The smartphone era has seen the rise of many a coder with the entrepreneurial spirit – what with the popularity of these devices, writing apps for them is now a lucrative and much-sought-after career. Considering the fact that the iPhone is one of the most happening gadgets today and that most students own one, it makes sense that many of these apps are geared towards improving the academic and social lives of college-goers. Some of them cost a few dollars, but most are free, and of these, here are a few that find place in the must-have list:

• BigWords: Every college student has spent some time searching for text books at rates that don’t bite their wallets. With BigWords, you can compare prices of textbooks from various sources - use this app to check where books are cheapest and if it’s worth waiting for a book you order online to be delivered or buying it at a local store – it’s a trade-off between the time and the cost, and you can make an informed decision based on all the choices available.

• GMAT Practice Quiz: This is one app that serious students are going to love, especially if they’re looking to do something useful when they’re waiting for someone or on the go. It allows you to take practice quizzes and see how well you know your GMAT material; based on this, you can step up your preparation for admission to grad school, or just check how good you are and take pride in your knowledge.

• Evernote: Taking notes in class just got easier with Evernote – you no longer need pens and notebooks or even to carry around your heavy laptop. Just tap your notes into your iPhone, create lists of all that you need to do and remember, and even share your documents with your classmates. Evernote syncs seamless with Windows or Mac, and can be linked to all the devices you use so studying becomes easier. It also integrates with Twitter and allows you to search text within photographs.  

• Wikipedia: If you’ve used Wikipedia on your computer, you know how informative it is when you’re searching for quick facts about anything under the sun. While it’s not the most authoritative source for accurate information, it beats having to rush to the library to look up information on any random topic or even having to browse the web and sift through various sites to find what you’re looking for.

• Dictionary.Com: College students are not really aces when it comes to spelling and grammar, so with this nifty app, it’s easy to check up on spellings and find the meanings of words when writing essays or preparing for exams. It’s easier than lugging around a huge dictionary or going online to find meanings and spellings.  

The best apps for college students are those that help them focus on their lessons, enhance their learning experience, prevent them from wasting time, and allow them to manage their time and money more efficiently. 

By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Cathy Thomas, she writes on the topic of online computer technician training . She welcomes your comments at her email id: cathy83.thomas<@>gmail<.>com.