With May and June exams on the horizon, picking the right revision tools can make a real difference to how efficiently you work through your modules. There are dozens of apps claiming to help students revise better - but most aren't worth the storage space. This guide covers seven tools that are genuinely useful, what each one is actually good for, and how to combine them into a revision system that works.
Not all revision apps are equal. Reading through notes or highlighting a textbook feels productive but doesn't do much for long-term retention. The apps worth using tend to share a few things in common.
With that in mind, here's an honest look at the seven apps worth considering this exam season.
StudyCards AI takes your lecture slides, PDFs, and seminar notes and turns them into ready-to-use flashcard decks using AI. Upload a set of slides, and within seconds you have a deck of question-and-answer cards based on your actual module content. You can export directly to Anki, so you get the benefits of AI-generated cards alongside Anki's spaced repetition scheduling.
Anki is the most well-established spaced repetition flashcard app available, and it's completely free on desktop (there's a one-off fee for the iOS app). The algorithm schedules cards so you review them just before you'd forget them, which makes revision far more efficient than cramming. The downside is that building decks by hand is slow - which is exactly where StudyCards AI comes in. See our Anki vs Quizlet comparison if you're trying to decide between the two.
"I used to spend more time making Anki cards than actually revising. StudyCards AI changed that completely - I upload my lecture slides after each week and the deck is done in minutes. By the time exams came around I'd been reviewing the material for months without really thinking about it."
- Priya, Medical Sciences, University of Manchester
Notion is a note-taking and organisation tool that's excellent for building module wikis, revision planners, and essay planning documents. It won't help you memorise content on its own - that's not what it's for - but if you're someone who needs structure before you can revise effectively, Notion is worth the time investment. There's a free plan for students, and it syncs across devices.
Forest is a focus timer that grows a virtual tree while you stay off your phone. If you leave the app, the tree dies. It sounds simple, but the gamification element genuinely works for a lot of students. It's built around the Pomodoro technique for revision - timed work blocks followed by short breaks - and you accumulate a virtual forest over time. You can also spend in-app currency to plant real trees.
Quizlet is the best-known flashcard platform and has a large library of pre-made decks. The quality varies significantly - for university-level content, you'll often find decks that are incomplete, outdated, or aimed at a different curriculum entirely. Its AI features are limited compared to StudyCards AI, and you don't get proper spaced repetition without paying for Quizlet Plus.
"I relied on Quizlet for my first year and kept getting caught out by gaps in the pre-made decks. Switching to StudyCards AI in second year meant my flashcards were based on exactly what my lecturers had covered - much more relevant for the exams."
- Tom, Economics, University of Leeds
If you're an iPad user, GoodNotes and Notability are both popular for annotating lecture slides and taking handwritten notes digitally. They let you import PDFs, write on them directly, and keep everything organised by module. Both are paid apps, but they're a one-off cost rather than a subscription (GoodNotes recently shifted to a subscription model, so check current pricing).
Toggl Track is a free time tracker that lets you log exactly how long you spend on each module. It sounds basic, but most students dramatically overestimate how much time they're actually spending on revision. Tracking your time makes it much easier to spot which modules you're neglecting and adjust your schedule before exams arrive.
You don't need all seven apps - but a few of them work very well together. Here's a straightforward combination that covers the main bases for exam season.
The most important thing is to make active recall - testing yourself - the core of your revision rather than re-reading notes. Everything else supports that. For a more detailed look at building a full revision strategy, see our UK university exam revision guide.
StudyCards AI generates Anki-ready flashcard decks from your lecture slides and notes. Free to start - no credit card required.
The best combination for most university students is StudyCards AI for generating flashcards from lecture slides, paired with Anki for spaced repetition. For organisation, Notion is hard to beat. The right choice depends on your subject and how you revise, but active recall tools consistently outperform passive note-reviewing apps.
Yes - Anki is one of the most effective revision tools available, particularly for content-heavy subjects like medicine, law, and languages. Its spaced repetition algorithm means you review material at the right intervals for long-term retention. The main drawback is the time it takes to build decks manually, which is why pairing it with StudyCards AI makes such a difference.
Quizlet can be useful for topics where reliable pre-made decks exist, but for university-level revision it often falls short. Pre-made decks vary widely in quality and may not match your specific module content. Generating your own cards from your lecture slides - using a tool like StudyCards AI - gives you much more relevant revision material.
The most commonly used apps among UK university students include Anki, Quizlet, Notion, and GoodNotes (for iPad users). StudyCards AI is increasingly popular for students who want to generate flashcards directly from their lecture slides without spending hours building decks manually. Forest is widely used for managing phone distraction during revision sessions.
Yes - several of the best revision apps are free or have generous free tiers. Anki is free on desktop and Android, StudyCards AI is free to start, Notion is free with a student email, Forest has a free version, and Toggl Track is free for personal use. Most students can build an effective revision system without spending anything.
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