Do homework, improve your math, memorise difficult words: Here are 5 apps no student should miss

Educational apps have come a long way, helping students play brain games, do homework through artificial intelligence and tapping the power of the subconscious mind to learn English words

Use educational apps to improve your memory and learn languages.(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Jab tak todenge nahin, tab tak chhodenge nahin! A dialogue from the Hindi film Manjhi – The Mountain Man is what Amandeep Singh Chawla, fourth year B. Tech student at Christ University Bangalore, associates with the word ‘tenacious’ (meaning – determined, persistent). All thanks to the vocabulary-building app Volt that has videos to help users memorise new English words.

Educational apps have come a long way, helping students play brain games, do homework through artificial intelligence and tapping the power of the subconscious mind to learn English words. Here’s a list:

Volt

A learning app that makes use of videos, GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) images and static images, Volt helps users memorise difficult English words. “There is no conscious effort required to remember the words, the subconscious mind takes over - with memory cues, memory techniques and pictures in the app,” says Abhishek Jain, founder and creator of the Volt app.

“It helped me with my interviews and internships”, says Paritosh Rav, fourth year chemical engineering student at IIT Mumbai. His vocabulary improved and he’s more confident when conversing in English.

Socratic

Artificial intelligence - cleverness exhibited by machines - has found a new home in Socratic, the homework answers app. It has been modelled on neural networks, a computer system modelled on the human brain and nervous system. This artificial intelligence function mimics the human brain, known as deep learning, to process data and create patterns for decision-making. “Advances in neural networks and deep learning have helped us create an app that can read the text or map and respond with detailed answers much like a tutor or teacher would,” says Shreyans Bhansali, founder and head of engineering at Socratic.

Elevate

Undergraduate students use the Elevate app to improve their communication and analytical skills, says Peter Zogas, director of educational content for Elevate. You can expect to improve your vocabulary, write more clearly and with better grammar and punctuation, expand your mental math abilities, and develop reading comprehension skills with the help of the app, he adds.

Content-rich games like ‘vocabulary’, ‘focus’ and ‘brevity’ were the reasons Ganesh Bhat, first year M. Tech student, got hooked to the app while in the first year of computer engineering degree. It helped him with his communication skills, especially during the campus placements season, he says.

Shamira Abdulla, founder of Beyond Boundaries, an educational consulting firm, finds the Elevate app “visually pleasing and intellectually stimulating.” The reviews on your performance really focus on improvement, she adds.

Hello English

An English-language learning platform, Hello English includes modules on reading, writing, listening and speaking. It pairs interactive lessons with games and speaking practice with a majority of its features working offline. You can learn English from Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese and Malayalam with the help of this app.

Operating as per the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), an international standard for describing language ability, the app was created for adult learners aged 18 to 34. It is used around the world to describe a learner’s language skills, says Vijay Katta, business development lead, HelloEnglish.

The app helps Shantanu Patil, third year B Tech student at the National Institute of Technology, Delhi, brush up his English grammar and vocabulary skill. He likes the gaming format of the app that incorporates grammar, vocabulary, reading, daily quizzes and also has a rank list to help students gauge how they fare vis-à-vis other students.

Kahoot

Technological apps if used properly can help a student’s career, says Manish Naidu, founder, Brainwonders – an education counselling firm. A free platform, Kahoot aims to make learning fun by adopting a game-show format. One of the best ways to play it is in a classroom setting. Once a game is initiated by a teacher or a student, other classmates can participate in it just using a pin number generated for the game. There are more than 15 million public quizzes available on the Kahoot platform and app, or you can easily create your own.

Kahoot is a game-based learning platform for both inside and outside the classroom where one person becomes a game-show host and everyone learns in a playful and social way, says Erik Harrell, CEO, Kahoot. “Our mission is to make learners reach their full potential by making them excited about learning,” he adds.