FocusFlow LabStart from the dates, not the subjects
Write down every exam or deadline with its date. Count the days between today and each one. A schedule only works backwards from a date, so this list comes first, before any timetable.
Count the hours you really have
Take each day and subtract classes, work, meals, travel and sleep. What is left is your real study time, and it is almost always less than you hoped. Plan on the real number. A schedule built on the hours you wish you had fails by day three.
Split the hours by need
Give each subject a share of the hours based on two things: how much you still have to learn, and how many marks it carries. Weak and heavy subjects get the most time. Then split each subject into small, named tasks such as “chapter 4 practice questions” instead of “study biology”.
The study schedule maker does this split for you from your subjects, exam dates and daily hours. For a big exam with a blueprint, the free exam study plans weight the topics for you.
Plan in blocks with breaks
Work in blocks of 25 to 50 minutes with a 5 to 10 minute break, and put the hardest task in your best-energy block. Mix two or three subjects in a day instead of one, and end each day with a short recall of what you covered. The focus timer runs the blocks.
Leave slack and review it weekly
- Leave one catch-up block each week, or about 20% of your hours empty, for the plan that slips.
- Look at the schedule every Sunday. Move what you missed instead of deleting it.
- Add spaced review: come back to each topic after a day, a few days and a week. The spaced review calendar sets those dates.
If you are short of time, the finals-in-a-week guide shows how to cut a plan down.
Source: Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3).