Introducing the Intelligent Curriculum Engine: the days-left study plan, now in your pocket

The blog post that started it.

In April we wrote that the difference between passing and failing a German exam is rarely about time — it's about strategy. We meant it. Then we built it.

That post laid out a study framework for every days-left bracket: 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, 14 days, 7 days, and the last week. Daily blocks. Weak-area weighting. A spaced-repetition cadence for vocabulary. A Final Push for the days right before the exam. The reception was clear: people didn't want another generic course; they wanted a plan that knew their date and their weakest skill.

So we built it into the app.

"It's not just about how much time you have — it's about how strategically you use it."

What it is.

The Intelligent Curriculum Engine is Prepilingo's personal exam coach. You tell it which exam you're taking — ÖSD, ÖIF, Goethe-Institut, telc, TestDaF, or DTZ — and the date you'll sit it. From there, it builds a daily plan calibrated to how many days are left, weighted toward your weakest skill, and re-routed every time the AI sees you improve or stall. The closer you get to exam day, the sharper the plan becomes, until it switches into Final Push mode and walks you through the last 7 days hour by hour.

It is the days-left blog post, turned into software.

Naming note: in the app, the tab is just called Curriculum. In product tours and marketing, we call it the Intelligent Curriculum Engine. Same thing.

Why we built it this way.

Six study modes. Each one has its own daily structure and skill mix. The engine picks the right one for you the moment you set your exam date.

Comprehensive — 90+ days

Long runway. Build vocabulary depth, anchor grammar, and rotate evenly through reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Daily load: 30–45 minutes. Top focus: foundations and four-skill rotation.

Focused — 60+ days

Plenty of time, with intent. The engine doubles down on your two weakest skills and starts weekly exam-format blocks. Daily load: 45–60 minutes. Top focus: weakest two skills + weekly mock blocks.

Intensive — 30+ days

Sharper, daily. Theory clusters give way to exam-format tasks, with spaced repetition keeping vocabulary fresh. Daily load: 60–75 minutes. Top focus: targeted weak-skill clusters and spaced review.

Sprint — 14+ days

Two weeks out, every minute counts. Timed reading and listening, daily writing, and speaking warm-ups. Daily load: 75–90 minutes. Top focus: exam-format tasks under timed conditions.

Emergency — 7+ days

Less than two weeks. Drill the highest-yield grammar and vocabulary, take a full mock, then patch the gaps the mock revealed. Daily load: 90+ minutes. Top focus: high-yield review and a full mock exam.

Final Push — under 7 days

The last week. The engine switches modes — short rapid reviews, a 5-day calendar, and an hour-by-hour exam-day plan. Daily load: rapid review only. Top focus: countdown, rapid review, exam-day briefing.

The engine at work.

A real day looks like this. Open the Curriculum tab and the first thing you see is the Blueprint banner — the same line you'd say out loud if a friend asked: "28 days to your Goethe B1 — Intensive mode."

Below that, four skill bars show where you stand on the CEFR scale, in colour: green where you're strong, amber where you wobble, red where the engine is going to spend most of its time today.

Today's plan is a single column. A short theory cluster on subordinate clauses (because writing was your lowest score this week). A reading task modelled on the real Goethe B1 format. A 4-minute listening task. One AI-graded writing prompt — about 12 minutes — with a corrected excerpt waiting at the end.

Tomorrow's plan won't be the same. If you score below 50 on a task, we drop in a remedial cluster the next day. If a skill shifts more than 10 points up or down, the entire plan regenerates around the new picture. If you miss a day, nothing breaks — tomorrow's plan still loads, and the engine adjusts to where you actually are, not to where it expected you to be.

"Know exactly where you stand. Practice exactly what you need."

The Final Push.

The last week is where most plans break. Ours sharpens.

When you're 7 days or fewer from your exam date, the engine switches automatically. The home screen replaces the Blueprint banner with a countdown, a 5-day calendar, and short rapid-review sessions instead of full theory clusters. The daily load drops, but the focus narrows — every session is now a single, exam-shaped pass through the highest-yield content.

Day 0 — the morning of — you get an exam-day briefing: a readiness ring, an 8-item checklist (ID, pen, water, the address of the test centre), and a single calm sentence to read on the way in.

"Trust your preparation."

Exam day and after.

The day after your exam, the app asks you a single question: how did it go?

You pick one of three: Passed, Retake, or Waiting for results. Whichever you pick, the engine closes the loop. Passed unlocks confetti and a completed-exam history entry you can keep forever. Retake opens a new plan calibrated to your next attempt. Waiting parks the plan and reminds you in two weeks to come back and tell us.

That outcome screen matters more than it sounds. It's how the engine learns what worked, and it's how you remember — months later — exactly which plan got you there.

Built on the science of spaced repetition.

The forgetting curve is unsentimental. Without review, you retain about 35% of what you learned a day later, and only 20% a week later. Reviewing at the right intervals — 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days — pushes long-term retention well past 80%.

Every cluster the engine schedules sits on that cadence. Vocabulary you learn today comes back tomorrow as a quick check, three days later as a writing prompt, a week later inside a reading task. You're not memorising lists; you're meeting the same words again and again in slightly different shapes, until they stop being words you have to remember and start being words you simply know.

Available now.

The Intelligent Curriculum Engine is live today inside Prepilingo for every exam we cover — ÖSD, ÖIF, Goethe-Institut, telc, TestDaF, and DTZ, A1 through C1.

All plans include a 7-day money-back guarantee on Premium. No risk, no commitment.

If you've already chosen your exam, open the new Curriculum tab in the app — your plan is already waiting. If you haven't, take 12 minutes for the diagnostic and we'll build one for you.

See the full feature page →

Download Free on Android → | Download on iOS →

"The exam date won't change. But your readiness will — if you start now."

Prepilingo is an independent educational platform developed by MagicusPrime LDA. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by ÖSD, ÖIF, Goethe-Institut e.V., telc GmbH, TestDaF-Institut, BAMF, or any other official examination authority. All references to exam names are used solely for descriptive and educational purposes.