Four free Android apps to help prepare for exams

Ask anybody with a day job and they'd tell you that preparing for exams and studying hard was a lot easier. Then again, it's not easy being a student either, especially for those preparing for competitive exams like GRE, GMAT, CAT, IELTS or TOEFEL, among several others. 

Fortunately, there's an app to help with the exam preparations and here are some free apps that make preparing for exams a little easier.

Khan Academy

Sure, the Khan Academy app, available on the Google Play Store, may feature the same videos one may find on YouTube, but the app's user interface helps navigate subjects and makes zeroing in on the concepts a user want to learn about a breeze. All videos come with transcripts and apart from the videos, users can also access Khan Academy's in-depth articles. Users can download and save videos for future use and regulars at the Khan Academy website can also sync their progress between the app and their web accounts.

BYJU'S — The Learning App

Much like Khan Academy, but not functioning as a non-profit, BYJU'S — The Learning App is the online extension of Byju's Classes, an India-based education company that helps students prepare for competitive exams as well as school exams. The app adopts the use of videos to explain concepts and promises to cover the syllabus for competitive as well as school-level exams starting with class seven. Users can watch videos and understand concepts from a variety of subjects and for further clarifications, users can also book a 45-minute personal session with one of the teachers at Byju's.

Magoosh

Magoosh is an online-test prep company that, like BYJU'S and Khan Academy, uses apps to teach concepts. From test prep to flash card-based refreshers, Magoosh has an entire suite of apps catering to GRE, GMAT, TOEFEL, SAT and ACT exams. The only drawback to the app is that the free service is really limited and users will really need to subscribe to the test prep apps to get anywhere with their preparations. The positive side to this is that Magoosh's coursework can be accessed online as well as via the app. Your progress can be synced across devices too.

 Photomath

Possibly every numerically challenged student's dream come true, this app uses the users' smartphone cameras to scan math problems and solves them automatically. The solution is further clarified on a step-by-step basis, which allows users to compare their own method of solving the problems. Users can also manually key in the math problems and leave finding solutions to the app. The only drawback with the app is its limited functionality.

Currently the app only recognises and solves arithmetic, fractions, decimal numbers, linear equations, equation systems and a few others like logarithmic functions. According to Photomath, the app also supports integrals, trigonometry and derivatives, but will only give users the answers and not the solving steps.