How to Build and Adjust Your Study Plan in RD Study Lab

Set your exam date and study preferences, follow linked daily tasks, and use practice or Performance Report results to guide a new plan.

By Mike Tulk, RD

Study Plan turns your exam date and study preferences into a schedule of tasks. It gives you a starting point for each session and links to the work, including lessons, self-checks, flashcards, and practice.

You need active Premium access to use the planner. You can generate a plan without completing an assessment first.

Try the workflow

Interactive example · no sign-in required

Original sample content. Nothing here updates your account, study plan, or scores. Reset or reload to clear your example.

This miniature planner shows one week. The real planner also uses your exam date, preferences, and available results.

Choose study days

Set up the schedule

  1. Open Settings and check your available study days and study-time preferences.
  2. Open Study Plan. If your exam date is missing, use Set your exam date and save it. The planner requires a date at least seven days away.
  3. If you have assessment or practice results, the planner can use them to help prioritize work. Otherwise, start with the information you have.
  4. Choose Generate Study Plan and inspect the daily agenda and weekly overview.

Check that the workload fits your actual week. For example, if your study days are Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, set those preferences rather than planning around time you usually do not have.

Follow a task into the app

Open a task through its action link. A lesson task takes you to the relevant content; other tasks take you into the associated study activity.

Following the task link matters because it carries the assignment context. Supported activities can then report progress toward that task. Opening the same tool independently may not update that particular assignment.

When you return, check the task’s progress. A completion indicator records the assigned work; it is not a claim that you have mastered the competency. Use the manual completion control when needed to reflect work you have done.

If you have a Performance Report

In Study Plan, choose Enter my results in the Performance Report area. Enter the percentages from the report’s Competency Categories table into the matching rows. The form accepts your percentages and national percentages; leave unknown values blank instead of guessing.

Check your entries before saving. These are manually entered results, so accuracy depends on what you type. A current report takes priority in the areas where you entered your results; other areas can still use the app’s practice information.

You do not need to enter a report to use the planner.

Know when to regenerate

The schedule stays in place as you practise. Choose Regenerate Plan when you want a new plan to incorporate newer results. Changing study days in Settings reschedules pending work without resetting completed tasks.

If the app says your plan predates guided tasks, regenerate it to get task-specific links and progress tracking. Review the resulting schedule before starting the next assignment.

Next: Work through a lesson and its self-checks, then use Analytics to decide what to revisit.