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Using AI alongside tutoring: what helps and what backfires

AI can be a brilliant revision partner or a crutch that quietly lowers exam marks. The difference is who does the thinking.

Written by the Brainhub Editorial Team Cites published research Updated 4 Nov 2026 9 min read

Key takeaways

1. Start here: a between-lessons routine

Use AI as a sparring partner, not a ghostwriter. This routine fits in 20 minutes between lessons, and you bring what you did to your next lesson so your tutor can check it.

1. Try first, alone

Do the question or recall the topic from memory before you open any AI tool.

2. Ask it to quiz you

One question at a time, and no answers until you have tried.

3. Ask for a hint, not the answer

When you are stuck, ask for the next step only.

4. Check, don’t copy

Ask it to find the first mistake in your working, without fixing it.

5. Write it down

Note anything it explained that you didn’t know, and check it against your notes or textbook.

6. Bring it to the lesson

Show your tutor the questions you got wrong and anything AI explained. They will tell you if it was right.

2. What the research says

In a trial with nearly 1,000 high school maths students in Turkey, one group practised with an AI chatbot like ChatGPT, one with a version set up as a tutor that gave hints rather than answers, and one with only their textbook and notes. In practice sessions, the ChatGPT-style group scored 48% better than the textbook group and the hint-giving tutor group 127% better. In the exam, with AI taken away, the ChatGPT-style group scored 17% worse than the textbook group, while the hint-giving group did about the same. The researchers concluded that students had leaned on the chatbot to solve problems instead of learning how.[1]

A smaller Harvard study of fewer than 200 university physics students found the opposite can happen when AI is set up well. An AI tutor that revealed one step at a time, never gave the full solution in one go and asked students to try first helped them learn more than twice as much as in a normal active-learning class. It was a small study of one course, and the researchers do not suggest replacing teachers.[2]

The Department for Education says the evidence on pupils using AI themselves is still emerging, and that AI cannot replace the judgement and deep subject knowledge of a human expert.[3]

AI that does the thinking for you feels helpful and lowers the mark. AI that makes you think can raise it.

3. Where AI helps

These uses keep the student doing the work. Retrieval practice, testing yourself instead of re-reading, is one of the best-evidenced ways to remember things, and AI makes it quick to set up. Our lesson Stop re-reading explains why it works.

Use
What to ask
Quiz yourself
“Ask me 10 questions on GCSE AQA Biology cell division, one at a time. Wait for my answer before telling me if I was right.”
Flashcards
“Turn these notes into 15 question-and-answer flashcards.” Then test yourself without looking.
Explain a mark scheme
“Explain what this mark scheme point means and what a full-mark answer would include. Don’t write the answer for me.”
Get a hint
“I’m stuck on this question. Give me only the next step, not the answer.”
Check your working
“Find the first mistake in my working and tell me which line it is on. Don’t correct it.”
Explain it another way
“Explain how to complete the square as if I’m in Year 10, with one worked example.”
Plan revision
“Help me plan 4 weeks of revision for these subjects, with short sessions spaced out.”

4. How to prompt well

The companies that make these tools give the same core advice: be clear and specific, give enough context, give the AI a role, mark out the text you paste in, break the task into steps, show an example of what you want, and keep refining.[6]

For revision, add one more rule of your own: tell it how to help. Unless you say so, most chatbots will hand you a finished answer.

Give it context

Your year, subject, exam board and tier, and what you can and can’t do yet. “Year 11, AQA GCSE Maths Higher. I can expand brackets but get stuck factorising.”

Say how to help

“Be my tutor. Ask me questions and give hints. Don’t give the answer until I’ve tried twice.”

Give it a role

“Act as an AQA examiner. Mark my answer against this mark scheme and tell me which marks I’d get.”

Paste the real thing

The exact question, the mark scheme and your answer, each under its own heading or in quote marks, so it can’t mix them up.

One step at a time

“Work through it one step at a time and stop after each step so I can try the next one.”

Show an example

Paste a full-mark answer or a flashcard you like and say “make more like this”.

Let it ask first

“Before you start, ask me three questions to find out what I already know.”

Push back

“That’s too hard, make it simpler.” “Are you sure? Show me where the mark scheme says that.” Ask it to say when it isn’t sure.

Teach it back

Explain the topic to the AI in your own words and ask it to grade your explanation and point out what you missed.

A strong prompt, in full: “I’m in Year 11 studying AQA GCSE Chemistry, Higher tier. Act as my tutor. Ask me 8 exam-style questions on rates of reaction, one at a time, starting easy and getting harder. After each answer, tell me what I got right and what a mark scheme would want that I missed, and give me a hint before showing a model answer. At the end, list the two ideas I should revisit.”

5. Built-in study modes

The main chatbots now have a setting that does much of this for you. ChatGPT’s study mode, launched in July 2025 and available on the free plan, uses questions, hints and quick checks instead of handing over answers.[7]

Google’s Gemini has Guided Learning, which breaks a topic into steps, asks you questions and checks you understand before moving on.[8]

Claude has a learning mode that asks students to work answers out for themselves, available to all users since August 2025.[9]

Switch the mode on before you start revising, and still use the habits above: context, the real question and pushing back.

