EPT1. Agenda/Scheduling software (Preferably accessed from the desktop? So it'll force me to look at it.)
2. Note-taking Software (Or is Microsoft word the norm?)
3. Any other neat gadgets that'll help make my life easier
Thanks in advance TL.
Must Have Software for Uni Students?
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Flying_Llama
Canada419 Posts
1. Agenda/Scheduling software (Preferably accessed from the desktop? So it'll force me to look at it.) 2. Note-taking Software (Or is Microsoft word the norm?) 3. Any other neat gadgets that'll help make my life easier Thanks in advance TL. | ||
infinitestory
United States4053 Posts
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EpiK
Korea (South)5757 Posts
2. google documents or open office (both are free, DONT waste money on the microsoft office suite) 3. www.cramster.com (how-to solutions for a lot of different textbooks) | ||
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iceburn
United States303 Posts
2. note taking: a. micosoft onenote, evernote, pen+paper, (livescribe pen) 3. live scribe pen. not bringing a laptop to class. read ahead to keep on top of everything. 4..... 5. profit  | ||
thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
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JSH
United States4109 Posts
Paying for it is kind of meh though Try to get a copy though heh Some professors are really strict on how to turn in assignments I had to turn it in word documents and it had to be older version so have to save it in .doc not .docx --;; yeah and as EpiK mentioned above, the google documents are pretty nifty :> | ||
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seRapH
United States9795 Posts
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YejinYejin
United States1053 Posts
Chromepad for the Google Chrome browser. Let's you open up a very accessible notepad and type something brief for you to remember. Google Calendar. Online Calendar that lets you schedule events and crap. Also, it can send you an e-mail immediately prior to the event to remind you to go to it. I just take notes by hand. It's much easier that way for Math, Chem, and Physics, where you end up drawing a lot of diagrams. For humanities classes where you're just typing words, Microsoft Word is more than enough. Also, I got myself a big-ass whiteboard calendar that I put events on. You don't always see your online calendar, since your computer might not always be on, but I constantly look at this whiteboard, so I won't forget about assignments or events that I put on it. | ||
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Martinni
Canada169 Posts
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Kyuukyuu
Canada6263 Posts
edit: lol ninja'd yeah reading ahead and reading behind too (reviewing lectures) also helps a lot more than you'd think | ||
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eSen1a
Australia1058 Posts
On September 13 2010 15:11 Martinni wrote: Just use a pen and paper for notes and write down important stuff in agenda, read ahead of class and do lectures. Do not bring your laptop in class, because let's be honest you'll just wonder off checking your emails and doing other stuff instead of actually listening. agreed, but if i use a pen i just graff and draw all over my file anyways. i just take nothing and listen then go over the pdf/powerpoint later, i prefer this because less writing = more listening, unless your brain is as fast as flash `-` 3. Any other neat gadgets that'll help make my life easier a good sleeping and study plan > any gadgets :D | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
then: 1. OpenOffice 2. SumatraPDF 3. Google Calendar 4. 7zip 5. DriveXML for backup But generally I also recommend 1. Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2. Microsoft Office Visio 3. SumatraPDF Don't knock Microsoft Office, IT IS without a doubt the best office productivity software on the market and you will find that a lot of reports and resume specifically asked to be in Microsoft format. The rest will be depended on what field you are in. For Software computer science students, you will probably need Visual Studio Express, FileZilla, and other tools. | ||
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Fly[DCT]
Canada38 Posts
LaTeX CutePDF (prints files into pdf) Acrobat Reader WinDjViewer R That's it (all of them are free). Here are some other things which I occasionally use: Illustrator (occasionally used to make pdf-friendly diagrams) Mathematica SAS I make documents and slides (for presentations) with LaTeX so I don't really use Microsoft Office. Unfortunately other people do use Office so I am forced to install it T_T As for note-taking, I've used OneNote before (but it's for my tablet). It's not that great. If you don't have a tablet then you should just take notes with paper. | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
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Fly[DCT]
Canada38 Posts
On September 13 2010 15:32 haduken wrote: Wow, a LaTex user. I haven't used LaTex even after learned a course, such a pain in the ass. I found Microsoft Word a pain in the ass. | ||
