Study planner
Enter your exam date and the topics on the syllabus. Get a day-by-day study schedule that learns each topic once, reviews it at growing gaps, and saves the final days for practice tests.
Your schedule appears here
How to make a study schedule that works
Two findings shape this planner. The spacing effect: the same hours spread over several days beat one long session, as documented since Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 and confirmed in Cepeda et al.’s 2006 meta-analysis of over 300 experiments. And the testing effect: reviews work best as self-testing, not rereading. So each topic is learned once, then reviewed at gaps that grow, and the last days are practice tests.
What to do in each kind of session
| Session | Time | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Learn | 45 min | Build a study guide from your notes for the topic and make flashcards for the key terms. |
| Review | 20 min | Close the notes. Blurt everything you remember, then drill the flashcards that are due. |
| Practice test | 60 min | Generate a practice test across all topics and do it under timed conditions. |
If you are short on time
With under five days the planner squeezes reviews to the next day and keeps one day for a test. That is not ideal, but it is still better than rereading the night before. Prioritise the topics worth the most marks, and interleave them: mixing topics in one session helps you tell them apart in the exam. See how to study for exams for the full method.
Questions students ask
How does the study planner build my schedule?
It counts back from your exam date. Each topic gets a first "learn" session, then review sessions at growing gaps (roughly 1, 3 and 7 days later, compressed if the exam is close), and the last day or two are kept for full practice tests. Sessions are spread so no day has more than your chosen number of hours.
How far ahead should I start studying for an exam?
For a major exam, two to three weeks lets each topic get three or four spaced reviews. Research on the spacing effect (Cepeda et al., 2008) found the best gap between reviews grows with how long you need to remember something, so starting earlier with the same total hours gives better results than cramming.
Can I add the plan to Google Calendar or my phone?
Yes. "Add to calendar (.ics)" downloads a file that Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook import, with one all-day entry per study day listing that day’s sessions.
Is my plan saved?
Your exam date, topics and ticked sessions are saved in this browser’s local storage, so you can tick sessions off each day. Nothing is sent to a server. Use "Reset plan" to clear it.