Apps for Studying

This is not specific to a particular field, but I found it helpful in Grad School to use a Pomodoro Timer. Pomodoro is a time management technique that you can use to break up your study time into smaller 20 min segments. I've used online versions but you can purchase an actual timer. The idea is work for 20 min, write down what you accomplished in those 20 min a sentence, take a small 5 min break, and repeat until you have 4 Pomodoro cycles. Then take a longer break. It helps you be cognizant of what you're accomplishing with your time, which was the piece that was difficult for me: I would consume myself in a problem and not actually move forward. So Pomodoros helped me realize that I was at a mental "brick wall" and to move on or change to a different subject to study for a while.

I recommend using Microsoft OneNote for keeping track of notes in an organized way. It also is available on mobile devices. I use a lot for note taking because it allows for organizing information into notebooks, sections, pages and sub-pages. A free version is included with Windows 10 and available for down load here. https://www.onenote.com/download With a free MS Live account you can use OneDrive to share the same OneNote notebook between multiple devices. I use this approach every day for organizing and referring to information.

For utilizing study time I recommend using a flash card application. These apps use adaptive technology to help limit the time you have to spend on memorizing information. They also help keep you fresh with the information you already know using the least amount of study time needed. It can take some time to get the data entered but pretty much all of them have some way to do a bulk import. Here are a few I have used:

Brainscape

Anki Flash Cards

Quizlet

Flash card deluxe - http://orangeorapple.com/Flashcards/

To see my experience you can refer to my LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwight-sowers/

For IT related topics I recommend doing as many hands on projects as possible. IT topics can be very abstract and the more hands on/concrete you can make your understanding the better. Analogy and visual depictions are very helpful as they help link abstract IT concepts with things we already understand.