SUMMIT
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You don't have to type your notes to study them in Summit. You can photograph a textbook, upload lecture slides as a PDF, or snap your handwritten notes. A few habits make the difference between a sharp route and a vague one.
What you can add
- Typed or pasted text: a chapter, lecture notes, a vocabulary list, a study guide. This is the fastest option.
- Photos: up to ten per route, in JPG, PNG or WebP. Textbook pages, slides, whiteboards and handwriting all work.
- PDFs: if the PDF has real text, like most lecture slides and digital textbooks, Summit pulls the text straight out. If it's a scan, the pages are added as pictures instead.
- Text files: .txt and .md files are added to the notes box.
You can mix them: paste a few lines of your own notes and add photos of the pages they came from.
Taking photos the AI can read
The AI reads your photos much like a person would. If you'd struggle to read it, so will it.
- Fill the frame with one page. Two-page spreads shrink the text and add a curved spine in the middle. Photograph each page separately.
- Shoot straight on. Hold the phone parallel to the page, not at an angle. Angled shots squeeze the lines at the far edge.
- Use even light. Avoid your own shadow across the page and glare on glossy paper. Daylight near a window works well.
- Hold still and focus. Tap the screen on the text before shooting. A slightly blurry photo can still be read, but small print and formulas suffer first.
- Crop out the extras. Desk, hands and the next page add nothing.
Handwriting works best when it's reasonably neat and written in dark ink. If your notes are hard to read, typing a short summary of the key points alongside the photos helps a lot.
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How much to put in one route
A route has seven prompts. They're spread across everything you add, so the amount of material decides how deep each prompt goes.
- Too little (a paragraph or two): there may not be enough distinct facts for seven prompts with many answers each. You'll be asked to add more.
- About right: one section or one lecture, roughly 3 to 10 textbook pages. The prompts can reach into the details, where the high-scoring answers live.
- Too much (a whole unit): the prompts become broad, and the rare answers are spread thin. Split it into several routes, one per section.
Several focused routes also work better with reviews, because each route's missed prompts come back on their own schedule.
How long it takes
A route from typed notes usually takes under a minute. Photos take longer, because the AI reads every page and writes out a plain-text copy of it. That copy is what later answer checks and explanations use, since the photos themselves aren't kept. Expect a minute or two for a few photos, and up to about three minutes for eight to ten.
Your photos and privacy
Photos are shrunk in your browser before they're sent, and they're used only to write your route. Summit stores the route and the text copy of your notes, not the images. Your routes are private to you unless you share their link. The privacy policy has the details.
When a route isn't right
If a prompt is off, too broad or not quite what your class covered, the fix is usually in the input. Remove pages that aren't on your test, add a line saying what the test focuses on, or split the material into smaller routes. You can put any saved route's notes back in the box with Use notes, edit them, and map it again.