20 ChatGPT Codes for Studying, Plus Flashcards

Turn your own notes into a flashcard deck in ChatGPT, then use twenty study codes to explain a topic, map it, and prove you know it. Each code is a shortcut. Paste the instructions once, then type the code with your topic.

What this helps you do

Use one approved source to find missing foundations, test what you remember, compare confusing concepts, build a diagram, and write realistic practice questions.

You can also turn a lecture, chapter, or training doc into flashcards you flip through and mark as known or missed. Next session, you spend your time on the cards you missed instead of rereading every page.

Before you start

Gather your learning objectives, instructor notes, slides, or approved textbook excerpt. Remove private student or patient information. Decide whether outside facts are allowed. For graded work, follow your school's AI policy.

Flashcards are built into ChatGPT on the web and in the mobile app, on every plan, including Free. The study codes work in any ChatGPT chat.

Terms to know

• Source-grounded: every answer must trace back to material you supplied.
• Prerequisite: knowledge you need before the current topic will make sense.
• Contrast table: a side-by-side comparison built around meaningful differences.
• Retrieval practice: trying to recall information before looking at the answer.
• Flashcard deck: a set of cards with a question or idea on the front and the answer on the back. ChatGPT saves each deck in your library.
• ELI5: short for "explain like I'm five." A plain-words explanation before any technical terms.
• Mind map: a diagram with the topic in the middle and the related ideas branching out from it.
• Schematic: a simple labeled drawing of how something works, step by step.

Step-by-step

Turn your notes into flashcards

1. Start a new chat in ChatGPT and upload the notes from one lecture, one chapter, or one training doc.
2. Ask for flashcards with the prompt in the flashcards block below. Asking for "the ideas I'm most likely to confuse" gets you cards that test you, instead of cards that read your notes back to you.
3. You should see an interactive deck right in the reply. Flip each card to check your answer.
4. Mark each card as one you know or one you missed. You can also shuffle the deck.
5. To change the deck, ask in the same chat, such as "Add five more cards on [TOPIC]" or "Rewrite card 3 with a simpler example."
6. Next session, open the deck from your library and start with the ideas you missed. You can also ask ChatGPT for a short new deck on just those ideas.

Details are in OpenAI's flashcards help article.

Use the study codes

1. Start a new chat and upload or paste the approved course material.
2. Paste the setup block below.
3. Run one code at a time.
4. Answer questions before asking ChatGPT for feedback.
5. Check every explanation against the original material.

Learn one topic with five codes

The five learn-anything codes work as a set on one topic you're stuck on. The first three help you see it: /ELI5, /MAKE-MINDMAP, and /MAKE-SCHEMATIC. The last two make you prove you know it: /QUIZME and /SOCRATES.

1. Pick one topic, such as how a rainbow forms.
2. Paste your class notes on that topic, so ChatGPT works from what your class covered.
3. Paste the five-code block below, then type the codes in order, one per message.
4. Answer the /QUIZME and /SOCRATES questions without looking at your notes.

For the rainbow, a correct answer covers this path: sunlight enters a water drop and bends, the colors spread apart because each one bends a slightly different amount, the light reflects off the back of the drop, then bends again on the way out. You see the rainbow with the sun behind you. Use that to check what ChatGPT gives you.

Copy this

Flashcards from your notes

Upload your notes first, then paste this.

Make flashcards from my uploaded notes on the ideas I'm most likely to confuse. One idea per card, and an example on the back. Use only my notes, and skip anything they don't cover.

More flashcard prompts

Use these in the same chat as your deck, one at a time, after the first prompt above.

Add five more cards on [TOPIC]. Keep one idea per card and an example on the back. Use only my notes.

Rewrite card [NUMBER] with a simpler example. Keep the same idea on the front.

Make a short new deck on just the ideas I marked as missed. Use only my notes, one idea per card, and an example on the back.

Five core study codes

Use only the course material I provide. Cite the source filename and heading for every answer. If the material does not support an answer, write `Not in the source`.

/PREREQUISITE: Before teaching this topic, identify the five ideas I must already understand. Ask me one short diagnostic question for each. Wait for my answers, then tell me what to review first.

/BRAINDUMP: Ask me to explain the topic from memory without notes. After I answer, compare my response with the source. List what I got right, what I missed, and what I stated incorrectly.

