keeping old college notes Is it worth it?

keeping notes from college is a habit that a lot of students do. But is it really worth it to keep your notebooks from college?. Or it doesn’t matter?. Some people find it useful and some other no.

So in this article, we’re going to discover

How is important to keep old college notes? and how to do that properly?.

Also were going to respond to the popular question about this topic. So keep reading to find your question.

It i s worth it keeping old college notes?

There is no definitive answer to this question. So, it depends. But in general, if you don’t use those note and you find yourself that you haven’t used them for more than 3 years is likely to toss them.

Because you won’t want to consume space for something that you don’t use. So, this is for the people who don’t use their notebooks.

On the other side, there are some students who still benefiting from their college notes and look at them from time to time. So, the question is different here. Thus, we could not ask them to throw their notes.

Even in most cases, people save their notes, not because they are benefiting. But because they look at them emotionally. As a result in a lot of cases people pretend and argue that saving notes is worthing.

Throwing textbooks or notes could be the hardest thing for some students. It carries a lot of memories and love. But, at the same time create a problem of organization and requires a big space capacity.

So, students stay confused between throwing or keeping their old college notes. Some others try to find other alternative solutions. But this requires time and effort.

There is a lot of students who want something in between. keeping their college notes and recovering spaces. So, we will talk about them later in our paragraphs.

The people who love keeping old college notes say…

The people who love keeping old college notes say that they save their notes and offer them to the interns. this case is for engineering students. So there are a lot of people who prefer to create some kind of library notes.

This could happen by gathering other graduates’ notes and putting them somewhere maybe in an office or on the internet.

Some people find the benefit of their notes like some geotechnicals. They find their foundation designs very useful. Going back from time to time is useful for them.

Some people find notes beneficial in exams and homework. That is to say, going back to the old exams notes and solutions which they consider useful.

Others students don’t use them. But predict to use them in the next future times. for instance, going back on them to study for interviews or exams. Or using them for maser degrees. They don’t keep all of them but they select what to keep.

Some college students think that college notes are a good reference to double-check and remember something right or an idea.

A lot of people consider that keeping notes is proving to be much more useful than textbooks. Simply because they remember the key points and problems they have faced with a given lecture.

They think that anything can be gathered from the internet. But the nostalgia and sentimental value keep them very attached and believing that their notes are valuable.

The people who don’t love keeping old college notes say

There is a lot of reasons why the majority of people hate keeping college notebooks.

Graduates find that notes are heaving and painful especially for people who are moving and changing locations. So there is no need to talk about ones who constantly traveling. it is impossible.

Moving these heavy boxes from time to time becomes painful and non-sense. So, the majority choose either to burn their notebooks or at least scan them.

Other peoples find that saving their notes during the year was a loss of time and illusion. Because after years they went back at their notes and couldn’t even figure out what they wrote. So it was hard.

Some people over 10 years didn’t even have the idea or desire to look at their notes. or a barely looking at them once or twice. As result, tossing them during their moves.

The notes were shorthand and without context. So it makes them hard to understand, which become considered as random formulas over the place. So, they prefer to burn them.

People could keep books. But keeping notes seem irrational for someones and loss of space.

They said if you don’t

  • know if you still had it.
  • what you can find inside.
  • which given point.

So why keep them?.

People prefer to use google where you could find information instantly without losing time. They consider this operation like living in the oldest centuries where the information was only findable in libraries.

Some people digitalize their notes because at least list they could know what they have.

keeping notes helps in a professional career?

Probably not that much. But for some cases and persons, it could be useful to use their oldest notes, maybe for themselves or by helping others.

Some university tutors use notes to remind themselves of the course materials. So they use them to prepare themselves before tutoring sessions. But this tactic is working only for the same classes they took. As a result not applicable for any case.

They use their note to Oriente sessions and classes. Also, provide and point students to the most relevant principals and information needed for a lecture. So, it is considered as a blueprint and tactic lesson.

In some other study areas like arts, some professors prefer to keep their notes and list them by subjects. It gives them ideas and sketches to develop further new tasks and works.

It is used for them as a source of inspiration.

Some students use college notes to apply for exams. Especially if they are organized and easily referential. they find them helpful, for them and for their brothers and sisters to use when growing up.

Some engineers prefer thumbing through notes that have some diagrams or pictures. But most engineers prefer keeping books.

Nots in most cases represent nostalgia and good memories to have. it allows you to see the difference in your handwriting between now and was before. Also, remember your day’s the bad and good ones. It gives you warm sensations.

What to do with theses old notebooks?

you have three choices

  • recycle them
  • burn or toss them
  • digitalize them

Recycle them

You could recycle them by cutting and putting them into the water. Especially if you have kids and want to sensibilize them about the environment. In other side , if you have a big quantity of paper you could earn some cash from them.

In this video, you could see how to recycle notebook paper in a house.

Burn or toss them

if you don’t have the intent or time to enjoy some work recycling. Simply you could toss or burn them. There is no way to keep a space for something unuseful. So is time to create more space for new useful books or things you want.

A lot of people don’t prefer to do that because they feel guilty. So it is not reasonable.

Digitalize them

iF you find that your notebooks are valuable. So the recommendable thing is to scan them and put them in the cloud. it will take time and some investment. So only to do if you think is worth it.

Also, you don’t have to forget to index your notes. So you can make them easily achievable.

Keeping undergrad notes is valuable or waste of space?

keeping undergrad notes could be in both sides, valuable and at the same time waste of space.

When college notes are valuable

==> Your notes are well organizable: if you have a well organized and presented content it will be bad too throw them. At least if you don’t need them, give them to someone who could use and benefit from .

==> Find them useful for your brothers or sites: if you find that your little brothers or sisters understand your notes is a good idea to keep them. It will be easy for you to use those notes to explain to them or at least let them use alone.

==> Use them in teaching: A lot of teachers and professors affirm that using their oldest notes help them to teach. As a result, by giving principal points about a lecture. At the same time, reduces the preparation times.

==> Using them to apply for exams or interviews: A lot of students use their notes to apply for exams and interviews. They use them because they find summarized information without reformulating lessons again. just recover memories.

When college notes are not valuable

==> Don’t have enough content: your notes are not organized and don’t have enough content to be explainable. Even by yourself could not remember what is in a shelves. So, in this case you just have garbage paper .


==> Have bad and unknown writings: having bad and unrecognizable writing will not be the reason to keep them. nobody would understand what is about. Some people go back and don’t understand their writings.


==> if you don’t think to digitalize them: if you don’t have the intent to digitalize them is better to throw them now. you don’t have museum documents. To keep this information valuable is recommandable to scan them and put them in the cloud.

==> if you move a lot: if you are moving a lot. You can imagine how many times you should carry theses havey boxes. It would be a wise idea. At this moment you should either toss them or at least digitalize what you find relevant.

How do I throw away my old school notes without feeling guilt?

Feeling guilty to throw notes is something normal. But which is not normal, is letting this feeling control your decisions and missing a lot of opportunities. So, if you find it hard the recommendable thing is to digitalize the notes.

Pick all the oldest notes and scan them. But you have to not forget to index them. If you have invaluable notes that don’t worth any effort, Toss them and keep away the garbage from a house.

Another solution is a donation. you could offer relevant and valuable notes to somelse who would benefit from them. At least replacing the guilty feeling by donation happiness sensation.

Conclusion

So, everyone looks form different angle toward colleges notes. Some people like a tiny portion of stem students find keeping old college useful and some others not.

But frankly, internet and coulds are making things a hell a lot easy than spending a long time looking between shelves.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.