# NotebookLM for students: turn your lectures into audio overviews, quizzes and flashcards

> **The short answer**: NotebookLM for students is a free Google tool, now called Gemini Notebook, that answers from files you upload, with a citation to the spot each fact came from. The free plan gives you 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook, and it turns your lectures into audio overviews, quizzes and flashcards, in Arabic as well as English.
>
> tiswa lists the current student offers in Saudi Arabia for [Google AI](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/gemini/), [Notion](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/notion/) and [Xmind](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/xmind/).

**Key takeaways**

- One notebook per course: 100 free notebooks covers a whole degree.
- A single source can be 500,000 words or 200 MB.
- Audio overviews come in Modern Standard Arabic, and The Brief runs under two minutes.
- Saudi university students aged 18+ can get Google AI Plus free for a year, which doubles the limits.
- Open the citation before you memorise any number.

![NotebookLM for students: study from your own files with Gemini Notebook](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/notebooklm-for-students/notebooklm-for-students-cover-en.webp)

## Is Gemini Notebook the same as NotebookLM?

Yes. Google's help pages now call it Gemini Notebook, while students still search for NotebookLM. The idea has not changed: upload your sources, ask, and get answers with citations to the source they came from.[^1] It is available in Saudi Arabia in the browser for users above the age of consent, with an age check in your Google Account.[^1]

## What can I upload?

Almost anything your instructor sends. Google's sources page lists:[^2]

- PDF, Word, PowerPoint, txt, Markdown, CSV and ePub files.
- Google Docs, Google Slides up to 100 slides, and Google Sheets.
- Website links and public YouTube video links.
- Audio such as MP3 or WAV, images, and pasted text.

Files from Google Drive sync automatically.[^2] Edit your summary in Docs and the notebook reads the new version, no re-upload needed. Plenty of students miss this and upload the same file every week.

## How to make a study guide with NotebookLM for a whole course

1. **Create a notebook named after the course**: Say "CHEM 101". Never mix two courses in one notebook.
2. **Upload the instructor's slides first**: Then the set textbook chapters, then your notes. That order of trust stops your own mistakes leaking into the answers.
3. **Name the file in your question**: Instead of "Summarise this", ask "What are the key points about cell division in the Lecture 3 slides?"
4. **Open the Studio panel**: Pick an audio overview, flashcards or a quiz, depending on how many days you have left.
5. **Check the citations**: Click the citation number and match the sentence to the original slide.

![5-step flow: One notebook per course / Upload the core sources / Set the output language / Ask specific questions / Turn it into revision tools](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/notebooklm-for-students/notebooklm-for-students-inline-1-en.webp)


## Can it make an audio overview in Arabic?

Yes. An Audio Overview is an AI-generated conversation about the main points in your sources, available in more than 80 languages, including Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Egyptian Arabic.[^3] In the Studio panel you pick one of four formats:[^3]

| Format | What it does | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Deep Dive | Two hosts unpack and connect the topics in depth | Your first pass through a new chapter |
| The Brief | One speaker gives the key points in under two minutes | Outside the exam hall |
| The Critique | Two hosts give constructive feedback on the material | Reviewing a draft report or essay |
| The Debate | A structured argument between two views | Topics with competing positions |

![Comparison card of the guide table](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/notebooklm-for-students/notebooklm-for-students-inline-2-en.webp)


Google warns that Audio Overviews are AI-generated and can contain inaccuracies.[^3] Play one on the drive to campus, but do not learn a figure from it until you have seen it on the slide.

Instructions for an Audio Overview:

```
Focus only on [chapter or topic].
I am a year [year] [major] student with an exam in [number] days.
Define each technical term in plain words, mention the examples that recur in the lectures, and finish with the five points most likely to be examined.
```

## How do I make flashcards and quizzes from a lecture?

In the Studio panel, choose Flashcards or Quizzes, set the difficulty and describe what you want.[^4] Then click Explain on any card for an explanation, mark what you knew and what you missed, and retake only the missed ones. Flashcards download as a CSV file,[^4] which moves them into whichever flashcard app you already use.

A final-exam quiz:

```
Write 15 multiple-choice questions on [topic] at final-exam level.
Make half of them about understanding and application rather than recall, and use the same terms as the slides.
```

## Is NotebookLM free for students, and what are the limits?

Yes, it is free with a Google account. The limits from Google's plans page:[^5]

| Plan | Notebooks | Sources per notebook | Usage limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| No plan | 100 | 50 | Standard |
| Google AI Plus | 200 | 100 | Twice standard |
| Google AI Pro | 500 | 300 | Four times standard |

Limits are compute-based and refresh every 5 hours until you reach your weekly cap.[^6] Students in Saudi Arabia have an easy upgrade: an initiative between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Google gives Saudi university students aged 18 and over a year of Google AI Plus free, with sign-up open until the end of 2026.[^8] The full terms are in [Gemini free for students](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/gemini-free-for-students/).

