5 Apps that Help you Study Effortlessly

Studying is by far the toughest thing to do when you have so many distractions around you. It’s pretty common for students to come to me and say they’re addicted to social media or video games. Some say they can’t concentrate on the task at hand. And many say they’re unable to pen down the eloquent thoughts they have on a topic, especially for projects and assignments.

Being a teacher, I’ve come to realise that teaching and learning methodologies will have to take the support of apps eventually, since that is all young students are using these days. So those students who shift to app based learning techniques in addition to conventional study in classrooms can learn quicker and better.

What can app based learning do for us? A lot! Studying for tests can be made easier. You can increase your vocabulary pretty effectively. Tackling Procrastination, making reminders for assignment deadlines and more is so much easier with apps than with any other implement. And all of this doesn’t need to be a dull experience!

Here’s some of these apps that you’re definitely going to want to try out.

Pomodoro apps - Procrastination is a major problem among college students. Most teens in college will prefer to hang with friends than sit in their room and work on the assignment, because the mental strength exerted puts them off.

Pomodoro technique has been used for quite some years now and it has been the easiest way to work as well as have a good time. Download any Pomodoro app. The technique involved is simple; your brain can pay attention for 25 minutes on average, and then it requires time to relax and process the information in the background. So you work on whatever you’re working on for 25 minutes and then relax for 5-10 minutes. Check social media, eat nutella or take a quick shower in the break. I used this way into my early office years too.

Scrabble

Now you’re probably going to be put off on reading this suggestion. But trust me; this game is the easiest way to build your active vocabulary. We know words we memorise from the thesaurus or newspaper editorials. But we forget them till someone uses one before us. Scrabble puts you under pressure to remember a few words and it works wonders. When your brain jumbles tiles around to score points (read: earn reward), a host of those words are brought back to memory in every game.

Plus no one’s stopping you from learning the words your opponent forms. And you know big words can impress teachers and campus interviewers quite a lot.

Quizlet

Quizlet helps you learn by recalling. I used this when I was learning Spanish a few months ago. I was totally new to the language, having only heard it around me but never having needed to learn it. I made my own flash cards on the app, took easy tests and in no time I could understand it much more easily. My speaking skills are getting better too, all thanks to this app.

Myscript

Wasting a truckload of money on stationery supplies is counterintuitive. Most students don’t use half of them and they all go to the dump. And we’ve all had those moments when we rush to class directly from our beds and forget pens or notebooks. Well, if you have a smartphone or a tablet, you’re all set without these. MyScript is a freemium app that will let you write in your own handwriting, identify your words when you want to search for something in the app and also backup your work.

Share your notes with your class using any cloud storage, including Google Drive and OneNote and others. You can also email them, share them via Evernote or other popular apps. But the one feature I am head over heels with is finding definitions of words in your handwriting on Wiktionary.

Vocabulary Builder

A lot of my students have told me they need to increase their vocabulary but they’re short of time. I don’t blame them; reading the newspaper to build your vocabulary isn’t something that helps quickly. But with Vocabulary Builder, you can learn new words on the go. Plus the app isn’t just going to give you new words everyday that you’re only going to forget by lunch time. With repetition of old words and new ones being introduced, your mind gets practice while making progress quantitatively.

Bonus: SHAREit

For all who have projects to make, schedules or notes to share on their device, SHAREit is the way. It saves you time and effort. No need to use USB cables or Bluetooth; just open the app and share whatever files you want. You can even share entire folders of data, without any restrictions of size or number or file type. The app is 200 times faster in transferring data as compared to Bluetooth. You just cannot skip this app!