How to Use NotebookLM for Studying: Flashcards, Quizzes and Audio

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NotebookLM, now called Gemini Notebook, can be more useful for studying than a general-purpose chatbot because it answers using the materials you upload - lectures, PDFs and notes - and points to the relevant source passages. It can turn those materials into flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and audio summaries. The free plan may be enough for a semester, though Google changes its limits from time to time.

This article is part of the AI in education series. Information is current as of October 12, 2026. Since July 16, 2026, NotebookLM has been called Gemini Notebook and has been available at notebook.google.com. For a general overview, see NotebookLM: the model that answers using your own materials. Here, the focus is on how to use it for studying.

What NotebookLM can do for studying

Google says the tool has more than 30 million users. On September 15, 2026, it added new study features. Here is what it offers:

• Chat with your sources - answers cite specific passages in your files;
• Flashcards and quizzes generated from your materials, in more than 80 languages;
• Audio summaries - conversations between two hosts about your materials. Polish-language audio summaries have been available since late April 2025;
• Video summaries, including summaries around 60 seconds long;
• Mind maps, infographics and presentations based on your notebook;
• Voice conversations with your notebook in almost 100 languages, so you can quiz yourself aloud;
• An in-app recorder for adding your own voice notes as sources;
• Guided learning mode - the model asks questions instead of giving you ready-made answers.

NotebookLM limits and access

Google changes its limits fairly often, so treat them as a guide rather than a guarantee. For information about the free year of AI Plus for students, see Gemini for students.

How to study with NotebookLM, step by step

1. Use one notebook per subject. Keep materials from different classes separate to reduce the chance that answers will combine unrelated topics.
2. Add your sources: lecture slides, required reading in PDF form, your notes and lecture transcripts (if your instructor has agreed to recording). The free plan allows up to 50 sources in a notebook.
3. Start with a guide to the material. Ask for the main concepts from each lecture, with links to the sources. Open a few citations and check that they support the answers.
4. Generate flashcards one lecture at a time, rather than for the whole semester. Smaller batches tend to produce better questions. If you use Anki or Quizlet, ask for an export in “question;answer” format. For details, see how to make flashcards with AI.
5. Take a quiz before reviewing, not after. Retrieving information from memory works better than rereading. In a 2006 study by Roediger and Karpicke, a week later, the group that read a text four times remembered 40%, while the group that read it once and tested themselves three times remembered 61%.
6. Listen to an audio summary while commuting. Set the language you want and ask it to focus on a specific topic, such as “the chapter on financial markets only.”
7. Quiz yourself aloud. Voice conversations with your notebook can help you prepare for an oral exam. Ask the model to pose questions and assess your answers using only your sources.
8. Make a mind map at the end of a unit and compare it with your own. Anything missing from your map is a topic to review.

Where NotebookLM can get things wrong

“Only using your materials” does not mean “always accurate.” Keep these limitations in mind:

• Bad source, bad answer. If your slides contain an error or an oversimplification, the model may repeat it.
• Scans and photos of whiteboards. The tool may only partly read a low-quality PDF scan. Check whether you can select the text in the file.
• Equations and charts. For maths, physics and statistics, check every transformed equation against the original.
• Audio summaries simplify. They can help you get acquainted with a topic or review it, but they are no substitute for reading key passages.
• Open the citations. This is NotebookLM’s main advantage over a general-purpose chatbot, so make use of it. For more on why AI models make mistakes, see AI hallucinations.

NotebookLM vs ChatGPT and Gemini for studying

For working with your own materials, I would choose NotebookLM. ChatGPT’s study mode is a better fit when you need a step-by-step explanation of a problem using general knowledge. Gemini can be useful when you work with files in Drive and want to combine them with web search. For a comparison using PDF files, see which AI is best for analysing PDFs? For a broader comparison of student plans, see AI for students in 2026.

A ready-to-copy study prompt

Paste this translated prompt, based on the original Polish test prompt, into a notebook chat after adding your materials:

Using only the sources in this notebook, help me prepare for [a test / an exam] on [topic or lecture number].
1. List the 10 most important concepts, each with a short definition and a link to its source.
2. Ask me 8 questions, one at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next one.
3. After each answer, score it from 0 to 2 and point to the source passage that explains the answer.
4. At the end, list the questions I scored 0 or 1 on so I can review them.
If the sources do not contain the answer, write “not in the materials” instead of guessing.

Frequently asked questions

Is NotebookLM free?

Yes. According to Google’s website, the free plan includes 100 notebooks with 50 sources each, 50 chats and three audio or video summaries per day. Limits may change, so check Google’s current information.

Does NotebookLM work in Polish?

Yes. Chat, flashcards and quizzes support Polish, and Polish-language audio summaries have been available since April 2025. The article’s reported testing and examples are Polish-language; they should not be taken as results from testing in English or another language.

How do you make flashcards in NotebookLM?

Upload your materials to a notebook, then choose flashcard generation in the tools panel or ask for flashcards in the chat. It usually works best to generate them from one lecture at a time.

What is the difference between NotebookLM and Gemini Notebook?

They are the same tool. Since July 16, 2026, NotebookLM has been called Gemini Notebook and has been available at notebook.google.com.

Can I upload a lecture recording to NotebookLM?

You can add a recording or transcript as a source, and the app also has a voice recorder. Get your instructor’s permission before recording.

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Sources

• NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (Google, July 16, 2026)
• New study tools in Gemini Notebook (Google, September 15, 2026)
• Gemini Notebook for education (Google for Education, accessed October 12, 2026)
• NotebookLM adds Polish-language audio summaries (Computerworld, April 2025)
• NotebookLM is now available to younger users (Google, August 2025)
• Google Account age requirements (Google Help)
• Roediger and Karpicke: Test-enhanced learning (Psychological Science, 2006)

See also: How to make a study plan with AI and Which AI tools can summarise YouTube videos?.

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