TL;DR: To use NotebookLM to study, put one course or exam into one notebook, add your lecture notes, slides, readings and recordings as sources, then work through four stages: ask cited questions in Chat, build a study guide or Mind Map, listen to an Audio Overview while commuting, and finish with Flashcards and Quizzes on “hard” difficulty. NotebookLM was renamed Gemini Notebook in July 2026, but it is the same product and your existing notebooks are still there. The free plan allows 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook. Paid Google AI plans raise those limits.
If you’ve been wondering how to use NotebookLM to study without it just becoming a fancier summarizer, the trick is to treat it as a tutor that only knows your course material. Unlike a general chatbot, Google’s notebook tool answers from the sources you upload and shows citations, so you can check every claim against your own notes. This guide walks through a practical setup, a study routine you can repeat for any exam, and the mistakes that make AI study tools less useful than they should be.
First: NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. On its student page, Google says it is “the same product you know and love, and all of your existing notebooks remain fully accessible.” It still works as a standalone app on the web and mobile. We use both names below because most people still search for NotebookLM. The menus are the same either way.
What you can create from your sources
Everything starts with sources (your files) and the Studio panel, where the study tools live. Based on Google’s own feature list, here’s what’s available and when each tool helps most:
| Tool | What it does | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Chat (Q&A) | Answers questions with citations to your sources | Clearing up confusing concepts, checking definitions |
| Reports / study guides | Generates structured documents from your material | Building a one-page revision sheet per topic |
| Mind Maps | Auto-generated map of connections across sources | Seeing how chapters and ideas link together |
| Audio Overviews | Podcast-style discussion between two AI hosts | Passive review on the bus, at the gym, or before sleep |
| Video Overviews | Narrated explainer videos from your documents | Visual subjects, quick topic refreshers |
| Slide Decks | Turns material into organized slides | Presentations and condensed review |
| Flashcards | Interactive cards with “Explain” and progress tracking | Memorizing terms, formulas, dates |
| Quizzes | Personalized quizzes with explanations for wrong answers | Testing yourself before the real exam |
How to use NotebookLM to study: 7 steps
Step 1: Create one notebook per course or exam
Go to the Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) site, sign in with your Google account and create a new notebook. Keep it focused, for example “Biology 101 – Midterm” rather than “All my classes.” When you ask a question, the tool pulls the most relevant passages from your sources. Mixing unrelated subjects makes those passages less precise.
Step 2: Upload your best material, not everything
Add lecture slides, your own notes, assigned readings, a past paper and the course syllabus. NotebookLM has long accepted common formats such as PDFs, Google Docs and Slides, web links, YouTube videos, pasted text and audio files, so a recorded lecture can go in too. On the free plan you get up to 50 sources per notebook, according to Google’s plans page. That’s plenty for one course if you skip duplicates.
Tip: Upload the syllabus or exam outline. You can then ask, “Based on the syllabus, which topics carry the most weight and which of my sources cover them?”
Step 3: Interrogate the material in Chat
Start with questions you can’t answer yet. Good study prompts include:
- “Explain [concept] as if I’m a first-year student, then give one example from my lecture notes.”
- “What are the three most likely exam questions on [topic], based on these sources?”
- “Compare [theory A] and [theory B] in a table using only my readings.”
- “What does my professor’s slide deck say that the textbook chapter doesn’t?”
Click the citation numbers to jump to the exact passage. If a citation doesn’t support the answer, trust your source, not the summary. For more on writing prompts, see our plain-English guide to prompt engineering.
Step 4: Build a study guide and a Mind Map
In the Studio panel, generate a report or study guide for each major topic, then a Mind Map for the whole course. Save the guide as a note and edit it in your own words. Rewriting is where much of the actual learning happens.
Step 5: Use Audio and Video Overviews for passive review
An Audio Overview turns your sources into a conversation between two AI hosts who “discuss, debate, and summarize” the material, as Google puts it. It’s useful for a second pass on the commute. Treat it as review, not first exposure. Listening feels productive, but it isn’t a substitute for testing yourself.
Step 6: Drill with Flashcards
Select Flashcards in Studio, or use the pencil icon to customize first. According to Google’s help page on flashcards and quizzes, you can:
- Choose easy, medium or hard difficulty, and fewer, standard or more cards.
- Add a prompt such as “Focus on chapter 4 definitions and formulas.”
- Mark each card “Got it!” or “Missed it!” and pick up where you left off later.
- Re-practice with “Only cards you missed,” shuffle, or download the deck as a CSV file.
Step 7: Finish with Quizzes before exam day
Generate a quiz on “hard” a few days before the exam, take it without looking at your notes, then press Explain on every wrong answer. Use the hint button only after a real attempt. Retake the quiz the day before the exam and compare your scores.
A simple weekly routine
- After each lecture (15 min): upload the slides and your notes, and ask Chat two “explain” questions.
- Midweek (20 min): generate flashcards for that week’s topic and do one round.
- Weekend (30 min): listen to an Audio Overview, then redo “missed” cards.
- Exam week: hard quizzes daily, plus a final study guide built from the syllabus.
Free vs paid limits
| Plan | Notebooks | Sources per notebook |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (free) | 100 | 50 |
| Google AI Plus | 200 | 100 |
| Google AI Pro | 500 | 300 |
| Google AI Ultra | 500 | 500–600 depending on plan |
Source: Google’s Gemini Notebook plans page. Daily quotas for chats and generated overviews also apply and reset after 24 hours. Workspace for Education accounts may get expanded access through the school.
Mistakes to avoid
- Using it instead of studying. Summaries and podcasts feel like progress. Flashcards and quizzes are what reveal gaps.
- Uploading low-quality sources. The tool is only as accurate as what you give it. A random website can contradict your professor.
- Skipping citations. Source-grounding reduces errors but doesn’t eliminate them. Check anything you plan to write in an exam.
- Breaking academic rules. Using AI to review is usually fine. Submitting AI-written work often isn’t. Check your course policy.
Privacy note
Google says your data in Gemini Notebook is not used to train its models unless you submit feedback, and that Workspace and Workspace for Education uploads are not reviewed by humans. Even so, avoid uploading other people’s personal information. Our guide Is ChatGPT Safe? covers the same habits for any AI tool. For more AI study tools, see our roundup of the best AI tools for college students.
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