Study Aid · Historyv0.5
User guide — how the app works, for students and for teachers setting it up

Contents

  1. What this app does
  2. Logging in
  3. Step 1 — Set your topic and upload your notes
  4. Step 2 — Read your material
  5. Step 3 — Reflect on what you read
  6. Step 4 — Read AI feedback and extract your PDF
  7. Moving around the app
  8. AI provider settings (⚙)
  9. Troubleshooting

What this app does

Study Aid — History turns your own notes into structured reflection. You upload a PDF of your study material, read through it, then work through five guided reflection prompts (key events, timeline, causes, consequences, other thoughts) plus an optional box where you can ask the AI a question of your own. The AI comments on your reflections and answers your question, and you can extract a printable PDF to bring to your teacher for the final say.

Important This is a study aid, not an official MOE product. The AI's feedback is formative practice — always have a human teacher review it before treating it as a final assessment.

Logging in

The first time you open the app you'll see a passcode screen. Enter the class passcode from your teacher and tap Enter (or press the Enter key). Your browser will remember you for the rest of the session — you won't be asked again until you close the tab.

Don't have a passcode? Ask your teacher — they set the class passcode when the app is deployed.

1 Set your topic and upload your notes

On the landing page, give your topic a short title (e.g. "The Causes of the Cold War in Asia") and upload your study material as a PDF. Tap the upload box to open your file picker, or drag a file in on desktop.

On iPad / iPhone Tap the upload area to open the Files app picker, the same as any other app. If a PDF ever doesn't appear to upload, try re-saving it from Files first.

2 Read your material

This page shows your actual PDF, rendered exactly as formatted — headings, tables, and images all appear as they do in your original file. Read through it as you would a textbook.

When you're ready, tap Continue to reflection → at the bottom of the page.

Take your time The reflection in Step 3 is much stronger if you've actually read the material first. There's no timer — close the tab and come back later if you need to.

3 Reflect on what you read

Work through the five prompts in your own words, based on the material you just read. Each prompt has a short guide underneath it to remind you what's expected. There is no required word count — write as much or as little as is useful.

  1. Key Events & SignificanceWhat are the key events in this topic, and why does each one matter?
  2. Timeline & SequenceSet out the order in which things happened — what came first, next, and last? Note any key dates.
  3. Causes and DriversWhat underlying causes and driving forces (political, economic, social, or otherwise) led to these events?
  4. Consequences & OutcomesWhat were the results — short-term and long-term — of these events?
  5. Other ThoughtsAny other observations, connections, or reflections on this topic that don't fit above.

After the five prompts there is one more box — Self Exploration — where you can type any question of your own that the material raised. The AI will answer it separately from its comments on your reflections. (Optional.)

When you're ready, tap Submit to AI for Comments/Responses →. The AI will respond with an overall comment, section-by-section feedback, and an answer to your Self Exploration question if you asked one.

4 Read AI feedback and extract your PDF

The review page shows your AI feedback in three parts:

  1. Overall comment — a short paragraph on the quality and coverage of your reflection as a whole.
  2. Comments by section — a feedback card for each of the five reflection prompts, plus your Self Exploration answer if you asked one.
  3. AI Response — Self Exploration question — only shown if you used the Self Exploration box.

From here you have three options:

AI may hallucinate. The feedback and any Self Exploration answer are AI-generated, not an official assessment. Treat them as practice prompts to discuss with your teacher — never as fact.

AI provider settings (⚙)

The gear icon in the top bar opens AI provider settings. By default the app uses the AI access built into this site — no key needed, and the key is held securely on the server (it's never sent to your browser).

If you'd rather use your own API key, the settings let you switch to one of three providers:

ProviderWhere to get a key
This site's built-in AI (default)No key needed.
Anthropicconsole.anthropic.com → API keys
OpenAIplatform.openai.com → API keys
DeepSeekplatform.deepseek.com → API keys

Click Reset to built-in at any time to go back to the default.

Some providers block direct browser calls. If generating feedback fails right after saving a key, that provider may not allow being called straight from a browser tab (a CORS limitation of the provider, not a problem with your key).

Troubleshooting