November 25, 2024   Academy | Blog  | Community  | Our Philosophy
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Tools & Technology in Preparation - Hacks & Resources / Apps / Evernote /Onenote

I use a mix of Evernote, Notability and Physical notes. (Apologies for the lengthy post.)
 
1. Evernote: I dump in it everything which I find relevant. For that I use Evernote’s web clipper (Only in laptops). But to organise everything, I divide everything in 3 levels: Stacks at the top level, then Notebooks and then Notes. Again each note is divided into 3 different levels using tags. 

For example: I will have a stack of notebooks named Current Affairs. Then notebooks for months like January 2020 etc. Within each Notebook, there are notes. Now each note will be tagged with 3 different categories of tags. For UPSC, I have made tags for each level i.e, @pre, @mains and @interview. Then the tags for each topic of mains syllabus such as /GS1.01 for Art&culture topic of GS1, /GS2.01 for polity part of GS2 etc. After that, one more tag for subtopic such as :amendment within topic polity. 

Now let’s say, I have an article which is important for pre, mains, interview, optional, essay and Centre-state relations and related to devolution of powers. Then my tag would be @pre, @mains, @interview, /essay, /optional, /GS2.02, :devolution of powers. [It may seem complicated at first, but once you get a hang of it, it will be much easier].

2. Notability: I use it for making notes, annotating pdfs, newspapers, rough work, attempting test papers etc. In short, everything which can be done with pencil. Each divider contains notebooks. For example, GS1 would contain subjects like Art and Culture, History, Society, Geography.

3. Physical notes: I have made folders for each major topics of syllabus such as history, society, geography, polity etc. My final notes go in these folders.
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I also use Notion for Medieval History.
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@rashiv By trial and error it evolved into something like this. I had watched a video of an youtuber who would divide his tags in 3 levels with @what, /where and :when. I got the idea from there.


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@Agog I also noticed the blue tick. I think it's based on how much one contributes on this platform.


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goldberrysaid

Anduinsaid

@goldberry Why did you switch to Evernote? I started using onenote few days back. Cons of using onenote?

I adopted one note very early , but didnt use it for very long time. Then one day I read Abhishek Surana Sir's blog. he has shared all his notes in evernote, so i went for it and got comfortable.

I am trying to share my notes arrangement but cant share the screenshot, the image is simply not uploading.

I just saw Abhishek Surana's Blog and his Evernote notes. That's gold. Thanks.

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LeoMessisaid

Ami I the only one who is feeling anxious after seeing so much organised notes from other aspirants? I can't even decide what to eat in breakfast & you people are creating tags after tags?Civil servants are really great & organised planners. 

Sorry if you feel this way by my post. The purpose was not to make anyone anxious here. The purpose is to learn from other's mistakes and best practices. You have to be organised and systematic in your approach. Otherwise it's very difficult to manage every part of the syllabus, especially for someone like me who has Geography as an optional. 

You can also organise your notes in different folders in physical form. See, ultimately we have to prepare our notes for the last week before exam. If we can't revise just before the exam, it is as good as giving exam without reading anything. I learnt these things from my previous failure. You may have different strategy, and my strategy might not work for you.

P.S.: I can't decide what to eat in breakfast too. Wahi roti-sabji roj ke roj :D

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thistooshallpasssaid

I have an ipad but I do not have an Apple pencil. It is too costly. Any alternatives?

iPad keyboard has mic, which can be used for writing just by dictating. It also has swipe function to type, by sliding your fingers.

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Neyawnsaid

Let me share one more trick.

Okay. Instead let me give a problem statement. When arranging notebooks in the EN, often we want a certain notebook to appear first or second or in some order. How do you achieve that?

Any 'pro' Evernote users here? :D

The best solution gets a gift from me :D

Notebooks can be renamed and numbered with alpha-numeric values. Then sorted by name.

Gift :P

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@Kasturi22 I think, it's similar to anki.


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I think forum should also make an app like "Marrow" (which is for neet pg preparation). Approx 90% of medical students use this app and have been proved very helpful for them. There is a lack of such kind of app for UPSC preparation.

@Neyawn 

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@Oasis I use Evernote and Google keep in mobile.
  1. Evernote:This is the main app for note making. You can See here how I organise things in Evernote.
  2. Google keep: I use it mainly for Diary-like purpose, not for note-making. I have kept things like unique ideas, quotes, some shayaris and poems, links to blogs, links to videos, login and passwords, Registration/application numbers etc.


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