Turn a lecture recording into a practice test
Upload a lecture recording and QuerySpark writes practice tests from what is actually in it, so you can rehearse the real exam on exactly what your course covers. MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, WEBM and more, up to 25 MB.
- No credit card
- Free plan after the trial
- Cancel anytime
Drop a PDF, slides or notes
or paste a YouTube link
Quick answer
How do you turn a lecture recording into practice tests?
Upload the lecture recording as an audio or video file and choose practice test. QuerySpark transcribes it and writes a mixed test from what your lecturer said, from multiple choice to essay questions, with a score at the end and every answer explained. Recordings up to 25 MB are accepted, with caps of 5 MB on the free plan, 20 MB on Student and 25 MB on Educator. New accounts get a 3-day Pro trial with no credit card; the free plan then includes 20 questions a month.
- A scored mock exam from your own lecturer's words
- Mixed question types, including essay
- Typically 10 to 20 questions per recording
- Teachers can assign it to a class
How it works
How to turn a lecture recording into practice tests
- 01
Gather the recordings the exam covers
List which lectures are on the exam and get the recording of each. One practice test per lecture keeps every test focused on one topic.
- 02
Upload one recording and choose practice test
Set the level to match your course. Higher levels ask you to apply and compare ideas, not just recall them.
- 03
Sit it like the real thing
No notes, no recording, no second tab. The score is only useful if it reflects what you can do in the exam room.
- 04
Go back to the recording for each miss
Every answer is explained, and most questions show the line of the transcript they came from, so you know which part of the lecture to replay.
Example
Practice test from PSY 100 lecture
A sample of what you get from a lecture recording on psychology. Yours is written from your own file.
Question 1 · Multiple choice
In Pavlov's experiment, what was the bell before conditioning?
- Unconditioned stimulus
- Conditioned stimulus
- Neutral stimulus
- Unconditioned response
The bell produced no salivation at first; it only became a conditioned stimulus after pairing with food.
Question 2 · Multiple choice
Taking away a teenager's chores after good grades is an example of what?
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Positive punishment
- Negative punishment
Removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior is negative reinforcement.
Question 3 · Short answer
Why are slot machines so hard to quit, in operant terms?
Model answer: They pay out on a variable-ratio schedule, which produces high, steady responding that is slow to extinguish.
What your practice tests include
- A timed, exam-style test mixing question types
- A score at the end, with every question you missed explained
- Questions pitched at the level you choose, from high school to professional
- The source passage behind every answer, so you can check it yourself
How you study them
Take it under exam conditions, then review your misses. Questions you got wrong go into your review queue so they come back before the real exam.
Best for: mock exams, measuring readiness, teachers building assessments.
How we read lecture recordings
We transcribe the audio with Whisper, which also pulls the audio track out of video files, then write questions from the transcript so you can study a lecture you only half heard.
Get the best results
- Record in mono at a modest bitrate; speech does not need music quality.
- Pair the recording with the slides for the richest set.
Why a practice test from the lecture itself
In many courses the exam is written by the person giving the lectures, and it follows what they emphasised, the examples they used and the way they phrased things. A generic question bank on the same subject will cover topics your course skipped and miss the ones it stressed.
A practice test written from the recording stays inside what was actually taught. Topics the lecturer spent a long time on get more questions, simply because there is more about them in the transcript.
What it cannot know about your exam
The test is built from what was said, but it does not know which topics your lecturer hinted would be examined, what format the real paper uses, or which lectures are excluded. If your lecturer said 'this will definitely come up', make sure you have that topic covered yourself rather than relying on the generator to weight it.
Use past papers alongside it if your course publishes them: past papers show the format, and the practice test checks you know the content.
Building a midterm practice test from several lectures
Each recording makes its own set, so for a midterm covering six lectures you make six practice tests. Take them in order across a week or two rather than all on the last night, and redo the ones where you scored lowest.
That is more than the free plan's 1 study session and 20 questions a month allow, so for exam revision the trial or Student plan (1,000 questions a month) is the realistic option.
Teachers: a practice test from your own recorded lecture
If you record your own lectures, upload one and you have a practice test that matches what you taught that week. Educator accepts recordings up to 25 MB with no monthly caps.
Create a class with a join code, assign the test and see each student's progress and score, or export it as QTI for Canvas, Blackboard or D2L, or as Moodle XML. Review the questions before assigning; you can edit any of them.
Things that trip people up with lecture recordings
Recordings over 25 MB need splitting or compressing first (a 60 minute lecture in mono MP3 at 48 kbps fits).
Lecture-hall echo and distance from the speaker reduce accuracy. Sit near the front or use a clip-on mic.
Apple .mov files are not accepted. Convert to .mp4 or export the audio.
Questions about lecture recording to practice test
Yes. Upload the audio file, choose practice test, and it is transcribed and turned into a scored test with explanations. It works for lectures, seminars and any other spoken teaching.
Typically 10 to 20 per run, depending on how much the lecture covered. Run it again on the same recording for a fresh set.
Yes. Practice tests can mix multiple choice, true or false, short answer and essay questions. Written answers come with a model answer to mark yourself against.
No. It tests what was said in the lecture. It cannot know which topics your lecturer has chosen for the exam, so use it alongside your course's guidance and any past papers.
Yes. Upload the MP4 or WEBM file and we transcribe its audio. Apple .mov files need converting to .mp4 first.
Yes. Export the questions as PDF or Word to print, or as QTI (Canvas, Blackboard, D2L) or Moodle XML for your learning platform.
Record it with your phone's voice memo app and upload the file afterwards. Check your school's recording policy first.
Whisper transcribes most major languages; questions are written in the language of the lecture.
Yes. Create a class, share the join code, and assign the set. You see each student's progress on every assignment.
Yes, to start. New accounts get a 3-day Pro trial with no credit card. After the trial the free plan includes 1 study session, 20 questions and 10 PDF pages a month, and you keep everything you made. You can also try the question generator on pasted text without an account, 3 times a day.
Still stuck? Email us.
Make practice tests from your lecture recordings
Start with a 3-day Pro trial. No credit card, and you keep everything you make.
