As the school year gets harder and harder, it’s important to get the most out of your education and to also make life easy for yourself in every way possible. That is why I want to share a few of the apps and websites that I’ve used to help me kick my feet up during tough times.  

Zotero

I think we all know how time-consuming and annoying manually typing out citations are for our papers. Enter Zotero, it’s basically a free, smart library that stores all your sources and creates citations for you automatically. You can tag, sort and even send them to your group members as well. It also easily integrates with Google Docs and Word, meaning it’s one less thing to worry about when the deadline is looming. I use Zotero all the time for all my classes, and it feels like a lifesaver compared to when I manually had to create citations (or use AI). Don’t forget to download the browser extension!   

Notion

Ah, the app that makes you feel productive just by opening it. Notion is your little online notebook that you can use for basically anything and everything. You can use it for note-taking, to-do lists, project tracking, or even meal planning (especially when you see those AH prices). I use Notion for most of my coursework, specifically just taking notes. I also use it for to-do lists when I’m running errands around Maasi and for writing down goals I want to achieve in the future. It’s also very customisable, which is why it’s so popular, so you can make your Notion setup as simple or as complex as you want.

Anki

This one is especially for you STEM majors. Everyone praises active recall, but when it comes to implementing it into studying, things get difficult. Meet Anki, the spaced repetition flashcard app that helps you actually remember things long-term. It’s slightly challenging to understand at first, but once you do, it’s a godsend. When you review a flashcard, you test yourself and then rate how easy or hard it was. Based on your rating, Anki automatically schedules the card to reappear at a future time, showing it again sooner if you found it difficult, and later if you found it easy. Another plus is that you can download pre-made decks to study whatever topic you want. For example, I have downloaded the 2000 most used words in German to keep myself learning, which has helped drastically in my goal of becoming fluent in the future. 

Any Screentime app

Unfortunately, distractions are inevitable when studying… or are they? Using a screentime app helps me drastically when I need to be productive. These apps stop the doom-scrolling and help you study effectively. It’s like having a little person on your shoulder that judges you every time you open TikTok or Instagram. One of the apps that I used this exam period and helped me study better was Forest, where you plant a tree in your virtual garden. However, if you go on your phone, the plant dies. This helped me like crazy and allowed me to lock in for hours on end. Another is Freedom, which blocks certain websites and apps on all of your devices. Giving these apps a chance will extremely change your studying habits for the better.

Splitwise

Going in a different direction than tools for studying, Splitwise could be your solution if you’re constantly in debt to your friends/roommates. It tracks who paid for what, who owes whom, and how to settle up, especially without the need for a group spreadsheet or an awkward “can you please send me the money?” text. The app does all the math for you, and at the end of the month, it says who should chip in more next month. It also works for other situations too. Whenever I go travelling with people, I use Splitwise to keep track of who has paid for what along the journey.

If you have any more apps, websites or online tools that you deem useful, send us a DM on Instagram if you’d like more people to hear about them.