PrepTracker

The AI Accountability Coach helps CS students stay on track by setting study goals, tracking progress with a heatmap, and sending AI-driven reminders for daily motivation and productivity.

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Inspiration

As I approach my graduation this May, I realized I needed to brush up on my skills for upcoming tech interviews. Many computer science students face the same struggle when preparing for exams or interviews—staying motivated, setting clear goals, and tracking progress over time. This led to the creation of PrepTracker, a tool designed to help students manage and track their study goals in a personalized, AI-driven way.

What it does

PrepTracker allows students to set daily, weekly, and one-time study goals, track progress via a heatmap dashboard, and receive AI-generated motivational reminders via email. The tool helps students stay on top of their goals, providing a visual representation of their achievements and keeping them engaged throughout their study process.

How I built it

I built PrepTracker using React/Next.js for the frontend, with TailwindCSS for styling. The backend is powered by Firebase for real-time data storage and user authentication. For personalized reminders, I integrated Meta's Llama 3.2 11B Vision Instruct through OpenRouter to generate AI-driven motivational messages, and Twilio and SendGrid to handle email notifications. The progress visualization is done through a React Calendar Heatmap package, allowing users to view their progress over time.

Challenges we ran into

One of the key challenges I faced was storing and managing student progress over an extended period, from start to end date. Keeping track of dynamic data across multiple goals and dates proved complex. Additionally, date management and operations were a major hurdle, as the project heavily relied on precise date calculations and dynamic updates. I had to ensure that progress was properly tracked across different goal types, which required careful handling of dates, progress mapping, and synchronization across various components of the app.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud of creating a functional AI-driven system that not only tracks but also actively motivates students to reach their study goals. The heatmap dashboard is a standout feature, giving students a visual representation of their progress. Additionally, I was able to work with dynamic dates and their management successfully.

What we learned

I learned the importance of user-centered design in developing motivational tools. Handling real-time data and building AI-powered reminders that feel personalized was a major takeaway. This was also my first time working with cron-jobs. I had to write a cron-job that ran every dat at 12am and sent users their goals for the day.

What's next for PrepTracker

I plan to expand PrepTracker’s functionality by adding support for more complex goal types, improving AI-generated recommendations, and integrating with third-party calendars and task managers to automate goal creation.

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