Study Plan Skill for Claude

/study-plan

• Load ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/CLAUDE.md → bar jurisdiction, exam format, bar date, weak subjects, target study hours/day, prep course.
• Load ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/study-plan.yaml if it exists.
• Apply the framework below.
• Route by flag:
• --build (default if no plan exists): walk the inputs gate (exam, subjects, hours/week, days off, methods). Build the phase structure + daily schedule for the first two weeks. Write study-plan.yaml.
• --update (default if plan exists): re-read session_history, adjust subject priorities and weekly_hours, fill in the next stretch of daily schedule.
• --status: what's scheduled today / this week, score trend, subjects slipping, next scheduled session per subject.
• --cram: force cram mode — 80/20 high-yield prioritization, daily MBE volume, taper last 2-3 days.
• Before writing: summarize the plan in prose and confirm with the student. Adjust based on their answer.
• Always sanity-check hours/week against the student's stated life constraints. Over-ambitious plans fail.

Purpose

Sitting down to study and not knowing what to study is how weeks disappear. This skill builds a plan — weeks to exam, sessions per day, subjects per week, session types — and then adapts as the student actually does the sessions. It is a living plan, not a calendar export.

It also gives downstream skills (bar-prep, flashcards, drill, irac) a shared schedule to honor, so the student isn't asked "what do you want to study today" every time they open a session.

Confidence discipline

A plan is opinion, not doctrine. The skill states clearly what's an estimate:

• Time-per-topic estimates are general guidance (based on typical commercial prep-course weightings). Flag them as estimates — the student's real pace will differ.
• Subject weightings are derived from the student's own reported weak subjects and session history. Confident.
• High-yield-topic prioritization in cram mode is based on multi-year bar exam release patterns (MBE/MEE subject frequency). Flag any "this is definitely on the exam" claim as [UNCERTAIN — past frequency is not a prediction].

Load context

~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/CLAUDE.md:

• Bar jurisdiction, exam format, bar date
• Current classes (for non-bar use)
• Weak subjects (MBE, essay)
• Prep course
• Target study hours/day

~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/study-plan.yaml if it exists — extend, don't overwrite.

Workflow

Step 1: What are we planning for

> What are we building a plan for?

>

> 1. Bar exam (you have a bar date in mind)

> 2. A specific law school exam or set of finals

> 3. General semester study cadence (outlining, reading, drilling across all classes)

For (1) bar: read bar date from practice profile, confirm. If no bar date captured, ask.

For (2) law school exam: ask which class, what date, what format.

For (3) semester: ask for the term-end date as the anchor.

Step 2: Inputs — one at a time, wait for each

Ask and wait. Do not bulk all questions into one prompt and move on.

• Exam date: confirmed? (If bar: ask for jurisdiction if not in practice profile — study content depends on it.)
• Subjects to cover: for bar, read from NCBE subject outline for the exam format (NextGen / traditional UBE / state-specific). For a class, the syllabus. Confirm with student — "any subject I should add or drop?"
• Strongest subjects: least priority. Still reviewed, not drilled heavily.
• Weakest subjects: most priority. Get more sessions.
• Hours per week available: realistic, not aspirational. "I can do 20 hours" is different from "I will do 20 hours for 8 weeks." Ask what they can actually sustain.
• Life-context sanity check — force it. After the student gives a number, ask (one question at a time — do not skip):

> You said [N] hours per week. Before I build this, tell me what else is in your week — job (hours/week), family (kids, caregiving), commute, workout, therapy, clinic, anything meaningful. The plan should fit your life, not the other way around. A plan you can't follow is worse than a lighter plan you can.

Wait for the answer. Then sanity-check the stated hours against their reported load:

> That's ~[X] hours/day across [N] study days, on top of [job + family + commute + other]. In my experience that's [realistic / tight / unsustainable]. Want to adjust the hours/week target before I build, or keep them and see how week 1 goes?

