Qual Prep Tracker

About

For PhD students preparing for qualifying, comprehensive, prelim, or candidacy exams.

You've been reading. Probably a lot. But can you tell me, with confidence, where your reading is deep, where it's thin, and where it's missing entirely?

Most students can't. They read deeply in their sub-specialty for two years, and discover the breadth gaps in the exam itself. Qual Prep Tracker is built to surface those gaps in time to close them.

HOW IT WORKS

1. Pick your field — Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Genetics, or Cancer Biology — and the extension loads a framework: a structured taxonomy of areas your qualifying exam typically covers.

2. As you read, capture papers with one click on PubMed, bioRxiv, arXiv, or Google Scholar. Tag each paper to an area and sub-topic, mark depth (skimmed / read carefully / mastered), add a note.

3. Open the coverage map. See your field as a grid: areas with deep coverage shaded dark, thin coverage shaded pale, missing coverage in gray. The map updates as you read.

4. As your exam approaches, generate a gap report. It tiers your areas by coverage depth and surfaces the ones to focus on with the time remaining.

EVERY FEATURE IS FREE

There is no Pro tier, no subscription, no account. Every feature listed below is available to every user.

★ FEATURES

- One-click capture from PubMed, bioRxiv, arXiv, Google Scholar
- Manual entry for any other paper
- Tag to area + sub-topic, mark depth, add notes (500-char limit)
- Full coverage map with depth dots and tile shading
- Customize your framework: hide areas your program doesn't test, add custom areas your program does
- Search and filter your reading inventory
- Sort by date, year, title, area
- Edit and delete papers
- Gap report tiered by coverage state with exam-date-aware recommendations
- Reading priority checklist export
- Exports: BibTeX (Zotero/Mendeley/LaTeX), CSV (Excel/Sheets/Notion), JSON (backup), Markdown (Obsidian/drafts)
- OpenAlex enrichment (optional, per-paper or auto): fetches abstract, citation count, concepts — sends only the DOI
- JSON backup / restore for your entire library
- Unlimited papers, no caps

★ PRIVATE BY DESIGN

- All papers, notes, framework customizations, exam date, and settings stay in your browser (chrome.storage.local). There is no GradSummit server that stores them; we don't run one.
- The extension makes only two kinds of outbound HTTP request, and only when YOU opt in:
  - OpenAlex enrichment: when you click "Enrich" on a paper (or enable auto-enrich), the paper's DOI — a public identifier — is sent to api.openalex.org. Nothing else.
  - Product updates: when you tick the opt-in checkbox and click Subscribe, only the email address you typed is sent to GradSummit's sign-up Worker. No paper, note, framework, or settings content is ever included.
- No AI, no telemetry, no analytics, no account.

★ WHAT THIS EXTENSION IS NOT

- Not an AI tool. No LLM calls, no machine-generated summaries or recommendations.
- Not a quiz / mastery assessment. You mark depth honestly; the extension doesn't test you.
- Not a guarantee. It helps you find gaps. Closing them is your work.

★ SUPPORTED PLATFORMS FOR ONE-CLICK CAPTURE

PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) · bioRxiv (biorxiv.org, www.biorxiv.org) · arXiv (arxiv.org) · Google Scholar (scholar.google.com). Any other paper: manual entry takes about 20 seconds.

★ FIELDS SHIPPED IN v1

Molecular Biology (12 areas) · Cell Biology (10) · Genetics (10) · Cancer Biology (10).

Your field not listed? Request one from Settings → Email & updates, or email [email protected]. Immunology, Neuroscience, Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology are queued.

★ BUILT BY

Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, PhD — author of the Mastering Research book series. Part of the GradSummit toolkit.

★ SUPPORT

[email protected] — usually within one business day.