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Students are secretly using AI to get ahead in college

See how three savvy college students are leveraging AI to ace exams, eliminate writer's block, and cut down on study time, transforming their academic success.

Author

The Snail Nest
July 05, 2025

💯 Comp Sci Student Gets Straight A's After Using This System

Emma went from bombing quizzes to consistently scoring in the top 5% of her class by creating personalized practice tests from lecture slides. Her study group assumes she has perfect recall, but she's actually just gamified her review process.

The Snail Nest: Your classmates think you memorize everything instantly. What's your secret?

Emma, 19: They think I'm some kind of memory genius, but I'm literally just making my own practice tests from whatever we covered in class. I'll take a stack of lecture slides and turn them into like 50 quiz questions using AI. My friends are always like "how do you remember all this?" and I'm like... I don't, I just practiced the exact thing we're getting tested on.

Emma developed this system after failing her first two computer science quizzes despite spending hours reviewing notes.

✅ What she did:

  • Uploaded lecture slides, notes, or readings to AI

  • Requested: "Create practice quiz questions from this content" with specific question types

  • Asked for explanations using "Explain this concept like I'm 12 so I actually understand it"

  • Generated multiple versions by saying "Make this harder" or "Focus on the tricky concepts"

🏆 She boosted her quiz average from 60% to 94% and now everyone assumes she has a photographic memory.

✍️ Marketing Major Tricks Professor Into Thinking He's a "Natural Born Writer"

Jake transformed from someone who stared at blank documents for hours to submitting polished essays in under 2 hours. His professor nominated his last paper for the department's outstanding writing award after just one semester of using this method.

The Snail Nest: You went from hating writing to being called a "natural talent" - what changed?

Jake, 21: Honestly, I just got tired of sitting there with writer's block for like 3 hours straight. Now I throw my random thoughts at AI and it basically builds my entire essay structure. My prof thinks I'm some kind of writing prodigy, but really I just learned how to organize my brain dump into something that actually makes sense.

Jake stumbled onto this approach during a particularly stressful midterm week when he had three papers due.

✅ What he did:

  • Wrote down every random thought about the essay topic in a messy document

  • Asked AI: "Help me brainstorm 5 different angles for this essay topic"

  • Used the prompt: "Turn my random thoughts into a logical outline with smooth transitions"

  • Refined sections by asking "Make this argument stronger" or "Add a counterargument here"

🏆 He eliminated writer's block completely and now professors think he has "exceptional analytical skills."

📗 She Hasn't Opened a Textbook in 3 Months (Still Acing Every Exam)

Sarah, a junior psychology major, went from struggling with dense academic readings to creating comprehensive study materials in under 10 minutes per chapter. Her GPA jumped from 2.8 to 3.7 in one semester.

The Snail Nest: So you're telling me you stopped reading textbooks entirely?

Sarah, 20: Pretty much! I just dump the assigned readings into AI and ask it to make study guides. My friends think I'm some kind of reading speed demon, but really I'm just working smarter. Last week I "studied" for my cognitive psych exam in like 30 minutes and got a 94%.

Sarah discovered this method after procrastinating on a particularly brutal neuroscience chapter.

✅ What she did:

  • Copied textbook chapters or PDFs into AI

  • Used the prompt: "Turn this into a study guide with key concepts, definitions, and practice questions"

  • Asked follow-up questions like "Explain this concept like I'm 12" for confusing topics

  • Created custom practice tests by asking "Make 15 multiple choice questions from this material"

🏆 She cuts study time by 75% and now classmates constantly ask her for tutoring help.

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