The study guide generator that goes source → outline → guide
Upload a PDF, paste your notes, or pick a topic. Scholarly's study guide generator outlines the material, fills in each section with key terms, summaries, and review questions, and hands you an exam-ready guide in seconds.
A study guide generator turns your source material — a PDF, lecture, or pasted notes — into a structured, exam-ready study guide with sections, key terms, summaries, and review questions. Scholarly's is free to start, accepts PDFs and a dozen other source types, and builds every guide from your own material so it covers exactly what your class covers.
Free to start · No credit card required
Three steps to a study guide
From raw material to a structured, exam-focused guide in seconds.
Step 1: Add Your Material
PDF, lecture notes, textbook chapter, or just a topic — anything works as input.
Step 2: AI Generates
Sections, definitions, summaries, and review questions — laid out for fast, exam-focused study.
Step 3: Study Smarter
Export to PDF, drill review questions, or generate flashcards from the same source.
What you get in every study guide
Clear sections
Organized by topic with proper headings and hierarchy.
Key terms
Important vocabulary with concise definitions.
Summaries
High-level recaps after each section.
Review questions
Test yourself before the test does.
From Source to Outline to Finished Guide
Updated June 2026
The generator follows the same process a good student follows by hand — it just compresses hours of structuring into seconds. Here is what happens between hitting generate and getting your guide:
Start with any source
A PDF chapter, AI Meeting Notes, YouTube video, slide deck, pasted notes, a website — or just a topic name if you have no materials yet. The richer the source, the deeper the guide.
The AI outlines the material
Before writing anything, the AI maps the source's structure: the major topics, how they're ordered, and which subtopics belong under each. This outline becomes the guide's section hierarchy, so the guide follows your course's logic instead of a generic template.
Each section is filled in
Every outline section gets key terms with definitions, a plain-language summary, and review questions — all written from the source itself, so the guide covers what your class covers and nothing it doesn't.
Refine, export, convert
Edit any section, delete what you've mastered, or expand what's thin. Then export to PDF, or convert the same source into flashcards, a quiz, or a timed practice test.
Which Study Guide Format Should You Generate?
The default output is an outline-style guide — sections, terms, summaries, review questions — which suits most courses. But the right format depends on the exam. For terminology-heavy subjects (anatomy, law, languages), edit the guide to lead with the key-terms glossary and drill it as flashcards. For concept-heavy subjects (physics, economics, philosophy), keep the summaries and review questions front and center, since those exams test relationships rather than definitions.
When the exam format is question-based, convert the guide's source into an AI-generated quiz and study by answering instead of re-reading. And the night before the exam, condense the whole guide to a single page with the cheat sheet maker — same source, one-page format.
Two related pages go deeper on specific angles: our AI study guide maker guide covers what belongs inside a great AI-built study guide and how to keep it alive across a semester, while the study guide maker's templates and manual + AI approach is for students who want to design the structure themselves before the AI fills it in.
Generate Study Guides for Any Subject
The study guide generator works across every academic discipline. STEM students get equations, derivations, and worked-example references. Med students get high-yield USMLE/NBME terminology with mechanism-of-action notes. Law students get case names, statute numbers, and elements of each cause of action. Languages students get vocabulary and conjugation tables. Whatever you're studying, Scholarly knows what belongs in a study guide for it.
For each topic the AI picks the testable material — the things professors actually ask about — and filters out anecdote and tangent. You spend less time hunting for what to study, and more time actually learning it.
Pair Your Study Guide with Active Recall
Reading a study guide once is a start, but active recall is what locks knowledge in. Once Scholarly generates your guide, you can convert it into flashcards or generate a practice test from the same source — same content, different study modality.
A workflow many students settle into: generate the guide on Monday, quiz yourself on each section with the AI quiz generator midweek, and take a full timed run with the practice test generator the weekend before the exam. Each step reuses the same uploaded source — no re-entering material.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I generate a study guide?
Upload a PDF, paste your lecture notes or textbook chapter, or just type a topic. Scholarly's AI structures the content into sections, key terms, summaries, and review questions in seconds.
What's included in the generated guide?
Section headings organized by topic, key term definitions, mid-section summaries, and end-of-section review questions. You can edit any of it before studying.
Can I generate one for any subject?
Yes — STEM, med, law, history, languages, CS, business, economics. The AI adapts the structure to whatever discipline you're studying.
How long are the guides?
Length matches your source. A 10-page lecture handout produces a focused 2-3 page guide; a full textbook chapter can produce 10+ pages.
Can I download or print it?
Yes, every study guide exports as a PDF you can download or print.
Does it work for AP and college-level material?
