Top 7 Online Tools Every University Student Should Use

 Online Tools Every University Student Should Use

 These are Tools that every university student—especially those in South Africa—should know about for notes, studying, writing, reading, and sched

University life is hectic. Between lectures, assignments, group projects, and trying to have some kind of social life, things can get overwhelming—fast. While everyone seems to talk about Notion or Google Docs (which are great, no doubt), there are so many other online tools that can make your life way easier.

If you’re a student in South Africa, chances are you haven’t heard of some of these lesser-known gems. So, here are 7 underrated but powerful tools to help you stay on top of your academic game—whether you're taking notes, studying for tests, organizing your schedule, or just trying to write that 2,000-word essay due in 6 hours.

1. Coda

Let’s be honest, group work is a nightmare when half your team ghosts after the first meeting. That’s where Coda comes in. It’s like Google Docs, Trello, and Excel had a baby.

 You can take notes, assign tasks, build interactive to-do lists, and even track who’s doing what (and who’s not). It’s perfect for group projects, especially when everyone’s scattered in different places.

 For example, let’s say you are working on a group assignment for Business Studies? Set up a Coda doc with separate sections for research, task deadlines, and even a mini calendar so everyone stays accountable.

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2. Readwise

If you're reading tons of articles, PDFs, or e-books and forget half of it after two days, Readwise is a game-changer. It pulls all your highlights and notes from different platforms (Kindle, web articles, PDFs, even Notion), then sends you little daily reminders to help you actually remember what you read.

Think of it as your personal reading coach who helps you not forget that amazing quote or stat you highlighted two weeks ago. It even works with academic papers if you’re one of those who highlight entire paragraphs but never look back at them.

3. Tana

Tana is relatively new but insanely powerful. It’s kind of like Notion’s smarter cousin, mixed with the simplicity of a note-taking app like Apple Notes.

 It uses something called a "graph database," which sounds scary but basically means your notes connect in a smart, organized way. You can tag and link concepts together, which is great if you're studying subjects that overlap (like Psych and Sociology).

 Instead of rewriting the same info in different notes, Tana lets you create a central idea (like "Maslow’s Hierarchy") and reference it wherever you need to. Super efficient, especially when exams roll around.

4. Notion 

Notion is a clean, all-in-one workspace that helps you stay on top of classes, projects, and personal tasks. You can create pages for lecture notes, organize to-do lists, and set up databases to track assignments or deadlines. Everything updates across devices, so you can start something on your laptop and continue on your phone without hassle. 

Its templates make it easy to build planners, project boards, and study schedules, so you can manage your university workload in one place without juggling multiple apps.

5. Zotero

We all hate referencing. Whether it’s APA, MLA, Harvard, or whatever your uni uses, it’s annoying and time-consuming. Zotero takes the pain out of it.

It’s a free tool that saves all your sources, adds citations with one click, and builds a full bibliography automatically. You should know it also works with your browser so you can save articles while researching on Google Scholar or JSTOR. You can use it from first year. Your future self (especially during Honours or Masters) will thank you.

You may also look: Best Student Online Tools for Academic Research and Papers

6. Speechify

Ever tried reading a 30-page PDF at midnight with a fried brain? Don’t. Let Speechify read it to you instead. Speechify is a text-to-speech tool that can turn any document, webpage, or article into audio. And the voices don’t sound like weird robots—they’re surprisingly human-like.

Perfect if you want to "read" while commuting, walking to class, or lying in bed pretending to study. Also it can read in different speeds and accents. Fancy being read to in a British accent? Go for it.

7. RemNote

If you’ve heard of Anki, RemNote is like Anki’s more user-friendly cousin. It’s designed specifically for active recall and spaced repetition, which are two of the best study techniques backed by science.

 You can turn your notes into flashcards automatically and study them in intervals that boost long-term memory. It also connects your ideas together, so you’re not just memorizing random facts—you actually understand how things relate.

Mostly preffed for med students, psych majors, law students—basically anyone who needs to cram tons of info into their brain.

Conclusion

So, there you have it: 7 tools that can genuinely make university life a bit less chaotic. They might not be as hyped as Notion or Microsoft Word, but once you try them out, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without them. Give one or two of them a shot this week. Worst case, you find out what doesn’t work for you. Best case? You unlock a new level of productivity and peace of mind—and maybe even score higher marks without burning out.