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AI prompts for study notes and summaries

An AI assistant can be a good study partner when you use it on material you give it. Paste the passage from your own textbook and ask it to explain, shorten or organise that text. Used this way it stays close to what your board or university actually teaches. Asked to explain a topic from its own memory, it may drift from your syllabus or get details wrong.

The prompts

Explain it simply

Explain the passage below to a student of class [CLASS]. Use simple words and one everyday example. Keep every fact the same as in the passage and do not add facts from elsewhere. After the explanation, list any terms I should learn by heart.

[PASTE THE PASSAGE FROM YOUR TEXTBOOK]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Summarise a chapter

Summarise the text below in about [NUMBER] words for revision. Keep the order of the original. Include every definition, date, formula and name that appears, exactly as written. Do not add anything that is not in the text.

[PASTE THE TEXT]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Make notes with headings

Turn this text into study notes: a heading for each main idea, three to five short points under each, and important terms in bold. Use only what is in the text. At the end, add a line saying which parts seemed most important and why.

[PASTE THE TEXT]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Compare two things

Using only the text below, make a table comparing [FIRST THING] and [SECOND THING]. Choose the rows from the points on which the text compares them. If the text does not say something, write "not given" and do not fill it in.

[PASTE THE TEXT]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Key terms and meanings

From the text below, list the fifteen most important terms with a one line meaning for each, in the words a class [CLASS] student would use. Take the meanings from the text. If a term is used but not explained there, mark it "look up".

[PASTE THE TEXT]

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

Explain where I am stuck

I am studying [SUBJECT] in class [CLASS]. I do not understand this part:

[PASTE THE SENTENCE, STEP OR SOLVED EXAMPLE]

I follow it up to [WHERE YOU GET LOST]. Explain the next step slowly, as if to a friend, and tell me what I needed to know earlier to understand it. Then give me one similar question to try, without the answer.

Replace the parts in [CAPITALS] first, or after pasting.

How to adapt these prompts

Say your class and board or course. The same topic is taught at very different depth in class 8 and class 12.
Paste from your own book. This is the most important habit. It keeps the answer on your syllabus.
Work in pieces. Long chapters may be cut off. Paste one section at a time.
Ask in your language. "Explain in simple Hindi but keep the technical terms in English" works well for many science and commerce topics.
Set the length. A summary for the night before the exam is shorter than notes for first reading. Give the number of words.
Ask for a different explanation if the first does not help: "Explain it another way, with a different example".

Check against your textbook

Your textbook and your teacher are the authority, not the assistant. After getting notes or a summary, compare the definitions, formulas, dates and names with the book. Assistants sometimes change a number, mix up two similar terms or state something more firmly than the book does. If the two disagree, the book wins for your exam.

Making notes is itself part of learning. Notes made by an assistant save time but teach less than notes you write. A good compromise is to write your own first and then ask the assistant what you missed.

Related tasks

This is an independent site. It is not connected with any company that makes AI assistants. The prompts are plain text and can be used in any AI chat assistant. An AI assistant can give wrong or made-up answers: check anything important before you rely on it, and do not paste private details into a prompt.