I'll be honest, managing a fully online college course load is not as easy as I originally anticipated. Barely one week in and Zoom sessions have already begun to melt into one another, making it difficult for me to remember deadlines and course material for each and every class.

That difficulty lasted until I downloaded Notion.

I've taken several online classes in the past, but typically one at most per semester. I'm sure I'm not alone in preferring the in-person lectures over pre-recorded videos and discussion boards.

Still, desperate times call for desperate measures, and this semester is the definition of an extenuating circumstance.

So after hearing that my semester would be entirely online, I headed to YouTube, hoping to gather all the tips I could to survive this virtual experience.

It wasn't long before I came across Notion, an app that describes itself as an all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.

After seeing it mentioned in quite a few videos, I decided to download it and try it for myself.

How I use Notion! *as a student* | studycollab: AliciaYouTube

While a bit intimidating at first glance, once you pick the right template and familiarize yourself with the app's basic mechanisms, Notion truly becomes the platform it markets itself as.

It not only enables you to keep all your class notes, readings, and assignments in one organized place but embed anything from documents to images directly onto the page.

You can also collaborate with others, with friends or classmates, and all contribute to class wikis and notebooks.

The interface is clean and easy to navigate with endless ways to personalize any page you create.

I created wikis for each of my classes, embedding calendars with every major deadline, linking the course syllabi, and creating spaces to easily take notes. I also made a weekly to-do list that compiles due dates for all my classes each week, allowing me to stay on top of what I need to complete each day.

You can access Notion on your desktop, tablet, and phone, and did I mention that a pro plan is free for students?

So seriously, there's no better time to give this awesome app a try. You'll study smarter, not harder, and approach online learning in a whole new way.