GitHub Copilot Study Plan¶

5-Week Study Schedule¶

Week 1: Foundations, Plans, and Setup¶

Day 1-2: What Copilot Is¶

• Read the Copilot product overview and feature map
• List the Copilot SKUs: Free, Pro, Pro+, Business, Enterprise
• Identify which LLMs Copilot uses and when model selection is available
• Review Notes: notes/01-copilot-fundamentals.md
• Read: What is Copilot

Day 3-4: Plan and Feature Matrix¶

• Build a feature matrix comparing Free, Pro, Business, Enterprise
• Identify which features are Enterprise-only (knowledge bases, PR summaries, custom models)
• Note which controls are user-level vs admin-level
• Read: Plans for Copilot

Day 5-6: Install and Trial¶

• Start a Copilot Free or Individual trial
• Install Copilot in VS Code and at least one JetBrains IDE
• Install the Copilot CLI: gh extension install github/gh-copilot
• Accept and decline suggestions; try all keyboard shortcuts
• Review Notes: notes/01-copilot-fundamentals.md

Day 7: Week 1 Review¶

• Quiz yourself on plan differences
• Re-read the feature matrix
• Build a one-page summary of which features need which plan

Week 2: Using Copilot in the IDE and Chat¶

Day 8-9: Inline Completions¶

• Practice Tab-to-accept, Alt+] / Alt+[ to cycle
• Use the suggestions panel (Ctrl+Enter in VS Code)
• Write a descriptive function signature and observe suggestions
• Review Notes: notes/02-code-completions-and-chat.md

Day 10-11: Copilot Chat¶

• Try inline chat (Ctrl+I), chat panel, and quick chat
• Use every slash command: /explain, /fix, /tests, /doc, /new, /clear
• Use agents: @workspace, @vscode, @terminal, @github
• Attach files and selections with #file, #selection, #codebase
• Read: Chat Cheat Sheet

Day 12-13: Other Surfaces¶

• Try Copilot Chat on github.com (repo-level and general)
• Use gh copilot suggest and gh copilot explain in terminal
• Explore Copilot in GitHub Mobile
• Generate a commit message with IDE source control
• Review Notes: notes/03-ide-integration-and-workflows.md

Day 14: Week 2 Review¶

• Recreate the slash command and agent table from memory
• Pair each keyboard shortcut with the correct action
• Identify which surfaces require Business or Enterprise

Week 3: Prompt Engineering and Developer Use Cases¶

Day 15-16: Prompt Fundamentals¶

• Memorize the 4 S's: Single, Specific, Short, Surround
• Practice zero-shot, one-shot, and few-shot prompts in chat
• Write before/after refactor prompts and compare outputs
• Review Notes: notes/06-prompt-engineering-for-copilot.md
• Read: Prompt Engineering

Day 17-18: Code Use Cases¶

• Generate unit tests for an existing module using /tests
• Refactor a long function in two steps: explain, then refactor
• Add docstrings and README sections using /doc
• Ask Copilot to learn a new framework by generating examples

Day 19-20: DevOps and Platform Use Cases¶

• Generate a GitHub Actions workflow for CI with Copilot Chat
• Generate a multi-stage Dockerfile
• Generate Terraform for a simple AWS resource
• Explain a complex shell pipeline with gh copilot explain

Day 21: Week 3 Review¶

• Review your strongest and weakest prompt patterns
• Practice chat follow-ups and iterative refinement
• Review Notes: notes/06-prompt-engineering-for-copilot.md

Week 4: Responsible Use and Enterprise Administration¶

Day 22-23: Responsible Use¶

• Read the Copilot Trust Center materials
• Understand duplicate detection filter behavior
• Understand content exclusions and their scopes
• Review IP indemnity requirements (Business/Enterprise + duplicate detection)
• Review Notes: notes/04-security-privacy-and-data-handling.md
• Read: Responsible Use

Day 24-25: Policies and Content Exclusions¶

• In a sandbox org, configure content exclusions at repo level
• Configure duplicate detection policy at org level
• Disable or enable chat, network, or MCP policies
• Review audit log events for Copilot

Day 26-27: Enterprise Features¶

• Study knowledge bases (Enterprise) and how they are built
• Study PR summaries and Copilot code review
• Study Copilot Extensions and custom GitHub Apps integrations
• Review Notes: notes/05-enterprise-administration.md

Day 28: Week 4 Review¶

• Walk through the full seat assignment workflow
• Enumerate every admin policy that affects Copilot behavior
• Summarize what each plan retains and does not retain

Week 5: Review and Mock Exams¶

Day 29-30: Comprehensive Review¶

• Re-read fact-sheet.md top to bottom
• Review all six notes files
• Create flashcards for plan differences and slash commands

Day 31-32: Scenarios¶

• Work through scenarios.md end-to-end
• For every wrong answer, re-read the relevant doc section

Day 33-34: Mock Exams¶

• Take any available practice exam
• Time yourself to 90 minutes
• Log weak areas and revisit specific notes

Day 35: Exam Day¶

• Light fact-sheet review in the morning
• Confirm ID, webcam, quiet room
• Close unnecessary apps; confirm stable network
• Take the exam with confidence

Study Tips¶

Time Allocation by Domain Weight¶

Recommended Daily Schedule¶

• 20 min reading Copilot docs or notes
• 40 min hands-on practice in IDE, chat, and CLI
• 15 min flashcards for plans, commands, and policies
• Total: ~1.25 hours/day

Hands-On Labs¶

1. Build a REST API (Python or Node) using only Copilot Chat and inline
2. Generate a full test suite for an existing small repo
3. Configure content exclusions on a sandbox org and verify behavior
4. Create a GitHub Actions workflow by prompting Copilot
5. Use gh copilot to build 10 shell one-liners from natural language