Study Plan Maker
Enter your chapters and exam date – the planner spreads the material evenly over your study days, schedules buffer and review days and exports the plan to your calendar.
How it is calculated
How the study plan maker works
- Enter your material, one chapter per line. If a chapter is bigger, add a weight: “Statistics | 2” gets twice the time of a chapter without one.
- Choose the start date and exam date and how many days a week you study. The exam day itself is not a study day.
- Buffer days are spread evenly between the content days – for illness, appointments or chapters that take longer. The final review takes the last study days before the exam.
- With short reviews, each day lists what you finished the day before and what you completed about a week earlier.
Worked example: 14 study days, 2 buffer days, 2 review days → 10 days for new material. With 6 equal chapters that is 0.6 chapters per content day; chapters spanning several days appear as “part 1/2”, “part 2/2”.
Why spread your studying?
A major review by Dunlosky and colleagues (2013, Psychological Science in the Public Interest) compared ten learning techniques. Only two were rated “high utility”: distributed practice – spreading study over several sessions instead of cramming – and practice testing. The plan does the first; use the review days with past papers or flashcards for the second.
Calendar and printing
“Download calendar file (.ics)” creates all-day events following the iCalendar standard RFC 5545, which Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar can import. The file is created in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Chapters and dates are part of the link, so you can bookmark or share the plan – leave out private details if you pass the link on.
Honest limits
The planner does not know your pace and divides by weight, not difficulty. If the plan no longer fits after a few days, change the start date or weights and let it recalculate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a study plan?
Split the material into chapters, count the study days until the exam, subtract buffer and review days and spread the rest evenly. That is exactly what the planner does: enter chapters, pick the exam date, done.
How many buffer days should I plan?
There is no fixed rule. Look at how many days you actually lost in recent weeks – a plan without buffer falls behind as soon as you are ill for a day.
Can I add the study plan to my calendar?
Yes. “Download calendar file (.ics)” creates an event for every study day and the exam, which you can import into Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar.
Is there a printable study plan template?
Print the finished plan and choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog. That gives you a template tailored to your own material.
Why is spaced studying better than cramming?
In the review by Dunlosky et al. (2013), distributed practice is one of only two techniques rated “high utility” – it helped learners of different ages and in many subjects.
Sources and legal basis
- Dunlosky J. et al. (2013): Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1), 4–58
- PubMed 26173288 – Dunlosky et al. 2013 (Abstract)
- RFC 5545: IETF RFC 5545 – Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar)
As of:
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