Skills / Exam prep plan
Exam prep plan
Build a dated plan for a real upcoming exam. Then run quiz sessions that find and track the weak spots. Use when they say "I have an exam on the 14th", "help me prep for finals", or "quiz me".
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
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Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes, take-home refusal included. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
The exam is days away and I haven't started
That is the situation the plan is built for. It works backwards from exam day, puts the "could not start it" topics first because they need the most passes, and fills the hours you actually have rather than the hours a syllabus wishes you had. Most of the time goes to practice problems and explaining from memory, because rereading is the weakest use of the days you have left. You can also build the practice tools yourself:
What you end up with
A dated plan from today to exam day, plus a weak-spot list that grows out of real practice sessions. Here is one, written eight days out.
- "Could not start it" goes first. It needs the most passes, so it gets the most days between first contact and the exam. Weak topics always appear at least twice, spaced days apart.
- Every miss gets logged with its kind. Never learned it, mixed it up, or ran out of time: each kind gets a different fix, and each miss gets rescheduled into the plan the moment it happens.
- "Could teach it" gets minutes. The plan spends time where the exam will hurt, so the strong topic gets a short confidence check instead of an evening.
- The last day is light on purpose. The plan works backwards from exam day, and the night before is review of the weak-spot list only.
Anatomy of a plan block
The skill writes every block to this standard, because "study bio" is a wish and this is a task:
- A A date and an hour, written into the calendar you actually check.
- B One named topic, chosen from your own could-teach / could-pass / could-not-start ratings.
- C Retrieval work with a count, so "done" is checkable.
- D The second pass, scheduled days later, before the first pass even happens.
Questions people actually ask
Will it answer my take-home exam or write graded essay answers?
No. If you bring a take-home, a graded quiz, or homework due for credit, it says so once and then offers the legitimate version: practice on similar ungraded problems, an explanation of the underlying concept, or review of an attempt you already made. As the skill puts it, an exam passed on borrowed answers is a course you fail later.
How does the quizzing actually work?
One question at a time, from your real materials: your notes, the textbook, past exams if they exist. It waits for your answer before saying anything, then tells you exactly what was right, what was wrong, and why. Every session ends with you re-answering your misses from memory.
What if the exam is only three days away?
The same plan, compressed. The topics you rated "could not start" still go first, the retrieval-over-rereading rule matters even more, and the last day stays light. Fewer passes fit, so the weak-spot list decides everything that makes the cut.
Do I need past exams or a topic list?
No, but if either exists the skill wants it, because it outranks everything else. Without one, coverage comes from the syllabus or the teacher's own words. The skill refuses to guess the format.
Is this free?
The skill is free, no account, no catch. The agent you paste it into may or may not be: Gemini has the widest free tier, Copilot's free tier is enough to try it, ChatGPT and Claude free plans can also run it in a chat.
Where to go from here
After the exam, the postmortem seeds what comes next:
Turn the prep into something you built:
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
--- name: exam-prep-plan category: school description: Build a dated plan for a real upcoming exam. Then run quiz sessions that find and track the weak spots. Use when they say "I have an exam on the 14th", "help me prep for finals", or "quiz me". --- # exam-prep-plan Prepare a student for a specific exam with a real date. Two artifacts come out of this: a day-by-day plan from today to the exam, written into something they will actually look at, and a running weak-spot list built from practice sessions where you quiz them. You never take the exam for them and never solve graded work — you build the plan and run the practice. ## Rule zero: practice, never answers If they bring a take-home exam, a graded quiz, or homework due for credit, you do not produce answers. Say so once, plainly, then offer the legitimate version: practice on similar ungraded problems, explanation of the underlying concept, or review of an attempt they already made. An exam they passed on borrowed answers is a course they fail later. ## Scope the actual exam - The date, time, and format: multiple choice, essays, problems, oral? Open book? Calculator? Get this from the syllabus or the teacher's own words, not from guessing. - The coverage: which chapters, units, or papers. If a topic list or past exam exists, get it — it outranks everything else. - Their honest starting point. Go topic by topic and have them rate each: could teach it, could pass it, could not start it. This list is the raw material for the plan. - Time actually available between now and the exam, minus their other classes, work, and sleep. Plans built on fictional hours produce real panic. ## Write the dated plan - Work backwards from exam day. The last day before is light review of the weak-spot list only. The days before that carry the "could not start it" topics first, because they need the most passes. - Every block is dated and named: not "study bio" but "Tue 7–8pm: photosynthesis, do 10 practice problems, retest Friday". Weak topics get scheduled at least twice, spaced days apart. - Most of the time goes to retrieval — practice problems, self-quiz, explaining from memory — because rereading feels like progress and is not. - Put the plan where they live: their calendar, a printed page on the wall, a pinned note. Confirm it is actually there before moving on. ## Practice-test together Run the first session now, and more across the plan: 1. Quiz them from their real materials — their notes, the textbook, past exams. Match the exam's format: if it is essays, ask essay questions and have them outline answers against the clock. 2. One question at a time. Wait for their answer before saying anything. Then tell them exactly what was right, what was wrong, and why. 3. Keep the weak-spot list as you go: every miss gets the topic, the date, and what kind of miss it was (never learned it, mixed it up, ran out of time). Reschedule each miss into the plan. 4. End each session with them re-answering, from memory, the ones they missed. ## Done - A dated plan from today to exam day, living where they look - At least one full practice session completed - A weak-spot list with every miss scheduled for a second pass - They can name their three weakest topics and when each gets covered again After the exam, ask how it went topic by topic — that postmortem seeds the plan for the next one, and the study-system skill turns this from a sprint into a routine.