The end of the semester is often a tough time for many students, and I hear the same sentiment echoed throughout my friend groups and lecture halls. As a notorious procrastinator and night owl, my student lifestyle isn’t exactly considered model behaviour. However, I’ve spent my past four years in university learning how to make the most of my time and create study habits that work for me.
Like many of my peers, I’m practically never anywhere without my phone or laptop in hand. There are no shortages when it comes to different study, calendar, fitness or lifestyle apps that all students should have to help navigate university life. While some apps can distract you from getting work done, many other resources can be exactly what you need to stay organized and focused throughout the semester.
Here are a few of my favourite apps that can help you navigate coursework and studying while setting some time aside for wellness and downtime.
Quizlet
Quizlet has saved my academics more times than I can count and it’s one of my all-time favourite apps for reviewing and studying information. It’s an incredibly user-friendly app that allows you to create and study flashcards through practice questions, quizzes and games in various subjects through a simple, yet engaging design. From arts and humanities, languages, math, science, social studies and many others, it’s quick to create customizable flashcards or find a pre-existing study set and combine it with your own flashcards. The best part is that the mobile app allows you to study offline when on the go and will sync your data with the web version easily.
MyHomework
MyHomework is great to help stay organized and keep track of homework, tests and projects from more than one class. From a final paper worth 40% or a discussion post worth only 2%, MyHomework is the calendar that can sort colour-coded and send reminders for all your upcoming assignments, quizzes and test dates. Just remember to input all the information from your syllabi accurately!
Speechify
Speechify is a beautiful app that uses a text-to-speech reader on any documents, articles and PDFs. Many people may have difficulty reading or struggle to focus on reading many pages at once. Speechify is a universally accessible app and allows auditory learners to focus more on listening to understand concepts. It’s also a great app for slower readers and can help students go through content quickly and efficiently. Lastly, Speechify allows you to customize listening speed and voice type and is accessible on any device.
Sleep Cycle
Unfortunately, I like to convince myself that I’m more productive at night. When late-night study sessions are inevitable, Sleep Cycle helps me maintain a steady and good quality sleep by monitoring my sleeping patterns and waking me up only during a light sleep stage. If you’ve been struggling to get a good night’s sleep as well, then Sleep Cycle may be able to help you wake up feeling well-rested and more prepared for early morning exams too.
Technology can be very helpful if you use it meaningfully and with good intentions. With finals season just around the corner, I hope these apps can help you organize your time, efficiently plan your day, stay focused and succeed! You’ve got this!