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Maybe you tend to study the old-school way: sit down, break out a highlighter and pen combo, memorize your notes, and pray you retain it all until test time. There are certainly benefits to handwriting and highlighting your notes, but there are also some great apps out there that can help you study more effectively. Yes, your tech devices can certainly be a distraction, but why not let them help you instead?
If you need to schedule your studying: My Study Life
My Study Life promises you’ll “never forget a class or assignment again” and offers schedulers, task to-do lists, and reminders to that end, plus a number of other features, like a focus timer that lets you tap into the productivity-enhancing power of the Pomodoro method. The app is available on iOS, Android, and your desktop browser so you can use it no matter where you are. The scheduler even works if you have your classes on alternating weeks.
The free version of My Study Life works perfectly fine if all you need is the scheduling, but for $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year (after a free one-week trial), you can access additional features like grade tracking, widgets, and dark mode. Read my full review here.
If you study best with flashcards: Quizlet
If you’re only using Quizlet for low-key cheating on your homework (and yes, your teacher probably already knows), you’re not maximizing its potential. Quizlet is a study tool that has been around a long time and works on iOS, Android, and your desktop browser. It helps you make flashcards and practice tests, plus offers games and various ways to study and review your materials. You can make your materials public to help other people in similar classes and, in turn, can search their public materials for ones that will help you, too—which is how most people come to be familiar with it, as students have uploaded thousands of quizzes over the years. Your flashcard sets and quizzes are customizable, so you can add notes, images, or audio if you need to. Flashcards are, indisputably, one of the best ways to learn, so let this app make it easier for you.
It’s free to use, but if you upgrade ($7.99/month), you also get access to different question types and practice tests. Read my full review here.
If you need to take notes on lectures: Otter
Otter, which has a pretty extensive free version, is a dictation program that takes notes for you. Commonly used by journalists or people who need to transcribe interviews, it’s also great for students whose professors give long lectures full of important info. I've used it in both scenarios for years.
Once you assign a name to a certain speaker, the software will always recognize their voice going forward. You can highlight passages, edit the text in the event the software gets something wrong, and share transcripts with anyone, even if they don’t use Otter. With the free version, you can link it up with Zoom or Google Meet, too, so it’s helpful for online classes, and you can get 300 monthly transcription minutes (with 30 minutes per session) before having to upgrade to Pro for $8.33 per month. A recent update has added a "summary" feature that gives you a brief overview of main topics, which can help you more easily focus on what to study when you're reviewing the lecture later.
If you take lots of notes: Notion
In an older version of this post, I declared Evernote the best note-taking and -organizing app, but then I tested and reviewed Notion, which I ultimately concluded is better in a head-to-head battle. Available on iOS, Android, and your web browser, Notion is an all-in-one app that can give you an assist wherever you are. It keeps notes, ideas, schedules, and more all in one place—and it's free.
Its most useful feature is its pre-made templates, which can help you in school and beyond. You can choose between templates for life, work, or school, then browse ones called things like, "project roadmap," "finance tracker," and "assignment tracker with automations." On top of that, it organizes notes into notebooks and folders, making it ideal for jotting down key information in class.
To create mind maps: Xmind
A mind map is a hierarchical diagram that connects related concepts and makes it clear how they all tie into one another. You can use them for productivity, but they're also useful as study tools, especially if you like to visualize how materials and ideas fit together or are outlining a study plan using the chunking method.
You can make them by hand on paper, but that's tedious. I recommend an app, instead. Specifically, I recommend Xmind, which speeds up the process of creating visual notes by giving you the tools to input arrows to branch off your main idea into related tasks and concepts. It comes pre-loaded with plenty of templates, so if graphic design isn't your passion, that's not a problem. A lot of its basic features are free, but you'll pay between $10 or $15 a month if you want more colors or the ability to add equations, links, tasks, and attachments to maps. Finally, I appreciate that it can be used via browser or app, making it easy to type into and rearrange your map. Read my full review here.
My favorite: NotebookLM
Finally, I can't review digital studying tools without mentioning Google's NotebookLM, a free AI resource that only pulls from materials you provide. I use it all the time. You create notebooks by uploading PDFs, URLs, or blocks of text, then use it like you would any chatbot, asking questions which the AI answers by reviewing the content you provided. Its answers contain links to the exact sections it found them in, so you can ask things like, "What does the author say about the history of the region?" Then, you'll get a summary, plus the link to where that information came from, so you can read it yourself. It makes sorting through a hefty amount of readings a cakewalk.
It can also create a fake "podcast" for you to listen to. In those, two voices discuss the content of your notebook conversationally, just like real podcast hosts would. If you are an auditory learner, this is a game changer. Recent updates have enabled features that create quizzes and flashcards, too. It's available on iOS and Android, as well as your web browser. Read my full review here.
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