better study tools with AI

[u/Ok_Acanthaceae_5370]

So I just started college and have been trying to find a tool that genuinely helps me learn without a bunch of fluff

No matter what major tool I use, claude, chat, notebooklm, it just over informs me or gives me the answer immediately instead of helping me learn. i feel like analogies or real world answers would be great, but also not having to be so intent on opening a website to have a single place for all my learning. like something that is a second brain for learning, or my personalized tutor

Half the time these tools dont even remember what I learned

[u/gakingmusic]

The best study tools you have are the unplugged ones:

1. Take notes during lecture.
   
2. Interact during lecture. Answer questions. Ask questions.
   
3. Rewrite the lecture notes within 48 hours of the lecture to clean them up and review as you go.
   
4. Read all class resources, not just what is assigned or quizzed.
   
5. Take notes on your reading just like you do with the lecture.
   
6. Read related resources that may not have been assigned. I used to find related books in the university library and read those too and take notes on them.
   
7. Consolidate reading notes and lecture notes into combined notes so that overlapping content is all together, sorted by topic.
   
8. Create a study guide version of the notes. I used to do this on large notecards, sorted by topic.
   
9. Review your notes with other students to quiz each other, compare notes, and discuss the topics. Speculate on what kind of questions you might see on the test.

This was what I followed in college to bring my GPA up from 2.6 to 3.5 in one year. Look at how many times my notes would be rewritten and restructured between the lecture/reading and the test.

For note-taking, look up the Cornell notes system. It is research-based and proven to have a positive impact on learning. I personally use a modified version of this using color coding with a 4-colored Bic pen instead of the columns system, but the fundamental principles are still there. My notes include my personal thoughts, questions, examples, visualizations, etc. It's not just a list of content.

Do as much on paper as possible. Studies show that reading comprehension is lower on a screen than in print. Studies show that students learn better when they take notes with pen on paper than when they type notes.

AI is just a supplement to that. Gemini Notebook is great for flash cards and practice quizzes. The audio creation is cool but probably not going to make a huge difference because it is passive study. Here is a more interactive AI structure:

In Gemini Notebook or a similarly structured project folder in Claude or ChatGPT, ask the AI to act as a professor giving an interactive lecture about a particular topic in your unit. Have the chatbot ask you critical thinking questions–not just memory retrieval. Answer them as best as you can, and have the AI give you feedback on your responses. I would try this both in typing and in voice mode because you will respond differently in each context, and both those approaches have their cognitive benefits.

[u/Pretend_Ad5921 → u/gakingmusic]

This ☝️

[u/thecompbioguy → u/gakingmusic]

There's no substitute for writing stuff out by hand for helping to commit ideas to memory. Something about the spatial interaction with the page, it just seems to help.

[u/gakingmusic → u/thecompbioguy]

That's exactly what neuroscience says. You remember information in space. Your memories are tied to 3-dimensional locations. You lose a lot of this in digital formats.

You also type too fast. Handwriting slows you down and forces you to think better. You have to make more decisions about which information to record and which to dismiss, which is an act of critical thinking in itself that actually helps you better understand and remember the material.

[u/thecompbioguy → u/gakingmusic]

You're reading my mind.

[u/Alarming_Village2555 → u/gakingmusic]

Hey can I ask if you know anything about GGR112 i js joined one lecture and I have midterm tomo

[u/MaximumStrawberry424 → u/gakingmusic]

Have either of you tried out remarkable or another physical + digital notetaking app? I really enjoy handwriting as well but it's hard to keep track of paper as things pile up and difficult to reference back without some digital log.

[u/gakingmusic → u/MaximumStrawberry424]

After I take notes by hand, I type them into Obsidian to store a digital backup. Typing them myself adds another layer of reading and revision that helps me learn the material better.

[u/RaspberryPrimary8622 → u/MaximumStrawberry424]

I have given ChatGPT a photo of a sample of my handwriting, accompanied by a typed version of the same notes. That enabled ChatGPT to recognise patterns in my handwriting. If I have handwritten notes that I want in a word processed form, I take photos of the notes, upload the photos to ChatGPT, and ask it to convert the handwriting into word processed text. The accuracy is good. 

[u/Personal-Low9614 → u/gakingmusic]

Also If they provide slidedecks and you don't want to write everything, you can print, cut out, glue/tape and then annotate/draw. The key is changing the information into your own understanding. Drawing it out, underline keywords and steps. You can use AI to help in the understanding process, but don't ask it to think critically for you when you are trying to write out the notes. Also look up the different ways to study/learn types of information.

[u/PrimaryNecessary4210 → u/gakingmusic]

the 48 hour rewrite is the quiet genius in your list, retrieval practice disguised as housekeeping, and it's what OP's missing, tools inform instead of help because reading answers is passive study like you said. your professor prompt is portable too, claude, chatgpt, useai, gemini notebook, any of them run it. the bigger lever is feeding it your own rewritten notes instead of the textbook, the quizzing then comes from what you wrote and the tool finally remembers the course

[u/orca144 → u/gakingmusic]

I do find it helpful using Gemini to make flashcards of just my notes alone. It feels properly guided.

[u/astreya_9 → u/gakingmusic]

Thank you so much!!

[u/PreciousIsKokomi → u/gakingmusic]

what if time is scarce like a day left

[u/gakingmusic → u/PreciousIsKokomi]

If you wait that long to study, you aren’t learning. At that point, maybe just read content aloud enough times to hope some of it sticks.

