Do you want to know how to use Notion as a student to achieve maximum productivity?
Notion is a great tool for students looking to streamline their university work and better manage their time.
In this comprehensive guide, I will demonstrate how to use Notion as a student to manage your class schedule, notes, to-do list, and more inside it.
What is Notion?
Notion is an all-in-one productivity tool that can be used by people across multiple streams, such as students, businesses, freelancers, and marketers. It allows you to write, plan projects, create task lists, and get organized all on a single platform.
It works across multiple devices and syncs data in real-time. The Notion app comes with building blocks that you can add to any page or workspace to add content to it. The building blocks give you the flexibility to create your own layout that you may find productive.
You can read our detailed guide to find out more about what Notion really is.
Should Students Use Notion for University?
Notion is a free platform that helps university students organize their class notes, lectures, and assignments. It has a powerful search feature that can find any piece of information stored on your workspace within seconds.
Students can also create to-do lists and set reminders to stay on top of deadlines. It is available for free on the web, iOS, Android, and desktop devices.
Notion is definitely an app that every university student should use to keep their study materials all under one roof. There is a little learning curve at the start, but you can find many Notion templates for students to help you get started. Once you get the hang of it, you can use it for pretty much anything.
How to Get Started with Notion
Notion is available for free to download across the web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. You can simply head over to the Notion website and create a free account using an email address.
You can also sign up using your Apple or Google account.
The free plan is generous and lets you create content with unlimited blocks. You can also download its app based on the device you have and log in using the same account. One thing I like about Notion is that it provides the same experience no matter what device you use it.
Is Notion Pro Free for Students?
Even tho the Personal plan of Notion is available for free and anyone with an email can use it, it limits the collaboration feature and the file upload limit.
Students and educators don't have to worry, though. They can get the Notion Personal Pro plan for free by using their school email address to create the Notion account or by associating an existing account with the university email address.
To associate an old account with the school email, go to Settings and Members, and under the Plans section, scroll down and click on Get free Education plan.
On the popup, click Change email and enter your school email and update the changes.
Notion doesn't accept student IDs or other documentation to verify student accounts at this time. Also, personal email addresses (like gmail.com or outlook.com) are not eligible.
If you still want to get the Notion Personal plan for free, we have a guide for it that you might want to check out.
How to Use Notion as a Student
Notion can be used to achieve multiple things all on one platform. If you are a university student, you can use Notion to make a simple to-do list, a spreadsheet to organize your tasks, a kanban view to get things done, a timeline view to stay on track, or simply to take class notes.
Below, I will show you how you can start by creating a simple dashboard to manage your class schedule, make notes, assignment reminders, and more. Everything we create will be linked with each other using the database functionality.
1. Setting Up Your Workspace
After you've created an account, you are taken to your workspace filled with pre-added templates. You can delete those templates to clean up your workspace.
Don't worry, if you need them again, you can easily add them by clicking the Templates button on the sidebar.
To make things easier for you, we'll import one of Red Gregory's Notion school template and use it as a starting point to set up our dashboard.
To import the template, navigate to the above template page and click the Duplicate button at the top to duplicate the same workspace within your Notion account.
2. The Essential Dashboard Setup
After you import the template, you will see various sections scattered across the dashboard.
It will have two sections at the top that'll show you the classes for the current day as well as the most recent notes that you have added to the dashboard.
Below it is a detailed class directory with subjects for the entire semester.
The next section is the class calendar database, which displays the calendar for the entire month with tasks distributed across days.
As you scroll down, you'll notice another section containing all of your recent classes and assignments. There's also a formula toggle that shows the formulas used in the dashboard. If you ever need help with the dashboard, you also get a guide page that links the YouTube video. You can watch the video to get a better understanding of how this Notion student template works.
That's it! The Student Starter Pack dashboard includes all of the features that a student would need to organize their class schedule.
Now, I will explain in detail how each section of the dashboard works and how they are linked with each other.
3. Daily Agenda and Recent Notes
The first section is divided into two columns at the top of the dashboard. The first column is the daily agenda, which dynamically pulls data from the class directory database and displays classes for the current day. If it's a Monday, it will only show the classes you have that day.
Next to each class, you'll also see the class schedule, which is useful for planning your day and deciding which classes to attend.
The next column contains recent class notes that were created within the last week. You can create new notes directly from here and link them to a specific class and assignment. The notes you create here will also sync with the main notes database at the bottom.
4. Class Directory
As previously stated, this section contains a directory of classes for the entire semester. You can switch between semester views by clicking the dropdown arrow. You can also add a new year to the database and use the filter function to display only subjects from that year.
When adding a new subject to the class directory, use the New Class template at the bottom and fill in the following information:
Based on the information you enter here, the classes for the current day will appear at the top of your dashboard for your convenience.
5. Class Calendar
The calendar displays the days of the month as a whole, and you can add tasks or assignments for specific days here. To add a task, click on a specific date and use the premade template for the type of task you want to add.
If you add tasks or notes here and link them to a specific class, they will appear on the class page as well. Once you've completed the task, you can simply check the box to keep track of the completed tasks.
6. Class Notes
A Notion University template would be incomplete without a database to store all of your class notes. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom, the last section is the class notes. Here, you can add notes taken during lectures and link them to the subjects and assignments.
Just like other sections of the template, you will find a pre-made template that you can add with a single click and fill out all of the required fields. When you add a new note, a date is automatically added, and the notes are sorted by the most recently added date.
At the very bottom, you'll also find the custom formula used in this student template, as well as a link to a how-to guide page.
That's it! You know have got an idea of how to use Notion as a student using a university Notion template.
Wrapping Up: How To Use Notion for Student?
Notion is an excellent tool for students who want to improve their workflow and become more productive. There is a bit of a learning curve at the start but it is easy to use and you can get hang of it in a few days.
The Notion university templates provide them with an overview of what is to come. This allows them to plan ahead of time, allowing them to spend less time deciding what to do and more time doing what really matters.
