Use it
When to put AI away
There's no chatbot in the exam hall. If all your practice happens with one open, the test will be the first time you work alone.
Traffic light: red
Using AI during a test, or on work your teacher has marked no-AI, is always red. This page is about the practice before that.
Why it matters
Help in practice can hide a gap until the test
In a study of nearly a thousand high school maths students, those who practised with an ordinary chatbot did much better during practice. When the chatbot was taken away for the test, they scored 17% lower than students who had never had it. The practice had felt like progress. The test showed what they could do on their own.
Watch out
Signs you're leaning on it
- !You can't start without it.A blank page sends you straight to the chatbot.
- !You can follow the explanation but can't redo it.Understanding someone else's working isn't the same as producing your own.
- !Your homework is better than your test scores.That gap is the clearest sign of all.
Try this
A weekly AI-free rehearsal
- Once a week, close every AI tool. Pick a set of questions or a past paper.
- Work the way the test works: timed, on paper if your tests are handwritten, notes away.
- Mark it yourself with the answer key.
- Then bring AI back, to explain the ones you got wrong. That's green, because you've already tried.
Keep going
Our exam-week routine shows how to plan the last few days before a test.
Last reviewed: 25 September 2026