There’s a phrase that goes like this, “Education is one of the most important things in life”. I bet every one of us has heard this phrase at one point of time in our lives. While I don’t deny this statement, let’s be honest, studying can get boring at times. That’s why you shouldn’t focus on studying hard, rather what you should focus on is studying smart. However, this statement begs a question, which is how to study smart? While there are a number of ways to go about it, what I like most is using studying apps on my smartphone. But, that will only work if you can use them without getting distracted by other apps. If you are wondering which apps make that list, here are the 20 best apps for students to help them study efficiently in 2020.
App Blocker Apps
As I mentioned earlier, using the best apps for students on your smartphone will be worthwhile only if you can avoid the distraction from other apps, I understand that it’s easier said than done. In case you find it difficult to abide by this rule, you can use some app blocker apps to avoid opening certain apps for a particular duration. To help you out, here is the best apps that can do that:
Kicking off the list is an app called Stay Focused which will help you stay focused while you’re studying and not get distracted by all the other apps on your smartphone. The app is capable of blocking all apps on your smartphone unless you whitelist them and it even allows you to set daily/hourly usage for apps, after which they’ll be blocked. The app also gives you daily insights on your usage patterns, which will help you figure out which which apps you’re wasting the most time on. Stay Focused even allows you to set a default motivational text which will pop up every time you use blocked/restricted apps and might help you reconsider your priorities.
Install: Android (Free with in-app purchases)
Albeit being a simple app, AppBlock does the task of blocking apps for a certain duration very well. To start off, you can create and name profiles which define the days and time for which they are active, along with the apps to be blocked. Like (OFFTIME), you can also block notifications for the blocked apps. These notifications can later be viewed from the “Blocked notifications” section of the app.
If you don’t want to use third-party apps, both Apple and Google has introduced built-in tools for restricting your app usage. To learn how to do that follow our article to set up Screen Time on your iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on your Android devices.
Once you have your distracting apps blocked, you can go on to use your smartphone for studying efficiently. And what better place to start with than planning. There are some really good apps which can help you plan your study schedule, so that your are never late for any class or test. To help you get started, here are a couple of apps that you can use:
myHomework Student Planner is one of the best planning apps that you can use as a student. With this app, you can store your homework and class schedules, all in a single place. You can add your class names to the app, so you don’t have to type them again and again. You can also choose the homework type from a list that includes test, study, lab, project, etc. and set a due date. Depending on the importance of your homework, you can also set a priority from high to low.
Install: Android, iOS (free with in-app purchases)
If you are looking for an app that not only stores your study schedule but also that of your whole day, then Google Calendar is the app for you. With its seamless integration with other Google products and cross-platform synchronisation capabilities, it hardly matters which platform you use it on. With the app, you can create an event, set a reminder, or even set a goal. You also get notifications for all your events, reminders, and goals which makes it a really handy tool.
Best Task Managers
Often fail to carry out a specific task before the deadline? Well, you need a smart task manager to keep you in sync with everything you have to do. With real-time reminders and some inputs, they ensure you are able to not only get your work done in time but also boost your productivity.
Whenever I think of to-do list and task management apps, the one familiar name that instantly strikes my mind is “Todoist”. And rightly so as it’s long been one of the highly-rated apps for managing tasks. What I have always loved in this app is the flexibility to customize tasks as per a specific goal. So, you can set up everything as per your workflow and go about doing them with the desired consistency.
2. Microsoft To Do
If Todoist claims to be a feature-rich task manager, Microsoft’s offering is not behind either. The app has got an elegant interface and also offers a range of customization options so that you can take control of all of your to-dos at your own will. And with timely reminders, it makes sure you don’t forget to carry out a specific task in time. But what has appealed to me the most in this app is the seamless collaboration that enables users to team up with their friends to work in sync.
Now that you have everything planned out, it’s time to take action. The most important thing that you are supposed to do in a lecture is to take proper notes. While your laptop is your best friend when you are frantically taking notes in a lecture, sometimes you need to jot down some quick points, and taking out your laptop every-time for that is not productive. The best way to do that is to note down those points on your smartphone. So I tested a few note-taking apps and found the ones below to be the best of the lot.