/CONTRAST: Put the two concepts I name in a table. Compare definition, purpose, mechanism, key signs, common confusion, and one example. Use only supported rows.

/VISUALIZELEARNING: Turn the process into a simple labeled diagram with arrows in the correct order. Under the diagram, explain each step in one sentence and cite its source.

/QUESTIONPREDICTOR: Using only the learning objectives and source, write five likely quiz questions. Ask them one at a time. Wait for my answer, then show the correct answer, explanation, and source line.

Follow a code only when I type it.

Five reasoning codes

/STEELMAN: Argue the strongest version of the opposite position, then tell me what it gets right.

/SCOPE: Before answering, tell me what this question is asking and what it leaves out.

/RECEIPTS: For every claim, mark it sourced, inferred, or guessed. Link sourced claims to my material.

/TRADEOFF: Show what I lose with each option, not only what I gain.

/PLAIN: Rewrite the explanation for someone who has never seen this topic. Define necessary terms as you go.

Five output codes

/FLOWCHART: Turn this into a flowchart. Show each step in order, use arrows, and mark every branch.

/NEEDTOKNOW: Pull out only the must-know facts. Use bullets, cut background detail, and add nothing that is not in my notes.

/ONEBYONE: Ask one question at a time. Wait for my answer, tell me whether it is supported by my notes, then ask the next one.

/MULTIPLECHOICE: Write ten multiple-choice questions from my source. Use four options each. After I answer, show the correct answer and explain why each wrong option is wrong.

/TEN: Explain this concept in plain words. Define every hard word, use one everyday comparison, then explain why it matters.

Five learn-anything codes

Replace [TOPIC] and paste your notes on it in the same message.

Use these codes in this chat. Follow a label only when I type it. Use my notes below as the main source for [TOPIC].

/ELI5: Explain [TOPIC] in plain words first, like I'm five. Use one everyday comparison. Then add the science terms one at a time and define each one.

/MAKE-MINDMAP: Make a mind map of [TOPIC]. Put the topic in the center and connect its main parts in one view. Label each connection with how the parts relate. If you can't draw it, use an indented outline.

/MAKE-SCHEMATIC: Draw a simple labeled schematic of the process in [TOPIC]. Show the path step by step with arrows, number each step, and explain each one in one sentence.

/QUIZME: Quiz me on [TOPIC] from my notes. Ask me one question at a time and wait for my answer. Tell me if I'm right, explain what I missed, then ask the next question.

/SOCRATES: Keep asking me why, one question at a time, until I can explain [TOPIC] back in my own words. Don't give me the answer unless I ask for it.

My notes: [PASTE YOUR CLASS NOTES]

Things to know

The codes come in four blocks of five: core study, reasoning, output, and learn-anything. That makes twenty in all. Paste only the block you need for the session.

Flashcard decks save to your library automatically. The cards come from what ChatGPT reads in your notes, so check them against the original before an exam.

ChatGPT can misread tables, skip qualifiers, or write plausible questions that do not match your instructor's assessment. “Question Predictor” creates practice questions. It cannot know the real exam. For medical, legal, or safety-critical learning, use the original source and instructor guidance as the authority.

If something goes wrong

• If outside facts appear, repeat the source rule and ask for the exact supporting line.
• If the diagram is confusing, ask for a text-only flow with one action per line.
• If questions are too easy, supply the expected difficulty and learning objectives.
• If the source is a poor scan, paste the relevant text directly.
• If the flashcards just repeat your notes, ask again for "the ideas I'm most likely to confuse" with one idea per card.
• If you don't see an interactive deck, ask directly for "flashcards" in a new chat on the web or in the mobile app.
• If the mind map or schematic comes back as a wall of text, ask for "an indented outline, one idea per line."
• If /QUIZME asks several questions at once, repeat "one question at a time, and wait for my answer."

Final check

Pick three claims from the output. The workflow passes only if all three trace to the supplied source and ChatGPT labels one deliberately missing answer as unsupported.

For flashcards, you pass when you have a saved deck in your library, you have marked every card as known or missed, and you can find the deck again in your next session. For the five learn-anything codes, you pass when you can explain the topic back to /SOCRATES without your notes.