AsapiSort out classes and graduate sooner
At Northgate University, Jordan Avery, a computer science student in their second year, wants to finish the degree as early as possible. The autumn timetable has to fit around library shifts, a noon swim session and six hours of parking a day, carry enough credits for the scholarship, and cost nothing extra. We tested one AI on it, Anthropic's Opus 5.
The AI has to hand in a registration that keeps every rule, the scholarship's and the prerequisites included, and give the slot three courses share to the one that gets Jordan out soonest.
Anthropic's Opus 5, the only AI we tested, kept almost every rule and failed in two ways: its last class broke two rules, and it kept a course that helps now over one that finishes the degree sooner. It read the audit and the advisor's note, and closed three requirements, as the note asks. But its last class, Spanish, needs a course Jordan hasn't passed and sits too far from the pool. Keeping CS 230 in the slot CS 210 needs also puts the advanced courses a term further off.
Its one try took 12 minutes and would cost $9.36 at published per‑use prices.
How each AI scored
- Opus 5 Anthropic · Large79
Scores out of 100. The rest of this page has the details.
Three courses, one time slot
Everything happens on the university's registration site, read as text and worked one action at a time. Jordan's starting week is already broken in several places, each rule has to be pieced together from what the site shows, and the site waves through double‑booked hours, full sections and courses taken too early.
Three computer science courses share one slot. The one Jordan holds meets a requirement now, a second needs a course Jordan hasn't passed, and the third opens every advanced course for later terms. Keeping the first breaks no rule, so only planning ahead finds the third.
What a careful assistant would have done here
- Fix what it was handed
Test Jordan's four starting classes against every rule first.
- The scholarship and the week
At least 16 credits, no waitlist places, every commitment kept, classes that never overlap, and time for every walk, including to and from training.
- The degree
Close at least two outstanding requirements, take only what Jordan is ready for, and repeat nothing.
- The long view
Weigh what each course does this term against what it opens up for the terms after.
There were 14 things to check on the final registration, with one check for Tuesday and another for Thursday. Thirteen are rules, and one is for choosing the course that gets Jordan out soonest, which no rule requires but which counts like the rest. Jordan's starting timetable passes 7.
The full story
(7 min read)Everything the AI walks into, in three parts: Jordan's term, what the AI has to work with, and a timetable that finishes sooner. Anything marked with a + opens when you click or tap it.Read the full storyClose the full story
Jordan's term
Where Jordan's week starts, and the people whose rules it has to keep.
Jordan Avery studies computer science at Northgate University and is in the second year of the degree. A scholarship pays as long as Jordan studies full time. Jordan works two days a week at the library desk, swims for the university at a noon session every weekday, and parks on a permit good for six hours a day.
On Monday 24 August 2026, in registration week, Jordan hands the autumn registration to an AI with three wishes: classes that suit the term's other commitments, the earliest possible graduation, and no extra cost.
As it stands, the timetable has 13 credits, three short of the scholarship's 16.
It also opens before the car park does, runs past six hours, and puts a class Jordan isn't ready for in the middle of a work shift.
Four parts of the university, from the library desk to the scholarship office, set Jordan's commitments and conditions, and an advisor added her advice.
Their decisions are on the portal, and that's as close as the AI gets to them or to Jordan.
Jordan and the AI
Who set the rules
Who runs the site
What the AI has to work with
The request, the site, the records behind each rule, and three courses competing for one slot.
Jordan writes four short sentences, and the site sends its own instructions with them.
The commitments, the scholarship, the degree and what graduating sooner would take are all left for the AI to find.
It wants the registration fixed around the commitments the portal lists, says Jordan hopes to graduate soon, and raises cost.
A guide to the numbered links and buttons on every page and the actions available, with warnings: search before expecting courses, submit the cart for anything to count, and expect clashes to go through.
Monday 24 August 2026 heads every page, and the instructions make it the day to go by. Nothing on the site changes unless the AI changes it.
The portal comes to the AI as text, one page a turn, and the AI answers each with one click, entry or choice.
It stays inside the site, alone, with up to 250 turns.
The rules turn up all over the site, and most come with a tempting wrong answer.
The scholarship
WhereThe catchThe week
WhereThe catchA week that works
WhereThe catchThe degree
WhereThe catchAt 10 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, three computer science courses meet at once. Jordan already holds one of them, CS 230, which meets the systems requirement this term. CS 360 would meet two requirements at once, but it needs CS 210, which Jordan hasn't taken, though the site would register it anyway.
CS 210 closes no requirement this term: it counts towards the core, which also needs CS 320. But every computer science course numbered 300 or above depends on it, so taking it now brings all of them a term closer, including CS 360, which can later meet the systems and advanced requirements in one go. Keeping CS 230 breaks no rule, so only looking ahead finds this.
In the 10:00 slot
Closes nowWhat it means for laterDr Raman's note pulls the other way. It asks for at least three requirements this term, and suggests taking the systems course if it fits, so following it leads to CS 230.
