How to make a study plan for finals week

Step 1: Put every exam in one list

Before you plan anything, write down every final, paper and project you have left. For each one, note three things:

• The date and time. Check your syllabus or student portal, since finals schedules often differ from regular class times.
• How much it's worth. A final worth 40% of your grade deserves more time than one worth 15%.
• Where you stand now. Your current grade in that class, from Canvas, Blackboard or your gradebook.

This takes ten minutes, and it's the step most students skip. Without it, you end up studying for whatever feels most stressful instead of what matters most.

Step 2: Find out what each exam can actually change

Not every exam can move your grade the same amount. For each class, work out what you need on the final to keep or reach the grade you want. Our free final grade calculator does this in seconds.

You'll usually find three kinds of exams:

• Close to a cutoff. You need a realistic score, say 75%, to move from a B to an A, or to avoid dropping a grade. These get the most time.
• Safe. Your grade won't change much whatever you score. Review enough to do well, then move on.
• Out of reach. You'd need over 100% for the next grade up. Aim to protect the grade you have rather than chase one you can't get.

Step 3: Rank your exams

Sort your list by what's at stake: exams that are heavily weighted and close to a cutoff go first. When two exams are tied, the earlier one goes first.

Priority decides how much time an exam gets. The date decides when the last session happens.

Step 4: Build a two-week schedule

Start about two weeks before your first exam. Split your study time into blocks of roughly 50 minutes, and plan four to six blocks a day around your classes and work.

• Give each exam several short sessions on different days instead of one long one. Coming back to material after a gap is what makes it stick.
• Hand out blocks by priority. Your top exam might get eight blocks over two weeks, a safe one three or four.
• Mix subjects within a day. Two different classes in one day keeps you sharper than five hours of the same thing.
• Leave the last day before each exam light. Use it to review your summary sheet and practice questions, not to learn new material.
• Keep one block free every day for whatever ran over. Plans slip, and a buffer stops one bad day from wrecking the week.

Here's how the first days could look for the example above:

Step 5: Study in a way that sticks

How you use a block matters as much as how many you have. Rereading notes and highlighting feel productive but leave little behind. These work better:

• Test yourself. Close the book and write down everything you remember, or work through practice questions. Then check what you missed.
• Use old exams and problem sets. They show you what your instructor actually asks, and how.
• Explain it out loud. If you can't explain a concept simply, you don't know it yet. That's where your next block should go.
• Make one summary sheet per class. Building it is studying, and it's what you review the night before.

Step 6: Protect your sleep

Pulling an all-nighter trades the memory you need on exam day for a few extra hours of tired studying. Keep a regular bedtime, stop studying about an hour before it, and sleep a full night before every exam. A rested brain recalls what you studied. An exhausted one doesn't.

Step 7: Check in every evening

Take five minutes each night to look at tomorrow. Did a session run over? Move it into a buffer block. Did a topic turn out harder than expected? Give it another block before the exam. The plan works because you keep adjusting it, not because it was perfect on day one.

Questions students ask