Creating Study Plans and Revision Schedules with AI

A generic study plan from a website will never fit your specific subjects, your available hours, or your personal weak spots. AI can build you a custom, spaced-repetition-aware schedule in under two minutes — if you give it the right information.

1. Introduction

Most students either under-plan (study whatever feels right each evening) or over-plan (create a beautiful colour-coded timetable they abandon by day three). The reason both approaches fail is the same: they do not account for how memory actually works. Spaced repetition — revisiting material at increasing intervals — is the most evidence-backed learning technique we have. AI can apply that principle to your exact syllabus, your exam dates, and the hours you actually have free. This tutorial shows you how to ask for exactly that.

2. The Concept Explained

Memory is not like a hard drive where you write a file once and it stays. It fades. The forgetting curve, first described by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, shows that within 24 hours you forget roughly half of what you learned — unless you revisit it. Revisiting at the right time (before you forget) reinforces the memory trace and pushes the next review further into the future.

A spaced-repetition schedule looks like this: study a topic on Day 1, review it on Day 3, again on Day 7, again on Day 14, and so on. Each review session is shorter than the original study session. By exam time, you have seen the material five or six times — but spread out, not crammed.

3. The Problem Without Good Prompts

Make me a study plan for my exams.

Act as an expert academic coach who specialises
in spaced repetition and exam preparation.

I have the following situation:
- Exam: Final-year university Mathematics exam
- Date: 6 weeks from today
- Subjects/topics: Calculus, Linear Algebra,
  Statistics, Differential Equations
- Weak areas: Statistics and Differential Equations
- Available study time: 2 hours on weekdays,
  4 hours on weekends
- I have already studied Calculus moderately well

Create a 6-week, day-by-day study plan that:
1. Applies spaced repetition (schedule each topic
   for review at increasing intervals)
2. Spends more time on my weak areas
3. Includes a full mock-test day in week 5
4. Keeps week 6 for light revision only

Format: a week-by-week table with daily tasks.
Keep each task specific (e.g. "Solve 10 integration
problems" not "Study calculus").

4. The Solution in Action

The best study-plan prompts give AI five key inputs: timeline, subject list, weak areas, available hours, and format preference. With all five, AI can produce a personalised, actionable schedule. You can then copy it into a calendar app or a simple spreadsheet.

5. Step-by-Step: Building Your Study Plan Prompt

1. State your exam date. Give the exact number of weeks remaining, not just "soon".
2. List every topic. Be specific — not "science" but "Chapter 4: Organic Chemistry, Chapter 6: Thermodynamics".
3. Be honest about weak spots. Name the topics you have been avoiding. AI will allocate more time there.
4. Give your real available hours. Overestimating leads to a plan you cannot follow and abandon by day two.
5. Ask for spaced repetition explicitly. Use the words "spaced repetition" or "schedule each topic for review at Day 3, Day 7, Day 14, and Day 21".
6. Specify the format. Week-by-week table, daily task list, or topic-block calendar — tell AI which you find easiest to follow.
7. Iterate. After getting the first draft, prompt: "Adjust this plan — I cannot study on Saturday evenings and I want 30-minute breaks built in."

6. Practice Exercises

Act as an academic coach. Evaluate this study plan. What is missing, unrealistic, or could be improved based on spaced-repetition principles? Then rewrite it for [your specific exam and timeline].

7. Key Takeaways