7 Simple Apps Every Hanze Student Needs to Stay on Top of Their Studies

Practical tools to keep deadlines under control

Being a student isn’t just about attending lectures and study sessions over a cup of coffee. It’s also about managing the chaos of deadlines and assignments that are constantly being added to your agenda. It would be nice to have a personal assistant, not going to lie, but luckily, there are apps that can help you stay on top of your studies. 

I remember in the very beginning I was taking all my notes on paper, and all important deadlines went straight on the front page. It wasn’t because I didn’t have a laptop, I just wasn’t used to typing my notes. There were a few other people in the classroom like me, so I didn’t feel too awkward. But handwriting everything didn’t really help either. My main problem was that I couldn’t write fast enough to get down the important points, nor copy all the complicated models. Honestly, my notes were messy, and I often had to fill in gaps after class. With some help from TikTok tutorials and fellow students, I discovered lots of apps that I still use today. Here are the ones that worked for me. 

Planning your week

For planning, I tried Notion and Todoist. The apps are quite similar, though personally I liked Notion more. But in the end, I stuck to the good old Outlook Calendar. I liked that my lectures were already there, as well as meetings with classmates or teachers, so I started adding my personal tasks too. 

What really made my life easier was colour-coding. For example: lectures - orange, meetings - green, deadlines - black, part-time job - purple. Later, I also started blocking my agenda according to the tasks I had. If I had an assignment, I blocked out time in my calendar just for that, so I knew I had a dedicated slot for it. It also helped me avoid leaving the task until the actual deadline day.  

Notes

After my brief love affair with handwritten notes, I quickly switched to Microsoft Word. It just worked for me. Some classmates preferred Notion. I created a Word document per subject and a separate folder where I stored everything- assignments, lecture notes, and readings.  

Group work

Managing group work was definitely something the university drilled into us. They made sure we kept track of each other and split the workload fairly. We mostly used Google Drive to collect all the work and documents we needed, and also to write in a shared document and leave comments for each other. 

When it came to handing in the final report, we always had to make a few adjustments after downloading the file from Google Drive, but it was still the best tool for us. To keep track of tasks and deadlines, Trello was our go-to. It was free, simple, visual, and made it easy to see who was doing what and by when.  

Study smart

I remember one of our teachers highly recommending Grammarly. It’s a free tool that checks your grammar, and it was really useful in the beginning. Later, a classmate introduced me to Quizlet. We even did a whole project based on it! Quizlet lets you create your own study sets and learn on the go. Even better, if your bestie makes a set for herself, she can share it with you so you both benefit. Honestly, lifesaver before exams. 

Time management

The hardest thing for me was learning proper time management. Maybe some of you already had that skill before university, but I had to figure it out the hard way. I used to procrastinate, overwork one day, and then do absolutely nothing the next. Not the healthiest schedule. 

A classmate gave me advice that really helped: treat studying like a 9-to-5 job. So, I did. Whether or not I had lectures, I went to campus at 9am and worked until 5pm. That included lectures, self-study, and group work. Of course, I took an hour for lunch and sometimes had to catch up a bit on weekends, but for the most part I was free. I won’t lie, in the beginning, it was tough to stick to my plan. But after a couple of weeks, it became a routine that helped me stay on track.  

But don't forget...

Once, I heard from a colleague who, in my eyes, is the perfect example of good time management. She told me that while finishing every task is important, finding time to relax, eat well, and sleep properly is just as big a part of success. That advice stuck with me, and I’ve really been trying to apply it in my daily routine. I’ve noticed that when I don’t rest enough or push myself too hard, I’m really only working at 50%. Over time, I’ve realised that apps, calendars, and strategies are great tools, but balance is the foundation that makes them effective.