Sprout Study features: every part of the study planner explained

A complete, factual description of the Sprout Study web planner: how it calculates the plan, what each screen does, how it adapts to your real pace and what it costs.

Updated October 18, 2026

Sprout Study is a web study planner that turns your subjects, credits and exam dates into a day-by-day plan. It calculates how many hours of self-study each subject needs, splits that volume into tasks of 30 to 120 minutes, places them within a daily limit you choose (2–8 hours), adds a review the day before every exam, re-spreads missed days without moving the exam date and warns you early when the material no longer fits before a deadline. It runs in the browser on phone and computer, in English, Russian, German and Spanish.

What is Sprout Study and who is it for?

Sprout Study is a planner for students who have to organise their own studying. It answers two questions every day: what should I study today? and will I make it by the exam? It is built for:

• distance-learning and part-time students who receive a curriculum but no weekly timetable;
• students who work and have a limited number of hours per day;
• anyone with several subjects and fixed exam dates or submission deadlines;
• people taking an online course alongside a degree.

Sprout Study does not teach content, store notes or offer courses. It plans and tracks the studying you already have to do.

How does Sprout Study calculate a study plan?

The plan is calculated in four steps: credits become hours, hours become tasks, tasks are placed on days, and the days are checked against your limits.

1. Credits → hours. Hours come from the curriculum or are converted from credits: 1 ECTS = 25–30 hours, 1 Russian credit unit (ЗЕТ) = 36 hours, and for US credit hours about 2 hours of study per credit per week. The conversion is configurable.
2. Hours → tasks. The self-study volume of each subject is split into tasks per section (reading, notes, test). The length of one session is a setting: 30, 45, 60, 90 or 120 minutes, or a section kept whole.
3. Tasks → days. Tasks are placed within your daily norm of 2–8 hours and a weekly cap (at most 48 hours), skipping rest days, no-study periods such as holidays or sick leave, and exam days. A review session is scheduled the day before each exam.
4. Check. If tasks do not fit before their deadline, they wait in a pool, and the app tells you what to change.

A norm above 8 hours a day cannot be set on purpose: a plan that needs more only works on paper. In that case Sprout Study suggests moving a deadline or reducing the scope instead.

Two ordering modes

During setup you choose who sets the order of subjects:

• The school: subjects are spread evenly up to their own deadlines, the way an institution schedules them.
• Myself: subjects form a queue and go one after another at your full daily norm; each deadline is only an upper limit, so you may finish earlier.

To check the numbers before signing up, the study hours calculator shows how many hours a day your subjects need.

How do you get started?

Setup takes three steps and a wizard guides you through them.

1. Answer four questions: your program end date, who sets the order of subjects, how many hours a day you can study (2–8) and which days are rest days. All of this can be changed later in settings.
2. Add your subjects. Upload a photo or screenshot of your student portal, or a PDF, Excel, Word or CSV file with the subject list; the app reads names, hours and credits. You can also paste a link to a course page (for example on Khan Academy): a single course page becomes one subject with sections, a program page becomes a list of subjects. Subjects can be added by hand as well.
3. Distribute the program. The wizard assigns a deadline to every subject so that everything fits into your daily norm. You tick what you have already passed and choose how many subjects to study at once. The Today screen then already has tasks.

Dates can be typed in words in any date field: “14 January”, “14.01”, “in 2 weeks” or “on Friday”, in English, Russian, German or Spanish. If a date appears in a subject’s name, the app offers to use it as the due date.

What does each screen in Sprout Study do?

The app has seven areas plus the profile. Each has one job.

Today

Only today’s tasks. You check them off and progress shows immediately. The “Start” button on a task runs a study timer; the timer is synced in real time between your devices, so you can start on the laptop and stop on the phone. A task finished earlier than scheduled gets the “Ahead of plan” badge; a task moved from a missed day is marked “Carried over”.

Overview

The big picture: upcoming deadlines, the week as plan vs. actual, the advisor when the program does not fit, and load in the weeks ahead — one bar per week up to the last deadline, green for on track, amber for tight, red for overloaded. Tapping a week shows what is on it and how to lighten it.

Planner

All tasks by date plus the subject queue: what is in progress and what comes next. “Calculate plan” rebuilds the schedule and shows beforehand exactly what will change. Tasks that do not fit before their deadline wait in the pool, and a banner explains the options: recalculate, move the deadline or change the norm.

Calendar

A week or month view. You drag tasks to another day; a manually moved task becomes pinned and the planner will not move it again. You can drag a task onto a rest day and confirm it without changing your rest-day settings. Holidays, breaks and sick leave are added here as no-study periods.

