Pomodoro Study Scheduler

The Problem

Most students know they need to study. What they don't know is when, how long, and how many times to review each topic before an exam. The result is last-minute cramming — the least effective way to retain information. Calendars stay empty until the night before, and by then it's too late.

Why This Approach Works

This agent is built on two of the most well-researched study techniques in cognitive science.

Spaced repetition — reviewing material at increasing intervals before an exam (14 days out, 7 days, 3 days, 1 day) forces your brain to actively retrieve information each time, which is what actually moves it into long-term memory. Cramming the night before doesn't do this.

Active recall with Pomodoro sessions—instead of passively re-reading notes, each session asks you to close your materials and write down everything you remember first. This retrieval effort is what strengthens memory. The 25-minute focused session length is aligned with research on peak attention spans — long enough to go deep, short enough to stay sharp.

Together these two methods mean you cover every topic multiple times before exam day in focused sessions that actually stick.

How It Works

When you trigger the agent for the first time, it starts by checking your setup. If you haven't filled in your study preferences yet, it creates the page for you and walks you through it. You tell it your available days, how many hours you can study per day, and your notification email.

Next, it collects your course information. You can upload your syllabus as a PDF, and it extracts everything automatically—course name, exam dates, topics, quizzes, midterms, and finals. If you prefer, you can just tell it directly in the chat or fill in the course tables manually. It handles all three and merges them together.

Once it has everything, it checks your Google Calendar for existing events so it never double books you. Then it builds your entire study schedule—grouping two 25-minute Pomodoro sessions into clean 55-minute calendar blocks early in the semester, then shifting to longer focused sessions as exams get closer. Every calendar event includes a full description of what to study and how to approach it using active recall.

After scheduling, it asks if you want a study plan dashboard created inside Notion—a single page showing your calendar, every topic scheduled this month with its status, and a live exam countdown. You can see your entire semester at a glance.

After each session passes, the agent sends you a quick check-in: "Did you complete this session? Done / Missed / Partial." If you missed it, it finds the next open slot and reschedules — but only after asking you to confirm. It never moves things around without your input.

Every Sunday at 8pm it sends you a weekly report—total sessions completed, hours studied, topics that still need attention, and an honest assessment of how your week went.

What You Need to Connect

For the best experience, connect Google Calendar and Gmail and give this agent access to your Notion workspace. Setup takes about two minutes.