These Are the Best Free Learning Apps for Any Student

Maybe you tend to study the old school way: sit down, grab a marker and pen combination, memorize your notes, and pray that you save it all for the exam. But there are also some great apps that can help you study more effectively to increase your chances of retention. Which one is right for you will depend on your needs.

If you need to plan your study:My Study Life

My Study Life promises that you will “never forget a lesson or assignment again” and offers planners, to-do lists and reminders for this. It works with your iPhone or Android and even has a web browser version so you can use it wherever you are. The scheduler works even if you alternate classes by week. It’s free, offers color coding, and sends you push notifications of upcoming assignments.

If you learn best with flashcards: Quizlet

If you’re only using Quizlet for stealthy homework cheating, you’re not using it to its full potential. If you learn best by taking tests, this site can also help you make your own flashcards. It’s free to use, but if you upgrade ($7.99 per month) you’ll also get access to different question types like multiple choice and practice tests.

If you need to take notes during lectures: Otter

Otter, which has a fairly extensive free version, is a dictation program that takes notes for you. Commonly used by journalists or people who need to transcribe interviews, it’s also great for students whose professors give long lectures full of important information. It recognizes when a speaker has moved, and once you assign a name to a particular speaker, the program will always recognize their voice in the future. You can highlight passages, edit text if something is wrong with the program, and share transcripts with anyone, even if they don’t use Otter. Even with the free version, you can also link it to Zoom or Google Meet, which is useful for online classes, and you can get 300 minutes of transcription per month (with 30 minutes per session) before upgrading to Pro for $8.33 US per session. month.

If you take a lot of notes: Evernote

The best way to think about Evernote, which has a free version and upgrades to $7.99 a month, is a set of folders. You can take information from different sources (such as your notes, websites, and articles) and put it on one page in an application that also runs on your computer. It consolidates all those notes into one easily accessible area. You can even upload images of your own or whiteboard notes and let Evernote’s character recognition software do the trick. From there, even handwritten characters will be searchable and you can add them to your folders.

If you have trouble quoting: BibMe

Several citation-based programs have been created over the years (RIP, RefME) and Microsoft Office can really help you add citations to documents, but BibMe is easy to use and has stood the test of time. (I’ve had an account for over 10 years.) Automatic Citation Creator supports MLA, APA, and Chicago formatting, is mostly free to use, and will almost always recognize a book, article, magazine article, or website. you are trying to quote by limiting the amount of manual input you need to add to any quote. It easily creates complete help pages. The premium version costs $9.95 a month, but you don’t really need it; just watch a short ad to get access to the main features for free.

If you are an auditory speaker: say

For some people, reading is the best way to learn. Others like cards or hands-on work. Some people learn best through audio. If that’s you, try running your written learning materials through Speechify, which has both a free and a paid version (assuming what you have can be copied and pasted). For free, you can choose from 10 standard reading voices to read your written materials to you. For $11.58 per month (when paying $139 per year), you get over 30 voices, playback in over 20 languages, the ability to scan and listen to any printed text, and note-taking features.