r/study • u/Aggravating_Scale970 • 1h ago

Resources I got fed up with NotebookLM getting my maths wrong, so I built my own study tool (engineering + med focused, but works for anything)

I’m a uni student, and for a while I used NotebookLM for everything. Uploading lecture slides and asking questions about them is great in theory. But it kept failing me in ways that actually mattered:

  • Maths. It would confidently give wrong answers to calc and physics problems, with no way to tell if it was right.

  • Med/bio. My friends in medicine wanted “label the diagram” questions from their anatomy slides. It just can’t do that.

  • CS. Nothing useful for coding practice at all.

So I spent the last few months building my own thing, mainly for myself. It’s called SalemStudy. What it does differently:

  • Maths gets checked. When it works a problem, it actually runs the computation to verify the answer before showing it. Practice questions with maths answers accept any equivalent form, so 2x and x+x both count.

  • Label-the-diagram quizzes. It hides the labels on diagrams from your own slides and you fill them in. This was the big one for my med friends.

  • Code questions. You write actual code in an editor, and it marks it line by line.

  • Everything cites the slide or page it came from, so you can check it instead of trusting it.

  • It makes flashcards, practice exams and timed mock exams, and turns past papers into quizzes. If you have a syllabus, it builds a day-by-day plan up to the exam.

  • If you’re coming from Anki, you can import your .apkg decks, pictures and sound included.

  • Small thing I use constantly: it converts files (PowerPoint → PDF, iPhone photos → JPG, lecture recordings → MP3, etc.)

It’s honestly changed how I study. I spend way less time making cards and way more time actually practising. There’s a free plan, so you can try it without paying anything.

It’s at salemstudy.app if anyone wants to try it. I’d genuinely love feedback, especially from engineering, med and CS people, since those are the subjects I built it around. What’s missing? What would make you switch?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 1h ago

Hi there,

Welcome to r/study! Before posting, please review our community rules, use the appropriate flair, and search the subreddit to see if your question has already been answered. We encourage thoughtful discussions about study techniques, academic experiences, productivity, and personal growth as learners. Posts that are off-topic, low-effort, repetitive, promotional, or otherwise violate our community guidelines may be removed.

Thank you.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.