10 Best Chrome Extensions for Students to Boost Productivity

Student life can be stressful with assignments, exams, and projects piling up. Keeping up with everything while staying organized and focused can feel overwhelming. But the good news is that technology can make things easier!

If you’re a student looking to improve your writing, stay focused, manage tasks better, and enhance your learning experience, Google Chrome extensions can be a game-changer. These handy tools help you write better essays, take notes efficiently, block distractions, and even speed up reading.

With the right extensions, you can save time, boost productivity, and reduce stress, making studying more effective and less frustrating. Whether you’re working on a research paper, attending online classes, or trying to stay off social media while studying, there’s an extension for you.

In this blog, we’ll explore 10 must-have Chrome extensions that every student aged 15 to 25 should try. Get ready to make studying smarter, not harder!

1. Grammarly – Your Personal Writing Assistant

Strong writing skills are essential for academic success, whether you’re working on essays, research papers, emails, or even job applications. However, grammar mistakes, awkward phrasing, and unclear sentences can weaken your writing. This is where Grammarly comes in.

Grammarly is a powerful Chrome extension that acts as a personal writing assistant, providing real-time grammar and spell-checking. It goes beyond basic corrections by offering suggestions for sentence structure, clarity, and word choice, helping students communicate their ideas more effectively. Whether you’re typing in Google Docs, composing an email, or submitting an online assignment, Grammarly ensures your writing is polished and professional.

For students who want to take their writing to the next level, the premium version includes additional features like advanced grammar suggestions, tone detection, and a plagiarism checker. This is especially useful for academic papers, where originality and proper formatting are crucial.

One of the most helpful features is Grammarly’s tone adjustment tool, which ensures that your writing matches the context—whether formal for academic essays or casual for everyday communication.

To maximize Grammarly’s benefits, use it consistently and review its suggestions carefully. Over time, you’ll develop stronger writing skills, making assignments easier and more effective.

2. Kami – The Ultimate PDF and Document Tool

In today’s digital learning environment, most academic materials, such as lecture notes, research papers, and textbooks, are shared in PDF format. While PDFs are great for preserving document formatting, they can be difficult to edit or annotate without the right tools. This is where Kami comes in, offering students a convenient way to highlight, annotate, and take digital notes directly on PDFs.

Kami is more than just a basic annotation tool. It allows students to underline key points, add text boxes, insert drawings, and even leave voice comments—making studying and reviewing materials more interactive. The extension also integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Classroom, making it easy to access and collaborate on documents from anywhere.

One of the standout features of Kami is its real-time collaboration. This makes it perfect for group study sessions or team projects, as multiple students can work on the same document simultaneously. Additionally, Kami’s voice-typing feature is helpful for those who prefer speaking rather than typing their notes.

For students who often study late at night, Kami’s dark mode can help reduce eye strain, providing a more comfortable reading experience. With its user-friendly features, Kami transforms PDFs into interactive, easy-to-use study tools that enhance productivity and organization.

3. Forest – Stay Focused, Stay Productive

Staying focused while studying can be a major challenge, especially with distractions like social media, video streaming, and endless notifications. Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to waste valuable study time scrolling through websites instead of working on assignments. Forest is a unique productivity tool that helps students stay on track by using a gamified approach to focus management.

The concept is simple yet effective: when you start a study session, you plant a virtual tree in the app. As long as you stay focused and avoid blocked websites, your tree grows. However, if you give in to distractions and visit a restricted site, the tree withers and dies. Over time, you build an entire virtual forest, which visually represents your productivity and dedication to focused work.

Beyond blocking distractions, Forest also provides productivity tracking to help students analyze their study habits. Seeing progress over time can be a great motivator, making it easier to develop better focus and time management skills.

For even better results, Forest pairs well with the Pomodoro Technique—a study method where you work for 25-minute intervals followed by 5-minute breaks. This structured approach helps maintain concentration while preventing burnout. With Forest, students can turn studying into a rewarding habit while staying mindful of their screen time.

4. Mercury Reader – Read Without Distractions

When researching online, students often come across web pages cluttered with ads, pop-ups, and unnecessary distractions. These interruptions make it difficult to focus on reading and absorb important information. Mercury Reader solves this problem by providing a clean, distraction-free reading experience.

With just one click, Mercury Reader removes all ads, sidebars, and other non-essential content, leaving only the main text and images. This makes reading online articles, research papers, and blog posts more comfortable and less overwhelming. It’s especially useful for students who need to go through a lot of online material for assignments, presentations, or exam preparation.

In addition to decluttering web pages, Mercury Reader also allows users to adjust text size and background color, making it easier to read for long periods. Whether you prefer a dark mode for night reading or a larger font for better visibility, the extension offers customization options to enhance reading comfort.

For those who prefer listening over reading, Mercury Reader supports text-to-speech functionality, allowing students to listen to articles while multitasking. Whether you’re studying, exercising, or commuting, you can absorb information without staring at a screen.

By eliminating distractions and improving readability, Mercury Reader helps students stay focused, read faster, and retain more information—an essential tool for effective online learning.

5. Dualless – Simulate a Dual Monitor Setup

For students who frequently multitask while studying, switching between multiple tabs can be frustrating and time-consuming. If you don’t have a dual-monitor setup, working on research papers, taking notes, or attending online classes can feel cluttered and inefficient. Dualless solves this issue by allowing you to split your screen into two sections, making multitasking much easier.

With Dualless, you can customize your screen layout by choosing different window ratios, such as 50/50, 70/30, or 60/40. This is particularly helpful when you need to watch a lecture while taking notes, compare two documents side by side, or work on a coding project while referring to online resources. Instead of constantly switching between tabs, you can keep everything visible at once.

This extension is especially useful for research-based tasks, where you need to analyze multiple sources and extract key information. A 70/30 split is ideal for such cases—keeping the primary material in the larger section and notes in the smaller one for quick reference.

By improving workflow efficiency, Dualless allows students to stay organized, save time, and work smarter, making it a valuable tool for online learning, research, and productivity.

6. StayFocusd – Limit Time on Distracting Websites

With endless distractions just a click away, staying focused on studies can be a struggle. Social media, YouTube, gaming websites, and online shopping can eat up hours of valuable study time. If you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through feeds instead of working on assignments, StayFocusd can help you take control of your screen time.

StayFocusd allows students to set daily time limits for specific websites, ensuring they don’t waste hours on distractions. You can decide how long you’re allowed to spend on non-productive sites each day. Once you’ve used up your allocated time, StayFocusd completely blocks access to those sites—forcing you to focus on studying.

For students who need extra discipline, StayFocusd includes the “Nuclear Option,” which blocks access to all distracting websites for a set period. This feature is especially useful when preparing for exams or finishing an important project, as it removes all temptations and ensures full concentration.

To make the most of this extension, start by gradually reducing your screen time instead of blocking everything at once. This way, you can build better study habits without feeling overwhelmed. With StayFocusd, students can regain control of their time, improve productivity, and develop stronger focus skills for academic success.

7. Screencastify – Capture and Record Your Lessons

Whether you’re attending online classes, participating in virtual study sessions, or creating presentations, having a reliable screen recording tool can be a game-changer. Screencastify is a simple yet powerful Chrome extension that allows students to record their screen, webcam, and audio, making it easy to capture important lessons and explanations for later review.

One of the biggest challenges students face is missing an important lecture or struggling to keep up with fast-paced lessons. With Screencastify, you can record online lectures, tutorials, and even your own study notes to revisit whenever needed. It’s also perfect for group projects, as students can record and share explanations with classmates instead of repeating discussions multiple times.

Screencastify supports multiple export formats, including MP4, GIF, and direct uploads to Google Drive or YouTube, making it highly versatile. Another major advantage is that it works offline, so you don’t have to worry about losing access to recordings due to a poor internet connection.

For better learning and engagement, Screencastify includes video annotation tools, allowing students to highlight key points in their recordings. Whether you’re reviewing a math problem or preparing for an exam, this feature helps keep your notes visually organized and easy to follow.

