Lecture notes from a recording, organised for studying
You recorded the lecture so you would not miss anything, and now it is a 90-minute file you will never replay. Upload the audio or video and this prompt has your todo.is agent transcribe it, then turn it into organised notes by topic, with definitions, worked examples, anything the lecturer flagged for the exam and a set of review questions.
The prompt
- Make study notes from the lecture recording I attached ([LECTURE DETAILS]). Transcribe it first, then write the notes in [NOTE STYLE]: headings by topic in the order they were taught, key terms with definitions, formulas or examples written out step by step, and timestamps so I can jump back to the recording. Put anything the lecturer said would be on the exam or repeated more than once in a box called Exam focus. Add a 10-line summary at the top, 10 review questions with answers at the end, and [EXTRA OUTPUT]. If my slides are attached, match each section to the slide number. Give me the notes as a Word document and the full transcript as a text file, and email both.
What to change
- [LECTURE DETAILS]: E.g. "Microeconomics, week 6, price elasticity, 85 minutes". Attach the audio or video (MP3, M4A, MP4, up to 50 MB) and the slides if you have them.
- [NOTE STYLE]: E.g. "bullet points", "Cornell notes" or "question and answer".
- [EXTRA OUTPUT]: E.g. "a CSV of flashcards for Anki", "a one-page cheat sheet" or "nothing else".
Example result
- Microeconomics week 6: price elasticity of demand
- 85-minute recording · matched to slides 1 to 24 · Cornell-style notes
- Summary
- • Price elasticity of demand (PED) measures how much quantity demanded responds to a price change.
- • PED = % change in quantity demanded ÷ % change in price.
- • Elastic (|PED| > 1): quantity changes more than price. Inelastic (|PED| < 1): less.
- • Necessities, few substitutes and small budget shares make demand inelastic.
- • Total revenue rises after a price rise only when demand is inelastic.
- • Midpoint method avoids different answers for price rises and falls.
- 1. Definition (00:04:10, slides 3 to 5)
- • PED uses absolute values in this course; the sign is always negative for normal goods.
- • Example given: coffee price up 10%, quantity down 4% → PED = 0.4, inelastic.
- 2. Midpoint formula (00:17:45, slides 6 to 9)
- • % change = (new − old) ÷ ((new + old) ÷ 2)
- • Worked example: price $4 → $5, quantity 100 → 80
- • % change in Q = −20 ÷ 90 = −22.2% · % change in P = 1 ÷ 4.5 = 22.2% · PED = 1.0 (unit elastic)
- 3. Determinants (00:31:20, slides 10 to 14)
- • Availability of substitutes, necessity vs luxury, share of income, time period, how broadly the market is defined
- 4. Elasticity and total revenue (00:48:05, slides 15 to 19)
- • Inelastic: raise price → revenue up. Elastic: raise price → revenue down.
- Exam focus
- • "You will definitely get a midpoint calculation" (00:29:50)
- • Explain the revenue test in words, not just the formula (00:55:12)
- • Know two real-world examples of inelastic goods (said twice)
- • Cross-price elasticity is NOT on the midterm (01:21:30)
- Review questions (sample)
- • 1. Price of bus tickets rises from $2 to $2.50 and rides fall from 1,000 to 900. Find PED with the midpoint method. Answer: about 0.47, inelastic.
- • 2. Why is demand for one brand of cereal more elastic than demand for food in general? Answer: the narrower the market, the more substitutes.
- Cues column (Cornell)
- • What is the formula? · When is demand elastic? · What happens to revenue?
How to do it with todo.is
- Record the lecture (with permission if your school requires it) and attach the audio or video file, plus slides if you have them.
- Paste the to-do in todo.is or send the file and prompt to your agent on Telegram or WhatsApp.
- Your agent transcribes the recording and emails you organised notes and the full transcript.
- Ask follow-ups like "explain topic 2 more simply" or "make 20 flashcards from the exam focus".
Tips for a better result
- Sit near the front or put the phone close to the lecturer. Clear audio gives a much better transcript.
- Attach the slides. Your agent can then match spoken explanations to each slide and fill gaps from the slide text.
- For long files over 50 MB, ask your agent first; it can work with a compressed MP3, which is much smaller than video.
- Check your university's rules on recording lectures, and only share recordings as they allow.
lecture notes from a recording: FAQ
- Can it transcribe a full 2-hour lecture? Yes, as long as the file is within the 50 MB upload limit. Audio files like MP3 or M4A are usually small enough; for long videos, export just the audio.
- How accurate is the transcription? Clear speech with little background noise transcribes well. Technical terms, names and heavy accents can come out wrong, so check key terms against your slides.
- Can it make notes from a video lecture link? Upload the file for the best result. If the video is a public page, your agent can try to read its captions or transcript.
- Does it work for other languages? Yes. It can transcribe lectures in many languages and write the notes in that language or in English.
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