Turning a pile of topics into a plan
Most study plans fail before they start, because they are wishes rather than arithmetic. This calculator does the arithmetic. You tell it how many topics or chapters you must cover, how many days remain before the exam, and roughly how many minutes one topic takes you. It multiplies out the true total workload, then spreads that work across your available days — holding some days back for revision — and tells you honestly whether the resulting daily load fits inside the maximum study hours you set for yourself.
How the plan model works
The model makes three deliberate choices. First, one day in every seven is a revision/rest day — revision days = days ÷ 7, rounded down — because material reviewed a few days after learning is remembered far better than material seen once. Second, new material is spread evenly over the remaining study days. Third, each study day is chopped into focus sessions of the length you choose, with the day's session count rounded up. The day-by-day outline below shows the even spread in whole topics.
The fields, one by one
- Topics / chapters to cover — count them from the syllabus or table of contents, not from your feelings. Smaller topics make the estimate more accurate.
- Days until the exam — count full days available for studying; the exam day itself is not one of them.
- Average minutes per topic — time one topic honestly (reading, notes and a few practice questions) and use that. Most people underestimate by half the first time.
- Focus session length — 25 minutes is the classic Pomodoro length; 40–50 minutes suits deep problem work. Sessions are focus blocks, taken with short breaks between them.
- Maximum study hours per day — your sustainable ceiling, not your heroic one. The calculator checks the plan against it and warns you if the plan does not fit.
Why revision days are not wasted days
Spacing review out over time — the spacing effect — is one of the most reliably replicated findings in learning research. A topic studied once and reviewed twice, on separate days, is retained far better than a topic studied three times in one sitting. That is why this plan protects roughly one day a week for review and rest instead of spending every day on new material right up to the exam.
Worked example
You have 40 topics, 20 days and about 45 minutes per topic. Total workload: 40 × 45 = 1,800 minutes = 30 hours. Two of the 20 days are revision days (one per week), leaving 18 study days, so the load is 40 ÷ 18 ≈ 2.2 topics and about 100 minutes per study day — four 25-minute focus sessions. That sits comfortably inside a 4-hour daily cap, which is exactly the kind of plan that survives contact with real life.
How to use this calculator
- Count the topics or chapters on your syllabus and enter the total.
- Enter the full days remaining before the exam.
- Time yourself on one typical topic and enter those minutes as the per-topic average.
- Choose a focus session length — 25 minutes is a good default — and set your honest maximum study hours per day.
- Read the daily load, check the feasibility note, and follow the day-by-day outline, keeping revision days for review only.
If the plan does not fit
The warning note means the arithmetic cannot be wished away — but you have four real levers. Start earlier: even two extra days cut the daily load noticeably. Raise the daily cap modestly, in focus sessions rather than marathon hours, and only if you can sustain it. Trim the topic list: most exams weight core topics heavily, and past papers reveal which ones; covering 80% of topics well beats skimming all of them. Shrink minutes per topic on material you already half-know — test yourself first and study only the gaps. What does not work is skipping the revision days: they are where the learning actually consolidates. Once the plan fits, protect the grade it is aimed at with the Grade Calculator, which shows the exam score your target grade requires.