One semester worth of laughing, breathing and generally wasting time – look where it’s brought you. The long metal barrel of exams stares you dead in the face, no extension will save you now. We have crossed the rubicon of the R rate, long gone are the golden days of online exams completed from your comfortable bedroom. Welcome all, the wooded vale that is exam season is no longer in the distance, but rather its roots gnarl your Doc Marten adorned feet. You cannot see a light past its thick shrubbery, nor hear the echo of your fellow coursemates through its thick fog.

But fear not. We are in the new era of exam preparation. Unless you have paid as little attention to the news as to your lectures, then you will by now have heard of the infamous ChatGPT. The fresh-faced large language model to beat them all. Worse than the one person who does the readings in tutorials, this artificial intelligence is limited in its capacity for problem solving – but can be infinite in assistance to your learning.

*Disclaimer – do not use ChatGPT for online exams, MCQs or problem sets. That is cringe and boring. Engage with your content critically and do not use this as an aid to cheat in any official examinations.*

Be very aware that ChatGPT can often simply make stuff up. The nature of large language models is that they are just probabilistic representations of human language, they don’t understand like we do. They cannot replace human judgement and first-hand knowledge of a topic. With that in mind, I am going to give you some prompts that will help develop your understanding of content in your course and hopefully aid your studying.

Prompt  #1: “Explain X to me like I am five”

Example: “Explain differentiation to me like I am five”

Response: “Okay, imagine you have a toy car that can move forward or backward. When you push the car forward, it moves in one direction, and when you pull it back, it moves in the opposite direction.

Differentiation is like figuring out how fast the car is moving when you push it. If you push the car a little bit, it moves slowly, and if you push it really hard, it moves quickly.

But sometimes, you don’t know how fast the car is moving just by looking at it. That’s when you need to use differentiation to figure it out. It’s like asking the car how fast it’s going and then using that information to help you push it just the right amount.

In maths, differentiation is a way to figure out how fast something is changing. If you have a curve, like the line on a graph, you can use differentiation to figure out the slope of that curve at any point. It helps you understand how the curve is changing, just like how you can understand how the toy car is moving by knowing how fast it’s going.”

Wow, what a journey. 

Now for a more arts-based example. 

Example: “Explain the concept of viewing films through a marxist perspective to me like I am five”

Response: “Okay, imagine you and your friends are watching a movie. You’re having a good time and enjoying the story, but then you start to notice something strange. The characters in the movie seem to be separated into two groups: the rich people who have everything they want, and the poor people who don’t have much at all.

When you watch the movie from a Marxist perspective, it means you’re looking at the movie through the ideas of a philosopher named Karl Marx. He believed that the world is divided into two groups: the people who have power and money, and the people who don’t. He called these groups the “bourgeoisie” (boo-jwah-zee) and the “proletariat” (proh-luh-tair-ee-uht).

So when you watch the movie from a Marxist perspective, you might start to see the characters in a different way. You might notice that the rich characters have all the power and control, while the poor characters have to work hard and struggle just to get by. You might also notice that the rich characters are treated differently by the other characters in the movie, almost like they’re better than everyone else.

Watching a movie from a Marxist perspective helps you see how the movie reflects the real world, where some people have more power and money than others. By understanding how movies and stories can show these ideas, you can start to think about how the world works and how we can make it a fairer place for everyone.”

I don’t know much about arts, Marx, or films – but that seems pretty good. 

Prompt #2: “Help me draw parallels between X and unrelated domains, promoting a deeper understanding and the ability to apply knowledge in novel situation”

Example: “Help me draw parallels between the Solow Growth model and unrelated domains, promoting a deeper understanding and the ability to apply knowledge in novel situation”

Response: “The Solow model, which is a mathematical model used to explain economic growth, can be compared to other unrelated domains to promote a deeper understanding of the model and its applications. Here are a few examples:

1. Environmental science: The Solow model can be compared to the concept of carrying capacity in ecology, which refers to the maximum population size that a given environment can sustain. Just as the Solow model predicts that an economy will eventually reach a steady state where the growth rate of output per worker will be zero, the concept of carrying capacity predicts that a population will eventually reach a level where it can no longer grow sustainably…”

It went on to give me 4 other comparisons but I won’t bore you with the details. I particularly love this one – customise it to explain concepts in fields you are more interested in. Like anything but your degree.

Prompt #3: “Formulate effective questions related to X that will promote deeper thinking and stimulate curiosity.

Example: Formulate effective questions related to linear algebra that will promote deeper thinking and stimulate curiosity.

Response:

1. How can we use linear algebra to analyze the behavior of a system of differential equations?
2. What is the significance of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix, and how do they relate to the geometry of the matrix?
3. How can linear algebra be used to analyze and optimize complex networks, such as social networks or electrical power grids?
4. What is the geometric interpretation of the cross product of two vectors, and how can this be used to solve problems in physics and engineering?
5. How can linear algebra be used to solve optimization problems, such as finding the minimum or maximum of a multivariable function subject to constraints?

Thought deepened and curiosity stimulated, for sure.

Prompt #4: Now a silly one. “Explain X to me in the voice of a cowboy who’s being chased by a dinosaur”

Example: “Explain the beginning of the war of the roses to me in the voice of a cowboy who’s being chased by a dinosaur”

Response: “Well howdy there, partner! Let me tell you about the War of the Roses. It all started back in ol’ England when the Lancaster and York families were fighting over who should be the king. These two families had been feuding for years and it finally came to a head in the 15th century. It was like a stampede of bulls, with each side charging towards the other, ready to take the crown.

But let me tell you, that wasn’t the only thing causing a ruckus. Out of nowhere, this mighty dinosaur appeared on the horizon and started chasing me like a bull at a rodeo. I had to high-tail it out of there before it gobbled me up like a tasty morsel.

Anyway, back to the War of the Roses. It was a real mess, with battles all over the place and nobody quite sure who was winning. It was like a game of poker, with each side holding their cards close to their chest and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Unfortunately for me, that dinosaur was getting closer and closer, so I gotta mosey on out of here. But let me tell you, the War of the Roses was a real doozy, and it’s a story that’ll make your head spin faster than a lasso.”

You get the picture with this one. I am sure It’ll lighten up a neurotic study session in Kinsella hall at 2am, or maybe drive you completely insane. I would encourage you to experiment with this one; cowboys, samurai, aliens, celebrities – ChatGPT can do it all. Always remember you can be as specific as you like – don’t hold back.

Prompt #5:”Break down [topic or skill] into smaller, more manageable chunks or units, and provide a structured plan for mastering each one.”

This one is for the real crammers. A customised study plan, just for you. Feel free to set a time limit on this study, and inform ChatGPT of what you’re most and least familiar with. 

Example: Break down French Grammar into smaller, more manageable chunks or units, and provide a structured plan for mastering each one. I have 2 weeks, and know most of the irregular verbs.

Response: “Sure, here’s a breakdown of French grammar into smaller, more manageable chunks, along with a structured plan for mastering each one in two weeks:

Pretty sweet if you ask me. 

In summary, ChatGPT should be your new library crush. Stop looking at that person from across Ussher 4. Acquaint yourself with ChatGPT’s wiley ways and searingly intelligent takes. Be wooed by its mastery of language and resourcefulness; but beware – it lies like a rug. It will make stuff up, so check to make sure with relevant resources. It can be your best friend and guardian angel in this exam period if you let it.

We are entering a new frontier of artificial intelligence and assistive technology unlike anything we have seen before. Change your approach to education and learning, and leverage these new tools to gamify studying and supercharge your “productivity”.