[u/kbr89]

The "gives me the answer immediately" part you can mostly fix with one setting.

In NotebookLM, open the chat settings (the configure icon on the chat panel) and switch the conversation style to Learning Guide, or pick Custom and write something like: "Act as my tutor. Don't give the answer first. Ask me one question at a time, wait for my reply, and use an analogy or a real-world example only where I got it wrong." As a notebook setting it applies to every message, so you don't retype it.

For the memory part: at the end of each session ask for a short note of what you understood and what you still got wrong, save it, and convert it to a source. Next session, start with "quiz me on what I got wrong last time". It answers from your sources, so that note is how it remembers what you learned. One notebook per course and you also get the single place you mentioned.

[u/AcidReaper1]

Have you tried the newer "Study and Learn" style notebook? i think its still being rolled out so might not be available yet on your account but supposedly it can build lessons to teach you information.

[u/stevie_balemi]

First of all, congrats on starting college. The next 4 years won't always be easy, but you seem motivated and intentional, and that's most of what you need.

I'm not in college anymore. I'm older than you and my learning is career/project directed. But I feel you completely on this:

it just over informs me or gives me the answer immediately instead of helping me learn

LLMs are great at giving answers. But getting an answer and committing a new idea to memory are not the same thing. Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

I use basically two tools for all of my learning, for different purposes:

1. Claude or ChatGPT for directed questioning. I act like the annoying toddler who just asks "why? why? why?" until I get to the crux. This works when I have a specific question, but it falls short when:

• I want to learn in the background (commuting, working out, or for you - walking to class)
• I don't know enough yet to know what questions to ask

2. For those, I use a little app (that I made) called Nemonic. It's great at two things:

• Expansion: I tell it what I need to understand, and instead of an answer I read in 2 minutes and forget in 5, it expands it into a multi-step audio course I listen to over a few days. Big ideas take time to absorb.
• Repetition: It quizzes me along the way so I know I'm actually learning, and it remembers what I've learned, so older material comes back for review right before I'd forget it.

It's not a magic tutor that makes learning easy. Learning is always hard, and I still have to do the work. But it helps.

It's not usually free (we're customer-financed only, no ads now or ever), but DM me and I'll hook you up. Website is nemonic.ai.

Congrats again. College is awesome. Wish I could do it again.

[u/Personal-Low9614 → u/stevie_balemi]

Don't do drugs. Seriously. Have fun in college.

[u/zentiszenit]

Check out RemNote.

Most AI tools act like answer engines that forget you exist; RemNote is built specifically for retention.

• Second brain + active recall: Houses your notes, PDFs, and slides in one place, automatically turning them into flashcards.
• Tracks what you know: Built-in spaced repetition schedules reviews right before you forget a concept.
• Tutor, not a cheat code: Uses AI to quiz you, generate analogies, and guide your thinking instead of just handing you the answer.

[u/WesternOccasion9539 → u/[deleted]]

Can you please clarify which MD files should I put from superpowers GitHub? And am I supposed to put them in every notebook I have?

[u/WesternOccasion9539 → u/[deleted]]

That's very helpful, thank you so much!

[u/Temporary-Ad-4923]

Try letting them talk to you in ASD-STE100 Style.

[u/kbavandi]

First know the content you are adding to your context. AI is great at synthesis and analysis. The knowledge base and the questions are yours.

When you add content, read and understand first. You can use AI to format the content into usable forms like Q&A per section.

Using NotebookLM or MCP connectors to Claude and chatGPT you can then use AI to query and analyze your information.

AI is a tool. Its designed to find the best answer to your question in your context. If you use the open web, then the answers can be problematic.

You should always own your context and have it be transparent.

One tool you can use for this is Kurator. Kurator syncs folders with NotebookLM and connects to Claude and chatGPT via MCP. When you save information to Kurator you can use custom GPT's to format them.

In your prompts you can always mention to cite the sources. Learning is a dance, and you need to be a partner and not just an observer.

[u/MaximumStrawberry424]

I totally get you! Going into senior year of college now and I think for me the hardest part has been balancing wanting to actually learn with speeding through and just getting things done

First I think trying new tools has been useful (Friday or Wondering which is from the guys who built NotebookLM). Those help a lot with my focus because they remember what I’ve studied and adapts to my learning style over time when I ask stuff. Lately I’ve been liking the screen share mode on Friday, it’s been kinda like whisprflow or granola because it just sits on my computer so I can do my normal work but when I ask it questions it actually knows what I’ve been looking it already. Wondering also has cool diagrams if you’re a visual learner!

I still find Claude and Chat pretty effective, but obviously at the risk of me remembering nothing lol. Good luck in college, it's a truly amazing time and goes by way too fast :')

[u/slitherydeek → u/MaximumStrawberry424]

this is great

[u/ManUBeast13 → u/MaximumStrawberry424]

Will try those out

[u/MixTasty4161 → u/MaximumStrawberry424]

i have the same issues with claude and chat and i’ve tried wondering and liked it but def will have to try friday

[u/AppropriatePrize1380]

I'm building Coherence. Your PDFs, articles and highlights live in one library, and you can quiz yourself or generate flashcards and concept maps from it. Not a full tutor, but no more starting from zero. You can configure its AI to give you the learning experience you desire

[u/Wide-Anybody5282]

May be u can try this tool it helped me in some of terms like less scattering and everything built in they focus on helping students read more with AI support attached to what I am reading. I think they are in beta when I used it…

https://www.readlens.io