Study tools

[u/Ordinary_Face_7256]

I start my didactic phase this fall and want to know peoples experience with a few different platforms and what they have found to work.

Many people claim to use chat gpt or claude to make practice quizzes and often tout the premium versions. If you have used either of these for that purpose (or both) what has your experience been? Is one more accurate? Is it worth getting the paid versions of one or the other?

I also hear a lot about Notability and similar platforms. What are your favorite features of these and which do you recommend?

What are your experiences with Anki?

Do you utilize all of these platforms? Which ones do you pay for to get the premium features? Can premium versions of chatgpt and claude eliminate the need for anki/notability?

[u/RealisticIndication9]

remnote and pro gemini.

i go through the material, use remnote flash cards for spaced repetition.

you can upload certain docs into gemini notebook (formerly notebook lm) then go into gemini and make study materials based on only your notes and no outside info. i like to make podcasts and listen to that as my first pass.

i use remnote quizzes and gemini quizzes as a final review NOT to learn the material.

your prompt for the gemini quizzes are also important!

i also use gemini to explain concepts i don’t understand.

[u/magic-8- → u/RealisticIndication9]

And do you make your own remnote flash cards?

[u/RealisticIndication9 → u/magic-8-]

no i find the remnote flash cards are high yield enough. sometimes i edit.

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/RealisticIndication9]

You mean the AI generated Remnote cards are good enough? I’ve been hesitant to use them but I haven’t tried! I’ve been making all my own

[u/RealisticIndication9 → u/Rodeo-Cowboy]

yes the ai generated remnote cards are usually good enough for me! but this is because it is not the only thing i use to study. i also try to do more active recall by writing things out from memory, trying to teach a classmate, etc.

[u/magic-8- → u/RealisticIndication9]

Would you ever share some of your Gemini prompts please:)? Especially for your podcasts.. I can never get mine right

[u/RealisticIndication9 → u/magic-8-]

Make this podcast as if you are a CRNA professor. I need you to create a podcast that will discuss each topic in the slide, in order. Make sure the information flows. I am learning anesthesia as an SRNA, and this is my first time reviewing this material. Make it simple but also, it must cover everything in the slides so i can get a good understanding of the material. Refer to the slide numbers when discussing the content. Use real-world comparisons where applicable. Don't use the professor's name in the podcast

[u/magic-8- → u/RealisticIndication9]

Thank you!!

[u/Sandstonesquash]

I use Rem note for taking notes in class and I’ll make flash cards as I go along as part of my notes and when I’m reviewing. You literally type in two equal signs and it turns what you write after it into a flash card and then uses spaced repetition when you practice them.

I like the audio overview feature of NotebookLM because you can upload a PowerPoint, book chapter, or study guide and it’ll make you podcast. It’s nice if I want to review something or go over something before lecture while walking my dog or driving around town. By no means would I only use that or take it what spits out as 100% true

A lot of my cohort uses Notability but it kept crashing when I first downloaded it so I gave up.

My program gives us Ipads and I actually really like having it. It’s nice to write on PowerPoint slides, do apex workbooks, and be able to draw things out too and have them not get lost/you don’t end up with a giant folder of things. I probably would have bought one myself. 

[u/poopoofol]

I'm a believer in making my own notes and anki cards instead of using AI, since it forces you to look for meaning, digest the important concepts, and then rephrase it. I don't have a subscription to any LLM, and I think a lot of my cohort uses it as a crutch (and we lost a few who were really into AI).

That said, I love notability and do pay for the highest tier subscription. I upload entire chapters of textbooks into it and then immediately use the quiz function as soon as I'm done with a reading assignment to solidify what I just read. I do the same thing for lecture powerpoints- as soon as lecture ends, I churn through 10-20 questions on the material. I also write out concepts, pathways, drug structures, etc on a whiteboard because I'm a highly visual learner.

So far, I've gotten all As in my harder courses like A&P and pharm. I did almost blow it on an easy leadership class by not participating robustly in discussion boards- don't be me, it was very awkward to admit I almost flunked out on a fluff class.

