How to Efficiently Type and Draw School Notes on the iPad

iPad note taking for school using Notability! How to use Notability to type and draw school notes on the iPad. Notability allows you to easily resize your handwriting, pictures, and type your school notes.

To take college notes on my iPad, I use the Notability app, the iPad Pro, apple pencil, and an external keyboard. You can follow the same steps using the app GoodNotes, ZoomNotes, and Metamoji. Android and Windows users try the app Xodo, Metamoji, and EzPDF.

Note-Taking Tutorials:

• How to Use Microsoft Word to Type College Notes
• How to Type and Draw PowerPoint Notes on the iPad

This page contains affiliate links to products I use, love, and highly recommend. I receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this blog post. Thank you for your support!

How to Type School Notes on the iPad

1. Open the Notability app

2. Create a new note.

3. The best way to take notes on the iPad is to have a ruled or graph paper. In the top right of the screen, click on the drawing tool > paper > graph

I personally prefer the small graph paper and that’s the one I’m going to use on this tutorial.

5. If you need to type a note anywhere on the page: click on the “T” text icon > keep your finger on the screen for a couple of seconds until you see the “+text box” option.

Use the margins/edges of the box to resize it.

If you need to add special symbols on your notes, I recommend the app SciKey. You have the option to customize the keyboard (see image below). On this picture, you can see that  I customized the keyboard for my physics class.

6. Color code your note’s subheadings. On the image below: yellow is for the main titles and green is for subtitles.

If you record the lecture along with your notes, you can play them back and see them like a movie on the screen.

7.  If you are serious about taking notes digitally, I highly recommend an external keyboard. It doesn’t have to be expensive. The one on this picture cost me about $25 (it was refurbished and I have been using it for 2 years).

A mistake I often see during my lectures is that students draw everything on their tablets, wrong! Type the questions or notes. Use the drawing option for things like graphs, formulas, and/or illustrations that can’t be typed.

How to Draw School Notes on the iPad

• Don’t put to much pressure on the pencil. To create thick lines put more pressure on the screen and to create thin lines put less pressure on the screen
• Zoom in to write neatly along the graph lines.
• Use the graph paper as a reference to draw graphs and images proportionally.
• Don’t draw too small or you won’t be able to see the drawings when zooming out or printing the notes. Use the lasso tool to make your drawing bigger and to change the width of the drawings.
• To make a straight line or any shape, draw a line and keep the pencil on the screen for a couple of seconds.

How to Save Your School Notes

This how my school notes look like on my computer when I change the paper from a graph to a blank paper and I export it to my Dropbox folder.

If you want to learn about digital planners and bullet journaling, you can join my Facebook group. Readers from all over the world share their bullet journal layouts and digital layouts. It’s amazing to see and learn from other people that share a common interest.❤

Popular Blog Posts:

• How to Create Your Own Bullet Journal Printables Using Microsoft Word
• My Bullet Journal School Layout & Setup
• How to Use Microsoft Word to Type Organized and Efficient College Notes
• How to Make a Digital Bullet Journal

– Let’s Connect –

Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube | Shop

[mc4wp_form id=”2504”]