Off to College: 5 Cool Online Tools

By Lior Levin

College life sure is a world of its own, or at least that’s what I have discovered. Like most every other college student, I would use “working towards a college education” as my motivator to keep trudging through those high school years.

Okay, I know what you are thinking: here comes a post from a college geek. I haven’t earned that title (and there is nothing wrong with being a college geek), because my thinking of what the college years were going to be was more freedom from my parents. As in where getting older allows you to do more! However, I wasn’t thinking of all the school work I would be facing; I wasn’t mature enough for that.

When I did arrive at college though it was a wake up call and I soon discovered I needed all the help I could get. It wasn’t long before I scoured the Internet for everything that I could find to make my life easier for the next few years as I got through this. Because I am a nice guy I figured I would pass some of these along in case you are new to the college scene and haven’t discovered yet what can make academic life for the college student easier.

1. Say Goodbye to Google Search & Hello to Surfwax.com

Of course Google is our virtual mentor, but when it comes to academics you need to be able to do your searches for material far beyond that. There are many more search engines out there that are going to get you a lot more of the information that you are going to need that is not passé or mundane.

For example, Surfwax will allow you to dig a lot deeper into the internet for info. This is just one of tons of meta surf engines that will open up a lot more doors for you to gather info.

2. Say Hello to Producteev.com

Remember when I was saying that college meant more freedom from your parents? Well, that’s true but it also means your parents are not there to do task management for you anymore. You sure better discover what Producteev is all about because this is going to be your saving factor for keeping you on track. This free task management tool will be your best friend if you use it properly and put it to good use.

Think about the hoards of emails you get when in college and how easy it is for the important ones to get buried. By having what really counts to you directed through this tool where it will create your “to do” lists and keep you alerted to them, you are easily going to stay on track.

3. Share the Knowledge through Google Docs

Everyone has their own favorite word processor, but using Google Docs when you are working on a group project or want to easily access an ongoing file or spreadsheet means collaborating.

Google Docs saves a lot of hassle of transferring files back and forth when it is a multi user file.

4. Bookfinder.com, a College Students Money Saver

Most college students have to squeeze the pennies, and when it comes to finding the cheapest books, then using this Bookfinder.com sure saves a tremendous amount of time and money.

All you have to do is enter the information about the book and it will display the best prices and sources.

5. Testprepreview.com

You have to get all you can from Testpreview.com when it comes to preparing for tests. It makes for an amazing free self testing exam site that is going to help you with your exam prepping.

Remember, if you really want to enjoy the college scene both academically and socially, then make life as easy as possible for yourself and take advantage of every free online tool that is going to help you do this.