How to make practice quizzes from a PDF
Updated 13 October 2026 · ChatPDF guides · 5 sources
AI can miss or misstate things. Summaries and answers from AI tools, ChatPDF included, can leave out important details or get them wrong. Check anything that matters against the document itself, especially legal, medical, financial and exam material.
- Taking practice tests improves later recall more than restudying the same material. 1
- Mix question types: recall, explain why, apply to a new example, compare, and questions about figures.
- Answer from memory first, then check against the PDF and note what you missed.
- Repeat quizzes over several days; spaced retrieval sticks better than one long session. 2,3
The fastest way to find out what you know about a PDF is to close it and answer questions about it. Practice testing is one of the two study techniques rated most useful in a large review of learning research 3. In a classic experiment, students who took recall tests on a passage remembered more of it two days and a week later than students who spent the same time rereading, even though the rereaders felt more confident 1. A quiz also shows you exactly where your gaps are, which rereading never does.
Question types that work
| Type | Template | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Recall | "What is ...?" "List the steps of ..." | Terms, facts, processes |
| Explain why | "Why does ... lead to ...?" | Concepts and mechanisms |
| Apply | "In this new case, what would happen and why?" | Problem solving, case-based exams |
| Compare | "How does ... differ from ...?" | Easily confused ideas |
| Figure | "What does this graph show, and what would change if ...?" | Charts, diagrams, tables |
| Fix the error | "This statement is wrong: ... Correct it." | Common misconceptions |
"Explain why" questions are a form of elaborative interrogation, which the same review rated as moderately useful 3. They are harder to write than recall questions, but they test the understanding that exams usually reward.
Build a quiz from a PDF in about 20 minutes
- Pick one section. A chapter or lecture is enough for one quiz.
- Mine the PDF for questions. Turn each heading into a question. Use the learning objectives, end-of-chapter questions and bold terms if the PDF has them.
- Add one question per figure or table. Ask what it shows and why it matters.
- Write the answer key separately. Keep each answer short and add the page number, so checking is fast.
- Mix in older material. Add a few questions from previous chapters so earlier topics stay fresh.
A simple way to do this on iPhone is a note with the questions at the top and the answer key far below, so it stays out of sight while you work. To check an answer quickly, open the PDF in Preview and use its search to find a word or phrase 4.
Taking the quiz
- Closed book. Write or say each answer before looking anything up.
- Rate your confidence. Mark answers as sure or guessed. Correct guesses still need review.
- Check and correct. Compare with the key and the PDF. Rewrite any wrong answer in your own words.
- Retest the misses. Put missed questions at the top of the next session.
- Space the sessions. Rerun the quiz after a day, then a few days, then a week or more. Spreading practice out like this improves long-term recall compared with cramming it into one session 2.
Factual questions also work well as flashcards. For the full routine, see how to study with PDFs.
Where ChatPDF helps
ChatPDF has a "Quiz me with 5 questions" suggested prompt that drafts questions from a PDF you import. You can ask for more, or ask for questions about one chapter by naming it, and you can type your answer and ask a follow-up about anything you got wrong. Treat AI-written questions with some care: language models can produce statements that are not supported by the source 5, an answer key can be wrong, and a quiz built from a sample of the document may skip sections. Check each answer against the PDF, and keep writing some questions yourself. See prompts that work well for PDFs for wording that gets more useful questions.
Common questions
How many questions should a practice quiz have?
Enough to cover the main ideas of one section. A short quiz you actually finish and repeat beats a long one you skip. Add questions as you discover gaps.
Should I use multiple choice or open questions?
Include open questions even if your exam is multiple choice. Producing an answer yourself is more demanding than recognizing it in a list, and the recall tests in the research on the testing effect asked students to write down what they remembered. 1
What should I do with questions I keep getting wrong?
Go back to the PDF, read the relevant passage, explain it in your own words, and put the question first in your next few sessions. Repeated misses usually point to a concept you have not understood yet, not just a fact you forgot.
Sources and further reading
- Roediger HL, Karpicke JD (2006). Test-enhanced learning: taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science 17(3):249–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x psychology.ecu.edu
- Cepeda NJ, Pashler H, Vul E, Wixted JT, Rohrer D (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: a review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin 132(3):354–380. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354 doi.org
- Dunlosky J, Rawson KA, Marsh EJ, Nathan MJ, Willingham DT (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1):4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266 (summary page by the Association for Psychological Science). psychologicalscience.org
- Apple Support. Open and view PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Maynez J, Narayan S, Bohnet B, McDonald R (2020). On faithfulness and factuality in abstractive summarization. Proceedings of ACL 2020:1906–1919. doi:10.18653/v1/2020.acl-main.173 aclanthology.org