Best Student Mobile Apps to Help you Study
Every student has their own preferred way of studying. From mind maps and colour-coded cue cards to voice notes and study groups, there are many different ways in which to learn, take notes and revise.
There shouldn’t be any hard and fast rules on how you study – what’s important is finding the right way for you. It just comes down to how your brain takes in and retains information. The good news is that there are plenty of mobile apps out there to suit all types of learners.
In this article, we’ll recommend some of the best student apps. Some will help you make notes and manage your time effectively, while others are about staying healthy and well-rested.
What are the best student mobile apps to help you study?
Some of the best student apps for learning and note-taking are Microsoft Office, SoundNote and Notion, while apps like ScannerPro, Chegg Prep and Exam Countdown will help you with your revision.
In order to achieve the best possible results in your exams and coursework, you’ll need a clear head, which is where health and wellbeing apps such as Sleep Cycle, BigOven and Calm come in.
Read on to learn more about how these apps can help make student life easier.
Nine top mobile apps for students
Best apps for learning
1. Microsoft Office
Considering pretty much everyone has the Microsoft Office package installed on their computers whether they’re a student or not, this might seem like an obvious choice. But not everyone realises there’s an app you can install onto your mobile device as well.
Downloading the app versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint means you don’t have to carry your laptop with you wherever you go – as long as you remember to save your documents online, that is. So, if you’re out and about and realise you need to make changes to an assignment you’re working on, you can go straight into that essay, spreadsheet or presentation and edit it there and then; eliminating the risk of forgetting what it is you needed to do by the time you get back to your computer.
2. SoundNote
Lecture capture apps like SoundNote are ideal for when your concentration levels are low, or your teacher is talking about a particularly complex topic with terms and concepts you’re unfamiliar with.
SoundNote records while you’re typing, so you don’t have to worry about missing key bits of information while frantically trying to keep up with what’s being said. Because it acts as both a notepad and an audio recorder, you can revisit your classes in audio as well as visual form, depending on your preference, plus tapping on a particular word will take you straight to that part of the recording.
Unlike Office and Notion – which don’t cost anything to download – SoundNote is priced at £4.49, but when you compare that to the price of expensive recording equipment used to record lectures a few years ago, it’s a real bargain. The only downside is it’s only available to iPad users.
3. Notion
If you’ve searched for student apps before, chances are you’ll have come across countless ones for note-taking. Notion, however, is the best of the note-taking apps. It’s got hundreds of templates to make your note-taking super-efficient, and you can sync your notes between your device and your laptop, which is extremely handy for essay-writing.
It doesn’t stop there, though. As well as using Notion to take notes, you can create a calendar, keep a diary, write to-do lists, collaborate with other students, manage projects and even plan travel itineraries.
Best apps for revising
4. ScannerPro
Scanning apps such as ScannerPro are particularly useful when doing research or going over what you’ve already learned. They turn your mobile device into a portable scanner, so you can capture all the information you need, there and then. This means you no longer have to check out multiple library books and sift through all the information again.
What you need can be easily accessed in the cloud – whenever and wherever you want it. One of the best things about ScannerPro is that it recognises text within images, so your pictures are searchable too.
5. Chegg Prep
Creating flashcards – or cue cards – is one of the best ways to remember important pieces of information. Once you feel you have a firm understanding of a topic, you condense everything you’ve learned into just the key concepts and record it onto flashcards. The aim is to create bite-sized nuggets of information that stick in your brain. Coming up with acronyms and silly sentences can be an effective way to jog your memory.
With the Chegg Prep app, you can create cue cards for every subject, customising them with images as well as text. If you’re struggling to create your own flashcards, you can even use Chegg Prep to download from thousands that have already been made by other students.
6. Exam Countdown
No doubt you’ll have heard your teachers and parents going on about how organisation is the key to success – and when it comes to your studies, they’d be right. With multiple subjects to revise for, student planner apps like Exam Countdown are essential for ensuring you’re using your time effectively and that you’re as prepared as you can be by the time you walk into the exam room.
These types of study apps have a countdown feature that shows how many months, weeks, days or minutes you have left until each of your exams. With more than 400 icons and 30 colours to choose from, Exam Countdown enables you to create a beautiful yet simple countdown timer, with the option to add notes to tests and exams and schedule reminders and alerts. Like most of the apps in this list, it’s available to download from both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Best apps for health and wellbeing
7. Sleep Cycle
It’s recommended that teenagers get between eight and ten hours of sleep each night. This is especially important when studying for exams. If, however, you wake up most mornings feeling grumpy and groggy despite having a good eight to ten hours, then Sleep Cycle might be the answer to your problems.
It aims to wake you up during your lightest sleep phase, rather than when you’re in a deep sleep, which is what causes you to feel bad-tempered. It works by monitoring your movement and the time you go to sleep, meaning you should wake up feeling refreshed and ready to study from the minute you get out of bed.
8. BigOven
Looking after your health and wellbeing means eating properly as well as having a good night’s sleep.
It’s recommended that for your brain to function to its best ability, you should have a balanced diet consisting of food like oily fish, eggs, peanut butter and leafy greens. But contrary to popular belief, eating a decent meal doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it require you to have the cooking abilities of a chef. And there are plenty of food apps available for both iOS and Android users, such as BigOven, which is free to download.
The great thing about this app is that as well as giving you normal recipes to try out, it suggests dishes you can make just from ingredients you already have in the house.
9. Calm
Studying can be stressful and overwhelming, which is why it’s so important to ensure you take the time to look after your mental wellbeing.
Calm is a popular app with students, largely thanks to the sleep stories read by celebrities such as Harry Styles, Mary Berry and Matthew McConaughey. As with other meditation apps, you can choose from a wide range of sessions, including masterclasses led by world-renowned experts, and there’s also daily check-ins with mindful minutes. It’s no wonder Apple named it iPhone app of the year in 2017.
Final note
As a student today, you have a whole new set of challenges that you wouldn’t have had to face a few years ago. As well as dealing with all of the traditional pressures – like deadlines, exams and making sure your essays have the correct citation – you now have to cope with modern pressures too, such as social media anxiety and adapting to different study methods as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it’s not all bad. Evolving technology means that instead of struggling to write down everything your teacher is talking about in class, you can use the SoundNote app to keep up with what they’re saying. Your notes can be quickly and easily accessed wherever you are via the Microsoft Office, Notion and ScannerPro apps, while study apps like Chegg Prep and Exam Countdown are a blessing when it comes to revision time. Plus, apps like Sleep Cycle, BigOven and Calm have been developed to help you cope with all the added pressures of modern life.
What’s more, apps save on paper, so you can congratulate yourself on doing a little bit for the environment, too.