Situational plans for the study moments that recur.
Every semester has finals. Every degree has a thesis. Every year has an exam-week emergency. These playbooks are rehearsable plans for the specific situations that keep happening — with the specific Brainback moves per day.
A page each. Tuned to the moment.
Each playbook: a specific audience, a duration, a day-by-day plan with hours per day, the specific Brainback surfaces that carry the weight, anti-patterns to avoid, and FAQs. Nothing generic. Every move is executable this week.
Finals week
Seven days of exams. One coherent plan.
Finals week is where a semester of consistent work pays off — or where the lack of consistent work becomes visible. This playbook assumes the second case: you're one week out, you know your Brain scores per subject, and you need to make specific decisions about where to spend the last 40-60 study hours.
Exam cramming
You have 24-72 hours. Here's the least-bad plan.
Cramming is not what Brainback is built for. But it happens. You had a bad semester, or life got in the way, or the exam snuck up. This playbook is the least-bad thing you can do in 24-72 hours — with the honest caveat that it won't produce the same outcome as a proper 12-week cycle.
New semester setup
Two weeks to build the routine that carries you.
The first two weeks of a semester are where habits form. Whatever you do consistently in weeks 1-2 becomes what you default to in weeks 12-15. Getting this right prevents finals-week panic; getting it wrong guarantees it.
Comeback semester
You bombed last semester. Here's how to actually recover.
A bad semester is not a permanent verdict. It's a lot of graduate students, med students, and successful professionals have one on their transcript. The question isn't whether you can recover; it's whether your NEXT semester actually rebuilds the habits that failed you.
Thesis writing sprint
60 days from outline to defensible draft.
Thesis writing is where AI-drafted work is most tempting and most catastrophic. Tempting because the draft is long and the deadline is finite. Catastrophic because your committee will read it — and any experienced reader can tell AI prose from your prose, especially when the argument doesn't cohere the way your prior work does.
Board exam · final month
30 days from a strong practice-test score to a Board pass.
The final month before a board exam is where the compounding pays off — or where anxiety erodes what's already there. This playbook assumes you've done the multi-month prep (see the exam-specific pages under /exams for that arc). It's the last 30-day sprint.
Essay writing sprint
72 hours from prompt to defensible draft.
Every semester has essay deadlines. This playbook is for the ones where you have 72 hours, a prompt, and a decision about whether to write the essay yourself or let ChatGPT do it. This playbook assumes you're writing it yourself.
Study abroad prep
One quarter to hit the ground fluent-enough.
Study abroad breaks down in two places: the language, and the academic style. Both can be prepped for. This playbook is a 12-week arc to make the first two weeks in-country feel like you belong there, not like you're an incoming freshman all over again.
Email hello@brainback.app with the specific scenario — we prioritize new playbook pages by request volume. Common asks: MCAT-week playbook, coding interview sprint, defense-prep playbook, sabbatical study plans.
playbooks
Pick your situation. Execute this week.
Free tier is enough to run most of these. Upgrade when the plan calls for unlimited recall.