NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) or a medical question bank for revising lectures?

Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on 16 July 2026 and calls it "the same standalone product". The old address notebooklm.google now redirects to notebook.google.

Every point below comes from Google's own pages as we read them on 28 October 2026.

• ·Sources. Google's help center says you can "upload PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio files, Google Docs, or Google Slides".
• ·Grounded answers. Chat gives "grounded information based on your sources with clear in-line citations". Google's education page says the citations "link directly back to the original passage in your source documents".
• ·Audio Overviews. Google describes them as "deep-dive discussions between AI hosts" that summarise your sources. The formats are Deep Dive, The Brief, The Critique, and The Debate. Google says you can make them in 80+ languages. It also says they "may contain inaccuracies or audio glitches".
• ·Study guides and more. The education page says you can "create study guides with key terms, sample quizzes (with answer keys), or a list of essay questions". Google also lists Video Overviews and mind maps.
• ·Flashcards and quizzes. Both are generated from your sources at easy, medium, or hard difficulty. You can mark a card "Got it!" or "Missed it!", ask for an explanation, and practise again with the cards you missed.
• ·Where it runs. It runs on the web at notebook.google and in apps for Android and iOS. Egypt is on Google's list of supported countries and territories. Google says the mobile app "may have different availability".
• ·Your data. Google says your data "is not used to train Gemini Notebook unless you provide feedback".
• ·Accuracy. Google says Gemini Notebook "can make mistakes". The same page adds: "Always consult a qualified professional for medical, legal, or financial advice."

These are real strengths. A tool that cites the exact passage behind an answer is easier to check than a chatbot answering from memory.

It is free to start. Google's plans page says: "Sign up free of charge by using your gmail account." Without a plan you get standard limits of 100 notebooks and 50 sources per notebook.

Starting on 2 September 2026 Google began rolling out compute-based limits. Its help page says the quota "refreshes every 5 hours until you reach your weekly limit". Google AI Plus gives two times the standard limits, AI Pro gives four times, and AI Ultra gives 5x or 20x AI Pro depending on the subscription. Google marks these limits as subject to change. The plans page lists no prices.

Recall Engine has two parts.

A prepared question bank for all five years of medical school. It holds 31,840 questions, 1,512 notes, and 343 clinical skills guides across 1,739 topics (counted 28 Oct 2026). Each question explains every option. 100% of questions have five options. Library content is reviewed under clinician oversight.

A generator for your own lectures. Upload a lecture PDF or PowerPoint up to 100 MB. You get SBAs, MCQs, flashcards, or notes. Each answer names the page it came from. PDFs are read as images and text. PowerPoints are read as slide text alone. Credits are charged after your output is saved.

Review. A daily review brings saved flashcards back when they are due. On some plans Weakness Packs turn the questions you missed in your own lectures into a focused set.

Your data. Only you can see your lectures and study sets.

Its limits are real. It runs in a web browser. It has no audio summaries. It is not built for subjects outside medicine.

Reading and listening put information in front of you. Answering a question asks you to pull it back out.

One randomised trial in Medical Education (Larsen, Butler, and Roediger, 2009) taught paediatric and emergency medicine residents two topics. Each resident took short-answer tests with feedback on one topic and studied a review sheet with the same information on the other. More than 6 months after the teaching session, "repeated testing produced final test scores that were an average of 13% higher than those produced by repeated study (39% versus 26%)". That gap is 13 percentage points.

Know its limits. It was one study of 40 residents. It used short-answer questions, not MCQs. It did not test audio summaries. It supports practising retrieval in general and does not prove that any one product works.

Gemini Notebook's quizzes are retrieval practice too. The difference is what you practise on. Gemini Notebook generates its questions from the files you give it. Recall Engine gives you a bank written in advance and explained option by option. Its generator adds questions from your lecture that name their page.

• ·Your material is spread across formats. It reads YouTube videos, websites, audio files, and Google Docs as well as PDFs and Google Slides.
• ·You want to listen. Audio Overviews turn a lecture into a spoken summary in 80+ languages.
• ·You need to understand before you can practise. Ask follow-up questions and open the cited passage behind each answer.
• ·You study more than medicine. It works for any subject and also for research and writing.
• ·You want a phone app. It has apps for Android and iOS as well as the web. Check that the app is offered in your country.
• ·You want to spend nothing. Standard limits are free with a Google account.

• ·Your exam is close. You need a large number of exam-style questions that are already written and explained.
• ·You want reviewed content. Library content follows its source lectures and is reviewed under clinician oversight.
• ·You want your misses to come back. A daily review brings due flashcards back. Some plans add Weakness Packs built from your misses.

1. 1.Understand first. Add the lecture PDF to Gemini Notebook. Ask about the parts you do not follow and open each citation.
2. 2.Listen on the way. Play an Audio Overview as a second pass. Treat it as revision and not as a test.
3. 3.Practise the same day. Answer that topic in the Recall Engine question bank or generate SBAs from the same PDF.
4. 4.Check before you learn. Compare any generated question with its source page. Our guide on checking AI-generated medical questions shows how.
5. 5.Let misses return. Use the daily review. On a plan with Weakness Packs, make one from your misses.