1. OneNote
The same OneNote that you love using to take notes on a computer has can also be used on your smartphone (Android and iOS). Since the notes are synchronized, you can be sure that all your notes will be available to you whichever device you are using it on. Most of the features that you will find in this app are the ones you are already familiar with, that is, if you’ve used OneNote before. One important thing to note here is that unless you are signed in using a Microsoft account, you can only take a quick note and the synchronization will not work.
If you are looking to take short notes, then Google Keep has you covered. Having said that, while you can take long notes as well, I’ll suggest you still use OneNote for that. Talking about Keep’s features, you can take a simple note or create a list. Like OneNote, you can also use Keep to take notes using your finger or a stylus, add voice recordings, and add images. In addition to this, you can add different background colours to your notes to differentiate one from another. If you want to categorize them, you also get the ability to add custom labels. To top is all of, the app also features cross-platform customisation.
If you have are writing a report, a note-taking app doesn’t offer enough formatting options to do that. If that is the case, you can download a word processor app that will not only let you type and edit files but also let you format them to a great extent. While there are many great word processor apps out there, I have selected two of the best ones among them.
Being a Google product, Google Docs offers seamless integration with Google Drive. The work that you do in the app is saved in real-time, so you don’t have to worry about saving it every few minutes. You can format texts with many formatting options that include font, font style, font size, text colour, highlight colour, indentation, and paragraph spacing among many others.
Just like you can use OneNote on your mobile device for note-taking, you can use the Microsoft Office app as a word processor. If you sign in to your Microsoft account in the app, your documents get synced automatically over OneDrive. For typing, you can either open an existing file, or create a new one inside the app. Just like its desktop version, you can choose from a series of templates like journal, newsletter, research paper, etc. or continue with a blank document.
The formatting options in Microsoft Office don’t need any introduction. Just for the sake of naming a few, they include font, font style, font size, font color, paragraph formatting, etc. Just like Google Docs, the Microsoft Word app allows sharing either using OneDrive or as an email attachment.
Just like a student’s life is incomplete without a dictionary, this list would be incomplete without the mention of a dictionary app. While there are many great dictionary apps available for download, I am including only one which is more than enough for all intents and purposes.
Just like you would expect from any dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary app shows you the meaning of words. In addition to this, you can hear a word’s pronunciation, see some examples, and learn a little history about the word’s origin. Your recent search history is stored in the app so that you can revisit them. If you find it difficult to remember the meaning of any word, you can mark it as a favorite and it will then appear under the “Favorites” section of the app that you can visit later.
The app also shows you a “Word of the Day” which helps you increase your vocabulary. To make learning more interesting, the app has a few word games that you can play while testing your vocabulary at the same time. Though there are a few ads that appear on the screen, you can remove them by buying the premium version for $3.99 only. With this version, you also get access to premium content which includes graphical illustrations.
Boasting a massive catalog of words (over 350,000 words and phrases), Oxford Dictionary remains one of the most popular dictionary apps for iOS and Android. The app has also got a large collection of regionally specific entries which can help you learn a regional language. Just in case you are trying to enhance your pronunciation or speak correctly, you would find the audio pronunciations of both common and rare words quite helpful. Another notable feature of this app is the option to create custom folders with a list of words, which can play a vital role in assisting you to build a strong vocabulary.
Install: Android, iOS (free with in-app purchases, $9.99)
It is not always easy to learn everything in the classroom. On the other hand, learning alone at home may get boring. For most people, the best way to learn actively is with their peers. So here is an app which can help you learn along with other people just like you around the globe:
For passionate learners, Khan Academy is undoubtedly one of the best apps for iOS and Android. Whether you are trying to enhance your soft skill or improve your command your Maths, this learning app has got you fully covered. It features more than 10, 000 videos with clear explanations so that you can easily learn anything that interests you. That’s not all, it’s also got a huge collection of interactive questions that you can practice at your own pace to get rid of shortcomings.
