The Must-Have Student Supplies List in 2021
Updated: Sep 9, 2021
The Only Supplies You Will Ever Need to Buy for Student Success
By Hina Sheikh
Another year comes to complete its circle as we all gather our things to prepare for the mark of the next school year. While accepting the new realities of the current situation in the world, most of the world in 2020 truly began to adopt new technologies and gadgets to complement their new remote work and study environments. Change can be a bit intimidating, especially technological change, but if one can make the transition to adapt to the new digital ways, often they find significant benefits in areas of productivity, organization, accessibility, control, and much, much more. The digital market has brought a profound impact on society as most of our work has become digital in nature. From presentations to projects all the way to taking notes and studying, digital technology and gadgets have smoothened over the pavement to make ground for new enticing abilities that allow users to easily carry their entire workspace in the palms of their hands.
I want to share with you some of the most helpful technology gadgets and tools in 2021 I found that can help boost your success levels this year! These tools are designed to help students stay focused in class, organize their notes, and easily access their files.
Here is a List of Top Gadgets Must-Haves in 2021 for Student Life Success
1. IPAD & Stylus
- The iPad ( & Similar Tablets) is such an indispensable gadget for every kind of student. The tablet serves as a multi-tasking organizer that can carry anything from digital textbooks to all your student notes. With the convenience of online digital storage boxes such as dropbox, students can easily access and send their notes across their devices, share them with their friends, print them out, or my favorite they can digitally edit & modify any of their documents in a PDF editor application such as GoodNotes. iPad technology has brought so much innovative change in the world with its contribution to the reduction of paper waste. That’s right, with the digital iPad experience, there is a significant shift in the amount of paper we utilize. The benefits of making the transition to go digital are beyond selfish gains, but because making the transition to go digital makes an impact in the entire world!
2. GoodNote5 Digital Application on Apple Store
- Looking for the best note-taking app on the market that can replace all your paper notebooks forever? GoodNotes is the most comprehensive, complete digital note-taking app I have come across. GoodNotes serves as a PDF editor application which means you can instantly download any of your PDF documents such as PowerPoint Presentations, Documents, Textbooks, Etc (Convert your file to PDF format before downloading to your application for easy formatting by simply going on saving the file as, type the name, and choose file type as PDF, and click save ) In this application, you can now edit, modify, make notes, insert pictures, audio, etc, to your PDF document. You won’t ever have to worry about making mistakes anymore because you can simply undo and erase your mistakes. With the new breakthrough of digital documents, PDF documents now carry unique interactive capabilities within their documents that include pre-hyperlinked tabs or button links that jump exactly to the right page in seconds. All your notes become just a tap away. You have hundreds of pens and highlighter colors, tips, & style options. My favorite part about GoodNotes is the ability to save your digital stickers right in the app and easily be able to decorate my planner and notes to personalize them. Another interesting feature is that you can search for your notes with the search bar making finding your notes a breeze. All your notes get backed up onto the cloud or onto your favorite storage portals such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or One Drive. The potential for how you use GoodNotes becomes unlimited whether you read your textbooks and annotate your notes directly in the book, or if it's to take notes in your interactive multi-subject digital notebooks document, the possibilities are endless.
3. Digital Student Planner
- Probably the single most important thing I wish I knew about when I was a student. After searching for countless hours, trying various apps, I finally came across what is called a Digital Planner. Essentially a Digital Planner is a completely digital and innovative PDF document embedded with hyperlinked tabs serving as a digital version of a traditional paper planner by holding on to the essence of the traditional pen-to-paper planning experience. This opens up the possibilities to cater to any customized template to cater to your planning needs. These digital planners go above and beyond the limitations that come with printed planners which is why everyone is making the transition to go digital. Planning is a great habit for anyone looking to find purpose in their life. As a student, having a grasp over time is very important. There is so much time in a day that goes unaccounted for. With all the deadlines, responsibilities, extracurricular, it can get a bit hard to manage, especially when there are any changes to the schedule. Combined with the capability of PDF editor applications and the IPAD & Stylus interface, the Digital Planners are the Best Planners for Any Student in 2021.
This Student Planner features a brand new Dashboard Edition which takes the intractability of the Digital Planner to the next level. Impressively this document is over 1,500 pages, but every page is conveniently linked with a button for easy accessibility. It almost felt like I was inside an app, but I was able to write and edit everything. It is everything and more than what you expect in an average student planner. The best part is that you can add custom templates into the student planner and personalizes the planner to fit your schedule.
The 2021-2022 Digital Student Planner this year is featuring a multiple dashboard edition including A Student Planner Hub, Project Planner Hub, Routines Planner Hub, Vision Board, Habits Tracker, Mood Tracker, Bonus 8 Section Notebook with Full 20 Pages index, and 200+ Digital Stickers to decorate and personalize your planner. This Planner also includes 4 blank planner sections for complete customizability. Just for students, this planner also features specially designed study templates to help you put a purpose to your notes. This is the only planner you will ever need. This planner is featured in a dated and undated version for your convenience. No more papers upon papers, no more scratch-offs or erasing, no more time wasted searching for what you wrote or finding the right page. Now with a click of a tap, you will arrive at your planner destination.
