I was quit surprised to learn that there are few students using Chat-GPT or other AI tools to study for exams. AI-tools can speed up the learning proces by doing the boring tasks like summarizing and highlighting. Besides that we can interact with AI making learning more fun and staying focused. Have it make a mock exam for instance.
Here is a three step plan on how to study for exams using Chat-GPT in an academic setting. Lets say you need to study five scientific papers, and it’s not allowed to have the papers during the test.
- Reading and Identifying Concepts: Start by placing the scientific papers in a word document and read through each paper. While reading, mark any concepts or words you don’t understand using a specific symbol, like ‘&&.’ This step is crucial for narrowing down the focus areas that require further attention. By applying the 80/20 analysis, where 80% of results come from 20% of effort, we aim to identify and concentrate on the most important 20%. Divide the paper into smaller sections of a few hundred words to ensure comprehensive outputs from Chat-GPT in the next step.
- Engaging with Chat-GPT: Using Chat-GPT, input each section and prompt it to provide: 1) Simple explanations of the concepts marked between ‘&&,’ 2) A summary of the entire text, focusing on the most important information for the test, and 3) Flashcards for studying purposes.
Section 2 Prompt: “I want you to act as an academic teacher that provides the best and concise preparation for an exam on the text below. First, explain the concepts and words that are marked between the ‘&&’ tokens. Use simple language in your explanations. Second, provide a summary of the entire text, focusing on the most important pieces of information for the exam. Third, generate flashcards that can be used to study the text. Remember to follow the formatting rules for the flashcards as outlined: plain text file (myfile.txt), UTF-8 format, and the first line defining the separating character. Separate the flashcards into a separate frame for easy copying.”
Sometimes Chat-Gpt does not explicitly explain the terms that are put between the tokens (in this case &&). You can ask to explain these bits separately. Promt: ‘‘explain the bits that are put between the tokens &&” - Reviewing and Studying: Incorporate the summary provided by Chat-GPT back into the word document. Upload the flashcards to Anki.net, ensuring to review and edit any inaccurate information or critical gaps in the summary or flashcards. Remain critical of the information generated by Chat-GPT. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each scientific paper until all materials are covered.
Finally, follow your study plan to review and study the flashcards effectively. Use the article summary as a reference for understanding any challenging questions on the flashcards.
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