These are 20 amazing hacks for school that every student needs to know. They will allow you to save money and a lot of time!
In this post, I share with you 20 hacks for school that I have found really useful while being a student. For instance, note-taking hacks, study hacks, life hacks. One of the great advantages of being a student is that you get discounts and free access to certain software or programs such as the Microsoft Suite and Canva.
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“Work smarter, not harder”
– Allen F. Morgenstern
1. Use Microsoft Dictate to Take Notes
If your teacher speaks too fast and you have trouble keeping up with your note-taking, use the Microsoft “dictate” option. It is a lifesaver!
2. Scan Documents with the Notes App (iPhone)
Do you need to scan important documents, but do not have a scanner? You can scan your documents in the Notes app of the iPhone. If you have an android, CamScanner is a great app that you can use.
3. Translate Texts on Google Sheets
Are you learning a language? Use this Google Sheets formula to perfection your skills!
4. Study at a Virtual Coffee
Do you love studying at coffee shops, but you want to stay home or cannot go out? Study at this virtual coffee!
5. Create a Presentation Using Canva
Canva can be a great alternative to PowerPoint. They have a variety of free and paid beautiful templates for your presentations. As a student, you can get free access to Canva Pro. I show you how in the next hack!
6. Get Canva Pro
To get Canva Pro go to GitHub and get your “Student Developer Pack” for free. All you need is to click on “Get your pack”, create a GitHub account with your school email, and submit your application. I show you how in the following video.
7. Three tools to stay organized!
These are three tools that will help you stay organized:
- Asana
- Trello
- Notion
8. Animate your notion header
Organize your school schedule with Notion. It is a website and app where you can create projects, and take notes. As a student, you can get free access here. In this video, I show you how to add an animated header to make it more aesthetic, and motivate you to get work done :)!
9. Practice for Your Oral Presentation
Practice for your oral presentation with CuePrompter.com, an online Teleprompter. All you need to do is :
- Paste your script
- Start prompter
- Start reading your presentation till you memorize it.
10. Get Just Dance Now for Free
If you feel like you need to be more active and love dancing, get Just Dance Now on your computer. They have a website version or you can get the app on your Mac or your phone! This is how!
Note: You need +100 coins to play
11. Delete the Background of a Photo on Word
Did you know that you can delete the background of a photo on Word?
- First, insert your image.
- Then, go to “picture format” and select “color“.
- Finally, select “select transparent color“.
12. Build your CV on Canva for Free
As college students, we often need to make a Curriculum Vitae. Whether it’s to apply for a job, an internship, or a study program. If you have no idea where to create one that looks flawless. Go to Canva! They have both free and paid templates that look very professional and beautiful.
Remember to proofread it yourself and ask someone to help you too.
13. Group your Tabs on Google Chrome
As a student, we do a lot of research for our projects, homework, essays, and more! And for that, we open SO MANY tabs that sometimes it is hard to find a specific one in seconds. A great solution to avoid this is to group your tabs.
- Right-click on the tab you want to group
- Select “Add tab to new group”
- Name the group
- Select a color
14. Transpose Cells in Microsoft Excel
If you need to switch or rotate cells in Excel, you can do it by using this formula: =transpose (select the 1st cell: select last cell). I show you step-by-step how to do it in the following video.
15. Review your CV in Word
- Go to review
- CV assistant
- Search for the role you are applying for
- Read what recruiters are looking for that role
- Add keywords to your CV
16. Search Through a Scanned PDF
- Download Kami extension for Google Chrome
- Open your PDF on Google Chrome
- Select open with Kami
- Click on the 3 lines and select “OCR For Scanned PDFs”
17. Copy-paste from iPhone to Mac
This hack is for Apple users. If you own an iPhone and a Mac, you can copy-paste text from one device to another. All you need to do is have your Bluetooth and wifi activated.
18. Get Recipes Fast on This Website
You are looking for recipes online, but every time you keep scrolling for what seems like hours to get to the recipe instructions. Just the recipe is a website that allows you to directly have access to the recipe and skip all the blablabla, email lists, and pop-ups. It will make your life easier and save so much time!
19. Take Free Courses from Prestigious Universities
Take a course from Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Sorbonne University, Kyoto University, and other universities for free on these websites:
This is a great option to learn new skills that you can add to your resume.
20. Turn Slides into a Study Guide
Now, let’s move on to our very last hack for school: turn your slides into a study guide. How? You may ask:
- Open the PowerPoint presentation
- Go to the tab called “File”
- Select “Print” or type “ctrl + P” or “cmd + P“
- Change layout to “Outline”
- Select “save as PDF” format
- Save and print
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