The smartphone is one of the blessings of this internet age. Talk about having mini computers in our hands, these mini-machines have the potential to supercharge our daily lives.

It weakens me whenever I meet people who barely use their phone up to 50% of its true power. It feels like only using a small room in a 5-bedroom duplex. If you’re a student and have a smartphone, then you’re carrying one of the best study buddies in this age.

There are many ways your smartphone can supercharge your study life. And no, I don’t mean dubbing from Wikipedia during a test. I mean studying beyond classwork. I understand the price of these phones may put some off. But, I know with as little as ₦20k, you can buy a small phone that will deliver the basics.

My first smartphone was about ₦15k and I can testify the ninja things I did with the little beast. I want to believe many of us are power users of our smart devices especially in our study life. If you are, then good for you.

If you aren’t or seek to know more, here are some cool ways your smartphone can improve your study life.

1. Good ol’ surfing the web

When was the last time you used the school library for an assignment? I’m sure it’s been a while for most. You can’t afford to not have a phone to search the internet for information. Getting a fresh insight into a course is as easy as running a simple internet search.

I must admit that internet searching is an art that takes time and practice to master. Apart from searching, there are websites dedicated to helping students get better. Find them, maximize them.

2. Reading e-books

Nowadays, most books have electronic formats (like pdf,). There are relevant free books, reports and articles you can download online. To search for pdf resources type “course/topic/assignment title pdf” in the search bar (e.g. “introduction to calculus pdf”), download the best results and you’re good to go.

PDF reader apps abound for smartphones. You may also consider downloading books in epub format. It’s an easier format to manage compared to pdf.

3. Watching Videos

Guess the largest source of videos in the world?

YouTube.

And it doesn’t occupy that position for no reason. There are hours of videos uploaded to YouTube every minute. Some of these videos are educational. You may be lucky to find a teaching series on the subject you’re currently studying. There are cheap night data plans to consider if you’re on a budget.

4. Downloading and using third party apps

Countless apps exist to enhance how you study. I’m talking hyper-cool calculators, compasses, periodic tables, mathematical tables, encyclopaedias, medical dictionaries, schedulers, you name it. Here are a few of them

Wunderlist

Free Graphing Calculator

Mathway

Circleof6

Habithub

Goodbudget

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

5. Recording your lectures

A friend opened my eyes to this secret. You’d see her in front of class close to the lecturer all the time. It wasn’t only because she was paying rapt attention, she was busy recording the lecture. I’ll share more about this technique in a separate post. Just know your smartphone can be a library of recorded lectures.

These are some cool ways to use your smartphone to your advantage as a student. Which of them do you use?

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