Between your computer, your tablet and your cell phone, you’ve got a strong foundation for success in the classroom. There’s a wide range of apps that can make your academic career and life in general much easier – including more than 20,000 education apps for Apple alone. Here are some of our favorites.
Recently acquired by Evernote and formerly $.99, this now free app is hugely popular for taking notes on your tablet. This was the fourth-most downloaded iPad app early last year. You can write, scribble, sketch and share notes with a stylus click. Automatic syncing is a new feature this year, which updates notebooks across multiple platforms and makes your notes easily searchable.
This iPhone/iPad/Mac app will help you get organized and stay that way for $1.99. The calendar will help you juggle class times, homework, project due dates and other scheduling. You can take notes, create to-do lists, set reminders, track your grades and more. New this year: iCloud syncing.
If you’re taking a foreign language class, check out this free app that translates more than 60 languages. You can speak or type your words to get a written phonetic translation in addition to the audio translation. This app is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. The downside: it requires wireless for fresh translations, but you can save your most-used phrases or words for offline viewing.
This free, cloud office service enables you to work on documents online without installing software. It’s a great option for group projects because you can edit, review and create documents anywhere with 1 GB of storage. This app is for Android tablets and smartphones.
This free, cloud storage app allows you to get to your files from any device – iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, PC (with Windows) or Mac. You start with 2 GB of space for free and you can get up to 18 free GB through referrals. Files are always available from the secure site and you can work on your files even if you’re offline. For group projects, you can see changes instantly and the app transfers just the parts of the file that change rather than the entire document.
If your best prep for tests involves little notecards, start saving trees and boosting your memory with this free digital flashcard app. There are already millions of cards created by users that may help, or, create your own and share. You can set reminders to stick to your study schedule and you’ll get test score feedback which will help you focus your time and attention on the information you need to study most. This app works on iPad, iPhone, iPod and Android.
This online tutoring program offers help in writing, computer science, physics, math and more. It’s a global social learning network of more than 200,000 students from 170 countries. You’ll get answers to 75 percent of your questions in 5 minutes. The free mobile app launched last year works for iPad, iPhone and Android.
This app will help you find a wireless connection – one of more than 600,000 in 140 countries. It’s free and available for iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and Android.
Find the right word with this free app for iPhone, iPad, Android or Blackberry. This dictionary/thesaurus covers almost 2 million words, and you don’t need to have an internet connection once you’ve downloaded the app.