Install: Android, iOS (free)
Whether you aspire to be multilingual or learn a new language, you shouldn’t miss out on “Google Translate”. What makes this Google’s app ahead of the curve is the ability to translate between 103 languages by typing. Furthermore, it comes with a conversation mode that provides two-way instant speech translation which can come in super handy in letting you chat with foreigners.
Best Organizer Apps
Once you have all the notes that you need to study, the next challenging thing is organizing them. Given that most of us are not as good at organizing as we want to be, there are certain apps that can help us become better. With the plethora of such apps available, I shortlisted a couple of organizer apps that can help you make your oragnizing game strong.
It is not always possible for everyone to attend each and every class. For some or other reasons, each of us will miss a class at some point in time. In that case, it becomes really difficult to cover all the notes by copying them down, so most of us usually click pictures to keep them in a digital form. But when we have to review them, all of it looks like a mess. Well, that can be avoided if you use Office Lens.
2. CamScanner
When it comes to scanning PDFs, you can count on CamScanner to get the job done for you with precision. Using this app, you can easily scan notes, certifications, receipts, and more. For a better result, it comes with an auto-enhancing tool to let you scan docs properly without having to put any effort. However, you have the option to use the cropping tool to remove unwanted parts. As a student, you would really appreciate the annotation feature that can help you add some cool creative touch to your docs.
As the technological world is slowly moving towards the cloud technology, it only makes sense that you use that to your advantage. You can save all your notes and documents on the cloud, ensuring that they can be accessed from anywhere. This way, you won’t have to panic even if you forgot to bring your primary device, as all your notes can be accessed using any browser. So here are a few cloud storage apps that you can use:
1. Google Drive
If you are an Android user, you are already using Google Drive. It has some really useful features. In addition to uploading files and folders to the cloud, you can also create them within the app. Also, you can scan images and upload them as well. This makes it a great scanning app too. Google Drive has a section called “Quick Access” that smartly shows you the files that it thinks you’ll be needing at a given point in time based on the time and your location. If you want, you can turn it off in the app’s settings.
Just like Google Drive, Dropbox is another great cloud service that you can use. When you create an account for the first time, you get 2 GB free storage. This can be increased by upgrading to Dropbox Plus that gives you 1 TB of storage at $9.99/month or $99/year. Another way to earn data is by inviting your friends to install Dropbox. For every friend that joins with your reference, you get 1 GB of extra storage for free.
After covering every possible thing that a student needs, the only thing that remains is a good calculator app. If you are wondering what’s wrong with the stock one, then let me tell you that the following two apps are not simple calculator apps. They can complete tasks which the stock calculator apps can only dream of (if they could dream).
If geometry is not your forte, you may find it really difficult to plot graphs from given equations and vice-versa. While there are many different ways in which you can check your answers, most of them are time-consuming. On the other hand, if you have GeoGebra Graphing Calculator installed on your device, that task shortens to a matter of seconds.
If you are looking for a good scientific calculator app that doesn’t take up much space on your phone, then look no further than RealCalc. It does everything that a good scientific calculator can do. In addition to the basic calculator features like calculations, percentages, and 10 memory states, it offers features like trigonometric functions, unit conversions, permutations and combinations, and hyperbolic functions. You can also customize the look of the calculator with a few tweaks in the app’s settings.
While most of the features that you will need are available in the free version, you can get more features like fractions and customizable unit conversions and even a widget with RealCalc Plus that costs only $3.49 on the Play Store.
Mathway is a great app for solving problems. Though I do not recommend using it straight away, it is very useful if you find yourself stuck at any math problem. It can solve problems related to many topics including algebra, trigonometry, calculus, statistics, etc. All you have to do is type in the problem, and the app will automatically ask you for the type of answer you are looking for. For example, if I were to type in a cubic equation under algebra, I would be asked whether I want the factors, roots, graph, or intercepts. These options may vary depending on the equation and the topic selected. While I did not get any wrong answer for the time I used it, I suggest that you don’t take the answer provided by the app for granted.