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semantics
10040 Posts
On September 13 2010 14:24 infinitestory wrote: If you don't want to spend money on Microsoft Office and don't want to torrent it, OpenOffice.org is an approximate equivalent and has really good compatibility with common document file formats. If you going to school and still don't want to shell out 30 bucks for MS office student discount is so nice, congratulations you are one cheap mofo, but if i see you buying a 7 dollar drink imma bitch slap you! Getting used to Open office is quite a task, sense the newer ribbon layout the difference is quite large. Things like SumatraPDF is nice, really lightweight and good enough for viewing PDF doc and printing them which frankly is mostly what you do. | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
You should however develop your own notetaking techniques like abbreviations, paragraphying because you will come across lecturers that speak and move on topics really fast. | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
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Fly[DCT]
Canada38 Posts
On September 13 2010 15:35 semantics wrote: If you going to school and still don't want to shell out 30 bucks for MS office student discount is so nice, congratulations you are one cheap mofo, but if i see you buying a 7 dollar drink imma bitch slap you! Getting used to Open office is quite a task, sense the newer ribbon layout the difference is quite large. Things like SumatraPDF is nice, really lightweight and good enough for viewing PDF doc and printing them which frankly is mostly what you do. OpenOffice is a good route. Come to think of it, I could be using OpenOffice since I am only interested in viewing Word documents with it instead of doing heavy text-editing (so I don't really have to learn it). But I have a legit copy of Office 2003. It's nice, it works, and I might as well keep it on my computer. I think it depends on what major OP is going into. | ||
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shindigs
United States4795 Posts
Google Documents - Note taking (Google Calendar) I think the key is to just have a minimal amount of software you use all the time to avoid spreading your work into a dizzying amount of apps. Google Calendar is great if you have an Android phone since it can sync with that. However, I'm gonna experiment with the Thunderbird calendar plugin this year. For note taking- I still rec pencil/pen and paper for anything like math, physics, (organic)chemistry, etc. I only type up notes for social science classes that I just memorize shiet in. | ||
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haduken
Australia8267 Posts
Check if your faculty offer you membership to MSDNAA (MSDN Academic Alliance) which give you access to all Microsoft MSDN offerings. | ||
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URfavHO
United States514 Posts
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Flying_Llama
Canada419 Posts
I will probably bring my laptop to school more often than not because most of my courses recommend using laptops in class ( im in commerce btw) and will constantly refer to articles sent to each of the students email and such. Also, as a commuting student with long breaks, i'll need stuff to kill some time with. with microsoft office, is there a preference to which edition? I'm a cheap student to i'll most likely be torrenting it. also, i'm assuming you must access the internet in order to use google calender so is there an offline alternative? | ||
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
I guess it's worth checking if your school has such a software library | ||
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EpiK
Korea (South)5757 Posts
On September 13 2010 15:35 semantics wrote: If you going to school and still don't want to shell out 30 bucks for MS office student discount is so nice, congratulations you are one cheap mofo, but if i see you buying a 7 dollar drink imma bitch slap you! Getting used to Open office is quite a task, sense the newer ribbon layout the difference is quite large. Things like SumatraPDF is nice, really lightweight and good enough for viewing PDF doc and printing them which frankly is mostly what you do. really? I prefer the open office interface over the new version of word. It's also a lot faster for me too. If word were free and open office cost money, I would definitely buy open office any day. | ||
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Manit0u
Poland17695 Posts
FoxitReader OpenOffice You're good. | ||
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vek
Australia936 Posts
I'm not sure if you have similar deals like that in Canada but it is worth taking a look at because you save a heap of money if you HAVE to use Office. | ||
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HwangjaeTerran
Finland5967 Posts
Web browser | ||
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lu_cid
United States428 Posts
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Scorch
Austria3371 Posts
