Although education has changed a lot in recent years, taking notes is still key to pass a subject. Beyond what the subject book says, the teacher's words deserve to be taken into account for the exam . And if one day you do not attend class, there is no other option than to ask for those notes from a trusted colleague or friend. Or so it was before the internet changed everything with proposals like El Rincón del Vago . The equivalent of the notes to what Wikipedia is to knowledge, saving the distances. Today, the fashionable alternative is Wuolah : beautiful notes to download.
The Internet is full of memes and comments from those of us who remember how difficult it was to do according to what things for school or institute before the Internet. I am of the generation that saw the Encarta encyclopedia copied in a discriminatory way. I even got to see the copyright disclaimer in class work. Unfortunately, I was late to the Wikipedia , more accessible and easy to copy and paste. I was also late to El Rincón del Vago , a page where Spanish-speaking students, first in Spain and then all over the world, could upload their beautiful and clean notes of class for the good of the rest of the students.
Criticized by parents and teachers, El Rincón del Vago had a commendable purpose. Another thing is that its users will limit themselves to copying the content of those beautiful and clean notes to save the effort in writing and class work . Something that reinforced the name of this portal, especially the concept of vague. All in all, the idea worked to the point of being acquired by telecommunications companies such as Retevisión or Orange . And the best of all is that it is still standing today.
Rincón del Vago
According to Wikipedia itself, Rincón del Vago was born in 1998 in Salamanca, Spain. Its managers, Javier Castellanos and Miguel Ángel Rodero. Its popularity reached the entire peninsula and today it is still consulted in practically all Spanish-speaking countries . For the good of the students and for the bad of teachers who find plagiarism and indiscriminate copies for more than 20 years . And it will serve as inspiration for similar projects like Wuolah.
Today, this portal continues to offer beautiful notes and class work on various subjects such as law, philosophy, electronics, physics or biology. You will find material from other users and you yourself will be able to contribute your tasks or notes . The content is classified into papers and notes. In addition, it indicates the level of knowledge to differentiate what was thought for the university or for previous studies. However, today most of the material is for university students .
But like everything on and off the internet, when something works, alternatives arise. The success of Rincón del Vago made other similar proposals appear everywhere throughout the Spanish-speaking internet . Here are several examples.
Patatabrava / Docsity
Reaching a certain age has its drawbacks but also its advantages. One of them is to be there when something important happens. In my personal case, when I started studying at the UAB (Autonomous University of Barcelona), I saw the birth of a page called Patatabrava (2002). The idea was simple. Share class notes. It was organized by university degree, subject and even by professor. So you could download the notes of such a professor and not attend his classes if you could not or if you preferred to be at the faculty bar. At the time he even had a chat where he could talk to other students. Thanks therefore to Andreu Caritg, Oriol Solé and David Tardà, its creators.
If the Rincón del Vago began to meet the needs of college and high school students, Patatabrava specialized in university students. And its success was such that in 2017 this portal was bought by an Italian company, Docsity. In 2019 the purchase was consolidated. The original name disappeared and became from now on Docsity .
As stated on its website, it offers content for university students of different careers. Specifically, more than 5 million documents: notes, tests, tests … And on its skirt it says collaborate with universities around the world. What's more, you can search for content from the search engine or search directly for the university where you study, the subject or even the professor who teaches the subject. In Spanish, it offers content for university students and students from Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador. There is also content in other languages: Italian, English, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, French and German.
Unybook / StuDocu
Another interesting alternative to El Rincón del Vago was Unybook . His proposal was quite curious. In addition to the available notes, you could obtain specific content by requesting it from the rest of the community. In return, you had to pay a symbolic amount to avoid the included advertising. Currently, this portal is called StuDocu and follows the model of the aforementioned pages.
Available in several languages, such as Spanish, Catalan, English and several more, you can search for notes and documents from institutes, higher schools and universities. Come on, in addition to university students , it is a good option for students of earlier stages.
Summaries, notes, study material, solutions to old exams … In StuDocu you will find a good companion to complement what you learn in class and so that your notes are more complete . And it is that this portal claims to have material from more than 19,000 universities, more than 82,000 books and more than 547,000 exam questions. What's more, it has its own app for iOS (iPhone and iPad) .
Wuolah
To the aforementioned portals we must add one of the most recent alternatives, Wuolah . Born in Seville in 2015, its founders are four Sevillian university students: Jaime Quintero, Enrique Ruiz, Francisco José Martínez and Javier Ruiz. According to their official website, they have more than one million registered users and more than 5 million documents from 365 universities and more than 5 million institutes and 8 million Spanish-speaking schools.
Wuolah's model is similar to El Rincón del Vago and the proposals that have come later: upload and share your notes with other students, find notes and download them for free. As an incentive, there is content for both university students and high school and earlier students. But there is an element that has made it a reference portal where you can find beautiful and practical notes. And is that if you upload notes, you get money in exchange . You won't become a millionaire, but at least you will get a reward for your hard work in class.
As the page itself indicates, the notes are ordered by faculty, grade and subject . It has no loss. Otherwise, it is available in English, Spanish, Catalan and Italian. And from its web version you can consult the notes online or download them to enjoy them offline, if that is more convenient for you.
Another interesting aspect. If you are going to take the selectivity tests , today called EBAU, PAU and other acronyms, Wuolah recommends users and notes that will be useful depending on what living autonomous community. And if you cannot find the notes you need, each university and / or faculty has a board where to post comments requesting that material.
