Studying

What Studying is

Studying (written スタディング, and STUDYing in page titles) is a Japanese online exam preparation service for adults studying for professional qualifications. It calls itself an "AI 資格パートナー" (AI qualification partner) and sells online correspondence courses for demanding national and private exams, from the SME management consultant exam and the bar to IT, accounting, real estate, nursing and childcare qualifications. The site footer names the operator as KIYO Learning Co., Ltd.

The pitch is built around three ideas that the homepage puts side by side: passing in the shortest time with AI features, studying on a smartphone in spare moments ("スキマ時間で スマホ学習"), and good value for money. The service is designed so that everything can be done on a phone or PC; the FAQ explains that this follows the company's principle of turning commutes and breaks into study time. Everything on the site is in Japanese, and the exams it prepares for are Japanese ones, so this is a product for Japanese-speaking learners.

The course catalog

The homepage advertises "資格講座35講座以上", more than 35 qualification courses, grouped into nine fields:

• Business and management: SME management consultant (中小企業診断士), professional engineer (技術士), retail sales (販売士), hazardous materials handler, the Mental Health Management test, and a consultant training course.
• Law and labor: the bar exam and preliminary exam, judicial scrivener, administrative scrivener, labor and social security attorney, patent attorney, the Business Law test, the intellectual property management test, and personal information protection.
• Accounting and finance: certified public accountant, tax accountant, bookkeeping (the Nissho bookkeeping test), financial planner, securities sales representative, and money lending business manager.
• Real estate and architecture: real estate transaction agent (宅建士), architect, condominium manager, and rental property manager.
• IT: IT Passport, Information Security Management, Fundamental and Applied Information Technology Engineer, IT Strategist, Network Specialist, Database Specialist, the AWS certification exams and the Python 3 engineer certification.
• Public service: civil service exams, including national career-track and mid-career routes, and public-sector childcare workers.
• Medical, welfare and language: the national nursing exam, registered drug seller, childcare worker, and TOEIC preparation.

Each course gets an overview on the homepage with the exam's own figures (annual candidates, pass rate, exam months and format), which helps a reader judge how hard the target is before choosing a course. Studying Tech sits alongside the exam courses as a free programming course with tracks in Python, JavaScript and HTML/CSS, plus career advice and job-change support for people aiming at engineering work.

How studying works

The core format is short video lectures, web textbooks and question sets on phone or PC. The FAQ says lectures use diagrams and illustrations and are built on the "スタディングメソッド", the company's method distilled from studying how fast passers prepared. Printed textbooks exist for some courses only. Lessons are sequenced by a "learning flow" feature, and a learning report tracks progress.

The AI layer is what Studying leads with. The homepage names three core features: AI学習プラン (an AI study plan made for each learner), AI問題復習 (AI question review, which re-asks questions at the moment you are likely to forget them), and AI実力スコア (a real-time score of where you stand). The feature list adds AI search, AI explanations, AI subtitles, an AI study navigator, and an AI tutor called AIマスター先生 that learners can call up with one tap during a lecture or practice question. The FAQ says it answers from Studying's own questions, textbooks and past learner questions, and can advise on how to pace the study as well as on content.

The AI study plan page explains the mechanism in detail. A learner picks the target exam, enters how much time they can study each day, and takes a diagnostic test. The system, trained on the learning histories of many past users, then builds a schedule of what to study, when and for how long, with a target score for each question, and shows a predicted exam score and predicted pass probability. If the predicted score falls short, the learner can add study time and regenerate the plan. The page walks through an example of 100 hours (6000 minutes) split into 600 ten-minute units, each assigned to whichever lesson raises the predicted score most, and notes that the model also accounts for forgetting. The company calls the plan an industry first and says it is patented.

There are two versions. "AI学習プラン オプティマ" is the scheduling version described above; as of September 2025 the page lists it for SME consultant, labor and social security attorney, real estate agent, first and second class architect, patent attorney and judicial scrivener. A notice dated March 16, 2026 announces the "AI学習プラン ウィズ" version for the Information Security Management course. AI scores and AI plans are available on some courses only, which the FAQ states plainly.

Other tools include a memorization tool, memos, a personal notebook, multi-device sync, a study-buddy feature, a function for registering qualifications you already hold, and the Studying app, in which purchased courses can be used (courses themselves are bought on the website).

Support, results and pricing

Besides the AI tutor, the FAQ names a study Q&A service (学習Q&Aサービス), and some courses offer a coaching service with a dedicated coach. Recent news items show live drafting study sessions and a drafting correction service added to the architect course, and the consultant training course uses video lectures plus marked assignments.

On results, the FAQ states more than 35,000 cumulative passers as of September 2025, based on learner surveys and pass reports, and the homepage counts pass reports by exam: 649 for SME consultant, 6,230 for real estate agent, 2,012 for tax accountant and 884 for labor and social security attorney. It also reports 91.5% satisfaction with video lectures from a learner survey run from September 18 to October 2, 2025 (n=4,843). One SME consultant passer quoted on the homepage says their AI score was 425 and their actual exam score 424.

Course prices are on each course page rather than the homepage. The FAQ explains that fees are low because the company replaced classrooms, resident teachers and printing with online delivery. Eligible courses qualify for Japan's general Education and Training Benefit, under which Hello Work refunds 20% of the fee, capped at 10万円 (100,000 yen). Students get 20% off every course after verifying student status, new free members receive a 10% discount coupon (raised to 15% during campaigns), and there is a friend referral campaign.

Anyone can try before paying: the site offers free video lectures, question sets, past exam papers and booklets, plus free seminars.

Beyond exam prep

The company runs Studying Career, a job-change scouting service with free career consultations for qualification holders, and Studying Publishing, which turns popular courses into books combined with online and AI features; a 2027 edition SME consultant book was announced in September 2026. For companies there is a corporate plan and a separate cloud e-learning service for staff training. An affiliate program is open to partners.

Who it suits

Studying fits Japanese-speaking working adults preparing for a national or professional exam around a job, especially people who study in short bursts on a phone. The AI plan suits learners who struggle to schedule themselves, since it tells them exactly what to cover each day and whether their pace is enough. The breadth of the catalog also means one method across very different exams, from IT Passport to the bar.

It is a weaker fit for someone who wants a classroom, a fixed live timetable, or full printed materials on every course. And because the courses target Japanese exams in Japanese, it is not a choice for learners outside that system.