Do not skip this step even if the practice profile's target hours number was already captured at cold-start. The profile captures what the student said; the life-context check captures whether it's sustainable. If the check produces a lower number, use the lower number for the plan and note the adjustment in the confidence_flags block.

If the student declines to share life context ("just build it"), respect that — but add a confidence_flags entry: "Life-context check declined; plan assumes [N] hours/week is sustainable. Revisit at end of week 2 if adherence is below [X]%."

• Preferred study methods: multi-select. MBE practice / essays / flashcards / outlining / drilling / re-reading. Weight the schedule toward the methods they say they'll actually do.
• Days off per week: rest days matter. Plans that schedule 7/7 days fail in week 3.

Step 2.5: Supplement vs. replace (prep-course users)

If ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/CLAUDE.md → Prep course names a structured commercial prep course (i.e., is NOT self or N/A), the student already has a prep-course calendar. This skill's plan must choose one of two roles — it cannot run a full parallel curriculum alongside the prep course without burning the student out.

Ask, one question, wait:

> Your profile says you're on [prep course name]. They publish a day-by-day calendar with every subject and task scheduled. Two ways this plan can work — pick one:

>

> 1. Supplement. The prep course is your primary curriculum. This plan fills gaps: extra MBE drilling on your weak subjects, targeted essay practice, flashcard loops on the topics you're missing. I won't rebuild the prep-course calendar; I'll layer on top of it.

> 2. Replace. You're not following the prep-course calendar (maybe because its pacing doesn't work for your life). I'll build the whole plan — subjects, hours, phases, schedule — and you drop the prep-course calendar.

>

> Don't pick both. Running two full curricula against each other is how students blow up in week 4.

Wait for the answer. Record it in the yaml as prep_course_mode: supplement | replace.

If supplement: the plan's daily schedule is lighter — it only adds weak-subject drilling and targeted practice, does not duplicate prep-course coverage. Flag in confidence_flags: "Supplement mode — this plan assumes you're on track with [prep course] for primary coverage. If you fall behind on the prep course, tell me and we'll re-plan."

If replace: build the full plan as specified below.

If the student's prep course is self or N/A, skip this step — there's nothing to supplement.

Step 3: Build the schedule

Calculate weeks-to-exam from today's date. Then:

Normal mode (4+ weeks out):

• Split weeks into phases:
• Learning phase (first ~60% of time): one subject per ~3-5 days, mixing outlining/reading with flashcards and a few MBE/essay questions on fresh material.
• Drilling phase (next ~30%): more MBE volume, more essay practice, simulated conditions, all subjects in rotation.
• Review phase (last ~10%): focused on weakest subtopics from session_history, full practice exams, light review of strong areas.
• Weight subjects by weakness: weak subjects get ~2x the hours of strong subjects.
• Schedule day-by-day: which subject, which method, how long. Leave slack for the student's actual life.

Cram mode (< 4 weeks out):

• Flag it: "You're less than four weeks out. This is cram mode — the plan prioritizes high-yield topics over full coverage. You will leave gaps. That's the tradeoff at this point."
• 80/20 prioritization: the MBE subjects that historically appear most (Civ Pro, Evidence, Con Law, Contracts) get the lion's share. Narrower subjects get minimum viable coverage.
• Daily schedule: MBE blocks every day (volume matters now), essay practice every other day, one simulated exam per week.
• Sleep and taper the last 2-3 days. Do not schedule hard drilling the day before the exam. This is real — students who cram through the night before score worse.

