The 7 Best Apps for College Students

October 27, 2016 by Sierra K

There is a wealth of free resources at our disposal! Study habits, scheduling, and textbooks don’t have to be in paper form anymore–the digital future is here and provides tools to make our college experiences more efficient than ever before.

1) Google Drive is a great substitute in lieu of carrying an easily misplaced USB flash drive. Simply uploading a file and being able to access it from any device is quick and convenient. It also functions as free online storage space and its other complementary apps, such as Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets, make handling assignments and presentations less challenging (especially when it comes to printing.)

2) Duolingo is a fabulous app for learning the conversational basics of a language. If you’re thinking of studying abroad or going on a mission trip, Duolingo will introduce the foundation of a language in practical applications for you. They currently offer over 20 different languages–two of them being Greek and Hebrew–as well as other dominant languages, such as Spanish and French. Having a second language also looks good on a résumé, n’est-ce pas?

3) iTunes U offers a spectacular array of free textbooks and college level materials on a spectrum of subjects, ranging anywhere from Computer Science to Christian Counseling. There are free courses offered by Liberty University, Harvard University, and many more. All of them are available through this nifty app. If you ever need to burn time or are looking to gain additional professional skills, the amount of resources it offers is impressive.

4) Quizlet is useful for studying in any subject. Instead of spending excessive amounts of time making study guides and flashcards, you can search for flashcards, quizzes, and games from your textbook that other students have made–or make it yourself in considerably less time without using up your entire stack of index cards. With over 125,000,000+ study sets available, at least one or more of those sets should be exactly what you need.

5) MyHomework is great for keeping track of your courses, assignments, and tests. It’s the ultimate student planner app that reduces the chance of forgetting a class or specific homework assignments. It aides you in organizing the tasks you need to complete instead of hastily scribbling down crucial information on a torn piece of paper and then losing it… but obviously, I’ve never done that before. *insert wink here*

6) Flashcards+ by Chegg is one of the highest rated studying apps on mobile iOS devices. Chegg is an excellent textbook rental company, but their free flashcard app is very user-friendly and even works with Apple Watches. Instead of having a thick pile of study notes, you can effortlessly create decks of flashcards and sort them into different categories and fit them all into your mobile device that then fits into your pocket. Of course, if you have skinny jeans with faux pockets, then you’re in quite the predicament.

7) TED has an app that offers all of their TED Talk conferences and presentations in a single virtual library. They offer downloads for offline viewing and several thousand videos of information provided by experts and knowledgeable speakers on a variety of topics. Many of the talks are interesting and can relate to topics that are relevant to your courses or simply because they interest you and may offer a new perspective.