Returning to school offers a great bargain: spend a few years invested in learning new material, and emerge a more competitive member of the job marketplace.
A degree helps you during a recession, boosts earning potential, and may offer a path to a more satisfying life. The work, however, isn’t always easy. Adult students juggle numerous competing demands—sleepy children, spouses who want some quality time, bosses who serve up a long to-do list, and more—in addition to their studies.
A diligent approach to organization can help you keep all the balls in the air at once, while maybe carving out a little time for yourself. These great apps for students can help you study more effectively, support you to manage your home life and family, and ensure you make the most of your education.
Copyscape
Think plagiarism requires deliberate effort? Think again. If you write a lot—whether for classes or in a blog—it’s easy to self-plagiarize. We all have our own writing tics and preferred phrases. And self-plagiarism still counts. You might also cut and paste information into a document for your reference, then forget to remove it later. Worst of all, if you click back and forth between an original source and your own work, you might end up paraphrasing the source too directly. The consequences can be swift and severe, compromising your entire academic life and future. Copyscape scans your papers and other documents to ensure nothing is a duplicate of prior published work. You can also compare two documents to see differences. For example, if you think a recent paper might be too similar to one you wrote long ago on a similar topic, Copyscape is here to help.
Google Calendar
This modern take on the traditional calendar is endlessly customizable. View your calendar however you want—hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. Create custom alerts and push notifications, invite others to view your calendar, and integrate several calendars into a single schedule. This last feature is ideal for returning students who might want to segregate family, school, and work duties, but then merge them to see their full schedule when they need to.
MyStudyLife
MyStudyLife bills itself as akin to a paper planner—but better. Add in multiple schedules, deadlines, goals, and more, all in one portable and convenient app. You can also customize the appearance of the app to make planning fun and functional.
Evernote
Good note-taking can help you succeed as a student by ensuring you capture the right information. Note-taking is more than just a study tool, though. It is a form of studying in its own right. Simply writing down material can help commit it to memory. Organize notes however you desire in the app, then view them in an elegant interface on your computer. If a switch to note-taking on an app feels like a leap too far, you can still use Evernote. Integrate written notes into the program with Moleskine’s Evernote-compatible notebook.
Quizlet
Struggling with test anxiety? Quizlet may be your new best friend. This innovative tool creates flashcards, quizzes, and more so you can begin preparing for the test well ahead of time. Complete the quizzes that the app makes for you, or design your own quizzes for use with your cohort. The interface is seamless and fun, making the quizzes feel less like studying and more like a game.
Exam Countdown
You can put an exam (or a paper or a work deadline) in your calendar, but that doesn’t do much for your study plan if you don’t devise a strategy for preparing. Exam Countdown is a simple app that helps you tally the days between now and your next big deadline. Incorporate as many deadlines as you wish, then color code them and add icons for easy reference. Armed with the exact number of days between today and your next big challenge, you can begin breaking your study goals into actionable, manageable steps.
GoConqr
For generations, students have had to digest material as their professors and textbooks presented it. If the information wasn’t available in a way that made sense, you had to find a workaround. GoConqr ends all of that. It offers tutorials, quizzes, and immersive learning tools in myriad formats, so you can learn in the way that works best for your brain, your lifestyle, and your attention span.
StudyBlue
Like GoConqr, StudyBlue offers flashcards, quizzes, and other test preparation tools to help you think more deeply about the information you’re learning in your classes. This app is ideal for group preparation, or for quizzing yourself in anticipation of an upcoming exam.
Office Lens
For students attending class in-person, Office Lens makes notetaking a snap. Photograph a whiteboard, then convert it into a PDF, Word, or PowerPoint file so you can revise it or incorporate it into study guides. If you study with a group of learners, such as your SNU cohort, Office Lens makes it easy to share notes from class sessions that group members missed and to spark joint discussions about course material.
SoundNote
SoundNote makes it easy to capture lectures and then replay them on your Apple device. You can store both visual and audio lectures. Try using SoundNote along with Office Lens to record and then later retrieve the maximum possible information.
RefME
Hate the long and arduous process of making citations? RefME makes it a little easier. Simply scan the barcode of a book or other published work, and it will automatically convert the data to a citation. Just make sure you double-check the finished product and ensure you’ve chosen the correct citation format.
Zotero
Zotero offers many of the same benefits as RefME, but with more functionality and a more versatile interface. Beyond citing features, Zotero has organization tools that help you keep your research in one place. You can sort and search your material by keywords. One great feature of Zotero is the collaboration tool. It allows you to co-write a paper with your classmates so everyone can access the same bibliography page.
Timetable
If you love the appearance of paper planners but need something more portable, Timetable is a great option for managing your time. This app helps you visualize your time across days, weeks, and months so you can move steadily closer to your goals. Break things down by role, ultimate goal, or time frame for a fully customized schedule that takes into account the many jobs you fill.
Class Timetable
If you love the beautiful interface of Timetable but want something a bit more focused on the needs of adult students, Class Timetable might be the perfect solution. This app allows you to plug in course schedules, homework, tests, and other deadlines, then view them in an illustrated format that makes it easy to plan for the future.
Teladoc
Self-care is key to succeeding as an adult learner because it makes it easier to manage stress, get control of your time, and be patient when the stresses of your hectic life begin to add up. Your health is critical to your well-being, but medical appointments may take a backseat during school—especially when they require long waits in crowded offices or a traffic-laden drive across town. Teladoc allows you to virtually connect to care when you need it, often with no wait.
Remember the Milk
For many adult students, the end of class is just the beginning of a day’s work. The biggest challenge of returning to school may be keeping track of the many duties demanded by each role you fill. Remember the Milk allows you to put all of your tasks in one place. That frees up valuable mental real estate to think about your studies, spend time with your kids, or even practice some meditative self-care.
SNU believes in supporting adult students to succeed from day one. Our innovative approach to learning means you can earn a degree without ever setting foot on campus, and often in less time than you think. No matter where you attend school or where you are on your journey to a better life, the right time management strategy can make a huge difference. Check out our infographic, Time Management Tips for Adult Students, for more practical tips.
