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You are studying at a unique moment in time, when the world as we know it is being changed by technology.
Even last year this time, AI (artificial intelligence) was not nearly as generally available and user-friendly as it is now. Have you used it in your studies already? Good for you! But as we keep saying, use it to learn more, not less. It is not available in the exam room. There you are on your own, and you have to show that you have understood and internalised your coursework.
Between now and then, AI can be an amazing study partner and mentor.
We did an experiment. We asked both ChatGPT and Gemini the same two questions:
1. I cannot understand Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Where do I start? I don’t understand Newton’s Second Law.
2. I don’t understand Newton’s Second Law of Motion. Please explain.
In both cases, the AI first offered support. ChatGPT: “That’s a common struggle. Hamlet is brilliant, but also dense, old-fashioned, and layered with meaning. Here’s a way to start making sense of it.” Gemini: “Reading Hamlet can be a challenge, but you can approach it by…”
So good to hear it’s not just you being dumb!
Then came the explanations. We don’t have space in this newsletter to lay out their answers in full, but it is extremely helpful. ChatGPT has a spin-off called “study mode” which does this even more clearly and simply (just make your first prompt “switch to study mode”), but Gemini is also good. The other platforms are sure to do more or less the same thing.
Here’s part of ChatGPT’s answer to the Hamlet question:
1. Get the Storyline First
Don’t start with the original text. Begin with a simple summary or even a short video that tells you the whole plot in modern English. This gives you the map before you enter the maze.
Hamlet is about a young prince in Denmark whose father (the king) has just died. His mother marries his uncle Claudius (the new king). Hamlet suspects Claudius murdered his father, and the play follows his struggle between action and hesitation.
Think of it as: A murder mystery + family drama + philosophy essay on life and death.
It then went on to give practical tips for approaching the play, like watching clips on YouTube and reading modern summaries online, and summarised the key themes. Throughout, it was supportive and encouraging.
The answers and explanations for Newton’s Second Law were just as clear and helpful. Gemini started by setting out the “most famous representation”, F=ma, with a short explanation. It then went on:
🧠 What It Means in Plain English
Newton’s second law has two key components:
1. Force and Acceleration are Directly Proportional: If you increase the force on an object, its acceleration will increase proportionally, assuming its mass stays the same. For example, if you push a shopping cart with twice the force, it will accelerate twice as fast.
2. Mass and Acceleration are Inversely Proportional: If you apply the same force to two different objects, the one with more mass will accelerate less. It takes more force to get a heavier object to speed up. Think about pushing an empty shopping cart versus one loaded with groceries; the empty cart accelerates much more easily.
That was followed by real-world examples and even a link to an animated video.
You can see what a helpful study partner these platforms can be. They are always available, they always have time, and you don’t have to worry about sounding stupid or being irritating. If you don’t understand, you simply ask another question, for example: “What does inversely proportional mean?”
Use them in conjunction with your books and your own notes. Look at what your lecturer emphasised, and ask AI about that specifically. You could even ask, “Why would a lecturer emphasise this element of the topic?”
As we said in the beginning, AI cannot write your exam for you. It is a study partner, to help you study better. Remember what we said in a Thought for the Week in April: the best way to really learn something, to strengthen the neural pathways in the brain so that you will remember the work, is retrieval practice. That simply means looking up from your work and asking yourself: what did I read now? How can I put it in my own words?
You retrieve the information from your memory, the same way you would retrieve a ball from the neighbour’s yard. When you come back to it tomorrow or next week in spaced repetition, as we explained last week, you don’t start by reading the text. You close your book and ask yourself: what is the equation for Newton’s Second Law? What does it mean? Only if you don’t know, do you revisit the content. Keep testing yourself – that is active learning.
Here too AI can be your partner. When you come to the end of your session on a specific topic, go back to AI and say, “Ask me four questions to test my understanding of xxx”. See if you can answer them. If not, ask, “Give an answer to question 1.” Having looked at that, ask, “Now ask it in a different way.” Write your answer in the query block and say, “Is this correct?”
These are all only suggestions and examples, to show you what is possible. Make it your own. This is a very powerful new tool. The more you get to know and use it, the more you will learn, and the more employable you will be once you’ve finished your degree.
A serious word of warning: if you use AI to write your assignments FOR you, instead of being a partner and support as we described here, you may end up being severely penalised by your lecturers. AI writes in a different way from most of us. It’s more generic, more slick – it has a different accent. Do not think you will not be detected. Even if you don’t get found out, you will end up with a degree that is an empty piece of paper. Will you really be proud of that? What will happen the first time you have to solve an actual problem in your job, something that cannot be done by your little friend behind your keyboard?
Studying is about growing and developing your brain, your understanding, your worldview.
Short cuts are not the way to the best future.
Happy studying!
The GRAD team
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GRAD – your guide to university success is a partnership project of Ruda Landman, StudyTrust, Van Schaik Publishers and Capitec Bank.