When selecting which resources to include in this article, we considered several key types of apps that you may find useful as a medical student. These include:

Notion is an all-in-one productivity app that offers a variety of features, including notes, databases, to-do lists and much more. The app uses a flexible and customizable interface that allows you to create and organize your notes and tasks in a way that suits your workflow. 

You can use the powerful features in Notion such as databases and integrations with other apps to maximise your productivity. If you’re not sure what that means and how to use the app initially, then that’s totally understandable - there is a relatively steep learning curve when you start using Notion, but once you start to understand how it all works the app is very easy to use with a large payoff. Examples of uses for Notion as a medical student include for taking notes, organising tasks and planning research. 

Notion is available on multiple platforms, including web, iOS, and Android, making it a versatile tool with many different potential uses.

TickTick is a task management app that offers a sleek and intuitive design, making it easy to organize your tasks and prioritise your workload. It offers features such as task assignments, tags, sub-tasks, and reminders, allowing you to break down complex projects into actionable steps. TickTick also offers collaborative features, making it easy to share and delegate tasks with others.

With its cross-platform compatibility, including web, iOS, and Android, TickTick is a great choice if you need a flexible and accessible task management tool to help stay organised and productive.

Todoist is a popular to-do list app that allows you to manage your tasks and projects with ease. With its simple yet powerful interface, Todoist allows you to create tasks, set due dates and priorities, and organize your tasks by project or label. It also offers collaborative features, making it easy to share tasks and projects with others. Todoist also integrates with other apps and services, allowing you to manage your tasks from different platforms. 

Available on web, iOS, and Android, Todoist is a versatile and accessible tool that can help medical students stay on top of their to-do lists and maximize their productivity.

Focus Keeper is a time management app that uses the Pomodoro technique, which can help you stay focused and manage your time more effectively. The app divides each focus session into timed intervals, typically 25 minutes long, with short breaks in between. 

This technique encourages you to break down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable segments and guides you to take regular breaks to stay refreshed and focused. Focus Keeper allows you to customize the length of your focus time and breaks and track your focus sessions over time, making it a versatile tool for improving productivity during medical school study sessions. 

The app is free to download and create a limited number of tasks, but a subscription is required to really make the most of the app. Available on web, iOS, and Android, Focus Keeper is a simple yet effective tool for staying on task and making the most of your study time.

Forest is a unique app that helps you stay focused and avoid distractions while studying. The app uses gamification techniques to motivate you to concentrate on your work by allowing you to grow a virtual forest. 

At the start of a focus session, plant a tree in the app. The tree grows as you work without getting distracted, but if you use your phone or visit blacklisted websites, the tree will die. Over time, you can grow a forest of virtual trees based on your focus and productivity. 

Forest has a beautiful user interface and provides an engaging way to keep you on task. The app is available on web, iOS, and Android and has a relatively cheap one-off payment.

Do you listen to music while you study? If so, consider checking out Focus@Will, a music streaming service that provides background music specifically designed to improve your productivity and focus. The app uses AI to choose music suited to the type of task you're working on, your energy level, and your preferred music style. This helps to create a personalized and optimized environment for studying and working.

The app is available on web, iOS, and Android, making it a versatile tool for optimizing your study environment.

Grammarly is a writing assistant app that helps you to improve your writing skills. This includes not just basic grammar and spelling - the app uses AI to analyze your writing and offer suggestions for sentence structure, style, and vocabulary. This app is a game-changer if you’re looking to create high quality, error-free documents such as assignments, journal articles and even important emails.

Grammarly is available as a browser extension, desktop app, and mobile app, meaning that you can use it anywhere.

ChatGPT is an AI language model released in November 2022 that you can interact with via a web interface. You can input text into the chat and ChatGPT will respond in a human-like way based on its general knowledge.

Potential uses of ChatGPT for medical students include helping you to understand medical topics in greater detail, planning study sessions, helping with research and helping you to write flashcards. If there is a topic that you’re struggling to understand, you can ask ChatGPT in natural language and it will provide you with an explanation about the topic at hand. It can also help to write assignments and articles, though it is important to note that that output from ChatGPT is not always of high literary quality and is not always correct - you will need to review anything it produces before using it for any sort of writing.

Your journey through medical school can be demanding and challenging, and you may at times find that you have too many things on your plate. Whether it’s keeping up with lectures, study time, extracurricular activities or squeezing in a part-time job, time management apps can help you to keep all of your balls in the air. Additionally, focus apps are useful to ensuring that study sessions and other focus times are distraction-free.

Consider using some of the resources outlined in this article to maximise your productivity, and best of luck during your studies!