I have an exam in two weeks and I learned the course through AI
Today, take 30 minutes of past exam questions with the AI and your notes closed. The result will sting, and it is the most useful thing you can learn right now: exactly which topics you cannot yet do alone. Spend the two weeks on those, with the AI asking the questions and you answering them.
What is going on
You followed every explanation. It all made sense at the time. Now the exam is near and you are not sure how much of it you can produce on your own. Understanding an answer and producing one are different skills, and the exam only tests the second.
Two weeks is enough to move a lot of topics from "I recognise this" to "I can do this". It is not enough for everything, so the first job is to find out where you stand.
What to do this week
Day 1: the closed-book test
Past paper or end-of-chapter questions. Thirty minutes. No AI, no notes. Mark it honestly.
Make a three-column list
Every topic goes under "can do", "half know" or "blank". Start with "half know". Those turn into marks fastest.
Turn the AI into the examiner
For each topic: "Quiz me on this, one question at a time. Wait for my answer. Tell me what I got right before you correct me." You answer in writing, from memory.
End every session with the chat closed
Write a half page on the topic from memory. Come back to the same topic two or three days later and do it again. What you still cannot write goes back on the list.
ChatGPT and Gemini each have a study or guided mode that quizzes you. What they do and where they are: study modes compared.
What not to do
- Do not ask for summaries of everything. Reading a summary feels like revising, and it is the same thing that got you here.
- Do not start with the "blank" column. Secure the half-known marks first, then go back.
- Do not skip the day 1 test because you dread the score. Without it you will spend your time on what you already know.
The honest limit
Two weeks may not cover the whole course, and we will not pretend this plan guarantees a grade. It makes sure the hours you have go on the right topics. The evidence behind the order is one field trial with about 1,000 high school students (Bastani and others, PNAS, 2025, peer reviewed): practising with an AI that gave answers was followed by exam scores 17% lower than for students without it, and a hint-giving version largely avoided the drop.
Questions
Should I stop using AI completely until the exam?
You do not need to. Change its job from explainer to examiner. If you find you keep asking for the answer, do the quizzing from a past paper on paper.
My day 1 score was terrible. Now what?
That is normal for a first closed-book try, and it is why you did it now and not in the exam hall. Fill in the three columns and start with "half know".
Should I tell my teacher?
If you can, yes. "I can follow it and I cannot do it alone yet" is a clear request, and a teacher can point you to the topics that carry the most marks.