--- name: study-plan description: > Build or update a long-term bar prep (or exam prep) study plan — phases, subjects weighted by weakness, daily session schedule, adaptive to session history in study-plan.yaml. Use when the user says "build a study plan", "plan my bar prep", "schedule my studying", or "how should I study for [X]". argument-hint: "[--build | --update | --status | --cram]" --- # /study-plan 1. 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. 2. Load `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/law-student/study-plan.yaml` if it exists. 3. Apply the framework below. 4. 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. 5. Before writing: summarize the plan in prose and confirm with the student. Adjust based on their answer. 6. 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 Barbri/Themis/Kaplan 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` is **Barbri**, **Themis**, **Kaplan**, or any other structured prep course (i.e., 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 [Barbri / Themis / Kaplan]. 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`: ```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`: ```yaml 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 ` 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 ` 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 Barbri/Themis/Kaplan, 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.