Liam Nguyen

Trying to transcribe every squiggle is how you lose the plot. Treat the proof like logging an incident: write the goal, the givens, the tool used, then the result arrow. When the prof says by XYZ, that is the only phrase you write verbatim, and you draw a big box around the final line. If recording is allowed, run a voice memo and jot tiny time stamps on the page so you can jump back. Trust me, I have watched people try to screenshot RAM, and this beats that chaos.

Study groups can help explain confusing parts quickly, but solo studying lets you focus deeply without distractions. As someone always juggling shifts, I mix both: group for clarification, alone for mastery. It's practical and saves time.

Switched from paper piles to a tablet with a stylus last year. Organization got way easier because everything lives in one notebook per class with tags and search. I can paste lecture slides, scribble in the margins, and record quick voice notes when I miss a step. Turn off notifications and go full screen, and it actually feels like a notebook. Fun mishap: I left the pen on my car roof and spent an hour hunting it in the parking lot, so keep a spare cheap one. Pros for me were instant search, clean PDFs, backups, and a lighter bag. Cons were distraction, battery anxiety, glare in bright rooms, and a cracked screen that cost too much to fix. Ongoing costs are pen tips, a matte screen protector, and usually a paid notes app. My guardrails now are Do Not Disturb, offline notebooks, a charger in the bag, and a 15 minute weekly cleanup. If you rarely review, the tablet will not magically fix that, so tie it to a tiny habit like a five minute nightly skim.

Spaced repetition. Test yourself, don't reread. Tiny daily sessions beat heroic all-nighters. Think of it as brushing, not whitening strips.

idk, 15 minutes daily of podcasts and shadowing changed everything.