# Prepare an exam with a study plan

> Give a deck an exam date or an everyday pace. Prior spreads the new cards over the days left and sets the retention to match.

Source: https://priortasks.com/docs/flashcards/study-plans/
Last updated: 2026-11-05

A study plan tells Prior what you are preparing for. For a deck with an exam date, Prior spreads the cards you have not met yet over the days that are left, and makes sure every card comes back before the exam. A plan covers the deck and all its subdecks.

## Add a plan

1. Open the deck and choose **Add a study plan** under the review button.
2. Choose **Exam** (be ready for a date: a test, a final) or **Everyday** (learn a little every day).
3. For an exam, pick the **Exam date**. You can follow a task or an event (below), or use **Or pick a date**.
4. Set the **Importance**: **Low**, **Normal** or **High**.
5. Check the preview, which shows the pace in new cards a day, then choose **Save the plan**.

The plan then shows on the deck page: its name, a countdown (for example "in 12 days"), how many cards you have **learned** out of the total, and the pace. Pack tiles on the Flashcards page get a countdown chip, in red within 3 days of the exam. Choose the plan line to change it, or **Remove the plan** to take it off.

## What the plan changes

| | Everyday | Exam |
| --- | --- | --- |
| New cards a day | 5, 10 or 20 for Low, Normal or High | What is left to learn, divided by the days left to learn it |
| Target retention | 85 %, 90 % or 92 % | 88 %, 92 % or 95 % |
| Review-only days at the end | None | 0, 1 or 2, and never more than a quarter of the days left |
| Longest interval | Your deck setting | Never past the exam |

In exam mode, the pace is worked out from the new cards left when the day began, so it stays steady through the day. On the exam day, whatever is still due appears for review. If the pace would be very high, the preview says "That is a lot for one day. Starting now is the best move."

**Target retention** and **New cards per day** in **Deck settings** show **Set by the study plan** while a plan applies. **Maximum reviews per day** still applies.

## Follow a task or an event

Under **Follow a task or an event**, search your open tasks that have a due date, and your calendar events. Prior lists the likeliest first: titles that sound like an exam, or that share words with the deck's name. Choose one, and its date becomes the exam date.

The date then moves with it. While Flashcards is open, if you change the task's due date or move the event, the plan follows. If a linked task loses its due date, or the event cannot be found, the plan keeps the date it has. **Unlink** stops following.

## Plans and subdecks

A plan applies to the deck it is set on and to every subdeck below it. A subdeck that follows a plan from above says **Paced by the plan of** and the pack's name, and opens that pack when you choose it. The plan's pace and review limit are shared by the whole pack: each chapter takes its part of what is left, and new cards come in the order they were created.

## After the exam

When the date has passed, the deck shows **The exam is over**. Choose **Keep learning every day** to switch to an everyday plan, or **New date** to prepare another exam. Until you choose, the deck falls back to a light pace of 5 new cards a day.

## Good to know

- An exam plan with no date behaves like an everyday plan until you pick one. The deck page shows **Pick the exam date**.
- The retention and the longest interval change the schedule of the cards already in the deck, and they are worked out again each day.
- An AI assistant connected to Prior can set a deck's plan too. See [Create cards with Prior AI or Claude](https://priortasks.com/docs/flashcards/write-cards-with-ai/).