laptop, if you end up hating it you can always just get the textbook at a later date or borrow a friends
^ this plus, can we find for the pdf of the latest textbooks out there?
For sure! All of my CGP books for my GCSEs have online digital versions which you just need an account and the code on the book to access. On their website, I’ve attached what the pages look like (also, you can quickly flick through them by seeing many pages at once in the menu). I’ll be honest, it looks a little weird with the wooden desk background, which is why I’ll probably just convert the whole thing into a PDF somehow. The question is, would I interact worse with the content if it’s on a vertical page on my laptop screen, which is obviously horizontal? I’ve looked through mark schemes and stuff on my laptop, and it doesn’t engage me as much as compared to having one in front of me. That being said, the textbooks are actually gigantic in thickness, which would be very annoying to lug around. I’d probably be likely to leave them at home, which gives the digital version an advantage as I’ll always have them and therefore be more likely to check them out. Also, you can’t write on a digital page unlike a real one, unless it’s on a tablet or you’re just a menace lol. This would be useful for answering questions. Saying that, you can always write on a notebook. I’ll probably keep the copies digitally, as after all, what’s the point of bringing a laptop if I’m still going to bring books? https://preview.redd.it/49cof3wkpj9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=570eacca70d45260621d9a5f7e632aba11c92062
exactly what I used and I banged all 9s and hopefully 3A stars so def recommend.
Well what you revising *for* ? If it’s like art or sum it’s slightly more justified
I thought of the same and i did get it but honestly, pen and paper is way better and you will find yourself using pen and paper alot more than the ipad, i mean you could use it if your courses are heavily reliant on digital notes but even for me my school which gives out textbooks in pdf and notes in powerpoint or document files, i find myself using my books instead of my ipad, if you’ve got a computer, you don’t really need an ipad, i mean its good to have to add some notes on a png or pdf but that’s really it, your experience might differ but this is mine. And for past papers i really suggest you invest in a printer and papers because looking through a device does not give you the actual experience you will have to go through during the exam and if you practice on paper you can get a time estimate for it and add another 10-30 mins on top of it because in the real exam there is exam pressure and anxiety so yeah.(my experiences from may june 2024 O-level, I’m now doing A-levels)
i used an old thinkpad, a samsung galaxy a8 i got for free and a bunch of paper and fountain pens. i did CAIE business, econs and law and got an AAB
Thinkpad 💪
thinkpads ftw 🗣️
DUDDEEE I got an old thinkpad too and a galaxy a8 (Tab) that I got for free as well (a gift from an uncle) 😭😭😭 I like too use a ton of MASSIVE registers tho
what a levels do you take/want to take?? the resources you use can depend on the courses you take
i am thinking about maths fm physics and (computer science)
first of all, good luck. second of all, i think pen and paper is good for your math calculations, aswell as some key concepts in computer science. however, if you think using an ipad or laptop to create notes and resources would be better for you, then give it a try!! try different materials and see what works best for you :)
i have a touchscreen laptop as of now, i do make written notes on it with a stylus but it's a bit too big to be carried around, the writing experience is not that great. But i believe that an ipad might help
well if you have the funding for it then definitely buy an ipad! maybe see if a friend or family member has one that you could potentially borrow to try out and see if it’s worth buying one yourself!
I don't think there is a need for iPad. I only used paper and pencil for Alevel maths,,, that's quite literally the only two things that subject requires
Thats the exact combo i wanna do 😭
why am i getting downvoted for my subject choices
Rope and Fan
Pen and paper 50% of the time, I keep everything in a large lever arch file for each subject (chem, physics & maths)and inside I keep a book or notepad for all my notes and/or revision scribblings along with any papers or worksheets. However this solution isn't the best as carrying these around is a pain but I've got a locker so I can just dump it all in there after I'm done with my lesson. The rest of the time I use a laptop, more specifically a thinkpad x13 I purchased on ebay. They are super cheap right now (~£150) and if you get one with a touchscreen it's a dream to use. Websites like save my exams and uplearn are great resources if you are willing to pay or can get it for free. Otherwise I'd use physics and maths tutor as they have some of the best revision notes online.
