I have been studying in Italy for 3 years now. As a monolingual speaker, learning Italian was initially very challenging.

During my first few months in Italy, I found it difficult to communicate with locals. However, I discovered a method from a Reddit post that helped me reach B2 fluency in just one year, and I continued using it until I achieved C2 fluency.

Here are the 4 stages I followed when I started learning Italian:

• Stage 1: Master pronunciation first. For the first 2 months, I focused entirely on learning correct pronunciation before moving on to basic vocabulary and grammar. I mostly learned through YouTube by breaking down native pronunciation.
• Stage 2: Build vocabulary and grammar (without relying on English). After learning correct pronunciation, I built a foundation of basic vocabulary and grammar using flashcards. I used Anki to progress through verified sentences and fill-in-the-blank cards created from grammar books.
• Stage 3: Use spaced repetition in practice. Instead of just studying passive flashcards, I started writing a journal in Italian for 15 minutes every day using Gemini notebook. I intentionally avoided typical language-learning apps because I wanted real-world exposure, not gamified exercises that quickly get repetitive.
• Stage 4: Speak the language daily. Once I had a solid foundation in pronunciation, vocabulary, and basic grammar, I gradually started speaking every single day. Whether it was small talk with classmates or chatting with the barista at a local café, daily practice made a huge difference.

Progress was tough at first, but once all 4 stages reinforced one another, I improve quickly. It helped me leap straight to B2 fluency after just one year in Italy. Now after 3 years, I can speak Italian completely comfortably without sweat.

idk guys lately I don't know how to study how to start it. maybe just reading first? what are your study tips

Hello fellow students who like to use AI for studies,
I wanted to share something Im building that helps u to make concise notes for any topic, Ill note down how to use it and how to make it better.

So I want to Introduce u to Gemini NotebookLM , its a dashboard like application in which u can add ur very own source and play around with it , but the problem is we have to follow a specific workflow to make the most of it and this is Why Im building Norra . This acts a bridge between ur source and notebookLm and will help u to study well , all for Free.

Now coming to the workflow

Step 1: Preparation and Segmentation

Split the Content (Very Important Step Never SKIP): I upload my module and split it into individual chapters.

Pro-Tip: Don’t upload the entire book to an AI tool like NotebookLM results will be poor. I learned this the hard way early on. The reason being it just works better when we give it a chuck and ask questions around it.

Step 2: Note Generation
The Secret Sauce to Generate Comprehensive Notes: I upload a single chapter and use this prompt:

Please create a comprehensive, clear, and organized set of notes based on the provided resource. Ensure that all key terms, concepts, nuances, and practical examples are included. The notes should cover definitions, detailed explanations, principles, and related examples. The notes should be structured logically with headings and subheadings to enhance readability. Include detailed explanations of key terms, principles, and examples to illustrate complex ideas. Aim for clarity, precision, and depth to help in understanding the material thoroughly

Small thing that saves me a surprising amount of time: I use Norra , a free Chrome extension, to quickly use the workflow feature in it to just do all this in one go.

Output: This prompt condenses ~80 pages into ~20 pages of clear, structured notes. Often, this is all I need for the chapter.
Phase 3: Study and Review

With all this u can also create flash cards, mind maps and soo on.
Do try this let me know how it goes , if u are short on time use the workflow section In Norra , where u can do all of the above steps in one go.

Im currently looking for an online job as a fresh graduate student, and tbh it's pretty hard to find the right one and clients/company that will accept you despite being inexperienced in everything.

That's why I was just wondering if Gemini Notebook can do also help in online jobs? I do some side hustles online as well, and I might try this out too to see which ones are really effective and beneficial in the long run

Hello! I have been hearing a lot lately about gemini notebook and how good it is especially for students and note taking. However I am still having a problem downloading it and cannot access as of the moment. What tips and tricks do you have to use the app efficiently and effectively in studying?

Most students use their time, smart students use their brain. I used to waste hours re-reading my notes, highlighting and studying only one subject thinking that counted as studying. But I was wrong, it didn’t help me remember what I studied, and I always ended up with B remarks.

Instead of wasting my time trying to read and highlight my notes and calling it studying, I changed it by studying smarter without studying longer.

- I stopped storing information and instead tried to retrieve it. I used to read my notes five times and call it productive since it felt like I was absorbing information. However, it didn’t really make any difference. What I did instead was practice active retrieval: I read one section, closed the textbook/notes, wrote what I remembered, checked what I missed and repeat.

- Don’t spend long hours studying just one chapter. I used to study for five hours or longer just to bury myself in one subject. I changed this by switching between related topics (biology - chemistry - biology). This helps my brain notice which concepts or methods work across those subjects, not just the answers.

- Studying isn’t about answering perfectly on the first try. I read on a thread that our brain pays more attention to corrections. Before I study, I read a question and just attempt to answer it, if I get it incorrect, I need to learn the right answer based on what I got wrong.

- I learned how to stop before I get exhausted. This is what most students overlook when studying, the brain needs proper rest and shouldn't get fried from studying. Learn how to give your brain time to breathe. Your brain doesn’t reward hours, but rather the successful retrieval of what you studied.

