

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

Eventually it dawned on me that I needed to take better notes that I could also reference and search through later.<p>I built GPASpike: http://gpaspike.com<p>Download link:  http://gpaspike.com/download<p>I created my first version over Christmas break last year, and got a 4.0 in the spring.<p>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.<p>This will be ported to a webapp soon also.<p>Also - I just realized how tiny the video is. I am working on making a new that one is larger.
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ColinWright
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)

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SHOwnsYou
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.

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wimplash
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.

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SHOwnsYou
Site: <http://gpaspike.com>

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

