Thread by @thisguyknowsai

I collected every NotebookLM prompt that went viral with students and researchers.

These turn your PDFs, lecture slides, notes, and textbooks into study guides, mock exams, podcasts, flashcards, and private tutors.

13 copy-paste prompts. Zero fluff.

1. The Master Study Guide

"Create a comprehensive study guide from these sources. Include: key concepts, definitions, formulas, real-world examples, and 10 practice questions with answers. Organize by topic, not by source."

Turns 200 pages of lecture slides into one clean doc.

2. The Mock Exam

"Generate a 25-question mock exam from these sources. Mix multiple choice, short answer, and 2 long-form questions. Match the difficulty of a university final. Provide an answer key with explanations at the end."

Better than any past paper.

3. The Feynman Tutor

"Explain [topic] to me like I'm 12. Then explain it like I'm an undergrad. Then like I'm a PhD student. Use only the sources I uploaded. Flag where simplifications break down."

3 levels of depth from the same material.

4. The Socratic Tutor

"Don't give me answers. Ask me questions one at a time about [topic] using only my sources. After each answer, tell me what I got right, what I missed, and ask a harder follow-up."

This is how Oxford tutors actually teach.

5. The Flashcard Factory

"Generate 50 Anki-ready flashcards from these sources. Format as Q on one line, A on the next. Cover definitions, formulas, dates, mechanisms, and one 'why does this matter' card per topic."

Paste straight into Anki. Done.

6. The Connection Mapper

"Find every concept in these sources that connects to [topic X]. Show me how they relate. Include surprising or non-obvious links the textbook didn't explicitly draw."

This is where real understanding happens.

7. The Exam Predictor

"Based on these lecture slides and past papers, predict the 10 most likely exam questions. Rank by probability. Explain why each is likely based on emphasis, repetition, or examiner patterns."

Scary accurate when you upload past papers too.

8. The Paper Decoder

"Summarize this paper in 4 parts: what they did, how they did it, what they found, why it matters. Then list 3 limitations the authors downplayed and 3 follow-up questions a reviewer would ask."

Turns 30-page papers into 5-minute reads.

9. The Podcast Brief

Before hitting Audio Overview, paste this:

"Focus the podcast on [specific topic]. Make it debate-style. One host should challenge the other's interpretations. Target an audience that already knows the basics."

Default podcasts are mid. This fixes them.

10. The Comparator

"Compare and contrast [concept A] and [concept B] using only my sources. Build a table: definition, mechanism, use case, limitations, common confusion points. End with the one sentence that captures the core difference."

Killer for biology, econ, and law.

11. The Weakness Finder

"Quiz me on [topic] with 15 questions of increasing difficulty. Track which ones I get wrong. At the end, tell me exactly which subtopics I'm weakest on and what to re-read in my sources."

Diagnostic > brute force studying.

12. The Lit Review

"Across all uploaded papers, identify: shared findings, contradictions, methodological differences, and gaps in the literature. Cite which paper says what. End with the 3 open questions the field hasn't answered."

Saves grad students weeks.

13. The One-Page Cheat Sheet

"Compress everything in these sources into a single-page cheat sheet. Include only what would appear on a final exam. Use bullet points, formulas, and diagrams. No filler sentences."

The night-before-exam prompt.

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