Using AI the right way: Tips for finals season – UKNow

LEXINGTON, Ky (April. 27, 2026) — As finals season approaches, many students are turning to artificial intelligence tools to help manage their workload, study more efficiently and stay organized. While AI can be a powerful resource, understanding how to use it ethically and effectively is key to ensuring academic integrity and long-term success.
UKNow spoke with Tama Thé, M.D., assistant professor in University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine. Thé specializes in pediatric emergency medicine and is an AI research fellow with the National Board of Medical Examiners.
UKNow: How can students use AI ethically and appropriately during the finals season?
Thé: Start with your professor’s syllabus. Every course has a different policy. Once you know the rules, use AI where it helps you learn, not where it replaces thinking.
UKNow: What uses of AI cross the line into academic dishonesty or cheating?
Thé: Anything you submit as your own that the AI actually wrote or solved. Essays, code, lab write-ups, problem sets where the model did the reasoning. Paraphrasing AI output to dodge detection is still cheating (the standard is authorship, not how the text sounds). If you’d feel uncomfortable showing the professor your chat history, that’s usually the line.
If you’re unsure, email the professor. Paraphrase what you think the policy is, describe the specific use you’re planning, and ask them to confirm. A student who asks thoughtful questions about AI use gets read as serious, not suspicious.
UKNow: In what ways can AI be a helpful study tool during finals?
Thé: The goal in finals week is to learn material you’ll be tested on alone. 
Ask it to explain something at progressively simpler levels or from different angles until it clicks. 
Have it generate practice questions from your notes. 
Paste in a concept you think you understand and ask it to find the gaps in your explanation. 
Use it as a patient tutor at 2 a.m. when no one else is available.
It is not good for deciding what’s important in a course. Your professor decides that, no matter how much ChatGPT is trying to gaslight you otherwise.
UKNow: How can AI help organize study schedules during a busy finals week?
Thé: Give it your exam dates, your current confidence level in each subject and how many hours a day you can realistically study. Ask it to build a block schedule that front-loads the subjects you’re weakest in and leaves the last day before each exam for review, not learning new material. Push back on anything unrealistic, because AI schedules tend to assume you’re a machine. The real value is being forced to articulate what you actually need to do to prepare. 
UKNow: Can AI be used for stress management (planning breaks, reminders, etc.)?
Thé: Sure, within reason. It can remind you to take a walk, suggest a wind-down routine, or tell you to eat something that isn’t from a vending machine. It’s fine for the logistics of taking care of yourself when your executive function is shot. 
However, it is not a therapist. If finals are genuinely overwhelming, like can’t-sleep, can’t-eat, can’t-function overwhelming, talk to a human.
UKNow: How can AI help break down complex concepts before an exam?
Thé: My favorite prompt: “Explain [concept] to me like I understand the prerequisites but not this. Then ask me three questions to check if I actually got it.” 
Follow up with “Where do students usually get confused on this?” because it’ll often point directly at some typical ways people test the concept on an exam. 
And when something doesn’t click, say so: “I’m still confused about X — try a different angle.” Don’t give up after one explanation. AI gets dramatically more useful when it understands what you know.
UKNow: How can AI help students study more efficiently without replacing their own effort?
Thé: AI should be doing the boring part of studying, not the thinking part. Boring equals turning a slide deck into flashcards, summarizing a 40-page reading into bullets you can verify, generating a hundred practice problems. The thinking part is working through those problems yourself, deciding what matters, making connections between lectures. The second you catch yourself reading AI output and nodding along without actively engaging, you’ve crossed over.
UKNow: How do you know if you actually learned something, or if the AI did the work for you?
Thé: Close your laptop. Can you explain the concept out loud, to an imaginary friend, without notes? Can you solve a new problem you haven’t seen before? Can you teach it? If yes, you learned it. If you can only recognize the right answer when you see it, that’s superficial.
UKNow: Can AI create practice questions or mock quizzes for review?
Thé: Yes, and this is probably the single highest-value use during finals. Feed it your notes and whatever content your professor allows and ask for 20 questions in the format your exam will take. Answer them yourself first, then have it grade you and explain what you missed.
Even better: ask it to generate questions that are harder than the ones in your practice materials. Real exams usually are.
UKNow: What types of assignments is AI most helpful for (brainstorming, outlining, reviewing)?
Thé: Brainstorming and reviewing, yes. Punching holes in your ideas is awesome. Using AI to better articulate your ideas so you’re not spending hours choosing the right words. Instead, you’re getting your own thoughts on the page.
As students navigate the demands of finals week, AI can be a valuable tool when used with intention. By focusing on learning rather than shortcuts and staying within course guidelines, students can use these tools to enhance their understanding, build confidence and finish the semester strong. 
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It’s all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.

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