The ChatGPT switch that stops it giving you the answer (and why you want it)

Almost everyone uses ChatGPT the same way: paste the question, copy the answer, close the tab. And almost everyone discovers the same thing in the test: the answer left with the tab. Since July 2025 there has been a switch built for exactly that, and the joke is that it does the opposite of what you expect from an AI. It does not give you the result.

Where the switch is

• On the web: type @study in the message box, or press the plus and search for study. Direct shortcut: chatgpt.com/studymode.
• On iPhone and Android: press the plus and pick Study. If it is not there, search for it in the menu.
• It is free. According to OpenAI's official help centre it is available on every plan, in every country and with every model.
• It does not work in temporary chats, in GPTs or inside Projects: open a normal conversation.
• To switch it off, remove the Study tag from the message box and you are back in regular ChatGPT.
• If your account is linked to a parent's, it may already be on at certain times: OpenAI calls that Study hours and it is set from parental controls.

What it does differently

It asks before it answers: what you already know, where you got stuck, which step you would try. It explains in layers, simple first, deeper if you ask. It checks your understanding with questions and corrects you when you are off. And it reads what you upload: class notes, a photo of a problem, a PDF. Under the hood there is no new model, just instructions OpenAI wrote with teachers and learning scientists, and OpenAI admits that a direct answer sometimes slips out anyway. When that happens, tell it: hints, not solutions.

Gemini has had its own version since August 2025, called Guided Learning: on gemini.google.com it sits behind the add files button under More tools, and it is arriving gradually in the phone app. Claude has had a learning mode since April 2025, but Claude requires you to be 18, so for now it is out for you. Each service's minimum age, with its check date, is in our series posts linked below.

The prompt that replaces the mode

I am in [YEAR OR GRADE] and I have this maths problem: [PROBLEM]. Do not give me the solution or the final result at any point, even if I ask for it. First ask me what I have understood from the question and what I would try. Then guide me step by step with one hint at a time, and wait for my answer before moving on. If I make a mistake, tell me where it is, not how to fix it. At the end, give me a similar problem to do on my own.

I am in [YEAR OR GRADE] and I have to analyse this text: [PASTE THE TEXT, OR THE TITLE AND THE PASSAGE]. Do not give me your interpretation. Ask me questions, one at a time, that force me back into the text: what happens, who is speaking, which word repeats, what changes between the beginning and the end. When I answer, ask me for the exact line that proves it. Only once I have three ideas of my own with a quote each, help me arrange them into a paragraph, in my words and not yours.

I am learning [LANGUAGE] and these are my words for the week: [LIST]. Quiz me one word at a time: give me the word and wait until I have typed the meaning and a sentence. Correct only what is wrong and explain why in one line. Ask me the ones I got wrong again at the end, mixed in with the right ones. Do not show me the full list until I finish.

One last trick: the mode goes off once you have understood and only want to check the result. That is when you ask for the full solution, compare it with yours and look for the point where they part ways. That is studying; pasting is not. And for anything that counts towards a grade, your school's rules apply, not the app's.