Jackie Hughes is a Junior Marketing major at Pennsylvania State University, a GradeGuru brand manager and a contributing editor for our blog. Click on her name to view her GradeGuru profile.

When I think back to my freshman year of college, I recall time and time again, my roommates and I frantically heading downtown before exams to purchase Nittany Notes. During finals week, the line for Nittany Notes was out the door, crammed with students all doing the same – spending more than $10 for each set of notes. After only a short time, a large portion of my bank account was grudgingly put towards Nittany Notes. My Senior year I found GradeGuru (sigh of relief).

GradeGuru allows students to view class notes for free. The rating system on GradeGuru allows me to see which notes are the most detailed and reliable, ensuring dependable notes. I just search the name of my class and the results for all contributions, including notes, exam study guides, and presentations, just to name a few, are located. From the contributor perspective you can earn extra cash and enticing prizes just by uploading notes. Nittany Notes requires contributors to take notes for every class in the semester in order to contribute, which is a lot of pressure to put on one individual, to be responsible for everything the teacher says all semester.  With GradeGuru contributors can put up any amount of notes they attain from class, as well as a variety of other helpful materials such as exam study guides and assignment related material. GradeGuru allows students to compare notes on a national level, and students are able to access notes from different colleges and universities for similar classes. The array of knowledge on GradeGuru is from a much larger selection.

My advice to Penn State students next time any are considering purchasing Nittany Notes is log into GradeGuru and see if they can find what they’re looking for before paying.