Jordan's wish to graduate soon points to CS 210, and the audit, which doesn't name the core courses, gives no hint: the need for CS 210 shows only in the prerequisite lines on the course pages.
A timetable that finishes sooner
Time and distance, one of the best timetables, and what the AI hands in.
With Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends ruled out, every class falls on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, from 9:00 at the earliest. Each of those days has six hours to hold all its classes and leave noon free for the pool, since parking beyond that costs extra.
Distance is the other half. The schedule page checks each class‑to‑class walk, but getting to the pool and back means adding up paths on the map, through Bohr Hall.
Of all the weeks the catalogue allows, fifteen keep every rule, and nine of those take CS 210. This is one of the nine. Only the history class stays from Jordan's old week, for its credits, and physics, CS 210, a maths course and economics join it.
That makes 17 credits. Linear algebra closes the maths requirement and macroeconomics the social science one, two in all. Jordan gets the 11:00 linear algebra section's last seat, so all 17 credits count.
A week that keeps CS 230 and meets every other rule is still valid. It just leaves Jordan's advanced courses a term further off.
What the site has registered when the AI stops is all that's checked, not the cart or the closing message, and a good registration gets every one of these right.
The scholarship
- At least 16 credits
- Real seats only, none on a waiting list
The week
- Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends clear
- Nothing before 9:00
- Noon to 12:45 clear, walks included
- Six hours a day at most
A week that works
- Classes that never overlap
- Time for every walk
The degree
- CS 210 in the 10:00 slot
- At least two requirements closed
- Prerequisites passed
- Nothing taken twice
CHEM 110
General Chemistry I. 4 credits, beginning before the car park has opened.
CS 230
Computer Organization. 3 credits. It meets the degree's systems requirement this term.
HIST 120
Modern World History. 3 credits, for a requirement Jordan has already met.
Work‑study shift
Both days, all term. A class at any hour on these days breaks Jordan's commitments.
CS 320
Design and Analysis of Algorithms. 3 credits, in the middle of a shift, and it needs CS 210, which Jordan hasn't taken.
Training
The whole squad trains at once, at the Vaughn Recreation Center pool, and the time is fixed.
6 h 50 on campus
The permit's six hours have to cover each day's classes, first to last. From 8:00 to 2:50 is 50 minutes too long, and Jordan would pay for those.
The lot opens
Weekdays only, from 8:40 in the morning until 10 at night.
Jordan Avery
Second year, on the Presidential Scholarship, free to register. Jordan answers nothing while the AI works.
The AI
It can only add a class, drop one or submit the cart, reading each page as text and acting once a turn.
Dr Priya Raman, the advisor
She met Jordan on 12 August and left a note on the portal, then went away until 26 August. She also teaches one of the courses in this story, CS 210.
The library desk
Where Jordan's work‑study shifts are.
The swim squad
One training group, at noon, at the recreation center's pool.
The parking office
The office behind Jordan's North Lot permit and its six‑hour day.
The scholarship office
Its scholarship sets a minimum number of credits.
The registrar
The office behind the site. It takes whatever registration arrives and holds it up against none of Jordan's other records.
Courses in the catalogue
108 sections across 13 departments, and 22 of them are full. Searches return bare course codes, and the course pages carry the sections, seats and prerequisites.
Views of the timetable
The cart, and My Schedule, which marks clashes and any walk longer than its gap. Adding and dropping happen on each course's page.
Pages of records
Jordan's commitments for the term, which share a page with the scholarship's conditions, Dr Raman's note, the audit of the degree so far, and the student record.
Places on the map
Every path between them is listed with its length in metres, and finding a route is left to the AI.
Action per turn
Each turn is one of these: a click, typing, a choice from a list, a jump to a page, a step back, or the closing message that ends the try.
Mistakes it blocks
Clashes, full classes and courses taken too early all go through, and the site flags only some of them.
At least 16 credits
Below 16 credits on 12 September, the day they're counted, Jordan loses that term's scholarship money.
Every seat a real one
Only a seat Jordan actually holds adds credits, so a waitlist place leaves the count where it was. Dr Raman's note warns about this too.
Tuesdays and Thursdays clear
The shift itself runs 9 to 5, yet the whole day is off limits, so an evening section fails too.
Weekends clear
Jordan needs the car park, and it opens on weekdays only.
Nothing before 9:00
Jordan drives, the lot opens at 8:40, and the catalogue's next start time is 9:00.
Noon to 12:45 clear
Training has to have its walks: from the morning's last class to the pool, and from the pool to the afternoon's first. The pool links to the rest of the campus only through Bohr Hall.
Six hours a day at most
Past six hours the parking costs extra, at the visitor rate, and Jordan wants no extra cost: the price works as a limit.
Classes that never overlap
An overlap is marked on My Schedule, and the registration keeps it.
Every walk fits its gap
The schedule page flags any walk longer than its gap, and the map has the length of every path.
