AI WORLD HQTurn a Reading into a Study Quiz with GitHub Copilot
Paste any article or chapter, ask for practice questions, and check each one against the original text in about ten minutes
In short: You can use GitHub Copilot's chat to turn any short reading into a list of practice questions, then ask for the answers and verify each one yourself against the original text. Copilot is built for coding, so this works best with shorter readings (about one page) and a free or paid GitHub account with Copilot access.
GitHub Copilot is best known as a coding assistant — picture a very fast pair-programmer who sits beside you and suggests the next line. But the same chat panel also reads, summarizes, and writes questions about plain text. That makes it handy for students, book clubs, or anyone who wants to test whether they really understood an article. The two habits that make this work: keep the reading short, and double-check every answer before you trust the quiz. One honest limit up front — Copilot can draft questions about a text, but it cannot grade open-ended essay responses or replace doing the reading yourself.
💡 Tip: tap a step’s number when you finish it — a green tick appears and your browser remembers how far you got.
- A free GitHub account at github.com. Sign up if you don't have one — the same account works for the website.
- A web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari).
- A reading you want to study. Pick something between one paragraph and roughly one printed page. Longer texts work, but smaller chunks give cleaner quizzes.
- Copilot Chat access. It is available on a free tier with daily message limits; heavier use may require a paid Copilot plan — see the current pricing page for the latest details.
- About 10 minutes.
Open Copilot Chat on github.com
Sign in to github.com, then look at the top-right corner of the page for a small chat-bubble icon or a "Copilot" label. If you don't see it there, click your profile picture in the same corner and scan the menu that drops down — Copilot is usually listed near "Settings" or "Your repositories." Clicking it opens a chat panel, normally as a side window on the right or as a pop-up near the bottom of the screen. You'll see a blank text box at the bottom labeled something like "Ask Copilot" or "Message Copilot."
You'll know it worked when the chat panel is visible, the text box is empty, and your cursor blinks inside it.
Paste your reading into the chat
Open the reading you want to study — a news article, a chapter section, a Wikipedia entry, anything text-based — and copy the whole passage to your clipboard. On Windows this is usually Ctrl+C; on a Mac, Cmd+C. Click into the Copilot text box, then paste with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. The text appears inside the box, often wrapping over several lines. If the reading is very long, paste only one section at a time — Copilot handles shorter chunks much better and gives you tighter questions. If nothing pastes, right-click inside the box and choose Paste, or use the browser's Edit menu.
You'll know it worked when the full reading sits inside the chat box and you can still see a blinking cursor at the end.
Ask Copilot to make a quiz
Now you ask for what you want. In plain English, type a short instruction that tells Copilot the question type, the count, and the difficulty mix. Vague asks produce vague quizzes, so be specific. Press Enter or click the send icon — usually a paper-airplane shape or an arrow inside the text box — to submit. Copilot usually replies within a few seconds with a numbered list of questions, each followed by four options labeled A, B, C, and D. If the reply looks too long or off-topic, click "Stop" if you see it, then send a clearer prompt.
You'll know it worked when Copilot responds with a numbered list of questions, each with four lettered options.
Ask for the answer key
In the same chat, send a follow-up message asking for the answers. Tell Copilot to put each correct letter on its own line and to quote a short supporting phrase from the original text. This second pass is where verification matters — Copilot can guess, and you'll check it in the next step. If the chat shows a "regenerate" or "try again" button, ignore it for now and just send your own text request instead.
You'll know it worked when Copilot replies with a clean list — for example, "1. B — 'six percent of the world's oxygen'" — one entry per question.
Check every answer against the original reading
This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that turns a fun experiment into a real study tool. Open the original reading again in another browser tab or window. For each answer Copilot gave, find the exact phrase it quoted and read the surrounding sentence to confirm the answer is actually right and the quote really supports it. If a quote is missing, doesn't match the text, or the answer feels off, delete that question or rewrite it yourself. Treat every answer as a draft until you've seen the supporting phrase with your own eyes.
You'll know it worked when every answer on your list is backed by a real phrase in the original text and every question still makes sense to a fresh reader.
Save or share the quiz
Once the quiz is verified, copy the questions and answers into wherever you actually study — a notes app, a document, or a flashcard tool. If you want to share with a class or study group, paste just the questions into a shared doc and keep the answers hidden (for example, on a second page, in a separate file, or behind a spoiler tag). In Copilot Chat, you may see a "copy" or "share" icon near the reply; if not, just drag your mouse across the text and copy it out the usual way. Then close the chat — your verified quiz now lives outside it.
You'll know it worked when the finished quiz lives somewhere outside the chat and you can re-open it without Copilot.
- Pasting a whole book chapter at once. Copilot loses track of long inputs and the questions become vague or invented. Stick to one section at a time — a page or less — and run a new chat for each chunk.
- Trusting the answers without checking. Copilot sometimes invents a quote that sounds right but isn't in the text. Treat every answer as a draft until you've actually found the supporting phrase in the original.
- Asking for too many questions at once. Asking for 20 questions usually gives you weaker questions than asking for 5. Smaller, sharper sets are easier to verify and easier to actually use.
Pick one short article you saved recently — anything between 200 and 500 words. Open github.com, start a Copilot chat, paste the article, and ask for 4 multiple-choice questions. Then ask for the answer key. Spend two minutes checking each answer against the original. You'll have a verified quiz before your coffee gets cold.
❓ Quick questions
How long does this take?
About 6 minutes — the guide has 6 steps, and you can tick each one off as you go.
Which tool do I need?
This guide uses GitHub GitHub Copilot — but the approach works very similarly in other AI assistants.
Do I need to prepare anything?
- A free GitHub account at github.com. Sign up if you don't have one — the same account works for the website.
- A web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari).
- A reading you want to study. Pick something between one paragraph and roughly one printed page. Longer texts work, but smaller chunks give cleaner quizzes.
- Copilot Chat access. It is available on a free tier with daily message limits; heavier use may require a paid Copilot plan — see the current pricing page for the latest details.
- About 10 minutes.
What mistakes should I avoid?
- Pasting a whole book chapter at once. Copilot loses track of long inputs and the questions become vague or invented. Stick to one section at a time — a page or less — and run a new chat for each chunk.
- Trusting the answers without checking. Copilot sometimes invents a quote that sounds right but isn't in the text. Treat every answer as a draft until you've actually found the supporting phrase in the original.
- Asking for too many questions at once. Asking for 20 questions usually gives you weaker questions than asking for 5. Smaller, sharper sets are easier to verify and easier to actually use.
Keep reading
✦ Original step-by-step guide by AI World HQ's AI editorial team. Written in plain language, reviewed for accuracy.
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