Turn a lecture recording into notes and a study guide
Upload a lecture recording and QuerySpark writes study guides from what is actually in it, so you can see the whole topic on one page on exactly what your course covers. MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, WEBM and more, up to 25 MB.
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Drop a PDF, slides or notes
or paste a YouTube link
Quick answer
How do you turn a lecture recording into study guides?
Upload the recording as an audio or video file. QuerySpark transcribes it and turns the lecture into a study guide: an outline of the topics, key terms, common misconceptions and practice questions after each section. 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 1 study guide a month.
- Outline, key terms and misconceptions from the lecture
- Quick review, comprehensive or exam-prep format
- Practice questions after each section
- Works with Zoom, Teams and phone recordings
How it works
How to turn a lecture recording into study guides
- 01
Find the smallest version of the recording
If your platform offers an audio-only download, take it. It transcribes just as well as the video and is a fraction of the size, which matters on the free plan's 5 MB cap.
- 02
Upload and choose a format
Quick review for a lecture you followed, comprehensive for one you missed, exam prep at the end of term.
- 03
Read the guide against your own notes
Anything in the guide that is missing from your notes is something you did not catch in the room. Those gaps are what to look at first.
- 04
Finish with the section questions
Answer the questions at the end of each section. A guide you only read is easy to forget; one you have been tested on sticks.
Example
Study guide from PSY 100 lecture
A sample of what you get from a lecture recording on psychology. Yours is written from your own file.
PSY 100 lecture: Classical and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
- NS, US, UR, CS, CR
- Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery
Operant conditioning
- Reinforcement increases behavior
- Punishment decreases it
Schedules
- Fixed vs variable
- Ratio vs interval
Check yourself
Why are slot machines so hard to quit, in operant terms?
What your study guides include
- A structured outline of the main topics in your material
- Key terms, learning objectives and common misconceptions
- Worked examples where your material has them
- Practice questions at the end of each section
How you study them
Read the guide to get the shape of the topic, then jump into practice from any section. The guide and the questions come from the same analysis, so they cover the same ground.
Best for: starting a new unit, condensing a long reading, the night before an exam.
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.
Lecture recording to notes: transcript, summary or study guide?
A transcript is every word the lecturer said, in order, including false starts, repetition and admin announcements. A summary shortens that into a few paragraphs. A study guide reorganises it by topic, defines the terms, flags the points students usually get wrong and adds questions so you can check yourself.
For a lecture you need to learn from, the study guide is the useful one. A transcript is worth having for looking up an exact quote, but almost nobody revises from a raw transcript of a 50 minute lecture.
Turning a Zoom or Teams class recording into notes
Zoom recordings saved to your computer normally include an audio-only .m4a file next to the .mp4 video; upload the .m4a. For cloud recordings, the recording page lets you download the audio-only file too, if your host allows downloads.
Teams recordings are .mp4 files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. Download the file, and if it is over your plan's cap, export just the audio track at a low bitrate before uploading. Lecture capture systems such as Panopto or Echo360 only offer downloads if your school has switched them on.
Which format to choose for a recorded lecture
The same recording can give you very different guides, so pick based on what you need from it this week.
- Quick review: a one-page sheet after every lecture, to keep up through the term
- Comprehensive: a full guide for a lecture you missed or could not follow live
- Exam prep: one per lecture in the final weeks, focused on what is likely to be tested, with practice built in
When the lecture leans on slides
Lecturers often say 'as you can see here' and move on. Whatever was on that slide is not in the audio, so it is not in the guide. If the slides are posted, make a second guide from the PowerPoint or PDF and read the two together: the slides give you the structure and the recording gives you the explanation.
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 study guide
Yes. Upload the recording and it is transcribed, then turned into a structured study guide with the main topics, key terms and practice questions. It works from what was said, so the quality of the audio matters.
QuerySpark is free to start with the 3-day Pro trial with no credit card. The free plan then includes 1 study guide a month with files up to 5 MB, roughly 20 minutes of mono audio. Student is $9 a month, or $7 a month billed yearly and raises the file cap to 20 MB.
Yes, if you can get the recording. A comprehensive guide from the recording is a good way to catch up, and the section questions show whether you have understood it without the lecturer there.
Yes. MP4 and WEBM videos are accepted; we take the audio track and transcribe it. Apple .mov files need converting to .mp4 first.
Length is not the limit; file size is (5 MB on the free plan, 20 MB on Student and 25 MB on Educator). Export as mono audio at a low bitrate, or split it at a break and make a guide from each part.
Only what they also said out loud. Photograph the board at the end of class and make a guide from the photo if the board work matters.
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.
Choose a quick review sheet, a comprehensive guide or an exam-prep guide. Length follows your material: a ten-page chapter gets a page or two, not padding.
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 study guides from your lecture recordings
Start with a 3-day Pro trial. No credit card, and you keep everything you make.
