In the 40-odd years in between my Dad attending SUNY New Paltz in the early 1980s and me attending UNH in the mid-2020s, the landscape of studying tools/methods/aids has shifted a ton which was impacted in no part by the rise of personal computers. However, today we have a unique problem that our parents didn’t have: Which tools to use? One Google search and you’ll be blasted with hundreds if not thousands of links to tools, programs, systems, etc. All of which more or less say the same thing, “Use this and your studying will improve, guaranteed!” The problem with this is twofold: everyone studies slightly differently, and if you used all of these tools you’d never get anything done because you’d have so many systems to do before you can even open the textbook. I don’t want to add to this barrage of “tutorials” that people try, so instead I’ll talk about the four tools/services I’ve found to be the most helpful.
My philosophy when choosing study aids is I prioritize simplicity and cost above all, because simplicity will create as little friction as possible, resulting in a system which I’ll actually use. And cost because I’m a broke university student and I’m not paying $20/month for ChatGPT Plus (by the way, AI is useless for studying, learn the damn material).
Linux
You might be confused as to why my first recommended study tool is an operating system, especially one that has a reputation for being technical. The reality however is the landscape has shifted in two major ways, those being Linux has gotten easier to use and Microsoft has adopted a “f**ck you” mentality when it comes to how you use your computer (not to mention the privacy issues they have now).
Almost all university work nowadays is done through a computer and that means that your operating system is fundamentally important to assisting in your ability to learn. To me, this means that the operating system should just get out of the way and let you do exactly what you need it to do, and Linux exceeds at this. Plus it’s so easy to set up and use now that even if you don’t have technical knowledge you can use Linux like a pro. Hell, you don’t even need to use the terminal to install applications as most Linux versions have an app store now.
My personal recommendation is either Linux Mint or Fedora Linux, and just give it a shot. You can always go back to Windows if you don’t like it.
Obsidian
I realistically could just call this “a note taking system” and my point would still stand, but Obsidian is single-handedly the biggest thing that has changed how I organize my knowledge/life because of the ability to link between notes. I’m a bit weird here because I organize all my notes like a library where each note category has it’s own identity I can use to look it up, but hey it works for me.
The best thing I’d suggest when using note taking or Obsidian is to not get caught up on “building a second brain”. That genuinely has to be the most f**cking stupid statement I’ve ever heard, because that implies you’re adding so much information that you lose sight of what you’re actually learning. Be prudent in your note taking, and don’t just add unnecessary rubbish.
Anki
Still the undisputed king of studying techniques. Anki’s spaced repetition flashcards help me study and master concepts. I’ll often use Anki with NotebookLM by generating the flashcards using NotebookLM and loading them into Anki. Plus since Anki is free and runs on literally everything makes it a no brainier for me.