How to Optimise the Use of AI in UniPlanner

UniPlanner includes a built-in AI assistant that you can open from any page in the app. Most students tap it once, ask a quick question, and close it. But it can do a lot more than that. This guide walks you through how to actually get value from it.

How to open the AI assistant

Look for the floating button in the bottom-right corner of the app — it is available on every page, including your Dashboard, Tasks, Schedule, and Progress. Tap it to open a chat panel without leaving whatever you were looking at.

You can also access a full-screen version by going to the AI page from your navigation. The full-screen version is better for longer conversations where you want more space to read and respond.

Start with your schedule

One of the most useful things you can do is describe your week to the assistant and ask for help planning it. For example:

"I have a 2,000-word essay due Thursday, a quiz on Wednesday, and a lab report due next Monday. I have free time Monday afternoon, Tuesday evening, and all day Wednesday. How should I split my time?"

The assistant will give you a concrete plan broken down by day. It will not just say "study more" — it will help you figure out what to work on and when, based on deadlines and complexity.

Break down assignments you don't know how to start

When you are staring at a brief and feeling stuck, paste it into the assistant and ask it to break the task into steps. This works for essays, reports, presentations, and group projects.

For example: "Here is my essay brief. Can you break this down into a step-by-step plan I can follow over the next two weeks?"

Once you have a list of smaller steps, add each one as a task in UniPlanner with a due date. The big project stops feeling overwhelming because you only ever need to focus on one step at a time.

Use it to understand difficult concepts

If something from a lecture did not click, describe it to the assistant and ask for a plain-language explanation. Do not just ask "explain photosynthesis" — give it context:

"I'm a second-year Biology student and I'm struggling with the light-dependent reactions in photosynthesis. My lecturer explained it using ATP synthase but I didn't follow. Can you explain it simply and then connect it back to ATP synthase?"

The more context you give, the more targeted the explanation. Ask follow-up questions until it genuinely makes sense — the assistant will not get frustrated, and you should not either.

Get feedback on your writing

You can paste a paragraph, a section, or an entire essay draft and ask for feedback. Be specific about what kind of feedback you want:

• "Is my argument clear in this introduction?"
• "Does this paragraph flow well or does it jump around?"
• "Am I answering the question directly or going off-topic?"

Treat the assistant as a writing tutor, not a ghostwriter. Use it to improve your own work rather than replace it — your understanding of the material is what gets tested in exams.

Prepare for exams

A few days before an exam, ask the assistant to quiz you. Tell it the topic and what you have covered:

"I have a History exam on the causes of World War One. I've covered nationalism, imperialism, the alliance system, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Can you ask me 10 exam-style questions and tell me how I'm doing?"

You can also ask it to generate a summary sheet of key points, create a mind map outline, or highlight the topics most likely to come up based on common exam patterns.

Be specific — always

The single biggest factor in how useful the AI assistant is comes down to how specific your prompt is. Vague input gets vague output.

Compare these two prompts:

• "Help me with my essay." — too vague, the assistant has nothing to work with
• "I'm writing a 1,500-word critical analysis essay for my English Literature module on the theme of power in Macbeth. My argument is that Shakespeare presents power as inherently corrupting. Can you suggest three points I could use to support this argument?" — specific, actionable, and will get a genuinely useful response

Think of the assistant as a knowledgeable study partner who just arrived and knows nothing about your situation. Tell it everything it needs to know, and it will give you exactly what you need.

Use it consistently, not just in a crisis

Students who get the most value from the AI assistant are not the ones who open it the night before a deadline. They are the ones who use it regularly — to plan their week on Sunday evening, to check in on a draft midway through writing, to review a topic they are shaky on a few days before an exam.

Open it today and try one of the prompts above. The more you use it, the better you will get at using it — and the more useful it becomes.