Thunderbird + Lightning + Provider for Google Calendar - Access your mail and calender from your PC. LaTeX - A typesetting language. You'll have to learn this sooner or later if you want to create beautiful papers, presentations and theses. PDF XChange Viewer - A PDF viewer which works at least as well as Adobe, but also lets you add annotations and notes. If you get lecture notes and scripts as PDFs, that'll come in very handy. OpenOffice.org - Why pay for Microsoft Office if you can have an equally good package for free? edit: You'll probably have Wi-Fi available on campus, so don't worry too much about stuff having to work offline. Apart from software, I recommend getting a second monitor for at home. Productivity does increase a lot if you have dual screens. | ||
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EpiK
Korea (South)5757 Posts
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Lexpar
1813 Posts
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inkblot
United States1250 Posts
As an EE student Matlab and a SPICE (I use LTSPICE) are the major programs used in classes. Octave is a free matlab clone but if you are actually going to make much use of Matlab, the student version is well worth the price. | ||
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nayumi
Australia6499 Posts
Music during class = win  | ||
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Emon_
3925 Posts
Our teachers stopped giving out handouts to save paper, which is good. A little harder to follow during lecture, I used to put down all my notes on the paper and then rewrite when I come home. Download the slides and turn off the wifi on your computer until the lecture is finished. Make sure your wpm is ~60 so you can type fast. Also, make sure not to type every word your hear. If the subject is new, you will be temped to do it. Make sure you come prepared before the lecture, read about the subject, download the handouts, so that when you have to take notes you can filter some of the unnecessary things out. Imagine if you were on a Starcraft seminar and you could focus on the 1 gate robotics opening, instead of taking notes on what building makes what unit. Oh yeah, Course literature is expensive as hell, as well as very unnecessary. I took a chemistry class my first year and got a 800page book that cost 60$. The parts that were essential were basically 2-3pages per chapter (often times the summary), the rest is filler to get more money (they get payed per word they write). Later on the books become smaller and more specific, though they are still expensive. You can easily get an older edition and still be fine if you take notes as well during the lecture. | ||
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Fly[DCT]
Canada38 Posts
On September 13 2010 19:51 Emon_ wrote: A lot of people are recommending Google Calender, though I'm a bit paranoid about giving such a big company information about my whereabouts and plans, so I'm staying clear of that one. MS Outlook 2007 works great for scheduling. You can even use your mobile phone as a calender and sync it up with outlook once a day. Planning is rough because you'll have some stuff in the phone, some thoughts are in the notebook, some thoughts are on the computer etc. Whatever you choose, aim to have all your ideas in one place so you can keep track of your progress. Our teachers stopped giving out handouts to save paper, which is good. A little harder to follow during lecture, I used to put down all my notes on the paper and then rewrite when I come home. Download the slides and turn off the wifi on your computer until the lecture is finished. Make sure your wpm is ~60 so you can type fast. Also, make sure not to type every word your hear. If the subject is new, you will be temped to do it. Make sure you come prepared before the lecture, read about the subject, download the handouts, so that when you have to take notes you can filter some of the unnecessary things out. Imagine if you were on a Starcraft seminar and you could focus on the 1 gate robotics opening, instead of taking notes on what building makes what unit. Oh yeah, Course literature is expensive as hell, as well as very unnecessary. I took a chemistry class my first year and got a 800page book that cost 60$. The parts that were essential were basically 2-3pages per chapter (often times the summary), the rest is filler to get more money (they get payed per word they write). Later on the books become smaller and more specific, though they are still expensive. You can easily get an older edition and still be fine if you take notes as well during the lecture. SOOOOOO CHEAP. Let me show you some books: http://www.amazon.com/Complex-Analysis-Lars-Ahlfors/dp/0070006571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284382959&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Topology-2nd-James-Munkres/dp/0131816292/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c | ||
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skronch
United States2717 Posts
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jamesr12
United States1549 Posts
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