Are you using AI to study? Here's how to do it well

Are you using AI to study? Here's how to do it well Swati Mestri Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor Artificial intelligence (AI) means high school and college students now have access to a resource that can potentially "do all the work for them." While this can reduce students' immediate stress about submitting assignments, it may negatively impact their long-term learning. As high school and college students enter the end-of-year exam period, they might look for ways to incorporate AI into their study practices. I research the science of learning. My recent research suggests students need to master foundational knowledge and skills before they use AI to help their learning. Is using AI for studying worthwhile? The research offers a mixed bag of responses. One study suggests using AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, while studying may boost learning, motivation and critical and creative thinking while reducing mental effort. Other reviews have pointed to the benefits of AI in tailoring learning to the individual, providing timely feedback and enhancing student engagement. But some researchers have questioned the credibility of these claims due to low-quality methods and a lack of transparency in the previously mentioned studies. This doesn't necessarily mean students shouldn't use AI to study at all. But they need to be aware of the risks that come with it. What to watch out for One of these risks is "cognitive offloading." This is when students become so reliant on AI completing their work that they let AI do the thinking for them entirely. Students who offload to AI regularly may quit studying before they've truly mastered the content. When you shouldn't use AI This risk of "cognitive offloading" means you shouldn't use AI in every aspect of your review, particularly when taking practice exams. Research shows that when taking practice exams, it's best to recreate the conditions of the actual exam. In most cases, this means closing the laptop, putting the phone away, setting a timer for the exam's duration and seeing what information you can retrieve and write independently. If you do use AI to assist with practice exams, it might give you a false sense of confidence. This is because AI can temporarily boost performance. But once you're faced with a real exam, you're likely to see performance collapse, which can reveal the true extent of your learning. A Chinese study, published in June, looked at how high school students' use of AI impacted their overall learning. Findings showed students' AI use improved homework scores but also resulted in their monthly exam scores dropping about 20% within six months. So with this in mind, what are some ways you can use AI effectively to assist with studying? Using AI to review Before asking AI a study-related question, you should try to retrieve, explain, solve, summarize or write concepts yourself. Once you've proven you can correctly recall content on your own, you might use AI to organize your notes and identify anything missing in them. If you'd like to challenge yourself, you can use AI to generate practice exam questions that gradually become more challenging. You might prompt it: "Generate five exam-style questions on [topic], increasing in difficulty for each question. Hide the answers until I attempt each one." Using AI for feedback Perhaps you have just finished writing a practice essay, or you've answered a series of short-answer questions. Now you're looking to see how you did. You can use AI to: - offer personalized feedback - simplify your explanations - fact-check your work - provide counterarguments and alternative explanations. A prompt you might use could be: "Here is my answer to an exam question. Don't rewrite it for me. Identify what I did well, what is inaccurate or missing, and the three changes that would most improve my answer. Check your feedback against the grading criteria I provide." Striking a healthy balance Even when you're not taking practice exams, it's good to put devices away and give yourself extended periods of study without any tech. An added benefit is that you will not be distracted by notifications from devices. If you're tired of studying alone and need human connection, you might consider meeting up with friends in a small group to prepare for exams. While AI may sometimes be helpful, giving and receiving feedback from other people can test and engage you in ways technology cannot. And when in doubt, a good principle to remember is: think first, use AI second (or, in some cases, not at all). More information Luke Rowe, From Gradual Release of Responsibility to Gradual Release of Technology: A Case for the Staged Use of AI in Formal Education, Education Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.3390/educsci16081291 Provided by The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.