School and university – learning areas

StudyNow keeps school and university in separate learning areas. Each has its own periods, subjects or courses, and sessions; nothing mixes. If you only study, you will not notice any of this: the university area looks exactly as it did.

After the update to 6.0 all your existing data sits in the Studies area. The dashboard shows a one-time note that StudyNow now works for school too — “Not now” hides it for good.

Adding a school area: Settings → Learning areas → Add area. The app then asks:

1. School or university.
2. For school: Years 5–10 (fixed subjects with your class) or upper secondary (courses with a course code and level).
3. Set it up yourself or try it with examples — a fictional class 7b or an upper-secondary half-year Q1.1.
4. When setting it up yourself, the half-year: school year, first or second half, class (with year) or phase, start and end. The dates are a suggestion — school years start at different times in different federal states.

Then you enter your subjects (years 5–10) or courses (upper secondary). Subjects come with suggestions; your own names always work. The choice group (such as “Religion/Ethics”) records which subject you take from a group. Upper secondary adds course code, level (GK/LK or gA/eA) and, if you like, the period you take the course.

In a school area the tabs read Today · Timetable · Subjects or Courses · Progress · Settings. At the top you see which area you are in — such as “School · 7b” —; tap it to switch. Nothing is lost when you do.

Since 6.5 school has its own short introduction in four steps. It appears after setup and is available again under Settings → Introduction. Start guides, a guide for teachers and a lesson plan for the first lesson (German) are in docs/schule/.

Importing a timetable

Instead of typing it in: Settings → Import timetable (or Import a timetable when setting up). The app asks how you have your timetable:

• Calendar file – an .ics file, for example from WebUntis or the school portal.
• Calendar link – a link to such a file; it is loaded once.
• Spreadsheet – a .csv file. You choose whether each row is a dated entry or a lesson in the weekly plan.
• Template – a school template your teacher shared.
• Enter it yourself – the timetable editor.

Before importing, a preview shows what arrives: the period, how many lessons are new, changed or cancelled, and a few sample days. You assign a subject to each name from the file – an existing one, a new one, “as an event without subject” or “do not import”. Only exact matches are suggested; you assign abbreviations like “MA” yourself. Nothing is saved before Import, and then all or nothing.

The same file again later: calendar files – and spreadsheets with an id column – are matched. What the school changed is added; what you changed yourself stays; if both disagree, the preview shows both values and you decide. What is no longer in the file stays. An import never deletes your own tasks or look-backs.

You open a school template like any .studynow file. In years 5–10 the shared subjects are preselected and you pick one from each choice group – such as religious education or second foreign language. In upper secondary you pick your courses. A new half-year is always created.

For teachers: under Settings → Share school plan as template (upper secondary: course plan) you pass on a class’s lesson times, week rhythm, holidays, events, subjects and weekly plan. Teachers are only included if you switch on Include teachers. Tasks and anything personal always stay out.

Quick look back

On Today a quiet line asks: “Would you like to look back on a subject?” – listing the subjects that already had lessons today. A look-back is about the subject on that day; a double lesson gets one answer, not two. Via Quick look back on a lesson you can also look back on that single lesson. In upper secondary it is called Learning reflection.

Every question has five labelled answers – for understanding, “Not yet” to “Very well” – and No answer. Nothing is required, there is no counter and no reminder. Which questions appear is set under Settings → Look-back: years 5–10 start with understanding only, upper secondary asks all four; attendance only if you switch it on. Look-backs stay on your device.

Progress

The Progress tab shows:

• Your goals this week – chosen and ticked off by you, such as “I plan my tasks on three days”.
• Achievements – Timetable set, Week planned, Weekly goal reached and Learning goal checked (on an assessment). No percentages, no streaks.
• Look-backs by subject – how many there are (per day, per lesson), over which period, and the latest answer per question.

Reminders at school

Under Settings → Reminders the school area has no notifications for single lessons. Instead, if you like, a daily overview in the afternoon (default 5 pm) when tasks or a test are due tomorrow. You set a reminder on the individual task. During quiet time (default 8 pm to 7 am) nothing arrives; anything due then arrives when it ends. The discreet preview only shows “You have a reminder” on the lock screen – preset for years 5–10.

