Most college students are running four or five tabs at once just to stay organized. There’s a grade calculator bookmarked somewhere, a Notion page that’s two weeks out of date, a Quizlet set that doesn’t match the actual exam material, and a Google Calendar full of non-school noise. It works until it doesn’t, and it usually stops working right before midterms.
GradeNeeded is a student planner and AI study app built specifically for college. It covers assignment tracking, GPA monitoring, grade forecasting, AI-generated study sets, a syllabus scanner, calendar sync, and more: one account, one workspace, no app-switching.
It was built by Jackson Corey, a college student who got tired of juggling disconnected tools. That origin story matters here because the product feels like it was designed by someone who actually lives the problem. The free plan is genuinely functional, and the premium plan starts at $4.99 per month, which is less than most individual tools charge.
Key Features of GradeNeeded
Syllabus Scanner
Upload a syllabus PDF, and GradeNeeded reads it automatically. It pulls out assignments, due dates, grade weights, the grading scale, the late policy, and office hours. Your class is set up before you leave the first lecture. This alone saves the twenty-minute manual setup that most students skip entirely, then regret in week six.
Geno AI Study Tools
Geno is the built-in AI study assistant. Paste your lecture notes or upload a PDF, and Geno generates flashcards, practice tests, study guides, and concept summaries from your actual course material. Not generic examples. Your notes, your professor’s content. There are six study modes: Flashcards, Practice Tests, Study Guides, Learn Mode, Match Mode, and Write Mode. Free users get five Geno messages per day. Premium removes the cap entirely.
Live Grade Forecast
Every class card in the planner shows exactly what score you need on remaining assignments to hit your target grade. Switch between A, B, C, or D targets, and the number updates instantly. Open any class for a detailed breakdown showing the exact percentage weight still remaining in the semester. No spreadsheet required.
Assignment Planner with Calendar Sync
The planner tracks every deadline across all your classes in one view, with priority flags that surface high-stakes work before it becomes urgent. Due dates export to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or any iCal app via a private subscription URL that automatically refreshes every 6 hours. Daily email reminders list what’s due tomorrow, so nothing slips through on a busy morning.
GPA and Progress Dashboard
The dashboard shows your current semester GPA, cumulative GPA, grade trend charts for each class, and a weekly deadline pressure view. At-risk classes surface as flags before they turn into permanent damage. Premium users also get the Degree Progress Tracker, which maps credit requirements and graduation milestones.
How a Student Might Use GradeNeeded Before an Exam
Maya is a sophomore taking Biology 301, and her second exam is scheduled for Thursday morning. It’s Wednesday at 10 PM. She uploaded her syllabus at the start of the semester, so her assignments, grade weights, and due dates were already in her planner from day one. She knows going into this night that she currently holds a 78% in the class and needs an 82% to secure a B.
She opens GradeNeeded’s planner and checks the live grade forecast for BIO 301. It tells her she needs a 91% on the exam to land the B she wants. Not a rough estimate. A specific number, calculated against the actual weight of the exam in the course grade.
She switches to the Study section and opens Geno. She pastes three weeks of lecture notes into the input field. By 10:08 PM, Geno has generated 55 flashcards organized by concept, a 20-question practice test, and a one-page study guide covering the highest-yield terms. She runs through the flashcards in Learn Mode, which keeps drilling her on the cards she gets wrong and stops showing her the ones she already knows.
By midnight, she has completed a full practice test, scored 88%, and reviewed every concept she missed. She goes into Thursday’s exam knowing exactly which two topics still need a second look. The point is not that GradeNeeded guarantees a better grade, but that it gives students a clearer system for knowing what to study, what score they need, and what to prioritize.
How GradeNeeded Sets Up in About 15 Minutes
Step 1: Create a free account
No credit card required. The free tier includes the full planner, calculators, schedule builder, Geno chat (5 messages per day), 3 study set generations per day, 1 free syllabus scan, and calendar sync.
Step 2: Scan your syllabi or add classes manually
Upload each course syllabus as a PDF. GradeNeeded creates the class with assignments, weights, and due dates populated automatically. If you prefer manual entry, the guided setup walks you through it class by class.
Step 3: Connect your calendar
Copy your private iCal subscription URL into Google Calendar or Apple Calendar. Your planner due dates stay up to date automatically, without any manual import.
Step 4: Use the dashboard daily
The dashboard surfaces your next action, flags any at-risk classes, shows your study streak, and lets you jump straight back into an active study set. It replaces the mental load of tracking everything across separate apps.
GradeNeeded Pricing
GradeNeeded uses a three-tier pricing structure:
- Free: $0 forever. Full planner, all calculators, class schedule, Geno chat (5 messages/day), 3 study set generations/day, 1 syllabus scan, calendar sync, daily reminders.
- Premium: $4.99 per month. Unlimited Geno, 50 study set generations/day, PDF and DOCX and PPTX uploads up to 50MB, 10 syllabus scans/day, Degree Progress Tracker, no ads.
- Ultra: $9.99 per month. 100 study set generations/day, expert reasoning (10 sessions/day), long-context document analysis, uploads up to 100MB, 30 syllabus scans/day.
For context: Quizlet Plus alone runs about ~$7.99 per month. Getting study tools, a full planner, GPA tracking, and calendar sync for $4.99 is a reasonable trade for any student already paying for separate apps.
Who Should Try GradeNeeded
If you’re a college student currently patching together three or four different tools to stay organized, GradeNeeded is worth a serious look. The free plan is not a limited preview; it’s a working academic workspace. Students who want AI-generated study sets from their actual course material, a live grade forecast that updates as they enter grades, and automatic calendar sync without manual importing will get real use out of this. Start free at GradeNeeded.com and set up your first class or upload a syllabus to see how the full planner and study workflow come together.