At least two requirements closed
Five requirements are still open on the audit: the core courses, a systems course, a computer science course numbered 300 or above, a maths course numbered 200 or above, and an economics or psychology course. Dr Raman asks for at least three this term, but three can close only with CS 230 in the 10:00 slot. With CS 210 there, two is the most, and the checks accept two.
Prerequisites already passed
The course pages list prerequisites and the audit lists Jordan's passes. Matching the two is the AI's job: the site takes a course either way.
Nothing already passed
CS 101 and two maths courses are already done, and the audit says so.
The course that finishes sooner
The one choice that's better rather than required. Chapter 6 explains it.
CS 230, Computer Organization
Taught by Dr Omar Haddad in Keynes Hall. It closes the systems requirement now, and every advanced course waits for CS 210 a term later.
CS 360, Operating Systems
It would close the systems requirement and the 300‑level one together, which is why it tempts. Jordan isn't ready for it, and the site would let it through.
CS 210, Data Structures
Taught by Dr Raman in Turing Hall, with seats free in its 10:00 lecture. Its other lecture is full, and falls on a work day.
The permit's limit
The longest day of classes the permit covers.
Jordan's week now
8:00 to 2:50: chemistry first, history last.
The week in chapter 8
From 9:00 to 2:50.
PHYS 121
Physics I. 4 credits towards the 16, for no requirement still owed.
CS 210
Data Structures. 4 credits. It closes nothing yet, and opens the advanced computer science courses.
MATH 231
Linear Algebra. 3 credits. At 231, it's above the 200 the maths requirement asks for.
ECON 102
Principles of Macroeconomics. 3 credits. It fills the audit's economics or psychology requirement.
HIST 120
Modern World History. 3 credits, the one class kept from before.
Work‑study shift
Still clear: every class falls on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.
Training
On class days, Euler Hall is near enough to reach the pool in time, and Keynes Hall to get back.
5 h 50 on campus
Five hours fifty, inside the permit.
Opus 5 planned the week well, then broke two rules with its last class
Here's how Opus 5 did on each part of the job, in its one try. For comparison, Jordan's starting timetable would show 1, 2, 2 and 2.
| AI | The scholarship | The week | A week that works | The degree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enough credits, no waiting listsof 2 | Commitments keptof 6 | No clashes, time for every walkof 2 | Progress towards the degreeof 4 | |
| Opus 5Large | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
The darker the square, the more it got right. The AIs are in order of score.
The week: every rule kept but one
Opus 5 left no class on a work day or at the weekend, nothing before 9:00 and no clash, and kept every day inside the permit's six hours. Its one miss in the week was the walk back from the pool after training, part of keeping noon clear, and it came from the last class it added.
Its last class broke 2 of the 13 rules
Dropping the 8:00 class left it short of credits. It filled a free 1:00 slot with Spanish, a class that needs another Spanish course Jordan hasn't passed, and that sits too far from the pool for the walk back after training.
Of three courses in one slot, it kept the one it had
Opus 5 worked out that CS 210's only open lecture meets at the same time as CS 230, which Jordan already held. It kept CS 230, which let it close three requirements, meeting Dr Raman's note.
The course it keptMeets the systems requirement this term.
The course it passed overOpens the advanced computer science courses for later terms.
The two courses, in our words. Its closing message called CS 210 out of reach this term, and told Jordan to take it in the spring.
One try shows what Opus 5 did, not what it always does
- Asked to finish sooner, Opus 5 read the degree records.
It opened the degree audit before its first change and Dr Raman's note later on, and met her call for three requirements.
- It treated the class it already held as fixed.
It weighed CS 210 against CS 230 and kept the one already on the timetable, calling the other out of reach rather than a choice.
- It checked some prerequisites and not others.
It ruled out two courses numbered 300 or above, CS 415 among them, for prerequisites Jordan lacked, then added a Spanish class without reading its own.
What the AI did
Opus 5 submitted once at turn 26, then found the 8:00 chemistry class had to go, looked at five courses for the free 1:00 slot, and settled on Spanish. It took 43 turns.
One AI had one go at the job, with the request written the way a person would write it. The bar shows its score out of 100, where only 100 means it got everything right. Jordan's starting timetable would score 50. Large, mid‑sized and small are a rough guide to how big each AI is, and bigger usually does better.
How the job was set up and scored
- One AI, one try
- Opus 5's is the only complete try at this job as it now stands, so there's nothing to compare it with. Two earlier attempts were set aside without scoring: one ran before a record on the site was corrected, and the other was cut short by a usage limit.
- Checking
- Scripts run all 14 checks on the registration as the site recorded it. Of the timetables the catalogue allows, 15 meet every rule, and 9 of those also take CS 210.
- Another version
- A version without the wish to graduate sooner also changes the starting timetable, the catalogue, the audit and one line of Dr Raman's note. We tested four AIs on it: see what they did.
- Time and cost
- It took 12 minutes and 43 turns, and cost $9.36 at published per‑use prices for businesses.