Happy Spring! Have you recovered from the time change?
If it’s been tough to get yourself or your kids out of bed post-Daylight Savings, there might be an app for that.
On Monday, we shared an alarm Android App on our Facebook Page that forces you to complete math problems before you can turn off the alarm. By the time you have completed the math problems, you should be awake enough to skip the snooze button. (At least that’s the idea.)
Here are a few more apps for students that focus on spring cleaning student study habits, or act as tools to keep the brain active over Spring Break.
Start Spring Cleaning with Quality Time
Quality Time is an Android App that tracks how you use your phone. The app reports on how you use your phone throughout the day by recording time and access frequency. This means you can see the apps that you might be using a little too often – the same apps that might be intruding on study time.
To clean up phone use, the app allows users to set usage limits and also offers a “take a break feature” to unplug for a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, this app isn’t available for iPhone users.
Spring Clean Desktop and Laptop Use with SelfControl
SelfControl is an app for Mac users that can block distracting websites. The app features a “blacklist” of websites to block for a specified period of time.
Self-control (the real thing, not the app) takes energy and will power. We only have so much self-discipline to use at any given time. If it’s too hard to control the clicking over to email, social media, or games, blacklist those websites and use the mental energy for studying.
Take Some Time to Plan with Exam Countdown
After clearing out some of the digital distractions, now might be a good time to plan for future exams and assignment due dates. Take some time over Spring Break to try out Exam Countdown, an iPhone app that is a simple way to track upcoming tests.
The app offers color coordination to organize multiple due dates and allows for notes to be added to each entry.
Don’t Let Your Vocabulary Take a Vacation
Vocabulary.com is one of many apps that can enhance vocabulary. (This one is also available as a website.)
Vocabulary.com makes improving vocabulary more like a game, and with practice, users can earn “achievements.” The questions range from multiple choice, fill-in-the blank, or even presents a picture of a given word to identify. Any wrong answers come with an explanation of the correct answer choice.
Brush Up on Concepts with Khan Academy
The Khan Academy app offers pretty much its entire video library on your personal device.
Spring Break might be a good time to clear up any questions or even get ahead with upcoming material. Especially if there are long road trips, plane rides, or layovers. Use those lulls to catch up and/or get ahead.
What Other Study Habits Could Use a Clean-Up?
After a digital spring cleaning, we also recommend going through backpacks, notebooks, folders, etc. Throw away anything that won’t be needed for a future test (ahem, final exam?) or project.
Get cleaned up, get organized, and finish out the school year with less distractions and more focus.