AI for Learning
How to Study Any School Subject With AI
A clear AI explanation can feel easier to follow than it is to remember.
You may be studying a subject for class that you wouldn’t have chosen yourself. You can ask AI to teach a topic through something you already know, then explain it from memory and check what you said against your class notes so you can relearn what you missed. Nate tries this with chemistry and his experience in the kitchen.
The starting substances in a reaction are called “reactants,” and a reaction uses them in certain proportions. The reactant that gets used up first is the “limiting reactant,” because it sets how much of the new substance, or “product,” the reaction can make. Any reactant left over is called an “excess reactant.”
Step 1 of 5: Nate tries to recall a chemistry definition
Nate has read this chemistry definition twice, and each sentence made sense while he was looking at it. Ten minutes later, he closes the book and tries to explain the idea in his notebook, but he can’t get started.
Give the AI an interest you know from experience
A helpful comparison uses what you already understand about your interest to explain the new topic.
If you’re studying slope in algebra, an interest can help you understand it just as cooking helped Nate with chemistry. Slope is a rate of change: it tells you how much one amount changes for a change in another.
Which activity gives the AI a comparison for a rate of change?
Try the idea of a limiting reactant through whichever interest you know best. Compare what you have with what a complete game, band, or shield needs.
The games start at the same time, so each needs its own players and ball. There are enough courts for every game.
23 players10 players per game
4 balls1 ball per game
The bands perform at the same time, so they can’t share musicians.
9 guitarists3 guitarists per band
4 drummers1 drummer per band
You can craft only complete shields.
20 planks6 planks per shield
5 iron ingots1 iron ingot per shield
Which supply limits how many games can start at the same time?
Which supply limits how many bands can perform at the same time?
Which material limits how many complete shields you can craft?
To get an explanation that draws on your experience, tell AI what you actually do within your interest. “Sports” leaves it guessing; what you play, watch, or work out gives it something to connect to your class topic.
I'm studying [topic and subject]. Here is something I know or do: [what you know or do]. Connect the topic to something I already understand about this interest, and ask me to explain each connection back in my own words. If the comparison doesn't fit, teach the topic directly. Don't continue until I've explained the idea myself.
Have AI prepare the teaching prompt
I'm studying [topic and subject], and these are my interests and what I know about them: [what you know or do]. Write a prompt that asks an AI tutor to teach this topic through something I already understand about my interests. The prompt should ask me to explain every connection back in my own words. If you need more detail about my interests, ask me for it. Include a request to teach the topic directly if no comparison fits. Don't teach the topic yet, because I want to review the prompt before starting.
If you’re unsure how your interests could connect to the topic, AI can help you prepare the teaching request first.
Check that the prompt describes what you know and do before you paste it into a teaching chat.
Students wrote about how science connected to their lives.
The personal-connection group showed more interest and higher grades among students who expected to do poorly.
Hulleman and Harackiewicz, 2009
Story problems were matched to students’ interests.
Students wrote equations more accurately, including for later problems without the interest-based wording.
Walkington, 2013
What these studies tested
Hulleman and Harackiewicz randomly assigned 262 high school science students to write about how the material connected to their lives or to summarize it. Among students who expected to do poorly, those who wrote personal connections showed more interest and higher grades than those who wrote summaries. The researchers had grade records for 100 of the 262 students. They estimated the grade difference for low expectations of success using a “statistical model,” a mathematical description of patterns in the data. That estimate was nearly two-thirds of a letter grade; it wasn’t an average gain across the whole sample. The authors cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from a single study.
Walkington randomly assigned 145 ninth-grade algebra students to ordinary problems or versions based on interests such as sports, music, and movies. Students who received the personalized problems did better, especially when writing equations and when they had been struggling in the tutoring system. They later wrote equations more accurately for ordinary problems in the same system, after the personal wording was removed. Neither study tested AI chats.
Where does the comparison stop matching the subject?
When a comparison stops working, learn what actually happens from your class material or teacher.
The recipe helps Nate compare what he has with what he needs. The reaction equation gives him the chemistry rule: two hydrogen molecules react with one oxygen molecule to make two water molecules.
10 hydrogen molecules2 hydrogen molecules per reaction group
7 oxygen molecules1 oxygen molecule per reaction group
How many water molecules can form from these supplies?
A water pipe can help you picture some of what happens in a simple low-voltage circuit.
Which comparison row predicts the wrong circuit behavior?
Class notes
A steady current flows only when the wires form a complete conducting path.
| Water in pipes | Electric circuit |
|---|---|
| Pipes | Wires |
| Pump | Battery |
| Pressure | Voltage |
| Flow per second | Current |
| Narrow pipe | Resistor |
When we change the voltage, we keep the resistance the same. When we change the resistance, we keep the voltage the same.
I'm using [comparison] to understand [topic]. Ask me where I think the comparison stops being accurate. After I answer, check my guess against [class material] and explain how the subject works at that point. If you’re unsure, say so. Don't point out a difference before I've made my own guess.
Give AI the notes or textbook passage you want it to check your comparison against.
What can you explain with your notes closed?
An explanation can feel familiar even when you can’t explain it yourself.
In a study with college students, some read a passage repeatedly and others spent part of their study time recalling it from memory. Separate groups were tested five minutes or a week later. The bars show the average percentage of ideas recalled correctly.
Which group do you predict had the highest average recall a week later?
What the recall studies show
When you try to bring knowledge back from memory, you’re doing “retrieval practice.” One way to do that is to explain everything you remember, which researchers call “free recall.”