4. Digital 6 Subject Notebooks
- So many trees are consumed every day to supply the more and more demands of the paper industry and its consumers. Don’t you think it is time to change this cycle and leave our impact on the world? Now you can, by making the transition to go digital! Now is the best time to go digital than ever. Introducing the concept of Digital Notebooks! The same notebook template, but now featuring a full 52-Index Table of Contents, 6 Subject Notebooks Dashboard Edition. With the potential to be continued to be reused again and again and to never be limited by how many pages can be added. Now you have no restriction on what template you would like to use while taking notes. Everything is pre-formatted and each page is linked to give your notes a proper location. This not only solves the problem of finding your notes and organizing them, but this gives your notes a purpose.
The Digital 6 Subject Notebook is definitely a Must-Have Item on your back-to-school supplies list! These notebooks set features a beautiful set of 6 notebooks each with its own sections with their respective index to each page. Each notebook features bonus sections for Key Hacks, Bookmarks, Questions, Mind Mapping, Brainstorming, Notes Area, and 200+ Digital Stickers. Carrying 6 notebooks at a time seems impossible these days and keeping track of my notes on each page is a whole other story. To be able to seamlessly have my entire 6 notebooks set in one dashboard with a full-index table of contents features, you have so much control over your notebook and notes. You can find this product in 4 subjects, 2 subjects, and a single-subject notebook set.
5. Digital Flashcard Decks
- Who doesn’t love using flashcards to study? They are a great tool for studying important facts and vocabulary. Of course, the use of flashcards doesn’t stop there. I remember even in grad school I was using flashcards. But I would just wish for a digital flashcard that I could just copy-paste my notes and directly write on there and test myself. I dabbled into a few apps, but there were just some limitations in being able to handwrite on the flashcard versus typing. Studies show that handwriting notes is proven to last longer in your memories. I don’t feel the same effect by typing notes and simply reading them. I must have the writing feature. Having a Digital Flashcard set is truly a game-changer. No more hassle of carrying decks of flashcards and finding the card you are looking for. The Digital Flashcards feature a full index for each deck of cards allowing you to create your own flashcards in moments and be focused more on prepping with the flashcards than making them.
The Digital 4 Deck Flashcards Deck Dashboard Edition is the perfect set of flashcards that can be reused again and again. This flashcard set features 4 decks of flashcards of 100 cards each with a front and back and a full table of contents divided into sections for your convenience. These flashcards are simple to use and can be applied to any situation to boost your learning experience. This product is featured in 4 decks and 2 decks digital file sets.
6. Free Account with Canva for All Your Designing Hacks, Projects, & Presentations
- Students already carry on so many responsibilities when it comes to juggling school life, home life, and then comes having to design presentations and prepare projects? Who has time to, first of all, learn all the designing hacks, find which program to even use, and then be ready and prepared in time for the deadline? It was hard enough growing, that I only wish I knew about this sooner. Well, it probably didn’t exist back then, but still, either way, I want to let you in on a little designer hack! Introducing Canva Graphic Design Platform featuring over 1000+ Free Templates, Graphics, Images to use to design anything you may need. This program is a game-changer and cuts the time to prepare any project into minutes. Not only that, you don’t need any design skills to learn to use this program, it is that simple. Oh, and the best part, you can sign up to use the program for FREE!! They have a premium version which gives you even more access to more templates, images, assets, and much much more. The premium version is definitely worth the investment especially if you like to leave your mark by using unique assets and templates all ready for you to go ahead and quickly personalize and you're ready to go.
7. Free Account with Grammarly
- If you are a student or anybody for that matter, and you don’t have Grammarly, then I must tell you, you are missing out. This FREE online program is an amazing integration to add to your workspace. While typing, it's common to
make mistakes such as spelling errors, grammatical errors, sentence errors. Well, Grammarly here in the FREE version proofreads your document as you work to offer you suggestions to correct the error. The mistakes and error it catches are always on point and seamlessly works between all my platforms from emails to documents to anything on the web. The premium account goes a step further in which the program offers suggestions to correct the sentence structure and offer better tips to portray your train of thought. If you have not heard of it yet, I highly suggest this online program is available for FREE!
8. Bluetooth Headphones
- Wires are so last semester. One of this year’s top MUST-HAVE products on the market is Bluetooth headphones. They offer convenience, durability, and comfort. This product is great for students to listen to lectures, podcasts, and of course to play their favorite Tunes.
9. Portable Charger
- With so many of our gadgets being electronic these days and the number of hours students spend outside, it’s a great idea to invest in a portable charger. The struggle to find an outlet when the battery is low is always a mission that everyone is familiar with. When time is of the essence and moving around to search for a charger port is not really an option, then portable chargers really come in handy.
10. Smart Watch
- Although this item on the list is not really a must-have, but it's a great item to combine with this year's gadgets list. Over the last year or so, the prices for smartwatches have actually gotten pretty affordable. Although a smartwatch is not a necessity for your school expedition, it can definitely be helpful to couple with a lot of other gadgets. A smartwatch can serve to deliver accurate reminders, notifications, and connects seamlessly to your Bluetooth headphones. Being a busy bee running around the school, taking out my phone was always a mission. A smartwatch has the capability of taking away that challenge and being able to quickly access what I need to know right away on my wrist. I like to find ways to boost my productivity levels where I can and track my levels as I go and my smartwatch offers that to me and so much more. I am all about boosting productivity, and if you are too, then take a look at smartwatches.
