iTime Management

I'm a first year student at Syracuse University, and I have learned a lot of interesting things about college while living on campus. Because of the fact that I'm a full time student living on campus, it's important to adapt quickly to the new way of managing things and adjusting to new environment such as balancing your time, schedule your assignments, knowing your professor's office hours, and remember all those due dates for your papers. Even if you believe you are well prepared for college, there's a good chance that there's something you didn't expected and overwhelming. If you've been to college, you know what I mean.

This is where the handy monthly planner comes in. It's impossible to remember all those due dates for your classes in your head. As a student surviving in college, I recommend iStudiez Pro as your planner. It's a weekly/monthly planner for students. It works with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. There's also a Mac version coming soon. It helps you manage your course schedule, assignments, and your grades for courses you are taking. For me, this little app is a life saver because it really helps you to perfect your schedule and to stay top of all your assignments and it's due dates in a efficient/intuitive way.

I've been using this app since high school, and I can't imagine myself without it. I think this shows how technology can contribute in education area and students in a way that everyone can take advantage of it. Before the discovery of this planner, I've been hunting for perfect planner that can do the following: flexible enough to replace classic note planner, easier to use, small enough to carry with me all the time, and one that I don't have to worry about losing all the time. I've found it. People carry their iPhone everywhere they go, which means this planner will be in your pocket all the time. No need to hunt down a pen and planner to write down simple assignments and worry about changing the entire page to change something. As a result, I have experienced increased productivity and motivation that makes me to work more. Ok, maybe not, but you get the point.

iStudiez Pro is divided into two versions, one that works with smaller devices like iPhone and iPod Touch, and iPad version that is optimized for bigger screen. I use the iPhone version more often just because it's smaller and easy to carry around. It's also easy to just take out my phone and add/edit things on the go. If I'm in my room and want to focus on variety of works at once, I use the iPad because I can see all the things I have to do in one view and it's just great to interact with my assignments on iPad!

*Calendar View for iPhone version*

(let's you check schedule in a weekly calendar)

*Assignment View for iPhone version*

(let's you check assignments by due date, course, priority)

*Assignment View for iPhone version 2*

As you can see, I've put in all the courses, assignments with due dates, and things that I need to do beside school. As soon as you open the app, you are welcomed with today's schedule and assignments that are due today and tomorrow. If you use this app, there's no excuse to miss classes, or assignments. But let's face it. It's college. You have to prepare for the unexpected. You might forget to open your planner or essays that is due tomorrow. That's when the awesome notification mechanism comes in. It's one of the many advantage iStudiez Pro has over the paper planner. It supports push notification and icon badging. You can see how icon badging works in below image. It displays the number of assignments that are due in various different set of time frame. I've set mine to display assignments due in one week. But you can also customize it to display only the ones that are due tomorrow or the whole month. If this is not enough for you, it even alerts you the assignments to your device like the way you receive a text message.

As I mentioned earlier, the iPad version is more like a chalkboard planner that stays in your backpack or in your room for you to use at the comforting time. Sure, it's portable enough to carry around but most people would prefer the smaller sized iPhone when they are out and on the go. The size and the user interface seems that it want you to put in more time to set it up and use it when you have to plan something big. Here are some images for iPad version.

*Today View for iPad version*

(let's you see the schedule, assignments)

* Assignment Bar for iPad version*

(let's you add, edit, check off, and view assignments)

However, even this perfect looking app has few shortcomings. The grading mechanism is not perfect. It does not support weighed grades nor option to add assignments/extra credit papers toward your final grade. Also, because the app is developed for the sole purpose of education planner, it does not support adding other activities. I would love to add things like doing the laundry and workout in a intuitive way like I do with my school assignments.

Overall, iStudiez Pro is a perfect way to organize your life in a college. It will help you to stay on top of your classes. It motivates you to do the assignments to see that little animation that appears when you check off the work out of your planner. You don't need to worry about losing it, because you can always retrive information using the backup stored in cloud. It's always with you, in your pocket. If you have an iPhone or iPad, I strongly recommend to give this app a try. Because it works for me and many of my friends. I guarantee you, once you get used to this app, you won't be able to go back to your paper planner.