For students who need to actually retain it
Material you recall, not just material you read
Three weeks of studying, everything read several times — and in the exam it still won't come. That's rarely a matter of too little time. It's that recognising something feels exactly like knowing it. Octa keeps testing you until you can tell the difference.
iPhone and iPad · an Android version is in the works
Sound familiar?
You read the chapter for the third time. All of it looks familiar. Whether you could explain it, you never actually tested.
You flip the flashcard, nod to yourself — “knew that” — and move it to the done pile. You never said the answer out loud.
Two days before the exam you notice half of the early material is gone again. So you start over from the beginning.
The common thread: nobody ever actually tested you — you only ever assessed yourself. That is the exact point where studying goes wrong.
The feeling when it finally clicks
That moment right after the exam when you realize: it actually stuck. That's exactly what Octa is built for — not one more tool, but getting you to that moment.
"Two days before the final, study plan in two minutes — ended up with an A."Timmi.bremmen, App Store review
How Octa does it
- 1
You upload what you already have
Lecture slides, a handout, a photo of your notes. Octa reads it and builds flashcards from it. You never type a single question yourself.
- 2
You get tested — out loud
The answer only appears once you've given yours: spoken, not tapped. Then you hear what was missing. If you have an oral exam coming up, you're rehearsing exactly that situation along the way.
- 3
Reviews come back when they need to
You give Octa your exam date and the grade you're aiming for. It spreads the reviews across that time — every card returns just before you'd have forgotten it.
Why we built it this way
Rereading and highlighting feel like progress, but a large review of study techniques found them among the least effective methods students use — while self-testing and spaced review, spread across several days, are consistently rated among the most effective. Octa is built around exactly those two techniques, instead of asking you to somehow do them by hand on top of everything else.Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013
Everything that's in it
All of this working together in one app — not a handful of separate tools bolted onto each other.
Your material becomes flashcards
Upload lecture slides, a scanned handout, or just type in the topic. Octa reads it and builds flashcards from it — no typing out questions by hand.
"Test yourself" — out loud, not silently
Every card has a Test Yourself button. You say your answer out loud instead of just recognizing it on the screen, and Octa gives you real spoken feedback on what you got right and what you missed.
A study plan built around your target grade
Upload your material and tell Octa the grade you're aiming for. It turns that into a study plan — a short, focused version if you just need to pass, a more intensive one if you're aiming higher — and times the reviews for exactly when you're about to forget, instead of one long cram session.
An AI tutor that explains the answer
Got a flashcard wrong, or only half right? Octa's AI tutor doesn't just show you the correct answer — it walks through why it's correct, in as much depth as you need.
Ask it anything about your material
Beyond flashcards, Octa's AI tutor answers specific questions about whatever you've uploaded and works through problems with you step by step — like a tutor who has actually read your lecture notes.
Tribes — visible progress, not solo intentions
Join a Tribe of students working toward the same kind of exam. Your study sessions show up there automatically, so skipping a day is something the group can actually see.
“I can just get ChatGPT to quiz me”
You can — and for a single question it's good at it. What's missing is everything that turns quizzing into a study system.
It doesn't know what you forgot
ChatGPT keeps no record of which card you couldn't do last week, and it won't come back to you when that card is due again. You'd have to know yourself what to review and when — which is exactly the work you wanted to hand over.
You type instead of speaking
Typed answers are allowed to stay vague, and in the end you grade yourself again. That self-assessment is precisely the point where studying goes wrong.
Your material is only an attachment
Every new session starts with pasting the context back in. There's no body of material to be tested against systematically, and no picture of where you're weak.
There's no deadline and no group
No plan running toward your exam, and nobody who notices that you haven't shown up for three days.
ChatGPT answers every question you ask it. A study system asks you the questions you wouldn't think to ask — because you don't know that you can't answer them.
Frequently asked questions
What devices does Octa run on?
Octa is currently available for iPhone and iPad only. An Android version is in the works — you can join the waitlist from the Study Type Quiz page.
Where do the flashcards come from?
From your own material. Upload a PDF, slides, or a photo of your notes, or just type in a topic — Octa turns it into flashcards instead of handing you a generic deck that doesn't match your course.
Does it work for my subject?
Octa is built to work with whatever you upload, so it isn't limited to one field. It's already used across subjects including law, business, medicine, computer science, and engineering.
How much does Octa cost?
Pricing is shown directly on the App Store listing before you download.
Is this different from just using Anki or Quizlet?
Anki and Quizlet are built around cards you (or someone else) already wrote by hand. Octa builds the cards from your own material, adds spoken self-testing instead of just flipping a card, and times the reviews for you instead of leaving spacing up to a manual schedule.
Why not just use ChatGPT to quiz me?
For a single question it works well. What's missing is everything that turns quizzing into a study system: ChatGPT doesn't remember which card you couldn't do last week, doesn't schedule reviews, lets you type instead of speak, and knows neither your exam date nor your material as a lasting body of work. The organising would still be on you.
What does the AI tutor actually do?
Two things. On a flashcard, it explains the correct answer in depth when you got it wrong or only half right, instead of just showing you the answer text. Separately, you can ask it direct questions about your own uploaded material or work through a problem with it — it only knows what you've given it, not a generic answer pulled from anywhere else.
Upload your first set of material
Ten minutes, one topic — enough to see whether spoken self-testing feels different from just rereading your notes.