PadGadget Weekly App Series – Apps for College Students
For this Weekly App Series we’ve found six great apps to add to your iPad collection. We have included six essential apps for college students in this week’s bundle. Our editorial team goes through the data, picks the best and most interesting apps and then brings them to you on a regular basis.
We used our PadGadget Apps Tracker to find these great apps and we’ll continue to look for the best apps on a weekly basis. Be sure to check them out because these apps might just be what you’re looking for.
This week’s category is: Apps for College Students
1. Notes Plus ($4.99) – No more pencils! No more books! That is the battle cry of the young minds who turn to the iPad for note taking. Mind you, Notes Plus can’t do anything about teacher’s dirty looks, but it can keep handwritten notes organized for a full schedule of college classes. In addition to being almost as easy to use as an old-fashioned spiral bound notebook, Notes Plus also records sound, draw shapes, and adds text. There are a number of ink colors and fonts to choose from. The app is compatible with DropBox, Google Docs, and can even be password protected.
2. Good Reader ($4.99) – Studying just got a whole lot easier thanks to Good Reader. The ubiquitous .pdf crops up everywhere from nursery school to post-graduate training, yet as everyone knows, it can’t be edited… until now. Good Reader lets users read and annotate .pdfs. Its UI is frustration-free. There are options to highlight, add text boxes, or draw right on that formerly impermeable file. It is even possible to “flatten” annotations into the .pdf, which adds a user’s edits to the annotated copy. Good Reader does everything but take the test for you.
3. SoundNote ($4.99) – Auditory learners may want to give SoundNote a whirl. This application integrates recording with typing, and drawing, so the user may take notes while recording a class lecture. One of the app’s strengths is its simplicity. Have you ever pressed “play” on a tape recorder? You already know how to use SoundNote. While we would never advocate SoundNote as a replacement for attending class, it does back you up if you miss a few words of an important lecture.
4. Evernote Peek (Free) – Evernote Peek allows the user to create customized flash cards using Apple’s Smart Cover for iPad 2 that will test a user’s knowledge on any subject. The app imports a user’s Evernote Notebooks to create the flash cards. Simply lift the cover to peek at the question while the app is running, it will even keep score, re-testing you only on the material you still need to learn. Evernote Peek has been recently updated to include more language and sound support.
5. Textbooks (Free) – Thanks to Textbooks for iPad, your course load just got a lot lighter, as students may now purchase and read a variety of textbooks on the iPad. Although the app is free to download, the textbooks vary in price and availability. Textbooks maintains the same pagination in-app as the physical textbook, and also includes a course manager to keep students organized. Textbooks also lets users read .pdfs, take notes and highlight text. Kno claims to sell their books at a significant discount, so do the math and see if digital textbooks can leave your back pack a bit lighter and your wallet a little heavier.
6. Merriam Webster (Free) – Back in the old, pre-Internet days, nearly every student packed off to college with a hard-back paper dictionary in tow. That is so last century. There is one thing, however, that hasn’t changed for today’s college student: the need to save money. Now the tome that once set co-eds back around $25 is available as a free app. Sure, a dictionary app isn’t the most mind-blowing use of the iPad’s storage space, but it’s a timeless didactic tool that helps separate the dilettantes from the erudite. Which would you rather be?
Note: For additional information, check out the PadGadget Apps Tracker. Our tracker provides an easy way to constantly monitor the App Store to find the best iPad apps for you.