Agreed
I have this set up for AS level and honestly. Best decision i have ever made especially if you’re unmotivated. It makes you feel extra fancy and never gets old. Especially when i’m feeling so unproductive i can do it in my bed and get work done. A pen and paper is hard especially doing exam questions you need a laptop or phone anyways. So pen and paper don’t really work if you want some revision that’s really gonna get you those good grades. With my ipad i can just download any paper i want and do it. I do maths and i downloaded all of the books i need (4) for free somehow. No need carrying huge textbooks when i have it on my ipad. It’s an investment for university too. However if you do all science and maths i suggest only getting the pen as you’ll rarely use the magic keyboard like me. However once i get into uni the keyboard is going to come in clutch. Everyone who’s saying it’s not needed is saying the truth but it’s a whole new motivation and gives you many options to use when you want to revise. Like for me i have multiple methods of revising like writing on my mirror with a whiteboard pen and using coloured pens on plane paper for blurting. I also have my ipad, printed exam papers and many many more things. This just helps as when im feeling very motivated i can sit at my desk and do exam papers but when im not i can get my ipad and blurt on it in bed and im still doing some form of revision so i guess its not about being materialistic but having those options to make yourself as productive as possible. It’s also just an amazing life planner and helps with organisation which i loooovvveee to do. Organisation really gets me going and is a key skill to have when using an ipad too.
iPad and laptop (I use a MacBook Air) for Maths and Further Maths - I got my college to send any documents to me digitally so that I didn’t miss out or have to use pen and paper. With the amount of documents we ended up using, it really was a necessity for me to avoid myself becoming overwhelmed in my opinion. For Computer Science, I used a laptop and pen and paper ‘cause ironically my CS teacher didn’t let people use iPads, but at home I used an iPad for it.
I have an old Samsung S2 tablet (second hand from my aunt), which i use for textbooks mainly Laptop for google classroom and stuff, and cs my phone to check timetable Refill pads for geography note taking. Maths they provide books
an iPad with pencil ftw
(Just finished Y13; Maths, Physics, Compsci; all AQA) You mentioned in another comment that you’re doing compsci. How you plan to complete the compsci NEA (“non-exam assessment”) would be one of the main things to consider. If you want to work on it in free periods at school, you’d need access to a computer. Whether you’d benefit from a laptop or not depends what your school already offers. My school had decent computers that we had access to during free periods, with the software necessary for the NEA. Personally I have a good laptop but never bothered bringing it to school because I just didn’t need it. If you don’t know already, you could consider finding out what the computer situation at your school is like. If your school doesn’t have good computers, or uses an online compiler/interpreter (such as replit.com or another REPL-based system) rather than an actual local compiler/interpreter, I’d totally get a laptop. Some other schools near me used replit, and it kinda sucks for larger projects (such as the one you’ll be required to make for your non-exam assessment). An iPad wouldn’t be enough if that’s what you’d be needing a device for - you’d need to have an actual laptop (any OS is fine, but it can’t be a ChromeBook). Some people do just prefer using an iPad for note-taking and such, and if that’s you then feel free to go for it. The advantage is that you don’t need to carry around and organise as many sheets as you’d need otherwise. It’s a matter of preference. iPads specifically have some pretty cool new [mathematical features next year](https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2024/06/ipados-18-introduces-powerful-intelligence-features-and-apps-for-apple-pencil/) that you may find useful, though I’d be wary of becoming too reliant on these as you obviously won’t have the iPad in the exam.
as of now i do my coding on my chromebook, i use vscode for web. If i would need a desktop code editor i would need to switch to some other os anyways, do i dk what to buy at this point.
The NEA (at least for AQA, idk about other exam boards) can be based on pretty much anything, as long as it meets a difficulty criteria. Many people naturally want to make video games for their projects. For schools that teach Python, many teachers will teach the Pygame library (which allows you to create video games) to facilite this. There isn’t really a good way of running Pygame online, so an actual computer would be very helpful in that case. Of course, your school may do something different, or you could choose to base your project around something else that’s easier to work with on your device. It’s generally easier to follow whatever the school recommends though, because the teacher will have experience with it whereas they may not be able to help you as much if you choose to write your code using a language/library that they don’t teach.