Roediger and Karpicke tested 180 college undergraduates by asking them to write what they remembered from a passage. Different students took the five-minute and one-week tests. The repeated-reading group expected to remember the most, despite recalling the least after a week. The difference between the recall groups’ 61% and 56% averages was small and uncertain, so this study doesn’t clearly establish that three recalls were better than one. Both recall groups did clearly better than repeated reading after a week.
Karpicke and Blunt’s 2011 experiments compared study routines for science texts. One routine had students recall the text, study it again, and recall it again. Another had them make diagrams that connect related ideas, called “concept maps,” while the text stayed open. Undergraduates did better after the recall routine on later tests, including on questions that asked them to connect ideas. A concept map made with the text closed is itself a way of practicing recall. These studies did not test AI or voice tutoring.
If you want AI to check your attempt afterward, keep a recording or a typed version of what you say.
Notes on limiting reactants
- A reaction uses its reactants in certain proportions.
- To find the limiting reactant, compare how much of each reactant you have with how much the reaction needs.
- Any reactant left over after the limiting reactant is used up is an excess reactant.
- When amounts are given in grams, convert them to moles before comparing them with the equation’s ratio.
I want to explain [topic] from memory with my notes closed. Please wait until I’m finished, then ask me about anything I left out or explained incorrectly. Don't fill a gap until I've tried to answer your question myself.
AI can question what you said; use your class notes to check whether you covered what was assigned.
Voice options and a typed alternative
ChatGPT Voice works on phones, tablets, desktop apps, and the web. Gemini Live works on phones and tablets. Claude’s voice mode is in beta on phones, desktop, and the web. Features and limits can change.
If the AI starts answering before you’ve finished, ask it to wait until you say you’re done. In a text chat, you can type or dictate your answer.
A confident explanation can contain a wrong idea
Grace is explaining natural selection from memory, and her account sounds confident. Your class notes help you check what you got wrong and what you left out.
Grace, from memory
Which sentence in Grace’s recall conflicts with her class notes?
Grace’s class notes
- Individuals already have inherited differences before natural selection acts. Changes caused by how an animal uses its body during life are not passed on to its offspring.
- Individuals with helpful differences can be more likely to survive and reproduce.
- Over generations, those helpful inherited differences can become more common in a population.
Compare my explanation from memory, [your unaided recall], with [class notes] on [topic]. Mark each idea as covered, shaky, missing, or mistaken; use “shaky” when my explanation is unclear or only partly correct. For anything unclear, missing, or mistaken, point to the relevant note and ask a question that helps me work out the idea. Don't explain a correction until I've tried to work it out from your question myself.
Paste your explanation from memory and the actual notes or textbook passage you studied.
Repair the gap, then recall the whole topic again
Once you know which idea you missed or got wrong, you know what to study again. When you’ve relearned that idea, explain the whole topic and check how it fits with the parts you already understood.
Suggested study targets
Once you check your recall against the notes, you can use the ideas you left unmarked to decide what to study again.
- Recall the topic
- Check against notes
- Relearn the gaps
- Recall after a delay
Returning a few days later lets you check whether you still remember the ideas you studied again.
A few days ago I studied [topic], and these are the gaps I found in my recall: [earlier gaps]. Ask me five questions, one at a time, mixing questions about what I remember with questions that use the idea in a new situation. Wait for my answer, then explain whether it’s correct and why. Don't show another question or an answer before I've answered the current one.
A few days after you’ve worked on your gaps, use this to check your memory and try the idea in a new situation.
Which AI request fits the student’s next step?
The next AI request depends on what you’ve already done and what still needs work.
The student has already checked the comparison and the recall against their notes. The only mistake was in their explanation of inherited variation.
Which request fits the student’s next step?
After you try recall, record where the comparison stopped working, which ideas you missed or got wrong, and what you’ll study again. For a class with problem sets, try some assigned work with the explanation closed to check whether you can use what you learned.
Which topic and interest will you pair, and when will you recall it?
AI can use your topic and interests without knowing your address, phone number, or other private details. Leave those details out when you prepare your request.
The SAT library · Mindset and Study Skills
Apply familiar skills to more SAT questions
The SAT asks you to use familiar grammar, reading, and algebra in different question types. “Skills That Carry Over” in the library helps you recognize where those skills apply and practice using them.
- 10full-length practice tests to build test-day stamina and confidence
- A Desmos simulator to solve math questions faster
- 207lessons that teach every skill the SAT tests
Lessons that take this page further
- Skills That Carry OverStudy Skills · Mindset
Sources
These studies tested learning under the conditions described below.
- 01Hulleman and Harackiewicz, Science, 2009Promoting Interest and Performance in High School Science ClassesThis randomized study tested personal-connection writing in high school science, with grade records for 100 of 262 students. Its grade difference was a model estimate for students who expected to do poorly.
- 02Walkington, Journal of Educational Psychology, 2013Using Adaptive Learning Technologies to Personalize Instruction to Student InterestsThis randomized study tested interest-based algebra problems with 145 ninth graders. Later gains were in equation writing within the same tutoring system.
- 03Roediger and Karpicke, Psychological Science, 2006Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term RetentionExperiment 2 compared passage rereading with recall in 180 undergraduates, tested after five minutes or a week. Both recall groups did better after a week; the smaller difference between them was uncertain.
- 04Karpicke and Blunt, Science, 2011Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept MappingThe study compared recall practice with concept maps made while science texts stayed open. A map drawn from memory is itself recall practice.