Study Timer

Research on attention and on spaced learning points the same way: shorter, more frequent sessions beat long ones. A block of 25 to 50 minutes with a 5 to 10-minute break, repeated, keeps performance close to its starting level, whereas a three-hour session without breaks declines steadily after the first hour and most people remember less of the later material. Total daily study time matters less than consistency across days; three hours a day for five days does more than fifteen hours on Sunday, because sleep between sessions consolidates memory.

The timer runs sessions of any length, suggests a break at the end, and keeps a total per subject and per day, so you can see whether the three hours you planned actually happened.

• Retrieve, don't reread. Closing the book and writing down what you remember, or testing yourself with questions, produces far better retention than rereading or highlighting. Use the block for practice questions, flashcards or explaining the topic aloud.
• Interleave subjects. Alternating topics within a day (maths, then history, then maths) feels harder but improves long-term recall compared with blocking one subject for hours. The per-subject labels make this easy to track.
• Space the reviews. Revisit material after one day, then three, then a week. The date calculator can schedule review dates; the habit tracker keeps the streak.
• Put the phone in another room. Studies find that a visible phone, even face down and silent, reduces available attention.

A good break is short, away from the screen, and involves movement: get water, walk to the window, stretch. A bad break is one that becomes the main event, social media in particular, which drags attention into a different mode and makes the next block harder to start. Set the break timer as strictly as the study timer. Every second or third break, take a longer one (15–20 minutes) and eat something. Looking into the distance for a few seconds also rests the eyes; the break reminder automates that if you are working on a screen.

In the last week, practise under timed conditions with the exam timer so the pace is familiar, and put the exam date on the countdown to divide the remaining days among topics. The night before, stop early; a full night's sleep adds more marks than another hour of revision. Our Pomodoro guide covers planning a day in blocks, and the focus timer offers longer 50 and 90-minute sessions for deep work.