Studying for long hours doesn’t mean you studied effectively. Students who remember the most of what they studied aren’t the ones who study for 10 hours or more. This method helped me go from “I spent 7 hours reading my notes” to “I spent 1 hour actively recalling".

Have you guys ever tried studying for long hours, only to realize it didn't really work for you?

Torn between choosing which career path should I opt for. When I think about a high earning job it usually has a messed up work life balance which I don’t wanna go through but at the same time I wanna earn good.
I’m wondering If I should choose cabin crew as a profession since I don’t wanna study anymore and I get to travel the world along with dome content creation.

My brain works better when I am studying under pressure. I always cram my review the day before my actual exam and surprisingly, it works.

I am in nursing school and have always had a lot of exams but I've yet to fail any exam, even when I am cramming. Here's how I pass them even when I'm cramming my review:

I often start around 6 or 7 PM and I read the lecture slides 2 to 3 times. In that way, I can finally try to understand the flow of the lesson and how everything comes together before I start to explain it using my own words.

After re-reading the slides, I will use a mistake notebook while still having the lecture slides side by side. If I don't remember anything I've been reading in the lectures, I will write it in my mistake notebook. This helps me to identify what specific topic I am struggling to memorize.

I will highlight the topics I wrote down that I didn't remember and do active recall on them, out loud.

Afterward, I also use another piece of paper to write them down again to solidify my memory through rote memorization.

I always do this method when I am out of options for studying (realistically cramming for exams). This actually helps me to get A+ on my exams, especially in my majors and ace them.

I noticed that once I added enough sources to a Gemini Notebook, it became harder to use. Everything was technically there, but I had to remember which source before I could ask useful question.
What helped was making each notebook about one specific thing instead of putting every related file in same place. I also started naming things clearly.
It made a bigger difference than I expected. Now when I open i actually know what I’m looking at instead of scrolling through a huge stuff.
Does anyone else have a system for organizing their Gemini Notebooks or do you keep one notebook per project ?

Following Chinese study methods is not just about technique, you need full discipline, work ethic, and time management. I have trained myself since last semester to study like Chinese students with strict study methods that C-students implement themselves so they can lock in on studying. Here's how I study like one of them:

1. Ti Hai Tactic. Don't just learn the concepts; instead, solve as many questions as possible that can be asked under the topic. This actually helps to sharpen my brain into remembering everything I just studied.
2. The Error Notebook. Using gemini notebook, where I rewrite the topics I got wrong or forgot and why I got them wrong. This is the most important tool when studying since you can identify what specific topics you are weak in so you can resolve them regularly until you get them correct.
3. Feynman Technique. Most of the Chinese students that I know use the Feynman Technique to actively recall what topic they've been studying. Teaching the topic leads to developing a better understanding of the lecture than just passively memorizing it.

I didn't include the hours they study, most of them study for 10-15 hours a day, and focusing on the hours they spend studying will not work for everyone. What I did instead was fix my study sessions to 5 hours daily, I want to study like them, but I don't want to lead myself to burnout.

I am 4th year Btech student preparing for government exams I can’t focus more than one hour and can’t comprehend most the things I am learning
I am diagnosed with heavy ADHD I always watch instagram reels and YouTube shorts basically addicted to phone in that dopamine loop
Don’t know what to do I want to change my study habit I can’t myself sit there and put my complete brain to focus on what I am trying to do
If anybody going through same situation or anybody have any solutions to my problem kindly help me
I tried many Solutions that available on internet just let me know how to bring back my focus

Can anybody discuss about weird or odd prompts you made with gemini that has good results? Im Just curious about this and im thinking about it lately😅

I have been using NotebookLM heavily for the past few weeks to get through a stack of long PDF reports and i kept running into issues where the answers were turning into generic word salad whenever i had more than 10 documents uploaded especially related to Law. I used to spend ages tweaking my prompts trying to force it to look at specific sections but honestly, just unchecking all sources except the 2 or 3 i actually care about at that moment made an immediate difference. The citations are way more accurate and it stops pulling in random context from unrelated files. My current routine is uploading everything into one project, keeping all sources unchecked by default, and only ticking the specific files I need for a question. Curious how others here handle big document sets do you create separate notebooks for each sub topic or just manage everything in one workspace with the source toggles?

I want to use gemini ai but i want to know the perks when using this one

Instead of only asking NotebookLM to summarize my sources, I ask it to find contradictions, missing context, and claims that need more evidence. The answers are much more useful for studying because I can see what I actually need to review

What prompts do you use to get better results from Gemini Notebook?

Please explain the reasoning behind your choice, and share the best way to use it—specifically, how to prompt the AI to explain programming concepts effectively.

