Now that I’m in college, I have a lot more work then I used to. On top of that, I no longer have someone reminding me everyday when something is due. So, I figured I needed someway to manage my workload. Since I carry my MacBook with me wherever I go, I thought looking for a Mac application would be my best choice. After a quick search, I stumbled upon an application called Assignment Planner and I haven’t looked back.

Assignment Planner is one of those applications that the Mac platform was designed for. It’s simple, it’s functional, and it just looks freaking sweet. While some applications try to do everything, Application Planner keeps it simple, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Assignment Planner’s main functionality is to keep track of your assignments. Nothing more, nothing less. When you load up the application, you immediately see your assignments. Assignments are color coded, so at a glance you can quickly see what’s due. There’s an iTunes-style search bar at the top, which allows you to instantly narrow down your assignments by class or completion status. You can also search for assignments by using the built in search box at the top. This makes for easy browsing, and insures you’ll always be able to find your assignments.

Assignment Planner offers a couple of view formats. There is the default list format, but there is also a calendar view. The calendar view acts just like a real calendar, and visually shows you when your assignments are due. You can add assignments in calendar view by double clicking the day, which is nice when you’re trying to figure out what day is next Wednesday.

Setting up Assignment Planner couldn’t be easier. The Courses and Textbooks section of the program allows you to manage all of your classes and books associated with the class. You can even store information about the class such as the instructor, or how much your textbook costs. As a bonus, every single field in the Courses in Textbooks section is customizable in the preferences. So, if you don’t want to store your class time, but want a place to keep track of your instructor’s office hours, you can do it.

Once your classes are setup, adding and managing assignments is a piece of cake. Clicking on the Add button brings out a drawer which provides the assignment management. In that drawer, you can add the assignment information, as well as store notes about the assignment. Once thing to note about this section is the date field is completely customizable. You can have a drop down or a text box. I like the text box because it allows me to input things such as “next thursday” which gets translated into the real day.

Once your assignments are in there, keeping track of them is a breeze. In addition to the views I mentioned earlier, Assignment Planner also has a Dashboard Widget. The widget shows your latest assignments and color codes them without ever having to open up the program. If a widget isn’t for you, Assignment Planner allows you to export to iCal or a text file. You can even email the assignment to yourself or a friend. With those kinds of features, forgetting an assignment is no longer an option.

As you can probably tell, I love Assignment Planner. Unfortunately, the program isn’t free, but it’s cheap. It costs $5, which is a bargain for the functionality you get. A paper alternative can easily cost just as much, and isn’t reusable at the end of a semester like Assignment Planner is. There is a demo version available, so if you’re interested go ahead and download that. If you’re anything like me, I have a feeling you’ll purchase it within minutes. It’s just that good.