How to ask questions about a lecture recording

Some of the most important things a professor says aren't on any slide. "The midterm moved to the 14th." "For the essay, I want you to focus on the second half of the book." "Problem 6 won't be on the exam." They're said once, often at the very start or end of class, and then they're gone.

If you wrote them down, great. If you didn't, you're left emailing a classmate or scrubbing through an hour of audio. This guide covers how to keep track of the things professors say in passing, and how Scribba lets you ask a lecture recording a question and hear the answer.

Catch announcements in the moment

The best fix is a habit that catches these details before they slip by:

• Give logistics a home. Pick one fixed spot for announcements, like a box at the top of each page or the last page of the notebook. When the professor mentions a date, a deadline or a change, it goes there.
• Listen hardest at the edges of class. The first and last few minutes are when logistics tend to come up, and when everyone is least focused.
• Write dates in your planner the same day. A due date in your lecture notes is easy to lose. A due date in your calendar isn't.
• Confirm anything that matters. If something changes a deadline or what's on an exam, check the syllabus, your course site, or ask the professor. Don't rely on one sentence you half-heard.

Ask the lecture in Scribba

Scribba is an iPad notebook that records the lecture while you write and transcribes each recording afterward. On iPads that support Apple Intelligence, you can type a question about a lecture, and Scribba answers in a sentence from the transcript.

The answer comes with a button that plays the moment it was said. So you don't just get "The midterm is on October 14th." You can tap and hear the professor say it, in context, and know you heard it right.

Asking the lecture needs an iPad that supports Apple Intelligence, with Apple Intelligence turned on, running iPadOS 26. It runs on the iPad itself: your recording and transcript aren't uploaded anywhere, and there's no per-use cost.

How it works

1. Record the lecture in Scribba while you take notes. Start Lecture in the library adds a dated page to the class notebook and starts recording in one tap.
2. After class, Scribba transcribes the recording. Our guide to lecture transcripts explains how.
3. Open the lecture and type your question.
4. Read the answer, then tap the play button to hear the moment it came from.

Questions that work well

The best questions are about something specific that was said in that lecture. Some examples:

• "When is the midterm?"
• "What did she say about the essay?"
• "Which chapters are we supposed to read for next week?"
• "What was the example he used for supply and demand?"
• "Did he say anything about extra credit?"
• "What's the difference between mitosis and meiosis, the way she explained it?"
• "What did she say we should focus on for the exam?"

Questions that name a topic, a person or a word the professor used tend to get better answers than very broad ones. "What was this lecture about?" is a better job for the lecture's key points.

Tip: if the answer is a date or deadline, write it in your planner right away. Scribba's dated planner pages work well as a place to collect every deadline for the term.

What it can't do

Asking the lecture is useful because it's narrow. It's worth knowing the limits:

• It answers from that recording only. It doesn't look across every lecture in the course, and it doesn't know what's on your syllabus or course site. To find a word across all your lectures, search from the library instead: Scribba searches lecture transcripts along with your handwriting and typed notes.
• It can only answer what was said. If the professor never mentioned the midterm in that lecture, there's no answer to find.
• It depends on the transcript. If a word was mumbled or drowned out by noise, the transcript may have it wrong, and so may the answer.
• It isn't a tutor. It tells you what the lecture said, not whether that's the full picture. For anything you're confused about, office hours are still the best option.

That's why the play button matters. Every answer comes with the moment it was said, so checking takes a few seconds. Make a habit of tapping it, especially for anything about grades, dates or exams.

Use questions as a study tool

Asking questions isn't only for logistics. It's also a fast way to review:

• Before a quiz, ask about the concepts you're least sure of and listen to how the professor explained them.
• When your notes don't make sense, ask about the confusing part instead of replaying the whole lecture.
• When you're writing an essay, ask what the professor said about a reading or theme, then play the moment to get the exact wording.
• When you missed something, compare your notes against the lecture with What Did I Miss?, then ask about anything on that list you still don't understand.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask questions across all my lectures at once?

No. Asking the lecture answers from one recording at a time. To find something across every lecture, search from the library, which covers all your transcripts.

How do I know the answer is right?

Tap the button that plays the moment it was said. You'll hear the professor's own words, so you can confirm the answer in a few seconds.

Can I ask in Spanish?

Yes. Scribba's Apple Intelligence features work in English and Spanish. Answers are written in the language Scribba is showing.

Do I need to have taken notes for this to work?

No. Answers come from the transcript of the recording, not from your handwriting. Notes help in other ways, like letting you tap your ink to jump to a moment.