In the last week before an exam, stop trying to learn everything and start finding and fixing what you can't yet recall: short sessions of answering questions, a fixed finishing time each evening, and proper sleep. Cramming feels productive because it is tiring, but it swaps long-lasting memory for a short-term jam that leaks away.
This is for the week before a school exam, such as end-of-year tests in Years 7 to 9. It is calm on purpose. A nervous twelve-year-old does not need a military timetable.
Why cramming backfires
Cramming means reading a lot, quickly, in one long push. It feels good because the material is fresh and familiar, but familiar is not the same as recallable. You recognise the page, yet in the exam you must produce the answer from nothing.
There is a second cost. The NHS says good sleep improves thinking and concentration, and that cramming all night before an exam is usually a bad idea: sleep will benefit a child far more than a few hours of panicky last-minute study. If your child is choosing between a fourth hour of reading and going to bed, bed usually wins.
And there is a third, quieter cost: a cramming week teaches a child that exams are a panic to survive. A steady week teaches them the opposite.
Cramming
- Long reading push
- Familiar, not recallable
- Late nights and tiredness
A calm week
- Short sessions of questions
- Find gaps, then fix them
- A fixed finish time and sleep
The seven-day shape
You don't need a fixed script, but a shape helps. This one is my suggestion, not a research-backed schedule. Work backwards from exam day:
- Days 7 to 5: find the gaps. Go through the topic list. For each topic, answer a few questions without notes and mark each one green (got it), amber (wobbly) or red (blank). This takes less time than people fear and tells you what to do with every later hour.
- Days 4 to 3: fix the reds. Short, focused sessions on red topics first, then amber. Use the method that fits: worked examples then similar problems in maths, flashcards for facts, explaining a process out loud for science.
- Day 2: mixed questions. Do a mix across topics, under light time pressure, like the real paper. Note what still slips.
- Day 1 (the day before): light touch. Flip through the hardest flashcards, re-do two or three problems you got wrong earlier, then stop.
Sessions of 25 to 30 minutes with a proper break are, in my experience, plenty for this age group. Two or three of them a day, not six.
A simple script for the evening
Parents often ask what to actually say. Try this, in a neutral voice, not as a check-up:
- "What are you doing tonight?" (Let them name a topic and a method.)
- "Test me on three things from it afterwards." (Ask the question, wait, don't rescue.)
- "What's the plan for tomorrow?" (Two sentences is enough.)
- "Devices down at half nine." (Pick your own time, but agree it beforehand and keep it.)
Notice that none of these is "have you done enough?" That question can never be answered well.
- Days 7 to 51Find the gapsGreen, amber, red
- Days 4 to 32Fix the redsThen the ambers
- Day 23Mixed questionsAcross topics
- Night before4Light touch, then stopHardest cards, pack the bag
The night before
The night before the exam has one job: turn up rested and ready. A good shape is:
- One short, light session early evening on the topics that have been hardest.
- Bag packed, pens, calculator (with spare batteries if it needs them), ID or whatever the school asks for.
- A proper meal, a bit of fresh air or movement, and something relaxing.
- Bed at the usual time or a little earlier, not later. Sleep advice for teenagers from Evelina London Children's Hospital (an NHS hospital) stresses keeping to the same sleep and wake times and stopping phone and tablet use at least an hour before bed.
Do not start a new topic. If a child suddenly remembers something they never covered, write it on a sticky note for after the exam, and let go of it.
If panic arrives anyway
It will, on at least one evening. Don't argue with the feeling; give it something small to do. "Pick one topic and answer three questions out loud to me." Almost always they know more than the panic claimed. If they don't, you've found a small gap, which is a far better thing than a large, shapeless dread.
Where Heddy fits
If your child uses Heddy, the flashcards from their own tutor sessions are a ready-made list of what they've been working on, and reviewing them is capped at twenty a day, which suits a calm final week. The review room asks them to try an answer before turning the card, which is the same retrieval the plan above relies on. For the wider picture of revising for school exams, see how to revise for KS3 exams, and for what to do with all those weeks before the last one, a Year 8 revision timetable.
Questions people ask
What should a Year 8 do in the last week before an exam?
Stop learning new material by the middle of the week and spend the time on retrieval: questions, flashcards and past-style papers, with gaps noted and fixed. Keep sessions short, stop at a fixed time and protect sleep.
Is it ever worth staying up late to revise?
Rarely. The NHS says good sleep improves thinking and concentration, which is exactly what an exam needs, so one extra hour of revision at midnight usually costs more than it gives.
What should my child do the night before an exam?
A short, light run through the things they find hardest, prepare the bag and equipment, eat a proper meal, and stop at a set time. The job is to be rested, not to squeeze in one more topic.
My child is panicking and says they know nothing. What do I say?
Ask them to pick one topic and answer three questions on it out loud. Nearly always they know more than they feared, and if they do not, you have found a small, fixable gap rather than a vague dread.