How The iPad Is Helping Me Manage The Toughest Class Of My Life
The Apps and Tools Helping Me Survive
The hardest class of my life wasn’t AP Chemistry.
It wasn’t Multivariable Calculus.
It wasn’t even PE.
The hardest class of my life so far is what I’m taking right now: Intro to Linear Algebra and Differential Equations. With fancy terms like “Laplace transforms” and the “Legendre equation”, the course has been a tough addition to my already busy schedule.
Here are the apps that help me survive the class:
Todoist
Over this school year, I’ve made a major transition in my planning system.
Before school started this year, I had rarely used a todo list for my classes (though I did test out Todoist and a couple of other apps).
This year, however, I’ve consistently used todo list apps to manage every assignment I need to do. That’s helped me organize my work and schedule important events throughout the day.
Initially, I started off with Sigma Planner, though I recently switched to Todoist (here’s why).
The intensive pace of the class means that I need Todoist—even skipping a couple days of work sets me behind. To be specific, Todoist’s scheduling features and widgets are useful for me: I can schedule my work days in advance and see the tasks I need to complete with a glance.
GoodNotes
Unlike Todoist, GoodNotes has been a tool I’ve consistently used for a long time.
I do basically all my work in GoodNotes, which has essentially become a file-organization system for the class. It is where I:
write textbook notes
write video notes
work on correcting quiz errors
work on homework problems
work on discussion board problems
work on the midterm review
GoodNotes helps me keep all of my work consolidated in a single app - that simplifies everything and makes it easy for me to look at past work. That’s especially helpful as I review for my upcoming midterm exam.
I can’t even imagine how tough it would be to navigate through my past work if I used pen and paper (my handwriting is infamous among my high school teachers).
For anyone looking for a great note-taking app, my number one recommendation (if you’re able to pay) is GoodNotes - it’s organized, feature-packed, and just works.
Pearson+
This is an app specific to my course, but I felt like it should be included.
Pearson+ is the digital home of my textbook. It’s where I can read through my textbook.
Together with GoodNotes (using Split View), I take quick notes on the textbook before I start the homework.
I usually like to skim through the textbook and create a mini-guide for each section before I start my homework. As I work on the homework, I look back at these mini-guides for reference.
Feyn
I’ve talked about Feyn a lot: as a student, it’s one of my favorite apps.
However, there’s been one issue that’s been coming up recently (review on the App Store reflect this issue): the Feyn app constantly crashes on iOS.
And when I say constantly crashes, I mean it (I haven’t been able to open the app over the past month on my phone).
Thankfully, however, the iPad version of the app still works.
Since the course is a math class, the handwritten functionality in Feyn is especially helpful (trying to type out complex equations is not fun).
I also appreciate the availability of sub-folders in the app: I can organize my flashcards by chapter, topic, and sub-topic. That means I can focus on topics that I’m weak at if I need to.
For instance, if I notice that I’m forgetting trig identities, I can always focus on the corresponding flashcards in Feyn by only reviewing that specific sub-folder.
Conclusion
“Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn” - Albert Einstein
Thanks for reading!
Adi