Summary
It’s easy to be blown away by the results when you first try using Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) or ChatGPT Learn to build study materials from scratch. You can feed these AI-powered learning assistants source material, like notes, textbooks, websites, or videos, and they’ll handle the creation. Making study guides, practice tests, flashcards, and other learning tools has never been easier thanks to Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn — but that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to master a topic before an exam. Like any AI software, these learning tools aren’t perfect. Although they try to identify the important parts of your notes, slides, or textbooks, they won’t always succeed. Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn might have you practice concepts that never appear in your tests. There’s a better app for studying, and it’s Quizlet. It combines the genuinely useful AI-powered features you’ll find in Gemini and ChatGPT with a rich catalog of study sets handcrafted by students and teachers. Plus, you remain in full control of the learning experience. I’ve tried Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT’s Learn and Study Mode, but I always come back to Quizlet when I need to learn something new. Quizlet helps you create or discover study sets Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn can’t know what’s on your test — Quizlet does It’s neat that Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn can generate study materials on-demand, especially the first time you take it for a spin. However, that isn’t actually what you want as a student trying to command a subject. These learning tools use generative AI to create materials like flashcards or practice quizzes, and that means they’ll come out differently each time. One test might focus on a certain set of topics, whereas another test goes in a completely different direction — despite the source material being identical. This makes it hard to fully trust Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn for your studies. Another downside of using Gemini Notebook or ChatGPT Learn to generate study materials on the fly is having to wait while a cloud server handles processing. At best, it’s going to take a few minutes for the process to finish. The longer and more complex the task, the longer you may have to wait. That’s time you could have spent studying, but instead, you’re waiting for Gemini or ChatGPT to create materials that may or may not be helpful. Quizlet’s approach is better. The app and website supports many of the same features, as it can turn written notes, typed documents, or audio recordings into study sets. However, it’s far from the only way to use Quizlet. The platform is essentially crowdsourced, as study sets are usually public. You can search for existing study sets that match your course or textbook, and even ones created by students that took the same class or attended the same school. This way, you can find a study set in seconds that was created by a human, not an AI model. Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn can guess what bits of information in your textbook or notes are most important, but they can’t be sure. There’s a better chance of finding a Quizlet study set tailor-made for your textbook and course, because the platform hosts over 900 million study sets created by more than 60 million users. If you need to create a study set from scratch, Quizlet can offer autofill suggestions for terms and definitions. The app lets you pick which definition best matches your topic, providing finer user control than Gemini Notebook or ChatGPT Learn. Turn study sets into practice tests, games, and more You can build custom practice tests to help you ace the real thing Quizlet’s speed really starts to show when you start studying. Every time you pick a study tool in Gemini Notebook or ChatGPT Learn, you’ll need to generate it. That means less studying and more waiting. While using Quizlet, trying out a practice test, learning mode, or game is instantaneous after you’ve built or discovered a study set. Plus, you can configure the tests or learning modes with simple toggles, whereas Gemini Notebook or ChatGPT Learn might require you to write out a lengthy prompt or try multiple generation attempts. My favorite way to use Quizlet to learn a new topic is with the Learn mode. It breaks up your study materials into different rounds of questions, tracking which ones you get right and wrong. It doesn’t just assume you’ve mastered a question if you answer it correctly once. Instead, it adjusts the difficulty and format of questions as you go, sorting terms and definitions into “familiar” and “known well” categories. You can continue using the Learn mode until every term is mastered. By the end of a Learn session on Quizlet, I knew I’d be prepared for a test. Compared to Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn, Quizlet’s custom controls shine. You can select different grading options, choosing between Relaxed, Moderate, or Strict. This allows Quizlet to give you a pass if you answer the general meaning of a question correctly, but don’t nail the exact wording. I’m also a fan of the Retype correct answers mode, which forces you to type the correct answer to a question after you’ve answered it wrong. The process of typing out correct answers helped me remember them better, speeding up the process. Aside from the Learn mode, there are also Flashcards, Test, Blocks, Blast, and Match modes. I used different modes for each study set. The Match mode is great for finding the connections between a term and its definition, and it’s a quick way to prepare for a multiple choice or matching test. For free response exams and open-ended questions, the Learn or Test mode is ideal. If you don’t want to feel like you’re studying, there are the Blast and Blocks modes. Gemini and ChatGPT are missing one thing They don’t know the information in your notes that is most important Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn are impressive on paper, but they’re not the best way to study. Quizlet supports many of the same AI and machine learning features as those learning tools, too. The difference is that Quizlet also has the knowledge and user base with the information you need to ace your next exam. Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn are scraping sites like Quizlet to generate your study materials with AI, so why not cut out the robot in the middle and go straight to Quizlet? The best thing about Quizlet is still the human element. The majority of study sets on Quizlet were curated by a real person. A human decided which bits of information were added and which others were left out, regardless of whether you made the set yourself or found an existing one. When it comes to AI study tools like Gemini Notebook and ChatGPT Learn, it’s anyone’s guess. I’m not a huge fan of Quizlet’s push into subscription models, but the core app is still free. You can search, view, and study sets on Quizlet without paying a dime. Advanced learning modes, like Learn, are rate-limited without a subscription. Considering everything it offers, I’d gladly pay for Quizlet after using it throughout high school and college.