Help

This tool helps you plan the Bachelor of Advanced Computing (Honours), for students starting Semester 1, 2027 — it doesn't yet cover other programs, cohort years, or a Semester 2 start.

The basics

Courses live in two places: the requirements list (what your degree needs) and the timeline (the semesters you'll actually take them in). To put a course on the timeline, drag it by its grip (⋮⋮) onto a semester, or use the "Place in…" button on its card in the requirements list. Once it's there, the course's own "More options" (⋯) button moves it to another semester or removes it. Click a course's title to open its details beside the plan — the plan stays usable while they're open. A unit is ANU's measure of course weight — most courses are 6 units, and a normal full-time semester is around 24 units (four courses).

To find a course that isn't in the requirements list, use the "Search courses" button (the magnifying glass) beside the plan's title, or press ⌘K on a Mac (Ctrl+K elsewhere). Search by code or title, then drag a result onto a semester, use its "Place in…" button, or click its title to open its details.

Each family of requirements has its own colour: it's the strip down the side of a timeline card, the dot beside the group's name in the requirements list, and the group's progress bar. Electives, and courses that don't count toward anything, have no strip and show as grey in the bars. The bar under each semester's unit count shows that semester's mix. On a timeline card, "Counts toward …" takes you to that group in the requirements list, and each item under "What's left" takes you to what it names.

To see which of your placed courses lead to which, turn on "Show prerequisite links" under "More options" (⋯), next to "Completed through …". A solid line is a course that's required outright; a dashed line is one of several courses that would do, such as one option of an "or", or a course counting toward "6 units of 1000-level MATH". With the links on, hover a course to pick out its own.

Undoing a change

Every change you make to the plan can be undone and redone: placing, moving and removing a course, changing what it counts toward, answering a check, making a choice in a requirement, and moving "Completed through". After each change a message at the bottom of the screen says what happened, with an Undo button (and, once you've undone something, a Redo button). If the change leaves another course missing a prerequisite, the message says so. The Undo and Redo buttons beside "Completed through" work at any time — hover one to see which change it will undo or redo.

You can also use the keyboard: ⌘Z to undo and ⌘⇧Z to redo on a Mac, or Ctrl+Z to undo and Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y to redo elsewhere. These don't act on the plan while you're typing in a text field, such as the search box. The history lasts while the page is open, and is gone once you reload or leave it.

Course details

A course's details open beside the timeline, and while they're open, the rest of the workspace shows how that course connects to your plan: the requirement it counts toward is tinted and labelled "counts here" (any other it could count toward, "could count here"), and on the timeline its prerequisites are marked — "Prerequisite, planned too late" if one comes after it — as are the courses that need it. The arrows at the top step back and forward through the courses and specialisations you've opened. The details are in sections:

On the lists of: The specialisations that list the course, with yours marked. Click one to open itsdetails. It's left out for a course no specialisation lists.
In your plan: For a course you've placed: "Counts toward", to choose which requirement it counts toward (see Pinning a course), and a button to remove it.
When it runs: One cell for each semester of your plan, saying whether the course is offered then, projected from past years, or not offered, and how many units that semester already has. Click a cell to place the course there, or to move it there if it's already planned. A cell you can't use says why. The table below lists the published offerings, with how they're delivered and their class numbers.
Requisites: The course's prerequisites as a tree, with each part marked as met or not by your plan. Click a course in it to open that course's details. Anything the planner can't check for itself has its own Met, Not met and Not sure buttons. Under the tree is the rule as written on Programs & Courses, and any courses it can't be taken with.
Courses in your plan that need it: The placed courses that list this one as a prerequisite, so you can see what moving it would affect.
About the course: Its description, learning outcomes and assessment, where Programs & Courses publishes them.

Everything here comes from Programs & Courses. The bottom of the details links to the course's own page there, and says which year's edition the details are from and when they were last updated — check that page before relying on anything that matters to you.

Specialisation details

A specialisation's details open in the same place as a course's. To open one, click "Details" beside its option under "Choose Specialisation" in the requirements list, or your chosen specialisation's name at the top of its group. You can also search for it by code or name, or click it under "On the lists of" in a course's details.

Everything in them comes from the specialisation's Programs & Courses page: its requirements word for word, its introduction and learning outcomes, other information, and the degrees it's part of. Each course in the requirements says where it stands in your plan. The bottom of the details links to the page itself, so check it before relying on anything that matters to you.

For the specialisation you've chosen, "See your progress in Requirements" takes you to its group in the requirements list.

For one you haven't chosen, "Fit with your plan" works out your plan as if you had chosen it. It shows which of your courses would count toward it and where each counts now, which would stop counting toward the specialisation you have, and any requirement that would fall short. "Choose this specialisation" makes it your choice straight away ("Switch to this specialisation" if you've already chosen one), and Undo reverses it.