Subjects

A progress card per subject. Inside: sections, the deadline with its change history, the “Passed” button and “Replan” for a subject whose schedule has drifted and is easier to rebuild from scratch. Marking a subject passed removes its unfinished tasks from the plan, and it is reversible.

Journal

Passed subjects and grades. One field is enough: a percentage or a grade in your system. The average is converted into your chosen grading system: Germany (1.0–5.0), US/UK (letter grades), Russia/CIS (5-point) or Spain (0–10).

Assistant

You ask about your plan in plain words (“what is due this week?”) or ask it to move a deadline, add a task or mark one done. The assistant changes nothing on its own: it shows a card with the exact change, and the change is applied only after you confirm. It does not create subjects or sections; that happens in Subjects.

Profile and settings

Daily hours, rest days, length of one session, grading system, reminders and emails, the calendar link, your subscription and a second study program. Everything saves automatically. After you change the daily norm, the plan rebuilds itself.

How does the plan adapt when real life gets in the way?

Sprout Study adapts in two ways: it rebalances after missed days, and it suggests settings based on what your timer actually recorded.

Rebalancing after a missed day

When you open the app after a missed day, unfinished tasks move to today and the rest of the subject is re-spread over the coming days within your daily norm. The exam date does not move. If so much has been missed that the deadline is no longer reachable, the advisor says so and offers three options: move the date, raise the norm earlier or reduce the scope. Apart from moving overdue tasks to today, the plan never rebuilds silently — a full recalculation happens only when you press “Calculate plan” and after you have seen the changes.

Hint for a task that keeps slipping

If a task is carried over unfinished again and again, a hint appears on Today with three buttons: “Halve it”, “Move to tomorrow” and “Ask the assistant”. It can be hidden and only returns after another postponement.

Hints based on the timer

After about three weeks of timer data the app compares the plan with what you really did and suggests concrete changes:

• Daily norm: if you study about 2 hours a day against a norm of 3, it offers to lower the norm so the plan is honest; if you study more than planned, it offers to raise it so the plan finishes earlier.
• Rest days: if tasks stood on the same weekday for several weeks in a row and no study happened, it offers to make that day a rest day.
• Session length: if your typical timer session is shorter or longer than the planned session length, it offers to cut sections to match.
• Subject hours: once there is enough data, it offers to adjust a subject’s hours to your real pace.
• Finish-date forecast: it shows when each subject will be finished at the current pace compared with its deadline.

Every suggestion is a proposal. Nothing changes until you accept it.

Can you plan two study programs at once?

Yes. In Profile → Settings → “Programs” you add a second program, for example a university degree plus an online course. Each program has its own subject queue, end date and number of subjects studied at once. The daily norm is shared: Today merges both programs, and the day is split equally between the open subjects of both. The Planner shows a separate queue for each program, and Subjects has a filter.

Can you see the plan in Google Calendar or Outlook?

Yes, through a calendar subscription link. In Profile → Settings → Calendar → “Get link”, you subscribe in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook. Unfinished tasks and deadlines then appear next to your other appointments and update on their own. The link can be reset at any time.

What reminders does Sprout Study send?

• Morning push notification: how many tasks are planned today, how long they take and where to start.
• Deadline reminders: 7, 3 and 1 day before each deadline.
• Gentle follow-up: if you have not opened the plan by the afternoon, one more message arrives. There are never more than two messages a day.
• Monday email: the plan for the week; it can be turned off in the profile.

Push notifications need to be allowed once in the browser on each device.

Does Sprout Study work offline?

The Today screen does. Without a connection it opens from a saved copy, and check-offs are stored and synced as soon as you are back online. The other screens wait for a connection so they never show an outdated plan.

Which languages and grading systems are supported?

The interface, reminders, emails and the user guide are available in English, Russian, German and Spanish. Dates in words are understood in all four languages. The Journal converts grades between four systems: Germany, US/UK, Russia/CIS and Spain, with percentages as the common scale.

How much does Sprout Study cost?

Every new account starts with a 10-day free trial with full access to all features; no credit card is required. After the trial, Sprout Study is a paid subscription: $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Promo codes can extend the trial. An email arrives 3 days before a subscription renews. Details are on the pricing page.

How is Sprout Study different from a to-do list, calendar or spreadsheet?

The main difference is who does the arithmetic. In a to-do list, a calendar app or a spreadsheet, you estimate the volume and set every date by hand; in Sprout Study the volume is calculated from the curriculum and the dates are placed automatically.

A to-do list or calendar remains useful for appointments and everyday tasks; the calendar subscription lets Sprout Study’s plan appear right next to them.

Questions and answers

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