## Can I sign in with my university email?

Usually, if your university runs Google Workspace for Education. Google says Gemini Notebook is now a core service there, like Gmail.[^7] The free Google AI Plus offer, though, needs a personal Gmail account, so keep the two apart. Universities that run on Microsoft 365, and many in the Kingdom do, will not unlock anything here with a university address.

## How do I revise a whole course in a week with one notebook?

Give each of seven days one job instead of firing random questions. This is the plan we suggest for a course with a cumulative final:

| Day | In the notebook | On your own |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upload slides and notes, ask for a list of main topics | Check it against the course outline for gaps |
| 2 | Ask for the two hardest topics explained, with citations | Open the source and confirm each line |
| 3 | Play the audio overview on the way to campus | Write three ideas you remember without replaying |
| 4 | Short quiz on the first chapters | Revise every miss from the textbook |
| 5 | Flashcards for the terms | Review them twice a day |
| 6 | Second quiz on the whole course | Answer without opening the sources |
| 7 | Ask only about what you got wrong | Sleep early |

If your notes are handwritten pages or photos of the whiteboard, turn them into a clean, searchable PDF first; the notebook only answers from what it can read, and a skewed photo gives thin answers. The method is in [scan lecture notes app](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/scan-lecture-notes-searchable-pdf/). Courses built on long calculations, like physics or statistics, get more from the notebook on concepts and definitions than on worked problems, so keep solving those by hand.

> **tiswa's take**: Our view at tiswa: start with one notebook for your hardest course this semester, not all of them. Upload only the instructor's slides in week one and use the flashcards daily. The setup we see fail most is a notebook stuffed with thirty conflicting files from everywhere; the answers come out muddled and the student blames the tool. If you are writing a paper, it is stronger at reading sources than finding them, as we explain in [AI for research papers](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/ai-for-research-papers/).

## What do students get wrong with NotebookLM?

- Uploading files they have no right to share, such as a pirated textbook; Google's sources page says not to.[^2]
- Memorising a definition from an answer without opening the citation.
- Loading a classmate's summary, errors and all, before the instructor's slides, so the notebook builds on it.
- Pasting output into graded work without reading the course policy; the rules are in [AI and academic integrity](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/ai-academic-integrity-rules/).

## How to make a presentation in NotebookLM

It builds a slide deck from your sources inside the notebook, a decent first draft for a group project. We compare it with other deck tools in [AI presentation makers](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/ai-presentation-makers/). To summarise one file quickly without a notebook, see [AI PDF summaries](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/ai-summarise-pdf/).

Google AI Plus gives your notebooks more room, and tiswa collects the other student discounts on study tools under [study tools](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/study/). [Join tiswa](https://tiswa.app/en/join/)

## Questions

### Is NotebookLM free for students?

Yes. It is free with a Google account, with 100 notebooks and 50 sources each. Google AI Plus doubles the limits and is free for a year for Saudi university students aged 18+.

### Does NotebookLM support Arabic?

Yes. Audio Overviews come in more than 80 languages, including Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Egyptian Arabic, and you pick the language when you generate.

### How to make a study guide with NotebookLM?

Upload the course slides and readings to one notebook, then ask for a study guide or open the Studio panel for flashcards, quizzes or an audio overview.

### Can NotebookLM summarize YouTube videos?

Yes, public ones. Add the video link as a source and ask about it like any file.

### NotebookLM vs ChatGPT for studying: which is better?

NotebookLM, when the answer must come from your own lecture files with citations. ChatGPT, when you need general explanations beyond the course material.


## Sources

[^1]: Gemini Notebook Help: Get started with Gemini Notebook, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16164461?hl=en
[^2]: Gemini Notebook Help: Add or discover new sources for your notebook, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16215270?hl=en
[^3]: Gemini Notebook Help: Generate Audio Overview in Gemini Notebook, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16212820?hl=en
[^4]: Gemini Notebook Help: Generate Flashcards or Quizzes in Gemini Notebook, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16958963?hl=en
[^5]: Gemini Notebook Help: Learn about Gemini Notebook's plans, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16213268?hl=en
[^6]: Gemini Notebook Help: Manage your Gemini Notebook usage limits, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/17670842?hl=en
[^7]: Gemini Notebook Help: Use Gemini Notebook with a work or school Google account, https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16337734?hl=en
[^8]: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology: MCIT and Google initiative for one million university students, https://mcit.gov.sa/en/node/256606