Tech Column: 5 apps to help you ace the semester

It’s easy just to think of your smartphone as a phone with Internet and games, but it’s more than that. It’s a portable supercomputer whose electronic brain can be leverage for you to pass the class you really should have studied for, but instead spent the time playing Candy Crush — on your phone.

So why not get ahead of the game this semester by downloading these super-useful apps?

Evernote

No longer do you have to carry around binders and notebooks for your courses, saving both your back and your bank account. Instead, there are a slew of apps that allow your notes to be taken digitally. Of these, Evernote is the most popular — and for good reason. The productivity tool syncs text, pictures, emails, and voice files to the cloud; saving them across all your connected devices in the cloud.

The app also allows you to tag your notes so they’re easy to find, and create notebooks so you can keep all your notes for one class in one place. Evernote’s also got some great tie-in apps, like Evernote Peek, an app for the iPad that turns your notes into a study-driven test.

Available on: All major platforms. Free with some in app purchases.

Google Drive

With MRU handing out a Google account to every student with their @mtroyal.ca account, everyone on campus already has a Google Drive account — even if they don’t know it yet.

Google Drive is just one of the many cloud storage services that lets you sync your files across devices and share them easily with friends or fellow group members.It also integrates flawlessly with Google Drive, which an increasing number of students are using for reports and presentations, so more points there. Plus it provides more space than its largest competitor, Dropbox, though it is available on fewer platforms.

Available on: Android, iOS. Free.

Dictionary.com

Sure, a Google search has replaced dictionaries for most of us, but that doesn’t mean it’s right – heck, Google doesn’t even have a thesaurus (yet). Try out the Dictionary.com app and delve a bit further into expanding your vocabulary. It’s university, you’re supposed to be learning, right?

Available on: All major platforms. Free.

WolframAlpha

Speaking about Google, wouldn’t it be better if it was smarter? Sure, a Google search can eventually find what you’re looking for, but there’s a good reason Siri uses WolframAlpha. The “computational knowledge engine” is stellar for anyone studying sciences, but its super powered searches can reach beyond that, providing answers to questions like “nutritional value of coffee vs. tea,” “how many days until Christmas,” and the ever-important “am I drunk.” Definitely worth the $2.99 price tag.

Available on: Android, iOS. $2.99.

Wunderlist

If there’s one skill you’ll have to learn to get out of MRU with your degree, it’s time management. Procrastination is the bane of university students everywhere, followed shortly thereafter by forgetting due dates. Thankfully, Wunderlist is here to help, with the popular to-do list app syncing across platforms and providing you with a host of options to ensure you never let a due date pass you by again… unintentionally.

Avaliable on: Android, iOS. Free.