Student travel in London? totally confused

I'm so confused. I'm looking for the cheapest way of travel in London from zones 3 to 1 for university. I don't understand what the 18+ student oyster card does, it says something about travel cards. I also don't understand what the 16-25 railcard does, which I was advised to get and combine with the oyster card. What are the benefits of them individually and combined? Do I need the railcard?

Also, can I put the combined cards onto Apple/Google Pay?

The railcard can be used all over the country and removes 1/3 off your rail fares. The Oyster card is for london only and ideal to use for all of TFL, it takes 30% off your journeys. If you add your travel card to your oyster they will give you 34% off the underground rather than just 30%.

As a student in london an Oyster card is a must have. You don’t put your oyster onto apple/google pay. You use it like a debit card so you upload money to it and use it from there when you are tapping in and out! Hope that helps x

Thanks so much. When you buy a travel card, does it load onto your oyster card? Or do you receive a separate physical card?

It depends, if it’s a day travel card then yes it’s just a separate physical ticket. If you buy a week or more ticket then it can be uploaded to the oyster. However I’m not sure if it’s even worth getting travel cards when you have an oyster because the prices are capped anyway up to a certain amount. Your best bet would be to compare the two!

Thanks for the help. I found that the 30% of journeys for the student oyster is actually 30% off travelcards, so it's probably good to get travelcards

It doesn’t matter how you pay, you still get reduced fares. My friends at UCL get a reduced fare on tubes/buses etc aswell on their oysters as they are students and they never buy travel cards just tap in and out as they go

That is just plain false as it states there is no reduced pay as you go fair 'Add pay as you go credit - you don't get discounted pay as you go fares,' https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets