Pomodoro Session Planner
The Pomodoro Technique, invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, breaks work into 25-minute focus blocks ("pomodoros") separated by 5-minute short breaks, with a longer 15–30 minute break after every fourth pomodoro. Enter your target focus minutes and the planner returns the pomodoro count, short/long break tally, total wall-clock time and an estimated finishing time.
Please enter a valid number
Pomodoros
—
Short breaks
—
Long breaks
—
Focus time
—
Break time
—
Wall-clock total
—
Estimated finish
—
Formula
pomodoros = ⌈focus / pomodoroLen⌉ breaks = max(0, pomodoros − 1) longBreaks = ⌊breaks / longBreakEvery⌋ shortBreaks = breaks − longBreaks total = pomodoros × pomodoroLen + shortBreaks × shortLen + longBreaks × longLen
- · Original Pomodoro values: 25-minute pomodoro, 5-minute short break, 15–30 minute long break, long break after every 4 pomodoros (Cirillo, F., The Pomodoro Technique, original book).
- · The "target focus time" is rounded up to the nearest whole pomodoro — e.g. asking for 30 minutes with a 25-minute pomodoro returns 2 pomodoros (50 minutes of focus).
- · Breaks only sit between pomodoros: N pomodoros produce N − 1 breaks, with no trailing break after the final one.
- · Long breaks land after pomodoros #4, #8, #12 …; if the last pomodoro of the session falls on that boundary, the trailing long break is skipped since nothing follows.
- · Realistic daily focus capacity is finite — Cal Newport (Deep Work, 2016) and others put sustained deep-work output at ≈ 3–4 hours per day. Stacking 10+ pomodoros in a row tends to degrade quality.
- · Use breaks to leave the screen, stand up, stretch and drink water. "Doom-scrolling" during the 5-minute slot defeats the recovery purpose of the cycle.
Frequently asked
Can I use a different pomodoro length than 25 minutes?
Yes — every parameter (pomodoro, short break, long break, long-break frequency) is editable. Popular alternatives include 50/10 (deep-work style), 90/20 (aligned with natural ultradian rhythms), and 45/15 (common in learning research). The right cycle length is whatever matches your attention span — sticking to 25 minutes for its own sake is not the goal.
What if I get interrupted in the middle of a pomodoro?
Cirillo's original advice: for external interruptions, defer them ("I'll get back to you in 20 minutes"); for internal distractions (your own thoughts), jot the thought on a notepad and keep going — the pomodoro still counts. If you truly have to stop for more than a couple of minutes, mark the pomodoro as "invalid" and restart with a fresh one rather than resuming.
How many pomodoros per day is realistic?
It depends on the cognitive load and how rested you are. A common rule of thumb (and what Cal Newport reports for sustained deep work): 6–10 pomodoros per day, i.e. 3–4 hours of true focus, is already a strong day; administrative or low-cognitive tasks can stack higher. Past ~12 pomodoros in a row, the back half usually drops in quality — split into a morning and afternoon block.
What should I do during the breaks?
For the 5-minute short break: get up, walk, stretch, drink water, and look at something far away (the 20-20-20 rule for eye fatigue). Avoid scrolling social media or short-form video — that kind of "reward-loaded" break tends to make it harder to re-engage. The 15-minute long break is a good time for a snack, a walk outside, or a few minutes of deep breathing / mindfulness.
Related tools
GPA Calculator
Enter each course grade and credit, get GPA on the 4.3 scale (HKU / CityU / HKUST / PolyU) or US 4.0 scale.
Hong Kong HKDSE Best 5 Score Calculator
Pick core and elective grades to see Best 5, 4C+1X and 4C+2X — the three weighting formulas used by JUPAS programmes.
Final Exam Grade Calculator
Given your current course grade and the weight of the final exam, find the exam score you need to hit a target overall grade.
Reading Time / WPM Calculator
Estimate how long a piece of text takes to read from word count and words-per-minute, with presets for silent reading, reading aloud, proofreading and audiobook narration.
Test Grade Calculator
Enter correct answers and total questions to get the percentage and letter grade — supports US A–F, US plus/minus, and UK honours (1st / 2:1 / 2:2 / 3rd).
Letter Grade Calculator
Enter a percentage (or score out of total) and map it to a letter grade and GPA across four standard scales — US 4.0 with +/−, US 10-point, UK Honours, and IB 1–7.
Class Rank Percentile Calculator
Translate a class or cohort rank into percentile rank using all three common conventions (CDF, mid-rank, inclusive) plus quartile / decile / top-X% labels — for college applications, scholarships and standardized-test comparisons.
Attendance Calculator
Enter classes attended, classes missed and total classes in the term to see your current attendance %, the maximum classes you can still skip, or how many you must attend to reach your target (default 75 %).
Word Count / Text Statistics Calculator
Paste text to instantly count words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, average word length and estimated reading time.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Calculator
Paste an English passage and instantly get the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores — the standard readability metrics used by US schools, MS Word and government plain-language guidelines.
IELTS Overall Band Score Calculator
Enter your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking scores to get the IELTS overall band using the official rounding rule (.25 rounds up to .5, .75 rounds up to the next whole band).
Words to Pages Calculator
Estimate how many pages a piece of writing will fill from word count, font size and line spacing.
IB Diploma Points Calculator
Enter your six IB subject grades (HL/SL) plus the EE/TOK bonus matrix to compute your total IB Diploma score out of 45.
UCAS Tariff Points Calculator
Enter A-Level, AS, EPQ, IB or BTEC grades to compute your total UCAS Tariff points and see how they line up against AAA / AAB / ABB conditional offers.
SAT to ACT Score Converter
Enter an SAT total or ACT composite score and instantly see the equivalent score range using the official 2018 College Board / ACT concordance table.
CEFR Language Level Converter
Enter an IELTS, TOEFL iBT, Cambridge English Scale or TOEIC score and instantly map it to a CEFR level (A1 – C2).
Cumulative GPA (CGPA) Calculator
Combine your current cumulative GPA and total credits with this term’s GPA and credits to see the updated cumulative GPA and how much it moved.
TOEFL ↔ IELTS Score Converter
Convert between TOEFL iBT total scores (0-120) and IELTS Academic Band scores (4.5-9.0) using the official 2018 ETS concordance.
Number to Words Converter (Cheque Writing)
Convert numbers into English words and Chinese cheque-style capital form (壹貳參…) for writing cheques, contracts or homework.
Spaced Repetition (SM-2) Schedule Calculator
Enter a study date and ease factor and use the SuperMemo SM-2 algorithm to project the next review dates — handy for flashcards or vocabulary.