By using Screencastify, students can create their own study library, improve retention, and stay better prepared for exams and assignments.

8. Google Keep – Quick and Organized Note-Taking

Effective note-taking is essential for students, whether it’s jotting down lecture summaries, project ideas, or exam reminders. While traditional notebooks are useful, digital note-taking offers better organization, accessibility, and convenience. Google Keep is a lightweight yet powerful tool that helps students quickly create and organize notes across multiple devices.

One of Google Keep’s biggest advantages is seamless syncing. Whether you’re using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, all your notes stay updated in real time, ensuring you can access important information anytime, anywhere. This makes it a perfect tool for students who switch between devices while studying.

Google Keep allows students to create text notes, to-do lists, voice notes, and even image-based notes. This is especially useful for those who prefer visual learning—you can snap a picture of a whiteboard, annotate it, and save it for future reference. The voice note feature is great for students who prefer speaking over typing, allowing them to record quick thoughts and transcribe them into text.

To keep everything well-organized, Google Keep offers color-coding and labeling features. Students can assign different colors to subjects or priority levels, making it easy to differentiate between assignments, reminders, and personal notes.

By using Google Keep, students can stay organized, manage tasks efficiently, and ensure they never forget important deadlines—all in one simple, easy-to-use tool.

9. Noisli – Improve Concentration with Background Sounds

Studying in a noisy environment can be frustrating. Whether it’s chatter in a coffee shop, traffic outside, or loud roommates, unwanted noise can make it difficult to concentrate. While some students need complete silence to focus, others find that a little background noise actually improves their productivity. That’s where Noisli comes in.

Noisli is a customizable background noise generator that helps students create the perfect study atmosphere. It offers a variety of sounds, including rainfall, ocean waves, white noise, crackling fire, and even the gentle hum of a coffee shop. You can mix and match different sounds to create a personalized audio environment that enhances concentration and reduces stress.

For students who struggle with anxiety or stress, Noisli’s calming background sounds can also promote relaxation and mindfulness, making study sessions more enjoyable. It’s especially useful for those practicing the Pomodoro Technique, where short bursts of focused study are followed by brief breaks.

Another great feature of Noisli is its ability to work offline, meaning you don’t need an internet connection to use it. Whether you’re in a library, dorm room, or busy café, you can create a distraction-free space with the right background sounds.

10. SwiftRead – Speed Up Your Reading

Reading long research papers, textbooks, and articles can be time-consuming, especially when you’re trying to cover multiple subjects in a short amount of time. If you struggle to keep up with dense reading materials, SwiftRead can help by training your brain to read faster while maintaining comprehension.

SwiftRead is a speed-reading tool that helps students process large amounts of text more efficiently. It works by displaying words one at a time at a controlled speed, reducing subvocalization—the habit of silently pronouncing words in your head while reading. By breaking this habit, SwiftRead enables students to increase their reading speed significantly.

This extension is particularly useful for exam preparation, research papers, and academic reading. Instead of spending hours going through dense materials, you can skim through key sections faster while still understanding the content. SwiftRead supports a variety of text formats, including web pages, PDFs, and eBooks, making it a versatile tool for students in any field of study.

To get the best results, start with a moderate reading speed and gradually increase it over time. This ensures that you’re improving without sacrificing comprehension. Over time, you’ll be able to absorb information more quickly, stay ahead in your studies, and manage your workload more effectively.

Final Thoughts

With the right Chrome extensions, students can improve writing, stay focused, manage time efficiently, and enhance learning. These 10 student-tested tools help tackle common challenges like distractions, organization, and productivity, making studying more effective.

Whether you need help correcting grammar, blocking distractions, taking notes, or reading faster, these extensions offer solutions to boost academic performance. By integrating these tools into your study routine, you can increase focus, complete assignments faster, and improve overall learning efficiency.

Success in school isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter. These extensions are designed to help you study better, stay on track, and manage your time effectively.

Which Chrome extension do you think will help you the most? Let us know in the comments!