A study guide for students

Learn Better With AI

You do the thinking. AI helps you learn.

Use AI like a tutor, not an answer machine. Ask it to hint, diagnose, challenge, and check you, while you retrieve, explain, and practise.

Study a ready-made topic Open the Tips Sheet

Ready-made study topics

Open a curated learning note, then study it in MiDOTs to generate flashcards and a practice quiz from the key concepts.

The Water Cycle

Science · Grades 4 and 5. Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and how the Sun and gravity keep water moving.

Open topic

Methods and Quick Reference

How to use AI as a tutor: retrieval, hinting, diagnosis, and better study sessions.

Browse methods

Start from what you need tonight

Pick the situation you are in. Open one method and try it.

New topic

You are meeting the material for the first time.

See more for this →

Exam in two weeks

You need retention, mixed practice, and honest checks.

See more for this →

Stuck and confused

Something is not landing. Find the missing link before you grind.

See more for this →

AI Learning Tips Sheet

A one-page sheet of better asks: one hint, find the gap, argue the other side, put you in the situation. Screenshot it or print it.

Open the Tips Sheet

Start here 14

These are the highest-leverage moves when you use them honestly. If you only learn a handful, learn these.

Prerequisite diagnosis

Find out that the thing you're stuck on isn't the thing you're stuck on; it's something from two years ago that never quite landed.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: I can't do [SPECIFIC THING]. Don't teach it to me. Instead:…

Contingent hinting

Get unstuck without getting rescued.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Match difficulty to youWhat AI is doing Ask questions that make you think

Try: I'm working on problems and I want contingent hints, not solutions. Rules:…

Free recall

Close everything, write down everything you can remember, then have the gaps found for you.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: I'm going to write down everything I remember about [TOPIC] without looking at…

Immediate targeted feedback

Stop finding out you were wrong a week later, and start finding out in the ten seconds after you commit to an answer: with the correction aimed at your specific mistake rather than at the general topic.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Evaluate your workWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: Here is a problem and my attempt. Do NOT give me the correct solution yet.…

B10

Spaced schedule design

Build a revisit schedule from your forgetting, not from a generic calendar template, so review shows up when memory actually needs it.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedulesWhat AI is doing Remember your plan across days

Try: Help me design a spacing schedule. Here are items and my last outcomes…

B11

Interleaved problem sets

Practise in a way that feels worse, goes slower, and leaves you able to recognise what you're looking at.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Give me 12 problems on [topics] mixed in random order. Don't label which type…

B24

Successive relearning

Combine the two best-evidenced techniques in learning research into one schedule, and stop losing material you'd already learned.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Remember your plan across daysWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: Test me on [topic] until I can get [criterion] unaided. Keep giving me items,…

B25

Interleaved spaced retrieval

Practise mixed topics on a schedule that also spaces each item across days, so you train both which method to pick and when to meet it again, instead of running spacing and interleaving as two disconnected hobbies.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedulesWhat AI is doing Remember your plan across days

Try: Here is my spaced tracker (item, type/topic, last outcome, next due, interval):…

Socratic questioning

Turn an AI from something that explains things to you into something that makes you explain things to it, and find out, in about ten minutes, which parts of a topic you only think you understand.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Ask questions that make you think

Try: You are interviewing me about [TOPIC]. Ask ONE question at a time and wait for…

Error cataloguing

Build a record of your own mistakes that tells you what to study, in what order, and that gets more valuable every week instead of less.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Remember your plan across daysWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: WHAT I DID: the wrong thing, specifically…

E18

The illusion-of-fluency check

Find out, in a few minutes, which of the things you feel confident about you actually know.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: I think I understand [TOPIC]. Test whether I actually do, in this order:…

Self-explanation prompting

Explain each step to yourself while studying, turning passive reading into generative monitoring that catches the first fuzzy step.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Ask questions that make you think

Try: Self-explanation mode on this worked example / text: [ ].…

E19

Desirable-difficulty tuning

Deliberately make practice harder in the ways that help (spacing, interleaving, generation) without confusing "harder" with "cruel or chaotic."

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Match difficulty to you

Try: Skill: [ ]. My comfort default: [ ].…

I14

Retrieval via reconstruction

Rebuild the whole concept from a handful of core cues without looking back: testing structured ownership, not scrap recall.

Learning impact Highest-leverage move Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: Cues only: [ ].…

Also strong 86

These still change understanding, skill, or error correction when you do the hard part yourself.

Fading / graduated withdrawal

Design a short sequence that starts with full support and ends with you doing the work alone, and advance only when you've earned the next rung, instead of staying on crutches that feel like studying.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Match difficulty to you

Try: I want a fading sequence for this skill: [SKILL]. Give me:…

Worked-example study

Get more out of a worked solution than the feeling of having followed it, and know exactly what it will and won't buy you.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Give me a worked solution to this one line at a time. Before each line, ask me…

Completion problems

Receive a solution with the last steps missing, and finish it.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Give me the same type of problem four times:…

A23

Prerequisite chain walking

Walk the full prerequisite chain for a topic out loud, stopping at the first link you cannot explain, so you find the real break instead of restudying the chapter that sits on top of it.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missingWhat AI is doing Ask questions that make you think

Try: I will walk the prerequisite chain for [TOPIC] out loud, starting from the topic…

Cued retrieval

Retrieve knowledge from minimal cues before any re-reading: training the same move exams actually demand, instead of recognising answers in a full page of notes.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedulesWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: From my notes below, generate 15 minimal cues for retrieval practice. Cues only,…

Practice-problem generation

Get problems at the exact skill and difficulty you need, in unlimited quantity, which removes the oldest constraint in studying.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Generate practice problems on [very specific skill]. Pitch them so I'd get about…

Near-transfer problems

After a worked example, immediately solve a problem that's the same underneath and different on the surface.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Here's a worked example I've just studied: [paste]. Give me three near-transfer…

Error-specific remediation

Get a short lesson aimed at the one thing your wrong answer revealed, rather than a re-explanation of the whole topic.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missingWhat AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: My error revealed that I believe [the wrong rule]. Don't re-explain the topic.…

B16

Explain-back

Find out in about four minutes whether you understand something or only recognise it.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Evaluate your workWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: I'm going to explain [TOPIC] to you as if you're a smart fifteen-year-old who…

B18

Exam-condition simulation

Practise under the conditions you'll actually be assessed in, with an unlimited supply of papers at the real format and difficulty, and know before the day which parts will cost you.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Play examiner, peer, or clientWhat AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedules

Try: Here's a real past paper. Extract its exact structure: question types, mark…

B20

Confidence calibration

Make your sense of how well you know something match how well you actually know it, which is what makes every revision decision you take afterwards a good one.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: Here are my confidence predictions and outcomes. Calculate: for everything I…

B26

Generation-then-recognition

Generate the answer from scratch first, then see the options and compare, so multiple-choice stops training elimination skills you won't have when the stem stands alone.

Learning impact Strong change Learning evidence Strong research tradition What AI is doing Create practice, examples, or schedulesWhat AI is doing Reveal what you are missing

Try: Give me MCQ practice on [TOPIC], but TWO steps per item:…

See all strong methods →

More ways in

Study session playbookSeven stages you can run tonight Browse methodsSearch by what you need Quick-start pathsGoals in plain language Method familiesWhen you want the full map By subjectHow these land in your field Quick ReferenceOne-page guides you can keep open while you study EvidenceWhat the labels mean