4 Essential Apps for Students

Written by Shannon Lawrence

Want to take control of your studying? There’s an app for that! 

As a fourth year university student, there are a few apps that I simply can not live without, and probably would not have made it this far into my degree without neither. My study habits and academic success rely on many factors such as sleep, effective note taking, goal tracking and time and energy management, and excellent tutors. Here are 4 of my top apps that I use to help me study effectively:

1. Sleep Cycle‍

Sleep is the first step to academic success! Sleep cycle is not just your typical sleep app either. Sleep cycle will:

• Track and analyze your sleep patterns 

• Record you while you sleep (snoring, talking, movements). This is not just interesting to listen to, but also important when it comes to determining which stage of sleep you are in for analyzing your sleep quality

• Wake you up at the optimal time within the wakeup window that you give it - it will determine when you are in light sleep and try to wake you up then as opposed to when you are in deep sleep or REM

2. Anki‍

If you use flashcards when you study (and if not, you should!), then Anki is a must-have for you. This app can be downloaded on your phone, computer, or tablet, and the flashcards will sync automatically so you have the same cards on each device. This way, you will always have your flashcards with you wherever you go! They’re also extremely easy to make, and help the environment by reducing your need to buy flashcards. This is an easy switch to online learning methods that you will be sure not to regret.

Special features:
• Anki doesn’t just record which cards you answer correctly, but also how long it takes you to answer each card! It then shows you the cards that you take longer to answer more frequently in the next round, so that you get more practice with them

• Anki has a great community where people share studying tricks and tips and how to make the perfect flashcard, as well as YouTube videos and blogs for online learning

3. Flow‍

Flow is a Pomodoro timer app that can be used on your phone, tablet or computer to help you follow the Pomodoro technique while studying online. Flow will also let you block distracting apps or websites, which is especially helpful when doing online learning. The Pomodoro technique timer which is built into this app is proven to better focus and reduce stress, by reminding you to take 5 minute breaks every 25 minutes.¹ ²

4. TUEX Education

The last app I’d like to recommend is the TUEX app for students - an online tutoring platform where you can easily search for and find tutors that match any subject you’re looking for, as well as any other important criteria such as hourly rate, location, language, and more. This app revolutionizes the process of finding the perfect tutor for your needs both quickly and efficiently, and their tutors are diverse both in the subjects they teach and the languages they speak. Their rates are also quite affordable for online tutoring, and if you need financial support for tutoring services, they also have the TUEX foundation which provides free tutoring for those who show proven financial need.

Keywords: Online tutor, online tutoring, tutor, online learning, tutoring services, free tutoring

References

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¹ Ze Zhu, Lauren Kuykendall & Xichao Zhang. “The impact of within‐day work breaks on daily recovery processes: An event‐based pre‐/post‐experience sampling study” The British Psychological Society, 2018.

² University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Brief diversions vastly improve focus, researchers find.” ScienceDaily, 8 February 2011.