6. Where AI backfires

The problems start when AI does the part that builds the learning.

The Department for Education warns that AI can produce inaccurate or biased content, including false information presented as fact, so answers need checking.[3]

Habit
Why it backfires
Getting it to do homework
The homework gets done, the learning doesn’t, and the gap shows up in tests
Reading its answers instead of trying
It feels like understanding, but you can’t do it alone in the exam
Trusting it without checking
AI can state wrong facts and wrong working confidently, and may not match your exam board
Asking it to write essays
You lose the practice of planning and writing under time, which is what the exam tests
Using it in coursework without saying so
Exam boards treat this as malpractice (see below)

A quick test: After an AI session, close it and try a similar question alone. If you can’t, you watched rather than learned.

7. Coursework and exams: the rules

For GCSE and A-Level coursework and other non-exam assessment, the exam boards’ rules (from the Joint Council for Qualifications) say all work submitted must be the student’s own. Students who misuse AI so that the work is not their own have committed malpractice, which can lead to serious penalties including disqualification.[4]

Where AI is used as a source, the student must say so: name the tool, give the date, keep a copy of the questions asked and what it produced, and explain how it was used. Schools set their own rules too, so check with your child’s teacher before using AI on any coursework.[4]

For university applications, UCAS says AI can help with ideas and structure, but the personal statement must be the student’s own writing. Our guide to starting the UCAS personal statement has more.[5]

8. Safety and privacy

Check each tool’s age rules. ChatGPT’s terms say users must be at least 13, and under-18s need a parent’s or guardian’s permission.[10]

Don’t put names, addresses, school names or photos of other people into AI tools. The Department for Education advises that anything entered should not identify a person.[3]

For younger children, use AI together, on a shared screen, and talk about what it gets wrong. Our online safety guide has more on settings and screen habits.

9. What a tutor does that AI can’t

One-to-one tuition adds about five months’ progress on average, according to the Education Endowment Foundation’s toolkit. Much of that comes from things a chatbot can’t do well: noticing why a student is stuck, not just that they are; teaching exam technique for their exam board; adjusting when they are tired or anxious; and keeping them going week after week.[11]

Used well, AI makes the time between lessons more useful, and the lesson can start from what the student actually got wrong. Our guide to the evidence on tutoring explains what makes tuition work.

10. How Brainhub can help

Brainhub tutors teach one-to-one, online across the UK or at our seven London hubs. Bring your AI questions and notes to your lesson, and your tutor will check what it got right, fix what it got wrong and set practice that builds the skill. Every family starts with a free assessment.

Try it now

Test yourself on this page

Answer in your head first, then check.

  1. 1. What should a good revision prompt include?

  2. 2. In the maths trial, what happened to students who used ChatGPT freely once it was taken away?

  3. 3. What is the best way to ask AI for help when stuck?

  4. 4. Can students use AI in GCSE coursework?

Your next steps

  1. Switch on study mode, Guided Learning or learning mode in the tool you use.

  2. Try the strong prompt above with your own subject this week.

  3. Save three prompts from the table that suit your subjects.

  4. Check your school’s rules before using AI on coursework.

Sources

  1. Bastani, H., Bastani, O., Sungu, A., Ge, H., Kabakcı, Ö. and Mariman, R. (2025). Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: evidence from high school mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(26), e2422633122. Summary: Knowledge at Wharton (read 4 November 2026). knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/without-guardrails-generative-ai-can-harm-education
  2. Kestin, G., Miller, K., Klales, A., Milbourne, T. and Ponti, G. (2025). AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning: an RCT introducing a novel research-based design in an authentic educational setting. Scientific Reports. Reported by The Hechinger Report (read 4 November 2026). hechingerreport.org/?p=103689
  3. Department for Education. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education (updated 12 August 2025). gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education
  4. Joint Council for Qualifications. AI use in assessments: protecting the integrity of qualifications (read 4 November 2026). jcq.org.uk/exams-office/malpractice/artificial-intelligence
  5. UCAS. A guide to using AI and ChatGPT with your personal statement (read 2 November 2026). ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/writing-your-personal-statement/guide-using-ai-and-chatgpt-your-personal-statement
  6. OpenAI Help Center. Prompt engineering best practices for ChatGPT (read 4 November 2026). help.openai.com/en/articles/10032626-prompt-engineering-best-practices-for-chatgpt
  7. OpenAI (29 July 2025). Introducing study mode. openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode
  8. Google (2025). How Gemini’s Guided Learning can help you study more effectively. blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/guided-learning-google-gemini
  9. Engadget (August 2025). Anthropic brings Claude’s learning mode to regular users and devs. engadget.com/ai/anthropic-brings-claudes-learning-mode-to-regular-users-and-devs-170018471.html
  10. OpenAI. Terms of use, section 1 (read 4 November 2026). openai.com/policies/terms-of-use
  11. Education Endowment Foundation. Teaching and Learning Toolkit: One to one tuition. educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/one-to-one-tuition

This guide is general study advice. Every student is different. A teacher can help you work out what fits.