How to study for finals in one week: a day-by-day plan

By Martin Eriksson · 29 October 2026

You have one week until finals and too much to cover. The good news: one well-planned week is enough to make a real difference, as long as you spend it testing yourself rather than re-reading your notes.

Here's the plan I'd follow, day by day, plus the small tricks that make it easier to actually sit down and start.

Before you start: 30 minutes of planning

Spend half an hour on this today. It saves hours later.

List every exam with its date, time and what it covers.
Rate each topic red (lost), amber (shaky) or green (fine). Be honest.
Gather what you'll test yourself with: past papers, end-of-chapter questions, problem sets, your lecturer's practice quizzes.
Put your exams on a countdown so the dates stay in front of you.

Your red topics in your earliest exam get the most time. Green topics get a quick check at the end of the week.

The 7-day plan

Each day has three or four study blocks. A block is about 90 minutes: three 25-minute focus sessions with short breaks, or two 45-minute sessions if you prefer longer stretches.

Day	Main goal	What to do
Day 1	Find the gaps	One practice test per subject, untimed. Mark it and list what you got wrong.
Day 2	Fix the biggest gaps	Red topics from your earliest exam. Learn, then answer questions on them straight away.
Day 3	Fix the next gaps	Red topics from your other exams. Same method: learn, then test.
Day 4	Amber topics	Practice questions on shaky topics across all subjects. Write one summary sheet per subject.
Day 5	Timed practice	A full past paper under exam conditions for your first exam. Mark it honestly.
Day 6	Timed practice, round two	Past papers for your other exams. Review every mistake from Days 1 to 5.
Day 7	Light review and rest	Summary sheets and your "got wrong" list only. Stop by early evening. Sleep.

If your first exam is before Day 7, slide the plan so that its timed practice falls two days before it.

Test yourself instead of re-reading

Re-reading notes feels productive because the material looks familiar. But recognising something isn't the same as being able to recall it in an exam. Testing yourself is harder, and that difficulty is what makes it stick.

Easy ways to do it:

Cover and recall: read a section, close the book and write down everything you remember. Then check.
Turn headings into questions: "Causes of the French Revolution" becomes "What were three causes of the French Revolution?"
Explain it out loud as if teaching a friend. The parts where you get stuck are your gaps.
Do the questions before reading the answers. Even wrong guesses help you remember the right answer afterwards.

Use short sessions so you actually start

The hardest part of finals week isn't studying. It's starting. When everything feels urgent, it's easy to freeze and scroll instead.

The Pomodoro technique helps: pick one small task, set a timer for 25 minutes and work only on that until it rings. Then take a 5-minute break. After four sessions, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

If 25 minutes feels like too much today, start with 15. Starting small beats not starting.

Puperino Pomodoro timer set to 25 minutes — A simple Pomodoro timer: pick your minutes and press Start.

Keep your phone out of the way

A phone on your desk pulls your attention even when it's face down. During study blocks:

Put it in another room, or at least out of reach.
Turn on a Focus mode so notifications stay quiet.
If you need your phone for the timer, use one that blocks distracting apps while it runs.

There's a full walkthrough in How to stop checking your phone while studying.

Look after the basics

Sleep 7 to 9 hours. Your brain consolidates what you learned while you sleep. An all-nighter trades tomorrow's memory for tonight's hours.
Eat proper meals and drink water. Low energy feels like low motivation.
Move once a day, even a 15-minute walk. It's the best study break there is.
Stop at a set time each evening. Knowing the day ends makes it easier to focus while it lasts.

A sample day

Time	Block
9:00–10:30	Subject A: red topics (3 × 25 min)
10:30–11:00	Long break, walk
11:00–12:30	Subject B: practice questions
12:30–13:30	Lunch
13:30–15:00	Subject C: learn, then test
15:00–15:30	Break
15:30–17:00	Review mistakes from today
Evening	Free. Sleep by 23:00.

That's about 6 hours of real work, which is plenty. If you only manage four blocks of genuine focus a day, you'll still be far better prepared at the end of the week than you are now.

Puperino

Puperino's exam countdown keeps your dates in view, and Biscuit naps beside you through every session. Free on iPhone.

Download on the App Store

Questions people ask

Is one week enough to study for finals?

For most courses, one focused week is enough to review and practise what you've already been taught, especially if you spend it testing yourself rather than re-reading. It's tight for a subject you've barely started. In that case, put that subject first each day and aim to understand the main topics rather than every detail.

How many hours a day should I study for finals?

Around 4 to 6 hours of real, focused work is plenty for most students, split into 25 to 50 minute sessions with breaks. More than that usually means lower-quality hours. Sleep counts as part of the plan: your memory consolidates what you studied while you sleep.

Should I study one subject at a time or mix them?

Mix them. Doing two or three subjects a day, in separate blocks, keeps you fresher and helps you remember more than a full day on one subject. Give your weakest or earliest exam the first block of the day.

What's the best way to study the night before an exam?

Do a light review of your summary sheet and the questions you got wrong earlier in the week, then stop. Don't start new material. Pack what you need, set an alarm and get a full night's sleep.