Indian students ditch YouTube: ChatGPT becomes the ‘Swiss Army knife’ for exams, viva prep, coding and placements

AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT are increasingly embedded in the daily academic life of Indian college students, reshaping how they study, complete assignments and prepare for placements.

Across campuses, students describe using AI tools not as a novelty but as an everyday academic assistant, part tutor, part coding helper and part revision guide. ChatGPT has quietly become a default tool for many.

“I don’t open ten YouTube videos anymore,” said a 19-year-old Bengaluru-based engineering student told LiveMint. “The night before exams, it feels like a last-minute teacher. I just ask it to simplify the entire unit, and it gives me what I need.”

Students said AI tools are most heavily used during exam seasons, when time pressure is highest. Many use ChatGPT to break down complex subjects such as operating systems, microprocessors and thermodynamics into short revision notes.

Some said they upload entire PDFs or lecture slides and ask for bullet-point summaries or likely exam questions. “I upload PDFs and ask for only important points. That’s how I revise now,” said a student of Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management (Autonomous), Adyar, Karnataka, preparing for semester exams, told LiveMint.

For computer science students, AI tools have become a fast debugging assistant. Instead of waiting for lab support or searching forums, students paste error messages directly into ChatGPT.

“If the code isn’t working, I just copy the error and ask ChatGPT what’s wrong. Most of the time, it fixes it immediately,” said a final-year computer science student while speaking to LiveMint. Others said it helps identify syntax issues and explain logic errors in Python, Java and C++ within seconds.

AI is also widely used for practical records and viva preparation. Students said ChatGPT is often used to generate experiment procedures, observations and conclusions under tight deadlines.

“I started BTech in 2021 and struggled with AI/ML concepts. Now I see current students using ChatGPT daily. What am I missing?” Mayur Gowda, a recent engineering graduate from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru, said, reflecting on how quickly learning patterns have changed.

Gowda, who completed BTech this year, spent hours during college trying to understand neural networks through YouTube lectures but still felt unsure of the fundamentals. “I’d spend hours watching videos and still felt like I was missing something fundamental,” Gowda said, adding that seeing current students rely on ChatGPT for explanations, coding and assignments makes one rethink the difference between real understanding and memorised exam preparation.

For viva exams, some simulate mock sessions by asking ChatGPT to act like a strict examiner. Others use it to prepare PowerPoint presentations overnight, turning research papers or seminar topics into slide-ready summaries.

The new way India studies and codes

Students from non-English backgrounds said they rely on ChatGPT to improve grammar and rewrite assignments in formal academic language.

In placement season, the tool is widely used for drafting resumes, internship emails and LinkedIn summaries. “One of my friends got shortlisted for an internship using a resume completely rewritten with ChatGPT,” said Kshitij M, 22, a final year student from BMS College of Engineering.

He added, saying, “It’s not about cheating, it’s just the fastest way to understand things when everything is piled up at once.”

Students also use AI tools for aptitude preparation, HR interview practice and hackathon pitches as competition for jobs intensifies.

The rise of AI tools has triggered mixed responses across colleges. Some institutions are experimenting with structured AI use, while others are introducing restrictions and monitoring systems to detect AI-generated submissions.

Online discussions reflect similar divides. On Reddit and student forums, some describe ChatGPT as a “Swiss Army knife for college,” while others worry it may reduce deeper understanding and independent thinking.

Despite debates, students say AI tools are now too deeply integrated into academic life to ignore. Whether for quick revision, coding help or placement preparation, ChatGPT has become a constant presence in how many engineering students study today.