Best Apps and Resources to Help You Keep on Top of School

School doesn’t have to be as hard as it once was. There are many apps and resources on the internet to help you keep on top of school. Who has the time or patience to remember how to cite in MLA and APA format? Why are there letters in math? Who has the brainpower to figure out what Shakespeare is trying to say in any of his plays? The internet is the single greatest invention, especially when it comes to doing homework. Here are a few apps and websites you can use to help streamline homework.

Staying organized and focused

Forest

My biggest struggle when it comes to any form of work is focusing. I get side-tracked by twitter way more than I would like to admit. Twitter is my social media drug of choice. Or I start creating a new homework playlist on Spotify even though I already have eight of them. Forest is an app that makes me put my phone down and focus.

Google Drive

The days of lost and unsaved papers are long gone. Google Drive is Microsoft Word without the hassle of needing to carry a USB. If you aren’t using Google Drive, then you are making your life unnecessarily harder than it has to be. If your printer isn’t working, then you can give your friends access to your document so they can print it for you.

myHomework App

Always know when your homework is due and when to work on the assignment. This skill is more useful as you get into college.  Syllabuses are the best, but it is best to centralize all the assignments from your classes into one place.

Notability | Evernote

Note-taking has never been easier. I am weird in the way that I don’t like to take my notes in the same program that I write my papers. It just makes thing more cluttered. Notability (only for Apple products) also allows you to add or draw diagrams and has various formats for note-taking. Evernote is great for more writing-intensive classes and making study guides. They both bring different pros and cons to the table, so try both out and see which one works best for you.

Writing/English

Grammarly

Grammar is the least liked aspect of English. No one wants to learn what an indefinite article is so let Grammarly tell you what you did wrong. It will fix all the mistakes you make when writing. Your English teacher will love you, and so will your grades.

SparkNotes

Hated across the country by every English teacher, SparkNotes helps understand what an author is trying to say. I’m looking at you, Shakespeare. But outside of telling you what happens in each chapter of a book, SparkNotes also offers a few other tools that help break-up text that doesn’t make any sense like modern versions of Shakespeare plays and various videos explaining The Odysseyand stories alike. Yes, you still need to read whatever book your teacher tells you to, but this makes it just a bit easier to understand.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL)

What does MLA or APA even mean? Purdue OWL is going to be your best friend starting in middle school and will be with you until you graduate college. No one enjoys writing research papers, but they are a necessary evil. Learning the basics on how to write in MLA and APA will make life in college slightly less miserable. Purdue OWL is the end-all-be-all of MLA and APA guides.

citationmachine.net

Purdue OWL will teach you how to cite, but there are so many different ways to cite all the various sources, so all you need to do is plug in all the information, and it will give it to you in the correct format.

Science

Sciemce.com

Look, I’m a BS-er, so I’ve always been better at English than Science. There is something about having to adhere to strict rules and facts of science that does not sit well with me. Sciemce.com is Google if Google only answered science questions.

Math

Mathway

Math is hard. Like really really hard. So let Mathway help check if you got the right answer. Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean your grades should have to suffer.

Study Guides/Homework Helper

Quizlet

The ultimate study guide creator. Want flashcards? Practice tests? They have it all to help you get ready for a test. Plus, the manual grind of typing out everything to make the cards and study guides is an excellent way to start studying.

Socratic

Got questions about literally anything ranging from physics to biology to calculus to US history. You take a pic of the homework question and let Socratic works it’s magic as it finds you an answer.

YouTube

YouTube is the number 1 hit single in this playlist. Anything you will ever need help on is on Youtube. There are plenty of helpful Youtube channels that are great, but I have to give a shoutout to the one that helped me through middle school and high school, Crash Course. Crash Course breaks down all the humanities subjects into short videos. They saved my life a few times when I procrastinated on a paper or project. So Thank you, John Green (Yes, he wroteThe Fault in Our Stars) and Hank Green.

Google Scholar

Teachers seem to be cracking down on what websites and resources you can and cannot use, especially when it comes to research papers. Google Scholar gives you the most teacher-approved sources for any project you might be working on at the time.

Gooru

We all have that one subject that we struggle to understand. Gooru has lessons and practice tests that help reinforce whatever it is your teacher is trying to teach you. Give the website a deep dive. Some love it, and others find it a bit too much. I never used it, but I have a friend who lived and died by Gooru.

Let the internet help you

Whether it’s Math, History, English, or Science, the internet has a vast collection of resources to help you get through the struggle that is homework. There comes a time when parents can no longer help their kids out with their homework, but you can at least guide them to a few helpful resources to make everyone’s life easier.  Use the internet to your advantage and get to using these apps and resources to help you stay on top of school.

P.S. There’s no magical app that stops procrastination, but maybe this can help.