---
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.