The Best PC Apps for Students
Midterms, grades, term papers and finals — school is filled with challenges that can make even the most organized student lose sleep.
But creating more efficiency in your schedule and choosing apps that streamline your work can boost success — and even prevent an all-nighter. Here are some popular apps to make the most of your school time, so there’s plenty of time for play, too.
Evernote
Forget the piles of paper notebooks that can get lost or trashed. Evernote gathers information in a way that’s accessible and searchable from anywhere, and lets you throw in any kind of data. You can capture notes from class, Web pages mentioned by a professor, photos of your goofy friends, audio notes to yourself or just about anything that can be downloaded.
This app also allows you to organize the information and then do keyword searches. You can even find text that’s stored in handwritten form — try doing that with a notebook filled during a Monday morning class.
Memonic
Another great, affordable way to organize, Memonic keeps notes arranged in a clutter-free Web interface. You can edit notes right from the Web browser, use keyboard shortcuts to be even speedier and customize the look with different backgrounds (easy on the eyes means easier to use, right?).
The Web clipper feature stands out as a way to save Web pages for later reading, without having to bulk up your browser’s bookmarks folder. You can even forward emails and attachments to your collection. Think of it as a personal assistant that does everything but your laundry — and if you find an app for that, let us know.
Many students love to tap into Google apps for organizing class schedules and keeping track of assignment due dates. Google Calendar can issue reminders and present information in a simple interface. If a professor uses the app as well, you can usually view that calendar along with yours. For sharing work among students, sending a draft to the professor or creating a spreadsheet, Google Docs makes it all easy.
Dropbox
Part of staying organized is centralizing all your stuff. Dropbox lets you keep your files, end-of-semester reports and essays in one place, and you can access it from any device or computer as long as you have an Internet connection.
For those who have to share computers or fret about losing their data, this app is a great way to store data without having to pay for portable drives or cloud services. It’s even got student roots: one of the company founders came up with the idea after repeatedly forgetting his USB flash drive during college.
Plants vs. Zombies
No one can study 24/7. So why not fight zombies in your free time? In the quirky Plants vs. Zombies game, you install plants to stem a zombie attack (apparently, they hate freshly planted Zen gardens the most). Or, you can switch sides and make your own zombie instead.
With such a wealth of note-taking power, schedule organization and document sharing, you can tackle those college tasks with ease. Best of all, these apps are free — leaving you more money for the party fund.