This year, I’ve begun to do my work, write my lists, and take notes on a legal pad, instead of a spiral notebook or looseleaf paper.
What’s great about the legal pad is its disposability, transportability, and bound pages. Legal pads are cheap and immediate, and I don’t feel bad if I have to rip out ten pages from one. Furthermore, the cardboard back provides a sturdy surface to write one if you don’t have a desk. This has come in handy if I’m in an auditorium with especially small desks at each seat or if I have to stand next to a whiteboard for instance to take notes. Additionally, I used to have stacks of scratch paper floating around when doing my physics p-sets and when it came to LaTek-ing my answers, I would have trouble locating the individual sheets containing my answers to the problems. The legal pad has become my new favorite tool for studying.