Believe it or not, we are now more than one month into the semester, and the first round of exams is right around the corner. If you’ve been in denial, do not panic yet. Try revamping your study routine with Quizlet, a free app available for both Android and iOS that comes with a whole toolbox of useful study aids.

After creating an account and signing in, Quizlet allows users to create sets of customized study terms. Term definitions might be simple text definitions, pictures or automatically generated translations.

The app is designed so that sets can be studied using a variety of different methods including flash cards, learn – identify terms by their definitions – and match. Flash cards, where users try to remember definitions before “flipping” the card by swiping, lends itself particularly well to the more compact screen of a smartphone.

Rather than create their own sets, users also have the option to study from more than 20 million sets created by other Quizlet users. The enormous library of sets is one of Quizlet’s greatest strengths. If you are studying anything remotely common, there is a very good chance that someone else has already put together a relevant set.

Beyond prepping for tests, browsing sets also has a certain appeal for trivia fans. If you’re addicted to Sporcle — a quiz, trivia and brain game website — or a Trivial Pursuit master, try testing yourself on sets that fall into your area of interest, whether it be horse breeds, African geography or the Australian House of Representatives.

The first version of Quizlet was created in 2005 by 15-year-old Andrew Sutherland as a tool to help practice French vocabulary. Since then, Quizlet has grown into a site used by millions, and it is one of the most popular free educational tools in the App Store. As of this summer, Quizlet is also available on Google Play.

Unfortunately, if you are an Android user, you will not be able to take full advantage of the Quizlet app just yet. The Android version of the app is still missing the ability to create sets directly from the app. Instead, users have to go to the website and create original sets before using the app to test themselves.

Don’t let exams get you down. With the help of Quizlet and other popular learning apps like Chegg Flashcards and StudyBlue, studying can be – almost – painless.

Published on September 22, 2013 at 9:30 pm

Contact Linda: lggorman@syr.edu