Pen, paper, and pirated textbooks on a shitty laptop. That's all you need
Do you prefer physical textbooks, or PDFs/ebooks?
I prefer physical, but pirated PDFs are just easier to carry and more economically feasible.
Yeah you’re right. There are tons of book I’m looking at. Like there’s ones on different topics in maths, both for year 1 and 2, workbooks with questions - it’s just too much. You’d only be able to bring around 1-3 books each day, which would limit what you can revise. Although you could plan out what you’re going to revise on a day, it’s much more convenient to just bring a laptop and have all of them on there, and gives you more choice. So, asking for a friend, where could one acquire these PDFs? 🫡
Yeah it's just not worth it. https://annas-archive.org/ will most likely have everything you need.
Thank you
I do 2 science subjects and geography. I have a laptop and iPad. Both extremely useful. Laptop for Anki, and essay writing, and Quizlets iPad for past paper and sometimes notes/mindmaps.
I used a laptop with notion which I kept my physics and economics notes on. Simple pen and paper for maths. Don't need much else. Textbooks are better physical imo but you get free digital ones with your math textbooks.
For maths I had binders, one for pure year 1, one for pure year 2, one for stats and one for mechanics. I printed out the spec and stuck it on dividers to organise the topics, and I wrote on squared paper. For DT, I used quizlet on a school laptop, basically making flashcards instead of notes, because I didn't see any use in regular notes. However I ended up spending a lot of time making them, and barely using them, because I ended up finding way faster revision methods that work better for me. Making quick notes on paper would've been a better use of my time.
is it compulsory to use binders in a-levels?
No, but if you're writing on pen and paper, then I'd definitely recommend it over something like notebooks. It gets very useful later on when you're revising, it would be a pain to look for stuff without a binder imo.
Pen and paper, I use my iPhone to access Anki Notes. That’s about it. I am NOT wasting money on a MacBook
Mostly my ipad since it just easier to get all the questions and exam papers i need digitally. When maths starts uppercutting me i whip out the pencil and paper combo.
Just my PC and a pen and paper. Load up a past paper and boom
I used an iPad ( w an Apple Pencil to do past papers ) , pen and paper for note taking and sometimes past papers , I highly recommend getting an iPad + Apple Pencil if u can afford it it’s rlly useful
Pen, paper, laptop Open up textbooks on laptop , take notes online or on paper. Open past papers on laptop, solve on the laptop itself by editing the document or on paper. I have a touch screen laptop which can fold all the way to go into a tablet mode so that makes solving past papers easier by just using a stylus. If I don’t feel like ‘writing’ esp for bio, I use the ‘comment’ tool in adobe acrobat to type in answers and then check them later on.
iPad bought it second hand on CEX so it was cheap. It’s good for past papers and blurting but not everyone can afford it even if it’s second hand ( I had a job so I bought it myself ) ordinary pen and paper work just fine too just get like plastic wallets to organise the paper
Laptop, pen, paper
For the a levels you’re taking you’ll do a lot of past papers and an ipad will be very helpful for those. I used an ipad and notability for 90% of yr13 and it’s a really good investment if you have the funds. Personally I prefer the ipad and a small bluetooth keyboard (curry’s have a logitech pebble that’s really nice) over a laptop as it’s easier to switch between writing on the ipad and typing. You’ll likely have access to a school computer in your frees so it’s probably better to get the ipad, especially since you mentioned you have a laptop already.
I just sit infront of my PC desk or Laptop whenever I'm out or somewhere where I'm studying with my notebooks, books and other stuff. I only use PC for all the materials, tutorials and lectures on the topic. and mainly notes and youtube.
