How stressful can college be? For those who have been, or are currently in college, the answer to this question is “very stressful”. Students struggle daily to balance their social and academic lives. From writing essays, which need to be contextual and add value to the reader, to collaborating with colleagues, creating a study plan, maintaining networking skills, and planning the perfect presentations, students can easily lose track of their objectives and eventually fall behind in their academics.
The stress, frustration, and anxiety can all come crashing down on you if you are not fully equipped and prepared. Here comes the big question. How then can one become fully prepared for college? Preparation comes in many ways for various people.
For some people, preparation might mean setting new goals, strategizing, adopting and sticking to a study plan, and staying alert. For others, however, it might mean utilizing various educational resources, outsourcing tutorship, developing note-taking skills, consistently attending class, and having study buddies. Regardless of what preparation means to you, there are certain tools that you must have to help you effectively make the preparations you need to succeed in college.
Effective preparation starts with organization
When asked to share the secret behind her academic success in 2020, Loana Pitu, a 4.2 GPA student at Queens University, attributed her success to an organization. You might be wondering how exactly this might help.
The organization is a major part of every student’s life. Whether you are a high school student or a college student, your level of organization largely affects your productivity in college and life in general.
Being organized keeps you motivated; it creates a lifestyle of daily success habits that act as a foundation for achieving personal accomplishments. The ability to envision a goal, plan and draft a step-by-step accomplishment process, and create a system of daily intentions is a great way to help you succeed academically.
Tools to Help You Academically Succeed in College
Previously asked questions such as, “how can I do my essay paper?” And “how can I meet deadlines?” are now easily addressed as a result of the availability of countless web-based resources and educational sites. To fully utilize these resources, certain tools are needed.
We have carefully selected five compulsory tools which are necessary for your academic growth and success. Below are five of the tools every college student must have in 2022.
A laptop
The importance of a laptop in today’s world cannot be overemphasized. This tool sits at number one on the list of significant tools to purchase for college. While some schools provide laptops to their students, others expect that students are well aware of their importance and thus purchase them before beginning college.
The benefits of a laptop for school include the following:
- Research: In college, students are expected to not just depend on their daily class exercises and lessons, but they are encouraged to do their research and expand their knowledge by outsourcing information on the web. Having a personal laptop would offer you the opportunity to easily access information anywhere and anytime. You could explore various educational blogs from the comfort of your home.
- Collaboration: The post-Covid era created a massive adoption of digital classes. College students often need to attend online classes, submit projects, and effectively network with colleagues and professors online. A personal laptop enables you to comfortably do this wherever you are.
- Note-taking: Having a personal laptop allows you to easily take and effectively store notes. It has been proven that typing out lessons and points is faster than writing them on paper. Furthermore, these notes can be stored on your laptop, thus reducing the possibility of loss or theft.
Google Calendar
The Google calendar is part of the Google workspace tool. It is a highly important tool for all students. If you are yet to start using it as a student, we highly recommend you begin exploring this tool. It helps you to efficiently manage your time and balance your personal and academic life. By placing reminders, you are better able to organize your academic life. Below are some Google calendar features you should start exploring:
- The schedule views
- Meeting Rooms
- Appointment slots
- Out-of-office feature.
- Year view
- World Clock (to track time zones).
Digital Textbooks
Electronic textbooks are one of the most convenient tools for all college students to own. Rather than carrying multiple heavy textbooks all around campus, digital textbooks, which are stored on your laptop or phone, enable you to function more efficiently and reduce the burden of carrying books.
Furthermore, these digital textbooks can be used anywhere at any point in time. Platforms such as WPS, Google Docs, Word, and Pearson eTexts, amongst others, allow students to highlight texts, including notes, and export documents to PDF formats for easy and convenient study.
OneNote
This is a web app that allows you to gather and easily access notes on any web browser. Students can write, draw, or type their thoughts. Think of it as a digital academic diary that enables you to store your ideas and multimedia content in organized pages within the course tabs.
The features of OneNote include: sharing web content, capturing thoughts on sticky notes, adding a notebook to the home screen, formatting texts, recording and inserting audio notes, and syncing work notes.
Stable Internet
To easily succeed in school, students largely rely on a stable internet connection. While some schools offer Wi-Fi hotspots, others do not. To be on the safe side, it is necessary to obtain a mi-fi or personal Wi-Fi to use on your personal computer. You certainly do not want to be found struggling with an internet connection when trying to meet a deadline.
Conclusion
Over the years, technological growth has greatly improved the system of organization. The present digital era has made possible the automation and easy utilization of educational materials. Various technological tools are now readily available to students. Gone are the days when everyone used pens and papers, with AI (Artificial Intelligence) and smart tech tools, tests, assignments, homework, projects, exams, and all other academic work are now computer/web-based. With this in mind, utilizing the above tools would help you succeed in college in 2022.
