Notability back-to-school survey finds handwriting is better than AI for note-taking

SAN FRANCISCO: Forty-seven percent of U.S. students prefer AI to help organize their notes rather than create them, according to a back-to-school survey commissioned by Notability, the award-winning note-taking app.

Just 13% of the more than 500 high school and college students surveyed said that they want AI to write notes for them, with 21% viewing AI as a distraction from their learning. The results, collected from a survey fielded in July, reveal that students see AI as a study partner, not a ghostwriter.

“Most students don’t want AI to do the work. They want it to make their own work usable,” said Notability CEO Fred Mitchell. “Notability is built for exactly that.”

While the results indicate that AI’s grip on education may not be as tight as some fear, students are not abandoning AI.

Half of students polled said they will use AI in their note-taking this school year, with 34% already using it and 15% planning to start. Among student AI users, the top uses are organizing or summarizing their own notes (64%) and creating study materials from them (59%).

But handwriting still rules the classroom, with 78% of students saying that taking notes by hand helps them retain information better than typing, and 81% explaining that they understand material better when they take notes actively instead of relying on recordings or transcripts.

These data points further validate Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Microsoft Research research conducted in 2025, which found that making notes remains critical for helping students understand and remember new information.

Considered together, the Notability and Cambridge/Microsoft surveys suggest that students still believe in the learning power of handwriting, with AI. This counters the narrative that AI is only used to cheat.

There is another nuance to the AI-student study partnership. Sixty percent of students have avoided reviewing their notes because they were too messy or disorganized, according to the Notability research.

The solution? Taking notes on a smartphone or tablet with AI that organizes what students already wrote, rather than writing it for them.

Fifty-eight percent of students who changed note-taking methods said they saw their grades or learning retention improve, while 93% said searchable, digitally organized notes are important.

These findings underscore the importance of a digital note-taking tool.

The Notability survey polled 503 U.S. students ages 14-24 heading back to school this fall, with 46% in high school, 37% from four-year colleges and 14% from community colleges.

Additional Resources

• You Asked, We Listened: Classic is Back
• Meet Notability for Business
• Refer a Friend to Notability and Get Inky Back In Your Notes

About Ginger Labs

Ginger Labs is a leading productivity app developer known for its best-selling app, Notability. Launched in 2010 with the first release of iPad, Notability provides students and working professionals with innovative digital note-taking, productivity, and study features. The application has been the most popular productivity software on the App Store since 2013.

Fonte: Business Wire