Planner Inputs
Example Data Table
| Course | Credits | Lectures | Tutorials | Labs | Lecture Min | Tutorial Min | Lab Min | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Structures | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 75 | 60 | 120 | 5 |
| Microeconomics | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 90 | 60 | 120 | 4 |
| Academic Writing | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 60 | 120 | 3 |
Example settings: 5 study days, 14 semester weeks, 08:00 to 18:00 availability, 60 break minutes, 30 commute minutes, 8 personal commitment hours weekly, 2 study hours per credit, 90 maximum study block minutes, and 10 transition minutes.
Formula Used
1) Contact minutes = (Lectures × Lecture duration) + (Tutorials × Tutorial duration) + (Labs × Lab duration)
2) Priority factor = 1 + ((Priority − 3) × 0.10)
3) Self study hours = Credits × Study hours per credit × Priority factor
4) Total academic hours = Contact hours + Self study hours
5) Daily available minutes = (End time − Start time) − Break minutes − Commute minutes − Average daily commitment minutes
6) Weekly available hours = (Daily available minutes × Study days) ÷ 60
7) Utilization % = (Total academic hours ÷ Weekly available hours) × 100
8) Suggested daily load = Total academic hours ÷ Study days
9) Planner fit score adjusts for utilization, uneven daily loads, and days exceeding your preferred planning window.
How to Use This Calculator
1. Enter your weekly planning settings, including available days, daily time window, breaks, commuting, and outside commitments.
2. Add every course with credits, weekly lecture counts, tutorials, labs, durations, and a priority level from 1 to 5.
3. Choose a study-hours-per-credit value that reflects your program difficulty, assessment intensity, and reading load.
4. Click Build Timetable Plan to generate weekly contact hours, self-study blocks, utilization, fit score, graph, and schedule table.
5. Review overload warnings. If utilization is too high, reduce commitments, widen available hours, or lower course load assumptions.
6. Export the current result using the CSV and PDF buttons shown in the result section above the form.
FAQs
1. What does this planner calculate?
It estimates weekly contact hours, self-study hours, available academic time, utilization, daily load, a fit score, and a suggested timetable layout.
2. How is self-study time estimated?
Self-study time is based on credits, your study-hours-per-credit setting, and a priority factor. Higher-priority courses receive a modest upward adjustment.
3. What does the priority value do?
Priority changes the study demand multiplier. A course with higher urgency or difficulty receives more independent study time in the generated plan.
4. Why can the schedule exceed my daily window?
That happens when weekly academic demand is greater than your preferred available time. The planner flags those days so you can rebalance inputs.
5. Does this replace my official university timetable?
No. It is a planning tool for workload balancing and study block design. Official class times should always come from your institution.
6. What study-hours-per-credit value should I use?
Start with 1.5 to 2.5 hours per credit weekly. Increase it for reading-heavy, quantitative, capstone, or assessment-intensive courses.
7. Can I use decimal credits and different session lengths?
Yes. The planner accepts decimal credits and separate durations for lectures, tutorials, and labs, which improves weekly workload accuracy.
8. What do the CSV and PDF buttons export?
The CSV exports the generated timetable table. The PDF captures the visible planner results, including summary cards, graph, notes, and tables.