Flickr user Sean Duran
Being a student means turning on your cognitive processes and using it as much as you can. But, there are times when students feel like they’ve hit a wall. The truth is, students can improve their cognitive skills through practice. But how do you increase those?
Scientists looked at that problem and there were some positive results. As a result, tools found online can help you increase your cognitive skills, thus increasing your studying capabilities.
So, here is a list of tools that you might find useful.
1. BRAINSCAPE
Brainscape focuses on creating smart flashcards which will help you improve your memory. In fact, it is a highly developed studying system that will help you learn new things two times faster than usual.
What Brainscape does is it personalizes the environment within the app to suit your learning capabilities by timing the flashcards that you have created. You can take a look into each flashcard and rate your knowledge about a concept from 1 to 5 and the program will prepare everything else according to your answers. The app is completely free for download, although you can upgrade it to the pro version.
2. BRAIN TRAINER
Brain Trainer is designed to enhance your cognitive abilities. The app does not only train you how to use memory better, but divides memory into several categories such as focus, spatial memory, working memory, and concentration.
This app will make a graph of your improvement over time and its creators state that you need to play it on a daily basis in order to make significant improvement of your cognitive skills.
3. PEAK
Peak is a smartphone game that focuses on increasing your cognitive skills. It is unique because it offers as much as 40 different games that gradually become harder and require you to think more and conclude better.
Furthermore, the application is free and is offered in 16 different languages. You can upgrade it to the pro version called Peak Pro and have even more fun.
4. HAPPIFY
Happify focuses on something that is connected to cognitive sciences but cannot be described as skills—emotions. If you feel stressed or anxious, this application will certainly make your world a happier place to be.
It is based on psychological research and offers you to practice techniques that are proven to lower the levels of stress and anxiety. This application can come in handy when you have a lot to study because the first thing that does not allow you to improve cognitive skills is stress.
5. IMINDMAP
iMindMap is a mind mapping software that helps you organize your ideas better.
What is mind mapping exactly?
It is a type of brainstorming that can bring the whole potential of your ideas. You put all your ideas into the software. Afterward, you onsider the possible solutions and realizations of them through the use of iMandMap tool. The tool offers a great environment and it is very easy to use.
Furthermore, it can come in handy for writers who have writer’s blog and are currently stuck on a writing task. This happens even to professional writers, and iMindMap can help them overcome it by offering a great way to brainstorm.
6. PERSONAL ZEN
Personal Zen is one more stress-reduction app. In fact, it is actually a game that is designed in such a way to lower the level of stress that you are experiencing.
Unlike Luminosity and Eidetic where you have to focus and use the maximum of your cognitive skills, Personal Zen requires you only to sit back, relax and casually stroke the screen of your phone.
7. COGNIFIT BRAIN FITNESS
CogniFit is also an app that trains your brain by using different types of games. The app consists of several mini-games created by neuroscientists which should improve your mental skills. The games focus on developing memory, attention, and concentration and each game provides a unique experience that requires you to focus completely on it.
The application can be downloaded for free but you also have an option for a monthly subscription of $19.99. This subscription will provide some additional features such as full access to the mobile and web platform. Furthermore, the progress made in the app is synced with their databases and uploaded to their website.
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These tools may not make you the smartest person alive, but they can certainly help you increase your cognitive skills to a new level.
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