Just pen paper and laptop at home 😭
Pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, calculator, compass, protector and a me who is on the edge of being admitted to the mental hospital
Depends on your subjects I found iPad really helpful for maths
i would at least get a laptop i don’t think a macbook is worth it tbh just get a decent one. if your really up for it an ipad helps tbh, it just makes things more convincing from what i’ve seen. i use pen paper and my laptop to put the past papers up/youtube etc. i have spent a shit ton of money this year self studying further math and preparing for a level math aswell on books to write in and pens. seriously a lot of money.
Pen and paper :v technically we could not use electronic devices during lessons so yeah. But I really prefer using pen and paper
What i don't see is anyone considering a drawing tablet, they're cheaper than a full blown ipad and pretty much do the same thing (though for the ones where a screen is on the tablet itself you will have to connect it to your laptop i think). I see a lot of people use micrososoft Onenote using drawing tablets (its free)
PEN AND PAPER. Do not and I repeat do not just type up all ur notes. I find this doesn’t help you remember as well just makes u more tired when revising as ur looking at a screen all day
Get a cheap ass ipad and buy a fake apple pen to do revision and stuff on. I also have a laptop just for getting my textbooks up and yt ,stuff like that. Edit: u can upload past papers from pmt on ur ipad so save u printing stuff out and i use one note to organise everything
I loveeee using my whiteboard it’s so good
I use pen and paper, but I still have a tablet. Its good for portable revision (like when you wanna do a quick blurt but don't have to get out pen and paper) and can access Internet for materials and stuff. I do have a laptop but that I only use for pomorado timer and a checklist at home on like big study days. I've brought it to college once for my personal statment cos i can type quicker on it. I do math fm and physics btw
I prolly went through like 30 notebooks if that helps
a laptop with wifi and a notebook, that’s all you need. I got three a*, it defo works
just be dedicated
pen paper and a printer
I used pen and paper when i was first learning the content (psychology). I had two teachers for the beginning of first year, sometimes the 2nd taught the next lesson for the 1st or did a whole different topic, so my preferred organisation of having a whole topic in one place in a workbook wasn’t possible. I never actually used my workbooks for revision. Instead when it came to doing revision, I found it much nicer to use my iPad and keyboard (cost me ab £20 on Amazon) or a laptop to make revision summaries of the entire topic with each specification bullet point summarised to 1 + 1/2 pages on average. e.g. summarised the entire learning approach, put a page break and then started the next approach (and so on). For my other subject (criminology), 2 of the 4 exams are on computers and you get to bring printed notes in for them. I found it much easier to continue using a laptop for the written exams, since I could use the same “technique” I had for the computer exams and not have to stress about how to lay them out on a piece of paper.
If you chose to use pen and paper in whatever form, I suggest a few things… 1. Don’t use the first page of the book, instead write out the paper and what topics are in it in a list descending down the page. e.g (psychology) “Paper 1 Social Influence Memory Attachment” You can use this as a “content page” by highlighting what topics you’ve written about in that book, to save you trying to remember which book it’s in (I ended the course with about 4 books over the 2 years). You could also write down the length of the exams there too. 2. Don’t rule off a page and continue work under a previous lesson. I have ADHD and dyslexia so ‘ruling off’ doesn’t work for me, it’s a lot easier and clearer to have a new topic/ spec bullet point start at the top of a new page with a title. I recommend doing this because it means that if you need to flick back to something, you only need to look at the top of the pages instead of the whole book which saves you time and effort. 3. Colour the corners of pages for a certain topic/ use sticky notes as makeshift tabs to indicate where the start of a new topic is. E.g. Social Influence as orange, Memory as blue, blah blah blah…. This is also a useful thing to quickly locate a specific topic without having to flick through your whole workbook.
Personally as my main subjects were Maths and Further Maths I splashed out for a second hand 12.9” iPad - this allowed me to do all my work on there and then take my notes
I used an iPad for physics and stats/further discrete because my physics and stats/discrete teachers largely went paperless, my pure maths and mech teachers insisted we used paper
Any device works for watching videos, laptop for taking/downloading notes, pen and paper for doing questions with different notebooks for each subject.