What a course card is telling you

Available: Nothing's stopping you from placing this course in this semester.
Needs prerequisites: You've placed it, but the courses it requires first haven't been planned yet. This is allowed — students often plan backward from a course they want before filling in the path to it — but it's flagged so you notice.
Check requirements: Everything the planner can check is in place, but the course also asks for something it can't see — a permission code, a minimum mark or average, or a project supervisor. The card's "Verify on P&C" badge says how many of these there are; click it to open the course's details at its requisites, where each one has its own Met, Not met and Not sure buttons. Confirm them with the course's Programs & Courses page or the school, then answer each one. When what you've marked Met covers what the course needs, it shows as Available and the badge goes; marking one Not met flags it as needing prerequisites, with the item as the reason.
Blocked: There's genuinely no way to take this course in that semester — it isn't offered then, or there's no valid order that satisfies its prerequisites in time. The reason is always specific, shown when you hover the card.

Completed semesters

The planner needs to know which of your placed courses are already done versus still planned, but it doesn't track individual grades or results — instead, you set one boundary. "Completed through …", beside the plan's title, names the last semester you've finished. It's a menu, like "More options": click it and pick that semester, or "Nothing yet", or "All semesters". On the timeline, the semesters up to that one say "Completed" beside their headings and count as done, and everything after it is still planned. In the requirements list, a course you've placed shows as "Completed S1 2027" or "Planned S2 2028" to match — click the semester to find the course on the timeline. It's a simplification: it doesn't handle a failed or repeated course, part-time study, or leave of absence.

Courses that run over two semesters

Some courses, such as COMP4550 (12+12 units), must be taken twice, in two semesters in a row. The planner places them once and they take up both semesters, each showing its own 12 units. The first semester has the full card, marked "Part 1 of 2 · continues in …", and the next has a smaller one marked "Part 2 of 2 · continued from …". Click the semester named on either to jump to the other part. The full card is the one to move or remove. In "Place in…" and "Move to", these courses list the pair of semesters they'd take, such as "S1 2028 – S2 2028". Each half counts as completed on its own. If the "Completed through" boundary falls between them, the requirements list shows "Completed S1 2028 · planned S2 2028", and the progress bars count half the units as done. There too, click either semester to find that part.

P&C and TDP

P&C is Programs & Courses (programsandcourses.anu.edu.au), ANU's official course catalogue — the source this app scrapes its data from. When the badge on a course card says "Verify on P&C", it means this app couldn't fully confirm that rule automatically (the wording on P&C was ambiguous, or it's data this app doesn't track), so check that course's own P&C page before relying on it.

TDP (Transdisciplinary Problem-Solving) is a small set of ANU courses with delivery conditions this app doesn't track at all — if a requirement mentions TDP, you'll need to check P&C directly for whether a course qualifies.

Pinning a course

Some courses could count toward more than one requirement. By default ("Automatic") the plan chooses whichever placement satisfies the most of your degree overall. To lock a course to one requirement instead, open its details and choose that requirement from "Counts toward", under "In your plan".

Arranging the workspace

The requirements list, the timeline and the course details sit side by side, and you can resize them: drag the line between two of them. As you drag, a label says what the width will be, and the line catches gently at the widths worth landing on — one, two or three columns of requirement cards, or the default and two-column widths for details. Drag the requirements list narrow enough and the label says "Release to fold requirements": let go and it folds to a thin strip at the side, which you click to unfold. Dragging details narrow enough closes them the same way ("Release to close details"). To reset a line's width, double-click it. Widths are remembered in this browser, for all your plans.

The button with two arrows at the top of the details switches them between their default width and a wider, two-column one ("Widen details" / "Narrow details"). With the keyboard, focus a line and use the left and right arrow keys to resize, with Shift for bigger steps; Enter folds and unfolds the requirements list, or widens and narrows the details.

The timeline always keeps room for at least one year. On a smaller screen, or once details are open, the requirements list gives way first by dropping to fewer card columns. If details are open and that still isn't enough, it folds, and a message says "Requirements folded to make room for course details". Next the details narrow, and where even that isn't enough room, they open as a drawer over the timeline instead of beside it; close them to see the timeline again.

On a phone

On a phone the plan shows one part at a time: switch between them with the "Timeline" and "Requirements" tabs at the bottom of the screen. Course details slide up from the bottom, starting at half height. Drag the handle at the top of them (or tap it) to change their height: full height to read everything, or down to just the course's name so you can see the plan behind. Search fills the screen, and you can still drag a result onto a semester.

Keeping your plan

Starting a plan doesn't need an account — but that also means the plan's own web address is the only way back to it. Bookmark it, or save the link somewhere, before you close the tab — "Copy plan link", under "More options" (⋯), copies it for you.