Six weeks before exams is the sweet spot: enough time to actually fix things, not so much that you procrastinate. Here's a week-by-week structure ETS tutors use with students preparing for matric finals or mid-year exams.
## Week 6 — Diagnose
Don't open a textbook. Open your last test or exam paper for each subject. Write down:
- Which topics you scored above 70%
- Which topics you scored 40–70% (this is the gold mine — these are your fastest gains)
- Which topics you scored below 40%
The 40–70% bucket is where most of your improvement will come from. They're concepts you sort of get but haven't drilled. The below-40% topics are usually fundamental gaps that need a tutor to unblock.
## Week 5 — Build the master list
Go through every subject and list every chapter or topic in the syllabus. Cross out things you're confident in. Highlight the gold-mine topics in yellow. Highlight below-40% topics in red.
Now you have a finite, realistic list. Stick it on the wall.
## Week 4 — Deep work on red topics
Spend this whole week on red topics — usually the foundational stuff. If you don't fix these, every yellow topic you tackle will feel shaky too. Use a tutor here if you can. One hour with someone who can answer your "but why?" question is worth ten hours of YouTube videos.
## Week 3 — Knock out the gold mine
Now drill the yellow topics with past paper questions. The pattern is: do the question, mark it honestly, write a one-line note about what tripped you up. Move on. Repeat.
Aim for two past papers per subject this week, untimed.
## Week 2 — Timed practice
Switch to timed practice. Sit down, set a timer, do a full paper without notes. Mark it. The first one will hurt — that's the point. Most students improve dramatically between their first and third timed paper as they figure out where their time goes.
## Week 1 — Light revision and recovery
Resist the urge to cram. The night before an exam matters less than the night before that — sleep is when your brain consolidates everything you've practised. Light revision, mostly skim-reading your one-line notes from the past 5 weeks. Bed by 22:00.
## Exam day
- Eat breakfast even if you're not hungry. Carbs and protein.
- Arrive early enough that traffic isn't a stress.
- Read the whole paper before you write anything. Earmark questions you're confident on and start there.
- If you get stuck, move on. Time spent staring at a question you can't crack is time stolen from questions you can.
The students who walk in calmly aren't the ones who studied 14 hours the day before. They're the ones who started six weeks earlier with a plan.