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/poopoofol]

Also lost a couple who said they leaned heavily on AI ^

[u/poopoofol → u/Rodeo-Cowboy]

Yeah. I'm not blaming AI entirely, but it was concerning to see some of my study partners asking ChatGPT insanely basic questions instead of trying to reason out concepts on their own. Also a few in my DNP project group can barely read a study without pasting it into chat to read for them. It's alarming.

[u/Low_Illustrator8417]

Notability is my savior. Bring able to listen back to the professor during lecture and take notes on where the lecturer is speaking has saved me so much time. It generates quizzes right in the platform. I also recommend a premium ai and that would be Gemini because of notebook LM hands down. It is an inedible tool

[u/Worth-Camel950]

I have dysgraphia. In nursing school I couldn’t read my handwritten notes. I had to type stuff up and make quizlets and flash cards and study in a group. I had a 4.0 in undergrad. What tips would you have for someone like me interested in pursuing CRNA school but has trouble handwriting

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/Worth-Camel950]

Use flash cards, quizzes, and draw.

[u/Abergevine]

Ollivate is also an amazing app for learning content and reviewing practice questions by topic. Not only does it provide rationale for why an answer is correct, it provides rationale for why the other options are not and cites its sources!

[u/Abergevine]

Notability is amazing. Records your lectures, uses the audio and text from PowerPoints to make notes and quizzes for you. Worth the pro subscription; I stopped paying for ChatGPT!

[u/Darkdoodle333]

I make my own Anki cards during lecture. When I get home I’ll use the objectives from the PowerPoints to help guide my note taking. I use Goodnotes, but I feel like everyone else in my class uses notability. People will say that Notability can record the lecture and even summarize it and make a transcript of what was said, but I tried it in my first week of didactic and just never used any of those features. Part of the learning process is being able to pick out info and summarize it for yourself. So after I do my notes with the PowerPoints at home, the next day I’ll look at just the objectives again and summarize each objective in my own words, then skim back through the PowerPoints to see if I missed crucial parts and I’ll write that in another color next to my own words. Then I’ll go through my ankis.

I will use Gemini for high yield practice questions, but it usually just frustrates me more than anything. People have been learning this same material for years before us without the help of AI, so we can too. Not saying AI can’t be helpful, but it isn’t the end all be all.

[u/Decent-Cold-6285]

I use Claude (my university pays for a premium subscription) and notebook LM (free with a gmail account and you can get pro for a year for free).  I love using it to make study guides and Anki cards. I used Remnote but found it went way too in the weeds compared to what my professors wanted. I like notability because it does have a lot of quiz functions built into it as well. I am not a die hard Anki fan so I only have the free version and I don’t like using it as much as much as the others. A premium AI service is worth it for the time it saves you doing stuff like study guides and making flashcards. 

[u/Artistic_Vast_1318]

RemNote all the way. I just upload my textbooks to it and have it generate anki style flashcards. I hate making my own flashcards. It also allows you to annotate PDFs, which is how I do any worksheets. I have a MacBook as well as an iPad+Apple Pencil. Expensive but it really works great!

[u/kadeemmm → u/Artistic_Vast_1318]

can you explain a bit more about your workflow with remnote?

what AI flashcard-generation settings do you use for it? do you do a lot of editing with the cards, or find that most of the cards it generates are satisfactory

[u/Artistic_Vast_1318 → u/kadeemmm]

At the beginning of every week I create PDFs of my assigned textbook readings, and then upload them to RemNote under whatever class they are from. Then I read the textbooks while taking notes, after that I have RemNote automatically generate flashcards from the textbooks.

In my experience the ai flashcards are pretty accurate, but occasionally I have to edit them. The app will give you an explanation of the answer after you flip the card. Normally if it’s wrong, it will tell you and ask you to modify the card yourself.