Step 4: Write it

Write to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/study-plan.yaml:

plan_type: bar  # or law-school-exam or semester
exam_date: 2026-07-28
jurisdiction: CA
exam_format: state-specific  # or NextGen / UBE
created: 2026-05-08
last_updated: 2026-05-08
weeks_to_exam: 12
hours_per_week: 25
days_per_week: 6
mode: normal  # or cram
phases:
  - name: learning
    start: 2026-05-08
    end: 2026-06-20
    focus: outlining, flashcards, introductory MBE
  - name: drilling
    start: 2026-06-21
    end: 2026-07-18
    focus: MBE volume, essay practice, simulated conditions
  - name: review
    start: 2026-07-19
    end: 2026-07-27
    focus: weak-subtopic review, full practice exams
subjects:
  evidence:
    priority: high  # weak
    weekly_hours: 5
    methods: [mbe, flashcards, essay]
  con-law:
    priority: medium
    weekly_hours: 3
    methods: [mbe, outline-review]
  # etc.
schedule:
  - date: 2026-05-08
    day: Thursday
    sessions:
      - subject: Evidence
        method: outline-review
        duration_min: 90
      - subject: Evidence
        method: mbe
        duration_min: 60
        n_questions: 25
  - date: 2026-05-09
    day: Friday
    sessions:
      - subject: Contracts
        method: flashcards
        duration_min: 45
      - subject: Contracts
        method: essay
        duration_min: 60
  # etc.
session_history: []  # appended by bar-prep, flashcards, drill, irac as sessions complete

Step 5: Confirm with the student

Header — required on every in-chat presentation and on any separate prose-format plan document written alongside the YAML. The first line of the summary (and the first line of any study-plan.md companion file) must be the verbatim header from plugin config ## Outputs:

STUDY NOTES — NOT LEGAL ADVICE

The header does not go inside the YAML itself (it's a data file), but it belongs on the prose summary you show the student and on any human-readable plan document you save next to the YAML. This is not a disclaimer afterthought — it is the output's identity. Do not omit, rephrase, or relocate it.

Summarize the plan in prose (not raw YAML) before saving, with the header on top:

> STUDY NOTES — NOT LEGAL ADVICE

>

> Here's what I built. [X] weeks to the [exam]. [Y] hours/week across [Z] days. Weak subjects (Evidence, Contracts) get 2x the hours. Three phases: learning through [date], drilling through [date], review the last [N] days. I've scheduled the first two weeks day-by-day. Beyond that it's allocated by week — I'll fill in the daily schedule as you complete sessions, so the plan adapts to where you actually are.

>

> Does this feel right? Too ambitious? Too light? Missing a subject?

Adjust based on the answer. Then write.

Adapting the plan

After each session (via bar-prep-questions, flashcards, drill, irac), the corresponding skill appends to session_history:

session_history:
  - date: 2026-05-08
    subject: Evidence
    type: bar-prep-mbe
    n_questions: 10
    score: 6
    weak_subtopics: [hearsay-exceptions, character-evidence]

On the next /law-student:study-plan --update run (or when any skill detects the plan is stale):

• Subjects with consistently low scores get promoted in priority and weekly_hours.
• Weak subtopics within a subject get flagged for the next scheduled session on that subject.
• If the student is falling behind (scheduled sessions not appearing in history), adjust: either compress coverage or note the gap and ask.
• If the student is ahead, open up time for deeper weak-subject drilling.

Modes

--build (default) — fresh plan

--update — re-read session_history and adjust weightings, fill in upcoming daily schedule

--status — what's on deck today / this week, what's the score trend, what's slipping

--cram — force cram mode even if more than 4 weeks out (user override)

Integration

• /law-student:session <subject> <n> writes results to this plan's session_history.
• /law-student:bar-prep-questions reads the plan to know which subject is scheduled for today.
• /law-student:flashcards can --session <n> and results land in the plan.
• /law-student:socratic-drill and /law-student:irac-practice session completions also append.

What this skill does not do

• Guarantee you pass. The plan is a scaffold. The work is on you.
• Predict the exam. Cram mode uses historical subject frequency; high-yield ≠ guaranteed-tested.
• Replace your prep course schedule. If you're on a commercial prep course, this plan can supplement — don't run two full curricula against each other. Use one as primary.
• Schedule your life. Hours available is what you tell me. If you overstate, the plan will break in week 2. Be honest.