Up until this point, you would have followed a specific revision schedule. You would have revised each subject accordingly. However, as you enter May, your revision schedule will somewhat change. You will revise subjects in the same order as your exam timetable. The order in which you revise for each subject will depend on the gap between each exam and whether exams arrive in clusters e.g. 3 exams on 3 consecutive days and then a 4 day gap until the next one.
If your exams fall on every other day, then it would make sense to revise each subject a day before the exam. At this stage, you would have a great deal of knowledge about each subject and efficient notes pages (if you don’t have any for maths, you may want to check out my previous post). Now it’s just a case of memorising all of those key notes for each exam. For maths, it would most likely consist of formulas or general pointers such as don’t forget to write the units at the end of each answer, rounding to 3 significant figures etc. etc. It’s just small errors you made consistently throughout your practice papers. All the important stuff is already stored into your long term memory.
If your exams are not evenly spread out and they come in clusters, then it can get a little complicated. What you need to do is focus on each cluster, in turn. For example, suppose you have a science, business and history exam on a particular week. There is a 4 day gap and you have maths, another science exam and geography the following week. A few days before, you would have to focus solely on the first cluster (science, business, history) until it’s over. Immediately after the history exam, you would revise for the second group; maths, science and geography in that order.
You may need to revise two subjects on the same day if the gap between those exams are too small or even worse, fall on the same day! There are certain subjects which do not require as much attention as others due to the nature of the exam. Depending on the exam boards, these subjects could be R.E, P.E (practical), Drama (practical), Art, Technology, Media Studies and I.C.T. Dedicate more time to core subjects such as maths, english and science because these are more important for your long term studies/career.
As you can see, it’s difficult to define the ideal revision schedule as one size doesn’t fit all; students have all kinds of exam timetables. However, what I highly recommended is that you download my guide: How To Maximise Your Grade In Every GCSE Exam. It’s a great resource to use in the weeks leading up to your final GCSE exams. On pages 17-18, you’ll find a very good example of what I’m discussing here. I’ve given a typical exam timetable which has a number of exams in quick succession. I explain how to approach them all so you can maximise your grade in every one. You just need to adapt it to your own personal schedule.