Reminders from your other areas keep coming while you are in the school area.

Today

Today shows, top to bottom: the next lesson with its room and anything that changed; your tasks for today and tomorrow, plus overdue ones and tasks whose lesson is cancelled; under Coming up the tests of the next three weeks (upper secondary: Next exams) with how far your preparation is; and below that your timetable for today.

Tasks

Add task is available on Today, on a subject's page and on every lesson. First write what needs doing, pick the subject (or General) and the type – homework, bring materials, preparation, project, submission; upper secondary also extended essay and exam preparation. Then, by when:

• By the next lesson – the app finds the subject's next lesson and shows it with its date. Coming from a lesson, it is the lesson after; the second half of a double lesson does not count. If there is none, the app does not invent one.
• Pick a date or Date and time.
• Not decided yet – the task sits under To plan until you set a date and never becomes overdue.

More details holds a description, an estimated duration and a reminder (only with a date).

Tick off a task with the circle at the front of its row – no dialog, no rating. The row stays and offers Undo. Projects, submissions and extended essays also have In progress and Handed in; “done” and “handed in” are not the same there.

If the lesson is cancelled that a task is due at, the task says “Lesson cancelled – check the due date”. The app moves nothing on its own: you choose between Keep the date and By the lesson after. If a lesson is only moved, the due date follows it.

All tasks shows Open (overdue, today, tomorrow, this week, later), To plan and Done.

Tests and exams

On a subject's page you add an assessment: a class test or test (upper secondary: exam or test), or a presentation marked as assessment. If you pick a day with a lesson in that subject, the app suggests those lessons – a double lesson as a whole. What to learn records what it covers. StudyNow does not record grades or results.

On the assessment you plan your preparation: tasks due by the assessment and study blocks – personal sessions with a duration. If the test is moved, every study block stays where it is and asks: “Does this study block still fit?” Keep it confirms it.

In upper secondary, gaps in the timetable are called Free time; Plan study time adds a study block right there.

The timetable

Lesson times. The first time you enter your timetable, the app asks when lessons take place: a model with 45, 60 or 90 minutes and the start time. Every time can be changed afterwards, and single weekdays may differ – a shorter Friday, say. You find it under Settings → half-year → Lesson times. If you change a time there, future lessons follow.

Entering. In the Timetable tab, the pencil at the top right opens the weekly grid: days as columns, lessons as rows. Pick a subject above and tap the lessons where it takes place; tap again to remove it, Clear empties a lesson. Without a subject picked, a tap opens the lesson so you can change its room. New lessons apply from today; if you remove one, past lessons remain.

Week rhythm. If your timetable alternates by week, set up under Settings → half-year → Week rhythm what it follows:

• Odd/even calendar weeks – the default. No starting week needed; the calendar week says which applies, through the holidays too.
• A/B weeks from a given week – name a week you know for sure and whether holiday weeks count. The app suggests all weeks; each can be switched on its own.

The brush in the weekly grid then applies to every week or to one of the two only – “odd only” and “even only”, or “A only” and “B only”.

Viewing. On a phone the timetable opens with the day: lesson, time, subject and room, with breaks and free lessons in between. Two lessons of the same subject in a row appear as one double lesson; the arrow expands it into its single lessons. The week shows the grid and names A or B. The app remembers the view you picked last.

Changes. Tap a lesson: Mark as cancelled cancels it. The pencil changes room, teacher or time for this lesson only – the timetable then shows, for example, “New room B112 · was B204” or “Substitute: Ms Kurz”. If only the second half of a double lesson is cancelled, the row says exactly that.

Holidays and days off. Enter holidays on the half-year under Holidays and days without lessons; lessons in them are dropped. A project day, a school trip or a class trip goes under Events this half-year – all day, over several days if needed. With No lessons, lessons on those days are hidden; nothing is deleted, and without the event the lessons are back.

A new half-year is added in Settings with Add next half-year. The app suggests the following one and, if you want, carries over the subjects or courses; the old half-year stays as it was.

Managing areas: under Settings → Learning areas you can rename each area (for example to your school's name), archive it or delete it. Archived areas stay readable but no longer come first. Deleting asks first and takes everything in the area with it.