So finals are coming up. The end of the semester is a time when procrastination is at its worst. No one puts effort into assignments anymore. But then you have all these gigantic exams that cover everything you supposedly learned for the past few months and you're supposed to submit some of your best work on a day when all you can think about is going home and relaxing. As much as they suck, finals are important. They're a significant portion of your grade in every college class. So here are some of my favorite online resources and apps to help you get back on track and kick your finals' butts! *These resources aren't exclusive to final exams, they're good for organizing your life overall, but right now is probably a good time to start using them*

1. Habitica

This is a website and free app (iOS and Android) that is my personal favorite task manager. It treats your to-do list like a video game. For each task that you complete, you gain experience points. The more experience you get, you can level up your character and fight in battles. You can keep your general to-do list and set due dates for your tasks. You can also add your daily habits and see how long you can hold a streak of something you want/need to do every day.

2. Quizlet

Everybody's favorite online flashcard website! I've been using Quizlet since middle school and it continues to be the best online flashcard resource out there. You can make your own sets or study from someone else's. I particularly find it useful to create my own sets even if the same vocabulary exists on Quizlet because writing down all the definitions myself helps me study. It also has a few games to help you learn as well. Quizlet is especially helpful for language classes (I first learned about it in Spanish class in middle school). Also helpful for any vocabulary heavy class. Quizlet saved my life in AP psychology in high school. Functions as a website and free app.

3. Written Kitten

Perfect for that final paper you really don't want to write. Helps beat procrastination. For every 100 words you write, you get a picture of a kitten! What more could you want in life? You can change the number of words until you get a picture. You can also change the pictures to puppies or bunnies.

4. Edit Minion

Copy and paste your paper into Edit Minion and it will find weak words, passive verbs, and all kinds of unnecessary things you don't need in your writing. Also keeps track of repetitive words. (Picture taken from the "Try Me" section where it will generate random excerpts from famous books and edit them on the spot)

5. Forest

Available on iOS and Android for $1.99. One of my favorite apps to help me stay focused. Basically you set the timer for how long you want to work (I would recommend the Pomodoro method of 25 minutes of work followed by a 5 minute break) and a little virtual tree will grow on your phone. If you leave the app before the timer runs out, your tree will die. No one wants a dead tree. Really helpful tool to keep you off your phone when you should be studying. When you finish a work session, you get some virtual coins which you can use to buy different types of trees that you can grow.

6. Google Scholar

You can't use normal Google for college level writing. Google Scholar will filter your search terms to only academic journal articles and things of that nature.

7. Easy Bib

Automatic citation generator. Citing your sources correctly in college is really important because you really, really don't want to be accused of plagiarism! Easy Bib will cite in the most common formats like MLA, Chicago, and APA. I had to write a paper in the American Political Science Association format this semester, so for more obscure formats, I would recommend RefMe, it was the only free citation site I could find that would format in APSA (Easy Bib offers APSA but only in the paid version). I recommend Easy Bib for MLA and other common formats just because it's easier to export your correctly formatted works cited page in Easy Bib.

8. YouTube: College Info Geek

I got most of these resources from this guy. Thomas makes videos all about studying and other college related things. His videos have definitely helped me become more organized as I transitioned into college level work.

https://www.youtube.com/user/electrickeye91

9. Website Blockers

I don't have a specific favorite one that I use but if you know you're going to get distracted by social media while studying or writing a paper, website blockers are great. There's a bunch of apps and browser extensions you can download, pick any one and it will probably do its job. Basically just type in all the websites you want to avoid for a certain amount of time and your computer will not let you onto those websites until the timer runs out.

10. Evernote/OneNote

Both of these apps do the same thing. I use Evernote for personal notes on my computer and Microsoft OneNote for school related online notes since my school is subscribed to Microsoft Office. I normally take notes on paper but if something seems really long and I don't feel like writing by hand, OneNote and Evernote are great. On both you can create different notebooks (I have a notebook for each class) and create different sets of notes within those notes. You can format them however you want and it's a great way to keep your thoughts organized.

11. Other To-Do List Apps

If Habitica mentioned above isn't for you, there are tons of task managers out there, you just have to find the one that works best for you. Some of the best ones I've seen are todoist, Any.Do, Zippy, wunderlust, and Clear. Honestly, just check out the productivity category in the App Store and you're bound to find something.

The important thing I can't stress enough is that you need some sort of to-do list in your life. Use a planner. Use your phone's calendar. Use one of the apps I mentioned. Just use something to keep track of your life. In case you haven't gotten the point yet, organization is really important in college, and in life in general. Good luck on finals, everyone! Stay organized.