How to revise for GCSEs: a step-by-step plan that works

Key takeaways

• →In a major review of ten study techniques, only two were rated highly useful: testing yourself, and spreading revision out over time.
• →Re-reading and highlighting were rated low. Mixing topics is promising, especially in maths, but the evidence is less clear-cut.
• →Do past papers under exam conditions, then mark them with the mark scheme. AQA gives both away free.
• →Teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night, so a late night of cramming is a poor trade.

1. The short answer

A major 2013 review looked at ten popular study techniques. Only two were rated highly useful. One is practice testing, which means quizzing yourself with flashcards or questions. The other is distributed practice, which means spreading your study over time instead of cramming. Both helped across many different kinds of test.^[1]

Five techniques were rated low, including summarising, highlighting and underlining, and re-reading. That does not mean you must throw away your highlighters. It means they should not be the main way you revise.^[1]

Mixing topics is a useful third habit, especially in maths. In a classroom study of 12-year-olds, the same pupils scored 72% on the kinds of problem they had practised mixed up, and 38% on the kinds they had practised in a block. The test was a surprise, two weeks later.^[3]

A year-long trial in Nigerian primary schools is a useful warning. Mixed practice helped on the end-of-term test, but there was no clear gain on the end-of-year test that covered everything. So treat mixing as a promising habit, not a guarantee.^[4]

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) says approaches like these seem to help pupils learn, but there is still little research on how best to use them across different year groups and subjects. Think of them as good bets.^[2]

2. The 2027 dates to plan around

The first GCSE exam is on Monday 10 May 2027, the last is on Friday 18 June, and GCSE results day is Thursday 19 August 2027.^[10]

The shared national timetable runs from 10 May to 18 June, and Wednesday 23 June is a spare day in case of disruption. Your school will give you your own timetable, which is the final word. Our exam dates guide for 2027 has more.^[9]

3. Step 1: know your exam board and your papers

Find out which exam board each subject uses, for example AQA, Pearson Edexcel or OCR. For each subject, write down how many papers there are, how long each one lasts and what it covers. The front of a past paper tells you most of this.

AQA says its past papers and mark schemes are free to use online, but only for the current course. For new courses it provides specimen papers instead. Whatever your board, practise on papers from your own course.^[5]

Free tool: our exam boards guide: It explains how to find out which board you are sitting, whether it matters, and the exams for each subject.

4. Step 2: list your topics and make a timetable

Put your exam dates on a calendar and count the weeks. Then list every topic for each subject, using the exam board’s course list or your teacher’s. Mark each topic red, amber or green. Green means you can do the questions without your notes. Red means you cannot yet.

The EEF rates the evidence on metacognition, which means thinking about how you learn, as strong. It says teaching pupils to plan, check and review their own learning can be effective, and it finds about seven months’ extra progress on average over a year.^[8]

Spread your topics across the weeks so each one comes round more than once. Give red topics the earliest and most frequent slots. Leave a spare slot or two each week for things that slip. Our revision timetable maker is free and printable. You pick your subjects and your time, and it builds a weekly plan that spaces and mixes subjects. Our lessons on a timetable you will keep, and on planning, checking and reviewing, go deeper.

5. Step 3: test yourself

Close the book before you open it. Try the blank page: write the topic at the top, set a ten-minute timer and write everything you know. Then check your notes and fill the gaps in a different colour. The gaps are your next revision job.

This is practice testing, the top-rated method in the 2013 review. Flashcards work the same way, as long as you say or write the answer before you flip the card.^[1]

For parents: Swap “Have you revised?” for “Tell me three things you remember from today’s lesson.” It takes a minute and does not need you to know the subject.

6. Step 4: space it out and mix it up

Spacing means coming back to a topic after a gap, instead of doing it all in one go. In the 2013 review, spreading study over time was one of only two methods rated highly useful.^[1]

A simple pattern is the next day, a week later, then a month later. Our lessons on spaced practice and the forgetting curve show how to plan the gaps.

Once you can do a method, mix it in with others. In maths, make a ten-question quiz from three topics, and write down which method each question needs before you solve it. Our lesson on mixing topics shows how.

7. Step 5: use past papers and mark schemes

AQA’s advice is to answer past papers as if you are under exam conditions, and then compare your answers with the mark scheme. That is the right order: try first, check second.^[5]

Start with single questions, notes closed. Move to full papers as the exams get closer. Mark each paper strictly. For every lost mark, ask whether you did not know the topic, misread the question or ran out of time. Keep a list of the topics that cost you marks and go back to them.

Our grade boundaries page shows the marks needed for each grade in recent papers, so you can see roughly what a score means. Boundaries change from year to year, so use them as a guide. Our lessons on reading mark schemes like an examiner, and on six-mark questions, show where marks go missing.

8. Step 6: time your papers

Divide the time by the marks printed on the front of the paper to get your minutes per mark. Set checkpoints at a quarter, a half and three-quarters of the way through. If you are stuck, write what you can, circle the question and move on.

Sit one full paper under timed conditions every couple of weeks as the exams get closer. Our lesson on timing a paper has a worked example.

9. Step 7: protect sleep and put the phone away

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night for teenagers aged 13 to 18. It links regularly sleeping less with problems with attention, behaviour and learning. Staying up late to revise can cost you more than it gains.^[6]

On phones, a study of schools in four English cities found that exam results rose after schools banned mobile phones, with the biggest gains for the lowest-achieving pupils. That was about school bans, not revision at home, so treat it as a hint. It is easy to try, though: put your phone in another room for each revision block and check it afterwards as a reward.^[7]

Our lessons on sleep, on phones and attention, and on exercise and focus go deeper.

For parents: Agree one family rule rather than a punishment, such as phones charging in the kitchen overnight and during revision.

10. How Brainhub can help

Our GCSE students typically improve by 2 grades over 12 weeks of weekly lessons (Brainhub student records, 2021–2026). That figure is our own data, not independent research.

We teach one-to-one, live online across the UK, with online GCSE lessons from £30 an hour. Every family starts with a free 45-minute assessment, so we can see which topics to work on first and help you turn this plan into a weekly routine.

1. 1. Which two study methods did the major 2013 review rate as highly useful?

   Show answer

2. 2. What should you do after finishing a past paper?

   Show answer

3. 3. How much sleep do teenagers aged 13 to 18 need?

   Show answer

Your next steps

• Write down your exam board and papers for each subject.
• Put the 2027 exam dates on a calendar and build a plan with our revision timetable maker.
• Tonight, do a ten-minute blank page on one topic with your notes closed.

Subject guides to go with this

Want one-to-one help? See how our online lessons work.