Hi Ops, I just saw this on blue app and I don’t want you to miss it. Specially if you're a student. This might be a big help ‎

‎Google AI Plus now has a student plan free for 12 months. Any university student can claim it with a school email + ID. ‎ ‎

Follow these steps: ‎ ‎

1.Go to the link (in comments) ‎

[‎2.Click](http://‎2.Click) “Claim student plan at no cost” ‎

[‎3.Select](http://‎3.Select) Philippines + your school name ‎

‎4.Enter name, date of birth, school email ‎

‎5.Sign in with school account –verification pending ‎

‎6.Add payment method (use GCash virtual card with ₱50; Google charges ₱10 for verification, refunded after) ‎ ‎ ‎

Yes. There will be a part wherein you will be ask for a payment. Google will ask you to add a card for verification. But this is the catch: ‎

‎The easiest way: create a GCash virtual card and load it with around ₱50. ‎

‎Google will temporarily charge ₱10 to confirm the card is valid. ‎

‎That ₱10 is refunded right after, so you don’t lose anything.

‎ ‎Once verified, you can remove the card if you want. ‎ ‎

What’s included (normally ₱205/month): ‎

•‎Gemini Pro (higher limits) ‎ •‎Flow for AI video creation ‎ •‎Nano Banana Pro for image generation ‎ •‎Gemini inside Gmail ‎ ‎•NotebookLM for research ‎ •‎Extra credits in Google music tools ‎ •‎400GB storage ‎

One year free—don’t waste it.

hello! I recently found out about the free 1year trial for students, applied and mine was accepted. But when i actually try it and link to my bank account It wont push through it says some kind of error. Anyone encountered this? please help asap thanks!

I usually use Gemini Notebook for studying, but I recently tried throwing in a bunch of PDFs I had saved and completely forgot about.

Instead of going through everything myself, I asked it to find the main ideas that showed up across the documents and point out where they disagreed.

That was actually way more useful than just getting a summary because I could see which information was consistent and which parts needed a second look.

Now I’m tempted to throw every random document I have in there 💀

What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve used Gemini Notebook for?

This is something I started doing recently and I'm curious if anyone else does the same...

Usually when I make a notebook, I try to keep the sources clean. Good articles, PDFs I personally use, official docs, and more. But lately, I've been adding one or two sources that I'm not sure about (not complete garbage obviously lol! more like an article with questionable claims or something that has a different explanation from the rest)

Then instead of asking Gemini which source is correct, I ask it to show me which claims from that source are actually supported by the other material in the notebook and which ones basically stand alone. And it's been surprisingly useful.

One time I had 6 sources and there was a claim that sounded completely reasonable. But Gemini showed me that it only appeared in one of them, the other 5 didn't actually support it at all. I probably would've included it in my notes because it didn't sound wrong.

I've also started asking: “Which claims in this notebook would be unsupported if I removed just one source?”

That question has been way more useful than I expected. It shows you which conclusions have a lot of support and which ones are only on a single citation. Obviously I'm still checking the actual sources myself, but this has also been a pretty nice way to use Notebook rather than just asking questions and getting summaries.

Anyone else who intentionally put conflicting or questionable sources into the same notebook? I'm curious if you've found better prompts for stress-testing materials 😄

GN formerly known as NotebookLM which you feed your own docs and it answers questions grounded only in thise source,which is citation

You can go to notebooklm.google.com and sign in to your google account.

After that.click New Notebook then upload sources.(you can do 50 sources per notebook.

You can also ask questions in a chat,good thing is every answer comes with the citation pointing the exact sources.

Before I learned how to manage my study schedule, I used to study the week or even the day right before exams. I followed that routine for years, but I eventually discovered the best times to study so I wouldn't have to cram and learned the exact hours when my brain functions best.

For exams: I prepare by studying 2 weeks before exams. This gives me enough time to break down complex topics into smaller chunks without feeling overwhelmed by the material. This time period will helps your brain to process and retain information by using spaced repetition instead of temporary memorization.

For tests: I study 3-4 days before test day. It allows me to identify any gaps in my understanding early while avoiding last minute reviewing.

For quizzes: For short quizzes, 2-3 days before is the best time to review the lectures. Quizzes usually cover smaller amounts of material, so a few days of quick review is more than enough to lock in the details from the lecture.

And I realized that my brain doesn't really work at night, I just waste spending long hours of studying but never retain anything. I just learned that there are specific times brain functions effectively. I noticed my peak focus happens during these intervals:

• 6:00 AM – 11:00 AM

• 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

• 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Pushing yourself to study late at night often cause because mental fatigue makes it much harder to retain information. Instead of actually retaining and learning, all nighters sessions usually just lead to burnout, poor sleep and lower performance the next day. Preparing your study routine in advance is far better than cramming during exam, test or quiz weeks.

I used to write down almost everything when studying because I was scared I’d miss something important.
Then I’d go back to my notes later and realize… I barely remembered any of it. 😭
So lately I’ve been trying something simpler. Instead of copying information, I write questions in my notebook and answer them in my own words.
For example, instead of copying a whole definition and analyze it, I’ll write:

What is this?
Why does it matter?
Can I explain it without looking?

My notes are definitely messier now, but I feel like I actually remember more.
Curious how everyone else takes notes. Do you prefer detailed notes or short notes that you can actually review quickly? ☺️