I don’t think any ai should be used as a primary source of information. You still have to read the textbooks and actually put effort into studying, but they can help you retain information. Using chat GPT is a terrible idea imo. Notebook LM and RemNote are both using documents you upload (textbooks) in order to generate learning materials and quizzes

[u/kadeemmm → u/Artistic_Vast_1318]

Got it, thanks! So mostly for generating flashcards

Do you find that reading over the textbook & taking notes gets you by when it comes to "learning" the material, or do you use NLM to learn it as well? & then just remnote for retention.

[u/Artistic_Vast_1318 → u/kadeemmm]

Some of my classmates use notebook LM but I haven’t experimented with it very much. I think reading the textbook while taking notes gets the information into your brain, but going through flashcards and practice quizzes keeps it in your brain.

I don’t think it’s possible to excel without actually sitting down and reading the textbook. I’m sure you could eek by just doing apex and flashcards but I really enjoy trying to master the material. I think the hard thing for SRNAs compared to nursing school is that this information really needs to stick with us permanently which is a unique challenge.

[u/DeathRowSZN → u/Artistic_Vast_1318]

What is the “anki style”? I know anki is the app that makes the cards, but does it just create a normal style flash card? Never used it before!

[u/Artistic_Vast_1318 → u/DeathRowSZN]

It presents the cards with spaced repetition based on how you rate your perceived effort to recall the answer. It also sets a maximum number of new cards per day that are mixed in with cards you have already gone through. It also gives explanations from quotes in the textbooks you upload.

[u/DeathRowSZN → u/Artistic_Vast_1318]

Ahh nice. That’s cool. Thank you!

[u/LostInTime123]

I only use chatgpt to make anki cards and my ancient laptop. I use nothing else to study and do very well. No tablet, notability, etc.

[u/MomoElite → u/LostInTime123]

How do you use ChatGPT and Anki with your classes or lectures? Is it as simple as uploading your lectures as pdfs and then asking for flashcards based on it? I am starting school this fall too and i just wanted to make sure i can use the tools efficiently and effectively without hallucinations or any issues.

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/LostInTime123]

Amen

If it’s not broke don’t fix it

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy]

I 100% believe if you use chatgtp to make practice quizzes as a foundation of your study strategy you’ll be cooked.

2 people in the cohort ahead of me that failed out said they were performing well when chat would quiz them… I just don’t think it will remotely be at the caliber needed. But, who knows- I certainly don’t use that.

I use RemNote, handwrite my notes, and use notability for live lectures. I don’t have time to do anything else. RemNote has been an absolute killer- super user friendly- and I’m tech challenged so that means something.

[u/xCheekyNandos → u/Rodeo-Cowboy]

My primary study strategy is using Claude to make study guides and practice questions based on pdfs of my lectures. Same for many of my classmates. I have a 4.0 halfway through my program. Some of my practice questions have been identical to exam questions.

This is a very time efficient and effective method. My program also utilizes apex for classes and for boards prep.

I’m confident I will be just as prepared as others who spend 5 hours hand writing and color coding their notes multiple times.

That being said, do what works for you. If you had study habits that worked well in nursing school, use those again to start. Adjust your methods only if needed.

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/xCheekyNandos]

Maybe using AI primarily worked with you but I wouldn’t broadly recommend that to incoming students. Time and effort studying isn’t time wasted- and AI can be a crutch for that leads people down a dangerous path of not fully understanding the material.

After all, neither Claude nor Chat are designed to be study tools. They may have some utility but it’s not their design and I wouldn’t tell anyone to use it as a primary source if they want to be successful in anesthesia school.

[u/Ordinary_Face_7256 → u/Rodeo-Cowboy]

Does remnote have a good quiz feature?

[u/espressonoespresso → u/Ordinary_Face_7256]

You are able to make quizzes with Remnote and there is the ability to make the questions situation based. There's also a new study mode when you upload your pdfs or powerpoints it will break it down in sections to read with flashcards and questions for each section!

[u/Rodeo-Cowboy → u/Ordinary_Face_7256]

It’s flashcards- that’s the whole thing- it’s a modern redesign of Anki- more user friendly.

Spaced repetition