There’s no denying {that a} Mac is nice when you kind lengthy essays all day or compile traces and contours of code. Nevertheless, when you’re a scholar who wants a light-weight, useful various, investing in an iPad could also be a superb possibility. You’ll discover it simpler than lugging round your Mac in every single place.
As a college scholar, my iPad is an important. Whether or not I must make handwritten notes for coursework or learn a thriller novel, my iPad is my go-to gadget.
Nevertheless, I’m extremely choosy when selecting out apps to obtain. One of many main causes I keep away from downloading leisure and gaming apps is as a result of they hamper my productiveness. So, whether or not you’re a college scholar like me or are merely somebody trying to improve how productive you might be whereas utilizing your iPad, listed below are six apps on my iPad I can’t think about dwelling with out.
NOTE
Are you upskilling your self with on-line programs or are you a full-time scholar? No matter what your reply is, pairing your iPad with an Apple Pencil is a improbable mixture. To take full benefit of your pill, you’ll want a dependable note-taking app. Whereas there are tens of lots of of note-taking apps on the App Retailer, GoodNotes 6 is my prime choose. All of your notes sync throughout your Apple units like your iPhone and Mac. So, you’ll by no means have to fret about dropping entry to your notes if one thing have been to occur.
GoodNotes gives a bunch of paper templates like Dotted Paper, Squared Paper, Dominated Slim/Huge, Cornell, and rather more. Should you take notes whereas sitting in a classroom, the app additionally has a characteristic permitting you to document audio notes as you write. For college kids who depend on examine methods like energetic recall and spaced repetition, it’s also possible to create Research Units (flashcards).
The app encompasses a handwriting-to-text device and built-in AI options, e.g., spellcheck and math instruments. Nevertheless, the free model of GoodNotes 6 is kind of restricted. It solely permits entry to a few notebooks and gives restricted entry to the options talked about above. To totally make the most of the app, you’ll must improve to the premium subscription. GoodNotes 6 gives a yearly subscription for $9.99 and a lifetime subscription for $29.99. I went for the lifetime subscription, and it’s undoubtedly a choice I don’t remorse.
Like most college students, you most likely have a fairly tight price range. Should you don’t have more money to spend or aren’t prepared to decide to an app for a yr, a free note-taking device may go well with you higher. Thankfully, Apple Notes, which comes pre-installed in your gadget, can exceed your expectations.
Stating the apparent, the Notes app is totally free, and all of your information syncs throughout all of your different Apple units. So, you probably have a behavior of typing notes in your Mac, and ending off by drawing a diagram along with your Apple Pencil, there’s no higher app than Apple Notes.
With an extremely easy-to-use interface, the Notes app is provided with all of the important options you might want to take handwritten notes. You’ll be able to create to-do lists, add photographs or movies to your notes, and even scan paperwork inside Apple Notes. One characteristic that’s anticipated to rework the way in which Apple Notes performs is Math Notes, which is able to come alongside iPadOS 18 later this fall. Math Notes can remedy easy and sophisticated mathematical equations and graph equations in real-time.
One other characteristic introduced at WWDC 2024 is Good Script, which goals to make your notes extra legible and simpler to learn. Whereas third-party note-taking apps are anticipated to supply these options ultimately, solely Apple Notes helps them at the moment.
After I’m not spending my time working or learning, my selection of leisure is generally immersing myself in a superb ebook. Nevertheless, I’m typically on the go and overlook to convey them. Thankfully, an iPad permits me to hold a whole digital library and skim anyplace, anytime. After making an attempt out a number of eBook readers, I discovered that the very best one is Apple Books, which comes pre-installed on Apple units.
Apple Books gives a digital bookstore with tens of hundreds of books from each style. The app additionally options a wide array of audiobooks. Thankfully, you’re not restricted to downloading books from the app’s bookstore. You too can import EPUB and PDF recordsdata and annotate them as you learn. Like different native Apple apps, Apple Books syncs your progress, library, and annotations throughout all of your Apple units signed into the identical iCloud account.
One in every of my favourite options of Apple Books is that it lets you set studying targets, and observe the period of time you dedicate to studying day by day.
As somebody with a busy schedule, making a to-do checklist the evening earlier than is important. Whereas I’m somebody who religiously plans out each second of my day, a paper planner by no means did the trick for me. Nevertheless, every little thing modified after I started organizing my life on Notion.
Should you’re unaware, Notion is an all-in-one productiveness app that you need to use to plan your day, create notes, handle your merchandise, and extra. It’s accessible on Mac, Android, PC, Home windows, and browsers, so your Notion databases sync throughout all of your units. Notion additionally integrates with third-party apps like Slack, Asana, GitHub, Figma, and extra.
I primarily use Notion to trace my work and college deadlines, create my weekly and day by day to-do checklist, and maintain observe of my funds.
Together with utilizing Notion, Google Calendar is one other app I take advantage of to arrange my day by day duties. Should you use different Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Drive, Paperwork, Sheets, and extra, Google Calendar is a must have.
As a college scholar, one thing I battle with so much is determining the way to dedicate my time to sure duties with my hectic schedule. Whereas Notion helps me maintain observe of what I must do all through the week, I take advantage of Google Calendar to time-block duties and plan vital occasions months prematurely. Each weekend, I schedule upcoming exams or task deadlines.
Google Calendar lets you create separate calendars for various features of your life, which I discover useful. I’ve created completely different calendars for every course I’m taking every semester and different commitments. Google Calendar additionally enables you to create recurring occasions. So, I add all my courses as recurring occasions at first of the semester. With push notifications enabled, Google Calendar jogs my memory of every little thing I must do, which is extremely handy.
Thankfully, these apps aren’t restricted to college students. So, when you’re massive on digital planning and organizing, I nonetheless advocate exploring the apps above.