// Student strategies

Generative AI for Smarter Studying

Strategies and requests from the MINDS Student Network session with Craig Smith. Use them in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or NotebookLM, and change the words so they sound like you.

Before using AI on assessed work, check what your course allows. At AUB, each instructor sets the rules for their course.

1. Tell AI how you work

Use the How I Work template → It has suggestions you can click, and copies or downloads your note.

Write a short How I Work note once. Save it as custom instructions (ChatGPT), in a Project (ChatGPT or Claude), or in a Gem (Gemini), so you don't have to explain yourself every time.

How I Work template

Keep the lines that fit you, delete the rest and add your own.

How I work - I think best by talking. Let me say everything first, then organise it after I say "done". - Long instructions overwhelm me. Give me one step at a time and wait until I say "done". - When I say "stuck", ask which part I'm stuck on. Don't explain everything again. - When I can't start, give me one action I can do in about two minutes. - Keep technical terms, but explain each one in plain language with an example. - I understand things better as tables or diagrams. - Don't write my assignments or paragraphs. Ask me questions until I can write them myself. - If you're not sure about something, say so, and tell me what to check in the original source. - My writing voice: [ask AI to describe it from samples of your writing, then correct it and paste it here]

Ask for help in the format that works for you

"Use short sections, each with a heading and one example."
"Give me one step at a time. Wait until I say done before the next one."
"Let me talk first. Don't organise anything until I say I'm finished."
"Show this as a diagram or a table before you explain it."

You don't need to explain why, or share a diagnosis.

2. Plan a realistic week

Voice mode works well for this. Talk while you walk if that helps.

Step 1 · Talk through everything

I'm going to talk through my week: deadlines, classes, work, family, and what I'm worried about. Don't organise anything until I say "done". Then tell me what you heard, so I can correct it.

Step 2 · Let AI ask you questions

Before you make my plan, ask me up to five questions, one at a time, about anything you need to know: what I've already done, when I focus best, how long things usually take me, and what must stay free.

Step 3 · Ask for a plan that includes the rest of your life

Make a plan for my week. Put the hardest work in my best hours. Include meals, sleep, exercise, rest and time with people. Leave some time unbooked before each deadline in case things run over. Then show me two versions: one with shorter daily sessions and one with fewer, longer blocks.

Step 4 · Put it in your calendar

Turn this plan into an .ics calendar file I can import into my calendar. Use my time zone (Beirut).

Or connect your Google or Outlook calendar in your AI tool's settings, if it offers this, and check each event before it's added.

When the week changes

Keep one chat for the week, name it (for example "Week of 12 October") and pin it. Come back to it when things change.

Here's what changed: [what happened]. Here's what's finished: [list]. Re-plan only the work that's left. Keep my sleep and [anything you want to protect]. If it doesn't fit, tell me honestly and suggest what to do less of, or who to talk to.

Turn an assignment brief and rubric into small steps

I've attached the assignment instructions and the marking rubric. Explain each rubric criterion in plain language. Then break the assignment into small steps, each with a time estimate and the criterion it helps with. Ask me when it's due and what I've already done. Then give me the first step only.

End of the week · look for patterns

Here are my notes from this week: what I did, how long I planned, how long it actually took, and how I felt. What patterns do you notice? Ask me before you suggest changes, then suggest one thing to try next week.

This comes from Craig's Rhythm, Insight, Play approach: theuniversalsandpit.org/rhythm-insight-play

3. Getting started

One small action at a time

I keep avoiding [task]. Don't give me a plan. Give me one thing I can do in about two minutes, then wait until I say "done". If I say "smaller", make the step smaller.

A stopping note for tomorrow

Write me a short note for next time: what I finished, what to do first when I come back, and which files to open.

Work alongside someone

Body doubling means working with someone else present: a friend on a video call, a "Study With Me" video on YouTube (someone recorded studying in real time, often with a timer), or Alongside, a quiet study companion that works while you work. For small first steps when you're stuck, try First Strings.

4. Focus and energy

Connect the topic to something you care about

I'm studying [topic] and I'm really interested in [interest]. Explain the topic using examples from [interest], then go back over it with the proper terms.

Park stray thoughts

Keep a separate "parking" chat or note. When an unrelated thought arrives, type it there and go back to your task.

Plan around your energy

These tasks cost me the most energy: [list]. Plan my week so no day has more than two heavy tasks, and put something restoring after each one.

Try the Spoon Theory planner to see whether a day fits before it starts.

Build your own study page

Make me a single web page I can save and open in my browser. It should have my weekly plan as an editable table, a focus timer where I choose the length, a box for my stopping note, and a button that opens my study music. Save everything in the browser. Big text, calm colours.

Use ChatGPT (canvas) or Claude (artifacts). Try the page, then ask for changes.