Yes. Many students use it for AP courses, undergraduate exams, and graduate-level content. Adjust the depth via your input — a textbook chapter produces a deeper guide than a single slide deck.
Is the study guide generator free?
Yes — generating study guides is free with lifetime free AI creation limits, and no credit card is needed to sign up. Ultimate unlocks unlimited AI creations and longer source documents.
What inputs does the study guide generator accept?
PDFs (textbook chapters, handouts), AI Meeting Notes and audio files, YouTube videos, slide decks, websites, pasted notes, and plain topic names. Audio and video sources are transcribed first, then the guide is generated from the transcript.
Study guide generator vs study guide maker — what's the difference?
Same underlying AI, different working style. The generator is one-pass: add a source, get a finished guide, done. The study guide maker page is for students who want more control — it covers study guide templates and a manual + AI hybrid approach where you design the structure and let AI fill in the sections. If you're not sure, start with the generator; you can always restructure afterwards.
How do I make a study guide from a PDF?
Upload the PDF — a textbook chapter, lecture handout, or slide export — and the study guide generator reads the document and builds the guide directly from it: sections in the chapter's own order, key terms with definitions, summaries, and review questions. Because the guide is grounded in the file, every section traces back to the page it came from, so you can verify nothing was invented.
Is there a free study guide generator?
Yes. Scholarly's study guide generator is free to start — no credit card — with lifetime free AI creation limits that cover trying the workflow. You can upload a PDF or paste notes, generate the guide, edit it, and export it to PDF on the free plan. Ultimate unlocks unlimited AI creations and supports longer documents for students prepping for big exams.
Can the generator make a study guide from lecture notes or a topic?
Yes. Paste a week of lecture notes and the generator distills them into a structured guide; or, if you have no materials yet, type a topic name ("the Krebs cycle," "the French Revolution") and it builds a guide from what an exam on that topic typically covers. The richer your source, the more your guide reflects your specific course rather than a generic outline.
Keep exploring
More Scholarly study tools
AI Study Guide Maker
Build study guides for any course.
AI Study Guide
AI-driven study guides on demand.
Study Notes Generator
Organized study notes from any source.
Cheat Sheet Maker
Condense your study guide to one page.
Practice Test Generator
Generate practice exams to drill yourself.
PDF to Flashcards
Make flashcards from your study guide source.
Sign up to Generate Your First Study Guide
Free to start. No card required.
Free
- 3 AI Chat messages per day
- 1 free AI creation total
- 1 free file upload total (8MB)
- 5 quiz questions per day
- 1 exam attempt per day
- 15 voice minutes per day
- 32-page PDF to flashcards
- 500 autocomplete words per day
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.
Ultimate
$144 billed yearly
Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited normal chat & autocomplete
- Unlimited premium model messages
- Unlimited AI creations
- Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)
- Unlimited study sessions
- Unlimited exams & quizzes
- 1000-page PDF to flashcards
- Export to Anki
- Priority support
Pricing in USD. Local currency available in app.
Teams
For teams that need shared AI study workflows
$45/seat/month, or $324/seat/year with annual billing. Save 40% annually.
- 3-seat minimum
- 450 weekly credits per member
- Premium models and admin controls
Every feature unlocked for everyone, frontier AI models, and per-member weekly credits. Learn more about Scholarly for Teams
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What students say
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
Briana
Student
This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
Kelvin
Student
I am currently preparing for a test that covers a substantial amount of material, and I've found that not having to physically write out my flashcards has been incredibly beneficia...
Isabelle
Student
Scholarly is great for students. I am enrolled in online university and my classes are all PDF based. All I do is upload the PDF and it creates flashcards decks for me. The greate...
Alexandra
Student
Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with clear limits: 3 AI Chat messages per day, one free AI creation total, 1 free file upload total, quizzes, practice exams, and manual flashcard creation. Upgrade to Ultimate for unlimited AI creations and unlimited uploads.
What uses my free AI creations?
Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, a spreadsheet, or a story book, making a mind map, study guide, or worksheet, having an AI Agent create a timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline, running Deep Research, or processing a recording uses your free AI creation. It is a lifetime free credit and does not reset. AI Chat messages, quizzes, and exams still have separate daily limits; free file uploads are also lifetime credits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?
Yes. Scholarly for Teams is self-serve for up to 29 seats, so you can put a class or department on one plan yourself in minutes. For a larger rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free AI creations and the free upload are lifetime credits and do not reset. Upgrading unlocks unlimited AI creations and unlimited uploads.
For Educators or Schools
Scholarly for Teams is self-serve and puts your class or department on one plan. For a larger rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so.