Show HN: Note app took me from academic probation to honor roll in one semester

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2869796

by SHOwnsYou • 15 years ago

6 4 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Eventually it dawned on me that I needed to take better notes that I could also reference and search through later.

I built GPASpike: http://gpaspike.com

Download link: http://gpaspike.com/download

I created my first version over Christmas break last year, and got a 4.0 in the spring.

I started to notice that all my classes very heavily built upon each other and I needed a way to keep those class notes very accessible. Since all of my classes by that point were economics based, I also needed something that could easily allow for math symbols and graphs, so I built something I could draw on.

This will be ported to a webapp soon also.

Also - I just realized how tiny the video is. I am working on making a new that one is larger.

SHOwnsYou2• 15 years ago

Site: http://gpaspike.com

Download link: http://gpaspike.com/download

ColinWright• 15 years ago

I don't really want to download it since I'm not sure I really have a use case, but I'd be interested to know how it compares with a wiki. I can see that you can draw in it, and it's got some sort of WYSIWYNG editing.

Can you compare and contrast with a wiki?

Thx.

And congrats on getting the grades - I wonder how much was because you used this software, and how much was because you interacted with the material more due to wanting to test out your new software. Either way - good job on getting the grades!

(edit for typos)

SHOwnsYou2• 15 years ago

I was afraid it might be a little less interesting to this crowd due to it being a desktop app as opposed to a web app.

I view that as a feature rather than a drawback -- Many of my classrooms at school don't have wifi (and my school is rated on several "most wifi accessible" lists). Quickly navigating to a site to take notes isn't always possible.

That is a very astute comparison between this and a wiki.

It is similar in that you can create pages, organize them, and link between them.

It is more accessible to the average user than a wiki is - setup, administration, confusing options, etc.

This has fewer options - To do list, calendar, notebook.

1:The notebook is organized by one category (typically semester or subject)

2:Then you have a second defining category (typically class)

3:Finally, the entry for that individual lecture.

So it has fewer, more succinct options.

It is also more dynamic than a wiki. No university curriculum is limited classes where all notes will be in easily typed language. Imagine trying to take notes for a calculus class with just word.

I looked at my notes and realized that the reason I used a notebook to record my notes is because I needed to be able to draw graphs, write math formulas and chemistry equations - stuff that doesn't translate well to text editors.

So I build something that was as similar to notebook paper as it could be and still allowed me to save and organize my notes.

On the better grades front - I am convinced it was due to ease of studying that this afforded me. Usually before a text, quiz, or essay I was frantically flipping through hundreds of pages trying to find relavent notes. With this, I was able to simply search "LaGrange" and was greeted with a wider understanding -- Notes came up from both calculus and economics. I was able to understand the whole much easier since I was so much more organized.

wimplash• 15 years ago

You should probably be very careful about using the word guarantee in your website's text. IANAL, but you may find that you could get sued by someone who is taking that as a informal contract.

Show HN: Note app took me from academic probation to honor roll in one semester

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