5. Understanding difficult readings

Make a study guide

Make me a study guide from this reading: a one-paragraph overview, the key terms with plain explanations and examples, a simple diagram of the main process, 10 flashcards, and practice questions with the answers in a separate section at the end. Give the page or section number for every point.

When an explanation isn't working

"Explain this like I'm 10. Then explain it again with the proper terms."
"I'm tired and I'm not getting it. Give me five different ways of explaining this."
"Draw this as a labelled diagram or flow chart."
"Explain only the first part, then wait for my question."

Find the argument before you read

Which five sentences in this article carry the main argument? Give me the page for each. Don't summarise the rest. I'll read the article myself.

Readings in a second language

Make a glossary of the 12 key terms in this reading in English, Arabic and French, with one example sentence for each.

One NotebookLM notebook per course

Add readings, slides and lecture transcripts all semester. Its answers link to the passage they came from. Try the audio overview for walks, and the mind map for seeing the whole course.

Using the course outline, lecture slides and past exam in this notebook: what topics does the lecturer keep coming back to? Which topics were taught but haven't appeared in the past exam?

6. Practice, checking your working, and exams

Trying to recall and explain things yourself builds memory much more than rereading. These requests get you doing the recalling.

Explain it back

I'm going to explain [topic] in my own words. Only listen. When I say "done", tell me what I got right, what I missed and anything I got wrong. Don't re-explain the whole topic.

Practice questions from a lecture or reading

Quiz me on this material: 8 questions, mixing recall, explain, apply-to-a-new-case and spot-the-error. Ask one at a time and wait for my answer. After each answer, tell me what was right, what was missing, and where in the material to look.

Check your problem-solving steps without seeing the solution

I've attached a photo of my working. First, read back exactly what you see. Then tell me the first line with a mistake. Don't fix it and don't show the answer. Give me a hint only if I ask. Afterwards, give me two more problems with the same kind of trap.

Study modes

Claude's Learning style (Search and tools → Use style → Learning) and Gemini's Guided Learning ask you questions instead of giving answers straight away. ChatGPT's Study mode was removed in April 2026, so in ChatGPT, save this request in your custom instructions or a course Project. It works in any tool:

Act as my tutor. Ask me questions until you find the edge of what I understand about this topic. Give hints, not answers. Don't explain anything until I've tried to answer twice.

Preparing for an exam, step by step

Gather the outline, slides, transcripts and readings in one notebook or project.
Make questions: "30 questions: 10 explain, 10 apply to a new case, 10 spot the error. Answers in a separate section."
Flashcards: "Turn the key definitions into a front/back CSV file for Anki." Import them into Anki, which schedules your reviews.
Space it out: add three short review sessions to your weekly plan.
Practice exam: "Set me a 30-minute practice exam in the style of this past paper. Don't show the marking guide yet." Do it without AI or notes.
Mark it twice: mark it yourself, then ask AI to mark it with the marking guide. Study the parts where your marks differ.

7. Writing in your own voice

Check your course's rules first. A useful question for your instructor: "May I use AI to get feedback on my draft for this assignment? If so, how should I acknowledge it?"

AI as a reader

Read this as a sceptical marker. Tell me what you think it's saying, where you had to guess what I meant, and whether it answers the assignment question. Don't rewrite anything.

Describe your voice

Here are three pieces of my writing. Describe my voice in five bullet points: sentence length, tone, words I like, and habits. I'll correct anything that's wrong. Then use that description whenever you comment on my writing, and don't make me sound more formal than I am.

Compare approaches, then write your own

The point of this paragraph is: [your point]. Describe four different ways it could be structured, in one line each. Don't write the paragraph.

Before you submit

Use the assignment brief and rubric as a checklist. For each criterion, quote the part of my draft that meets it, and tell me what's missing. Don't add anything new.

Open every source yourself. AI can invent references that look real, or misreport what a source says.

8. Using AI mindfully

Three checks before you rely on an answer

Check the source. Ask AI for the page, then look.
Ask it to argue back: "What's the strongest reason this answer could be wrong?"
Explain it without the screen. If you can't, you don't know it yet.

Some support can stay, and some should fade

Can stay: planning, organising, getting started, reading support, translation, reminders, managing energy. These remove barriers that aren't what your course is assessing.

Should fade: explaining, recalling, solving problems, building an argument, writing. These are what your course is building. Use AI to practise them more, and check regularly that you can do them without it.

Signs to pay attention to: you can't explain work you've submitted; you go straight to the answer without trying; you feel less able to work on your own than at the start of the semester.

Privacy

Leave out health details, ID numbers and other people's names, work or personal information. Check you're allowed to upload course materials and recordings. Most AI tools let you turn off using your chats for training in their settings.

People who can help

Your instructors and TAs (office hours, especially early when a plan won't fit), AUB's Accessible Education Office (confidential support and accommodations), and the MINDS Student Network.