When I was in high school, there were some subjects you couldn't have paid me to study for, like math or government. I can't help but think about how different things might have been if I'd had something like NotebookLM available to help me care about and study for those subjects I actively avoided. It probably would have made me a much better student.
NotebookLM is a solid AI research assistant, and it really shines as a tool for students. What sets it apart from other AI tools is that it doesn't pull random information from the internet or from reams of potentially unreliable training data. Instead, it uses whatever material you give it: your own notes you typed up during class, a PDF provided by your teacher or even an audio recording of a lecture. NotebookLM will take the material you feed it and turn it into a format that best suits your learning style.
By using only the sources you provide, NotebookLM's answers are more focused -- and aren't coming from a random Reddit thread, like you'd get with other AI tools like ChatGPT. If you're new to NotebookLM and want to get accustomed to it, here's a list of must-know features for your upcoming school year.
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Why NotebookLM?
I've explained most of NotebookLM's features and why it's my all-time favorite AI tool. It would have been a game-changer for me as a student. Seeing information presented in multiple ways helps me grasp even the most difficult subjects -- and I doubt I'm alone here.
Because NotebookLM relies only on the information you feed it, it'll be more reliable. When using a chatbot like Gemini that searches the corners of the internet to find answers, you might get hallucinations and much less specific output.
That said, you should always double-check answers provided by AI. But knowing exactly the sources NotebookLM is working with can be a relief, especially when you're trying to study for something like a school exam. Having these guardrails in place can give you peace of mind.
Understanding your work with Study Guides, Timelines and Mind Maps
NotebookLM's most interesting features are tucked into its Studio pane, where you'll find Study Guides, Timelines and Mind Maps, a trifecta of tools for better understanding your school work.
Study guides are pretty much what they sound like, giving you points to focus on from your sources. How your study guide is presented will depend on the material you've provided, though a glossary of terms and a quiz are typically present. Sometimes, you'll receive essay questions in your study guide, along with a general overview of key points.
Timelines can be a helpful tool for breaking down the chronology of events, offering a play-by-play breakdown for a particular subject. This largely depends on whether your source material provides this type of information. Timelines could be great for gathering and understanding all the moving parts of your next book report.
For an ultimate breakdown of your sources, Mind Maps will create an interactive map, allowing you to dive deep into the specifics of your sources. When I tested this out by using 1,500 words from Homer's The Odyssey, NotebookLM broke down the main events and themes of the text, and in some instances, single lines from the text to illustrate their importance for further exploration.
Flashcards and Quizzes
The most recent additions to NotebookLM are Flashcards and Quizzes.
Flashcards are best suited for things like remembering core concepts, people and dates. Ultimately, though, they can be used how you see fit. You can customize how many flashcards are generated and the difficulty of the questions. If you just want to focus on one particular part of your uploaded sources, you can make these directives in the customization settings, too.
For a more traditional test of knowledge, try Quizzes. Previously, some Study Guides would include quizzes, but the new feature is fully interactive, and you can set the number of questions and difficulty level, like you can with Flashcards.
Audio and Video Overviews
Not every student learns the same way. Some absorb information better by reading it, while others are better when they hear it or see it in a more visual way. NotebookLM has this part down already and should only get better going forward.
If you need to cram for a test or just don't understand your study notes, Audio or Video Overviews might be just what you need. Audio Overviews will create a podcast-like audio experience with two AI hosts, and they'll dive into your sources. You can customize the audio experience by providing specific portions of the sources to focus on so you can skip the parts you know well and get to what's most important. Best of all, Audio Overviews are fully interactive, allowing you to join in the conversation and ask specific questions or get further clarification. This alone can be such a powerful tool for understanding any assignment.
Visual learners can opt for the newer Video Overview option, which provides a narrated slideshow-like summary of your sources in its current form. When it was announced, Google referred to NotebookLM's slideshow narration format as the "first" type of Video Overview, which makes us excited to see what else could be in the pipeline for this feature.
Talk it through with Gemini
After seeing everything NotebookLM can do, its most simple and obvious feature may be easily overlooked. Powering the whole of this AI tool is Gemini, and while it's busy generating all of the cool extras in the Studio tab for you, sometimes you just need to have a quick chat about your sources.
After you upload your sources to NotebookLM, Gemini will provide an overview of what you provided within the chat pane. If you have specific questions about the material, just ask Gemini, and it'll pull what it finds from your sources and break it down for you.
Change Gemini's response tone and delivery
Even better, Google introduced a new feature for the chat within NotebookLM that lets you set the way chat responses are delivered, much like how you can now adjust the tone of Audio Overviews. You can have the chat respond to you as an analyst, a learning guide, or you can create a custom type of response.
To test just how different a custom response would be, I added, "Customize the style so that responses are from a teacher who is very critical and is going to fail me on this book report if I don't nail all the important parts down perfectly." And wow -- Gemini delivered here.
After setting the custom chat response style in my go-to testing Notebook with roughly 1500 words from Homer's The Odyssey as the only source, I asked, "Why does Neptune express his anger to Jove?" The response that returned was long and thorough, and the custom tone was apparent.
Here are the first couple of lines from the response:
"Alright, let's dissect this, because a superficial answer here would be a catastrophic misstep. You need to articulate precisely why Neptune is so incensed, not just vaguely gesture at it. The sources are quite clear, so there's no excuse for missing the mark.
"Neptune expresses his anger to Jove for several critical reasons, all stemming from the Phaeacians' actions regarding Ulysses's return. If you fail to include all of these, consider this paper failing already."
So, if you do better under pressure or need NotebookLM to provide a specific type of motivation, it can now.
For more, don't miss 29 ways to make gen AI work for you.