In contrast to other AI chatbots trained online, NotebookLM is based on the documents you send to it. When it comes to what you feed it, that may include your lecture slides and the books you read in PDF or your class notes. But just uploading a PDF and asking for’summarty’ is wasting its potential. For a true cut in the amount of time spent on studying, you have to stop reading summaries and use them for active recall and multi-modal learning.
Use Source Selection to Create Specific Audio Podcasts
It’s the key feature that separates NotebookLM from all other tools. This is a podcast about two AI hosts who joke to liven the mood, discuss and explain the material.Audio Overview takes your text-heavy notes and converts them into an interesting podcast with “two AI hostessers” that make fun of their humor (the way they do it), talk at night or even tell you what’s going on.”
I can’t believe it sounds funny until you try it. In the AI hosts, analogies are used by the host of a person’s AI (the one that uses change in tone and even sound like they are debating the topic) I think it’s best if you’re an auditory learner or when you are doing the commute, washing and/or going to work out.
I’d recommend a hack that you use specific source selection for the moments when you’re not doing any work. You have a problem with one complex reading or lecture slide deck, rather than creating ‘the podcast for everything’.
Check the box next to that specific source in the left-hand panel.
Then click on Audio Overview in the Studio dashboard.
You can download it to your phone so you don’t have to open the app every time to listen in that particular audio. But instead of hearing the sound of music on the bus, you’re listening to a 10-minute breakdown of your notes now.
Simulate Exam Conditions With Prompts
A built-in Quiz function on NotebookLM is useful in preparation for the recap and exam. Studio Click Quiz in Stia. If you do so, NotebookLM will create several-choice questions based on your sources.
To make your study sessions more efficient, you should prompt the AI to act as a Socratic Tutor.
If you have to ask for a list of questions, use this specific prompt in the chat and say something like “Quiz me on the concepts” in these notes instead. One question is asked, wait for my answer and ask me one question at a time then grade my response. Why do I use the source text if I am wrong? , “It’s.
For me, this is better because it makes you recall actively and here’s the answer yourself. Moreover, it prevents you from accidentally looking at the answers like you might with a simple list.
For me, it provides immediate feedback based on your notes or the source you’ve chosen, not general internet knowledge.
Make the Most of the Explain Feature on Flashcards
In the Studio menu, click the button in the *******Flashcards** instead of typing a prompt. Then give it a few minutes, and the AI will instantly create ‘cards of cards from your uploaded documents’.
Flip a card and realize you don’t know the answer, so when you flip it, no one just goes to the next. Press ‘***Explain** button for .
It does twice, I think, as a . First it expands on the answer with more context. It then provides a clickable citation (e.g. Paraphrasing g. The concept is defined in your source, and you immediately go to the paragraph where a (i.e.
It’s like a kind of control and it helps you fact check the answers to make sure that they don’t only remember meaning, but also know how in your lectures where they are found.
Organize Your Notebooks to Prevent Confusion
NotebookLM is often discarded like a dirty binder, which dumps all documents from each class into one notebook. When you ask general questions, if you put four different classes in one notebook, the AI will be confused.
Also, clean your PDFs. While scanning the physical handouts, make sure that text is read if you are reading it. AI cannot read the text if it can’t learn about s.
How do I treat each Notebook as a specific Exam Container? Start off, write separate notebooks for different courses. When reading a course, I write ‘book for each topic in that course’ when I want to fully internalize the content.
Note **Note If you’re using a free Google Account, each notebook can contain up to 50 sources. But if you have a Google PRO account, there is no such limit so far. I uploaded some 70 sources and felt like I could go on with my . ****
Avoid the Passive Reliance Trap
What is the biggest risk with AI study tools is that they make you feel productive without actually helping you learn. A summary of an AI-generated summary gives you a false sense of competence; you know the words, so that you think you’re familiar with the material.
Try, and follow an 80/20 Rule to maximize efficiency. If you spend 20% of your time with it, use it to organize or summarize by uploading notes and creating timelines. It is also used to test yourself with quizzes, flashcards and prompts from Then for 80% of your time.
If you aren’t able to answer a question that is asked by , then you don’T remember the memory. If you have to challenge your knowledge, I’d suggest that you use it not just to condense the word “”.
Does NotebookLM Save Your Work?
This is because NotebookLM is fully integrated into the Google ecosystem, yes. Google saves everything automatically to your account when you are a and it is saved. A study session on your laptop can start and you still ask questions in your phone with the app while walking home.
Additionally, you keep your notebook chat history with the . If you ask it to explain a concept today, scroll up and see that explanation three weeks later.
Now, because it links to files in your Google Drive (if you update the original Google Doc (let’s say you add more notes to your class document)), you can usually refresh the source in NotebookLM for the latest information.
But be sure that Audio Overviews do not auto-update a . The new podcast will include the new information and you must re-click Audio Overviews to create a different podcast, which includes the newly added notes.
Common Mistakes That Make NotebookLM Useless
NotebookLM is the only tool that can be used to improve a user’s performance like any other tool. If you have a notebook with all documents that are your own, in terms of traps, for starters don’t put them into one. The AI may draw weird connections or struggle to find the specific information you need if you mix (e.g., your Maths with your History notes)? What is the best way to keep your courses separate from your classes, .
Unless you verify it’s answers, don’t trust the answers of completely. The groundwork of NotebookLM is that it rarely makes things up outside your sources, so the thing you know about notebookLM does not make them. Nevertheless, it can still misinterpret a sentence inside your source. hover over the citations to ensure you understand the context properly.
It is a good tool to use, NotebookLM at the end, but it lives in your browser (full of notifications) and has been installed. When you get tab-switching to social media while the Audio Overview plays, then you don’t learn anything. If you have to pair this with one of these mobile apps for a fix on this, it will help you focus and study so that your device is locked down during these study sessions.
If you want to learn how to create video overviews with Google’s NotebookLM while studying, if you have the option of further increasing your learning on using NotebookL. If you have to lock in your focus while studying on your laptop, then try these 6 Windows apps for students that are essential.
Thanks for reading My Ultimate Hacks to Utilize NotebookLM as AI Study Partner
