A study partner who quizzes you out loud.
Explain it back until it sticks.

The two study habits that work

Research on learning keeps pointing to the same two habits. The first is testing yourself: pulling an answer out of memory, rather than reading it again, is what makes it stay there. The second is explaining an idea in your own words, step by step, which shows you exactly where your understanding runs out. Both work much better out loud, and both are easier with someone on the other side.

That someone does not have to be a person. Facelet gives ChatGPT a lifelike face on your Mac, so being quizzed feels like being quizzed, and explaining the Krebs cycle feels like teaching it to someone who keeps asking “and then what?” It knows almost every subject a student meets, it never gets bored of the same ten questions, and it is available the night before the exam.

A study session, start to finish

1. Name the topic and the level. The course, the exam, and what you already know.
2. Explain it back first. Three minutes, no notes, as if to a friend who missed the lecture. Ask it to stop you whenever you skip a step.
3. Let it probe the gaps. It asks about the parts you glossed over. Those are your review list.
4. Rapid-fire quiz. Ten questions, one at a time, and no answer until you have tried.
5. Go back to the misses. Ask it to explain each one a different way, then quiz you on it again.
6. Close with tomorrow’s list. Ask what you should review next time, and write it down.

Oral exams

Some exams are spoken: language orals, thesis defences and vivas, clinical case discussions, interview-style admissions. Practicing them in silence does not work. Ask Facelet to be the examiner, with the format and the tone of the real one, and answer out loud with a face looking back at you. Then ask what a strict examiner would have marked down.

Things to say

• “I have a biology exam on cellular respiration on Friday. Quiz me one question at a time, and don’t give me the answer until I’ve tried.”
• “I’m going to explain the causes of the First World War as if you’re fifteen. Stop me whenever I skip a step.”
• “Be my examiner for a fifteen-minute oral exam on contract law. Ask follow-ups the way a real examiner would.”
• “Give me a harder version of that question.”
• “Explain it a different way. Use an analogy.”
• “What did I get wrong today? List it so I can write it down.”

How to set it up

• Use the window, not Float. A face at full size makes the session feel like a real study partner.
• Always listening for quizzes, push to talk for long explanations. Holding your push-to-talk key means a pause to think will not end your answer.
• Keep your notes closed and paper open. Answer from memory, then write down the misses.

What it won’t do

• It cannot read your notes, slides or textbook. Facelet is a voice conversation and does not open files. Say the topic, or read a passage aloud.
• It can be wrong. It is ChatGPT, and ChatGPT sometimes states a wrong fact confidently. Check anything you will be graded on against your course material.
• It does not write your assignments. It talks; it does not produce documents for you.
• ChatGPT’s age rules apply to the account it signs in with: at least 13, and a parent’s or guardian’s permission under 18.