Being a student in 2015 can be a stressful business. One way to help reduce the pressure is to utilize technology in your studies. With an app for just about anything, sifting through the deluge for something genuinely useful can be a time-consuming process. That’s why we’ve gone ahead and picked our 10 favourite apps to make you study smarter. Enjoy!
SelfControl
This app is a god send. Picture the scene: you’ve finally sat down to start studying, mind focused on the job, when you receive a Facebook notification. And a Tweet. And an Instagram comment. It’s almost impossible to ignore the outside world so to avoid getting distracted download SelfControl, which lets you block specific websites – social media, email, news and gossip sites – for a set amount of time. Ditch the lot so you can focus on your work.
Evernote
Billed as “the workspace for your life’s work”, Evernote is the daddy of note taking apps, offering full bookmarking, composing, clipping and to-do list facilities. It covers all formats including text, audio, photos and video and is available on all the devices you use on a daily basis, so you can sync it up to your mobile, laptop and tablet for seamless use.
Studious
What SelfControl does for the web, Studious will do for your phone. Schedule periods of communication blackouts so you’re not interrupted by a call when you finally sit down to study. Psychologically this can be a powerful tool: by adding your class and revision schedule into the app you are telling yourself that these times are dedicated to study, undisturbed. Just make sure you turn it off when you finish studying!
Alarmy (Sleep If U Can)
Have trouble getting up in the morning? If the temptation to hit snooze on your alarm clock is just too great then try this app, dubbed “the world’s most annoying alarm”. Alarmy forces you out of bed by making you physically go to the place shown on your screen, which can be any number of locations in your home such as the bathroom sink. You’ve then got to be awake enough to operate your phone and take a picture to prove you’re up.
Skype
So you thought Skype was just an app to avoid studying, huh? Wrong! Instead of using it for mindlessly chatting to your mates, put it to good use with its host of features – text, video and voice chat and file sharing – that make it perfect for studying. Save time on meeting up, study with people located anywhere in the world or get a private session from a tutor – this app has some serious advantages for students.
Wunderlist
If you’re juggling multiple work projects at the same time then Wunderlist could be the app for you. “The easiest way to get stuff done”, this app helps you keep on top of all your projects by compiling your to-do lists, setting due dates, reminders and assigning to-dos for others. Never miss a deadline again!
Dropbox mobile
Great news! The undisputed King of cloud and sync apps is now available for your mobile. Saving you the hassle of time-consuming file transfers from device to device, Dropbox is your very own free server that lets you store all your documents, photos and videos in one easily accessible place. With everything backed up online, there’s also no need to worry about lost assignments ever again.
Audacity Portable
Want to record audio on the go? Audacity Portable is the popular Audacity audio editor in mobile form – perfect for making and taking audio files anywhere. Record lectures, seminars and tutorials so you don’t miss a thing or make notes out loud rather than in writing, saving you time that we can all agree would be better spent in the pub.
Dictionary.com
This is an essential bit of kit for anyone new to their subject, or just looking to expand their vocabulary for exams, essays or oral presentations. With over 2,000,000 definitions plus word origins, synonyms and a thesaurus, you can become a wordsmith with Dictionary.com without the serious reading time. Our favourite feature is the voice activated search.
Cite This For Me
Last, but definitely not least, we come to Cite This For Me. We might be tad biased about this one but, in our opinion, it really is the ultimate app for smarter study. With so much to think about as deadline day approaches, you can take one thing off that to-do list by using our free reference generator. Whether it’s Harvard referencing, APA format, MLA format or a more obscure style, we’ve got it covered with over 1,000 styles (and counting!) in our database. You’ll never experience that last minute bibliography panic again.