Turn lecture slides into a practice test

Why your slides, and not a topic name?

A topic name gets you the textbook version of a subject. Your slides are what was taught: the order, the examples your lecturer chose, the definitions in the words you will be marked against. A test built from them tests your course, not the subject in general.

That is also why a set built on AgoFact without your material is labelled not from your course. It can still help, but it is guessing at what you were taught.

How do I build the test, step by step?

1. 01

   Export the deck as a PDF, speaker notes included

   In PowerPoint, export Notes Pages if your lecturer wrote notes under the slides. The notes often hold the explanation the slide only hints at.

2. 02

   Add the tutorial sheet

   Tutorial and assignment questions show the kind of question your course asks. Put them next to the slides.

3. 03

   Ask for questions that cite their slide

   Every question names the slide it tests, so you can check its answer at the source. A question with no slide behind it may still be fair, since board work and tutorials count too, but check it against your notes before you trust it.

4. 04

   Mix the formats

   Multiple choice finds gaps fast. Short written answers make you produce the explanation, which is closer to most exam papers. Use both.

5. 05

   Sit it closed-book, then redo only the misses

   Answer everything before you check. Then reread the slide each missed question cites, and test yourself on those again a day or two later.

Why test myself instead of rereading?

Because testing beats rereading in the research that compares them. In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 experiments, students who took recall tests on a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who reread it, even though the rereaders felt more confident.

Can ChatGPT make a practice exam from my notes?

Yes. The steps above work in any assistant. This is the prompt we would use:

Here are my lecture slides for [course], as a PDF. Write 12 practice questions from them only: 8 multiple choice with 4 options each, and 4 short written answers. After each question, give the answer, a one-line explanation, and the number of the slide it tests. Do not ask about anything the slides do not cover. If a slide is a diagram you cannot read, say so instead of guessing.

Where a plain chat tends to break, and what to do:

• Diagrams and slide images. A model may not read a graph or a labelled figure. Ask it to list the slides it could not read, and write those questions yourself.
• Long decks. Past a few dozen slides, questions bunch at the start. Split the deck by lecture and ask for each part separately.
• Wrong answer keys. Check each key against the slide it cites. A confident wrong key is worse than no key.
• Drift past what was taught. A question can wander onto material your course never covered. Check any question without a slide number against your notes and tutorial sheets before you spend time on it.

What do students actually upload?

Mostly PDFs. Students on AgoFact have uploaded 751 PDFs and 472 photos and images, against 55 PowerPoint files. A PDF export of your slides is the simplest format to start from.