the week before
an exam

if a topic is genuinely new to you at this point, it is usually not the best use of the week — unless it carries a lot of marks. the highest return now is on things you half-know, because half-known material converts to known much faster than unknown material does.

day one: find out
what you do not know

not by reading. by testing. sit a past paper, or write out everything you can remember for each topic on the syllabus. it will be unpleasant and it will be accurate. an honest map of the gaps on day one is worth more than three days of comfortable revision on things you already had.

rank by marks,
not by discomfort

people revise what they enjoy and avoid what frightens them, which is exactly backwards. sort the gaps by how many marks they are worth and how fixable they are. a heavily weighted topic you half-know is the best hour you will spend all week. a small topic you find genuinely impossible may be worth abandoning on purpose.

mid-week: practise
in exam conditions

at least once, timed, no notes, no phone, in one sitting. people who have only ever practised untimed discover the pacing problem in the exam itself, which is the most expensive place to find it. then review it properly — that review is where the marks are.

the last two days:
stop learning, start retrieving

no new material. go over the gap list, out loud, from memory. explain the hardest topic to someone who does not do the subject. anything you cannot explain is the last thing worth asking about — and a specific question at this stage gets answered fast.

the night before

it matters less than it feels like it does, with one exception: sleep is not optional and cramming through it reliably costs more than it adds. lay out what you need, go to bed. the work was the week, not the night.

and if the week got away from you entirely, that is a different problem with a different answer — see behind on everything.

related

reviewing a practice test · behind on everything · test prep