Welcome: Your First Win
Before I tell you anything, I want to give you something.
Open a tab, do this with me, and you'll have a real, useful deliverable before we've even talked about what AI is. Then we'll talk. The rest of the course works the same way: do the thing, then unpack it.
What you need
A syllabus from any class you're taking right now. PDF, Google Doc, a photo of a paper handout, or just text you can paste: all fine. No syllabus yet because it's summer? No problem. I'll give you a fallback in Screen 2.
Open Claude. Paste this.
No Claude account yet? Quick sign-up.
Go to claude.ai, click Sign Up, and use your personal email (not your .edu; Lesson 1.1 explains why). Verify the code from your inbox, skip every "upgrade to Pro?" popup, and you're in. Stay on the free plan for now. The proper setup (free vs. Pro decision, account hygiene, two-factor) is all in 1.1. Right now, you just need to be in.
- Open claude.ai (or the Claude app; same thing) and click New Chat.
- Paste the prompt below. Then drop in your syllabus: either attach the PDF, or paste the syllabus text right under the prompt. Hit send. Let Claude finish before you touch anything.
You are my academic planner for one task only. I'm sharing my syllabus for [CLASS NAME]. From it, build me a 14-week calendar that: 1. Lists every assignment, exam, paper, and reading by week and date 2. Marks anything worth more than 10% of my grade with a ⭐ 3. Adds a "start this" date 7 days before each major deadline 4. Calls out any weeks that are unusually light or heavy 5. Outputs as a clean week-by-week table I can paste into a doc Don't invent anything that isn't in the syllabus. If a date is unclear, mark it TBD instead of guessing. Here's the syllabus: [paste text below, or attach the PDF]
Three workarounds, same prompt shape
- Class list only: paste your class names + meeting times, ask for a two-week study cadence.
- Paper planner: snap a photo, attach it, ask Claude to type it out as a calendar.
- Course catalog page: paste the description, ask for a first-month roadmap based on typical workload.
The point isn't the syllabus specifically. It's getting you to a real deliverable.
What Claude just did for you.
Look at the output. Two things to notice.
It just read a chunk of academic prose and gave you back a one-screen calendar. That used to be a Sunday-afternoon job: your laptop, your highlighter, four open tabs, half a playlist. Claude did it while you got a glass of water.
It did it free, in a browser tab, with no app to install and no plugin to configure. No "first you have to learn Python." No "first you have to download something." That's how almost every workflow in this course works.
Save your win
- Screenshot the output, or copy-paste it into your Notes app or Google Doc.
- That's your first artifact. Save it.
- We'll come back to this calendar in Module 8 and turn it into a real semester planner.
What we'll do this semester, the same way
- A lecture recording → clean, organized notes (Module 3)
- A rough essay draft → editor-style notes on weak spots and structure (you do the rewrite) (Module 4)
- A Common App prompt + your real story → brainstormed angles and an outline (you write the essay) (Module 6)
- Five syllabi + your work schedule + your sports practices → one unified semester calendar (Module 8)
- Your brain at 11pm → a triaged action plan you can actually sleep on (Module 8)
You just got real time back. You've barely started using Claude.
Module 0 is over. Welcome to AI for Real Life.
Up next
The next two lessons are short. 0.2 is what keeps you out of trouble for the rest of the course (and the few things you should never trust AI with). 0.3 is the three-rule code that every academic module of this course is built on.
Continue to 0.2 — Your Tireless Tutor →