School days are made of fiery, rosy memories for the energetic youths. The thought of ‘too many things, too little time’ holds true for many a full-time student. To make the most of your student days, why not try out these tools that might tide you through semester after semester, or even blaze ahead of your classes, if you use your tools right? If you aren’t aware as yet, web and mobile applications have never been as user-friendly as they are right now. We are confident that any student worthy of their name, are able to pick up on any of our sublime featured online tools in no time!
1. Stayfocused
You know this tool means business when its name is an affirmative phrase. As a student, sometimes blocking out time for study sessions can be challenging – and we feel your pain. With the Stayfocused browser plugin tool, procrastinating students will get locked out of preferential websites which they have pre-set beforehand themselves, to be strictly stringent about their use of sacred time. Tactically go about setting the websites and time schedules to work precisely throughout your fully functional days.
2. Pocket
Think of this app like a trusty personal assistant who has got everything in check while backing your inevitable ascent towards knowledge paradise, as a full-time student. Leave your ‘markers’ of discovery on webpages that you’d want to refer to or save for reading at a later time. Even better, do all your online information trawls at one go when researching or working on assignments and projects. After that, start sifting through all the pages you’ve pocketed on the app’s cloud space through your preferred means – be it on your smartphone, tablet or computer.
3. myHomework
Being a student means being forward-thinking together with your peers, and if you do not want them to judge you (because they will) on primitively toting a physical planner book around school grounds, learn to navigate a digital planner from the first day of school! This app methodically helps the student user to be on top of anything and everything under the semester’s curriculum umbrella – from lectures and tutorial classes, to projects and exams.
4. Evernote
One tool to rule them all- all the digital content of your school life, that is. Create all forms of notes that you learn best from- be it handwritten, photos, lists, audio or web links. This powerfully functional programme can sync content from any and every one of your devices, so uploading external media files or notes are fuss-free.
5. Cloud storage and media modifying tools
Create, share, store and sync your files through cloud services. Popular cloud programmes include Microsoft’s OneDrive and Google Drive. Microsoft proudly updates OneDrive on a continual basis and it currently works on multiple platforms. It also has the very thoughtful feature of uploading media content immediately from your smartphones and tablets. As for Google Drive, as it offers tools similar to Microsoft Office. Users can productively work on files simultaneously if need be, editing on their project groups’ documents, presentations and spreadsheets online.
6. Citation-friendly tools
After writing that gruelling assignment paper for days on end, get a fresh air of settling calm with a reference tool. Such tools like EasyBib can churn out citations in a jiffy, in MLA, APA or Chicago style. It also enables swift search for a title or identifies the book information off its barcode with its snap-friendly picture feature. Similarly, RefMe allows users to search for book titles, journal articles, webpages or other sources and store them in cloud; and RefMe includes more citation styles as well.
One last citation tool would be Zotero, which helpfully tracks, manages and shares often seemingly unending lists of citation references. It also smoothly integrates with the online scholarly datasbase, JSTOR. Zotero offers different plugins for different browsers and platforms – so go for integrating the application with those you use frequently.
7. Examtime
Harness this web tool for creating funky revision material! Create and share your own ‘notes’ with your schoolmates using uber cool features like mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, etc. Bet your revision can’t get any more fun and interactive than this!
8. RescueTime
If you want to get a closer analysis of the amounts of time you spend on your computer or smartphone, this eye-opening application can help you track all your digital activity. It is able to sync with its mobile app, and can even deliver weekly reports on your various self-indulgent digital ‘misadventures’ or otherwise. In addition, the user can set efficiently productive goals as included in its features.
9. Free-for-all Online Knowledge Banks
We must concur, online knowledge resources would be one the most awesome of awesome tools on the world wide interweb. Khan Academy for example, declares that they provide “a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere.” with its thousands of instructional videos and practice papers for tests such as SATs. Coursera, offers free online courses from over 100 academic institutions (including Stanford and Yale), for just about anyone with a set attitude towards learning. Access lectures anytime of the day, from any place globally. Meanwhile, Quizlet specialises in digital flashcards, with its database freely offering 10 million sets and counting. Users can create their own sets too, and then choose their preferred ‘study style’ choice for revision. Note that there are also free resources out there available for students to latch onto for subject-specific tools like in Literature, Science, Maths, etc.
10. If This Then That
Sync your very own unique online actions with simple one-sentence commands. If This Then That creates straightforward actions which, once you start using, may cause the user to end up using it for just about any online activity which they can easily ‘outsource’. This is truly a tool which eliminates manual postings and reduces time-consuming amassing of your favourite resources. Manage your usual online activities with this ‘why didn’t I think of using it before now;’ tool right away!
Special Mention:
Finally, just in case you ever come across epic school projects on your plate and need to upload or send out unquantifiable amounts of files to others, eliminate your doubts of online storage capability with Hightail (formerly named YouSendIt). Never worry about your email attachments failing to be sent over! This tool specifically allows users to store gargantuan files by accommodating them on their internally-fortified servers, and once uploaded, carefree users are given a link to share. No sweat off a pro student’s back or what?
Do you have other awesome tools which you and your peers rely on and have come to adore? We would love to hear about them in our Comments section – tested productivity knowledge shared by just one man with the community is a mass leap towards truly achieving productivity at large!
