IGCSE Maths Revision: How to Plan the Last 3 Months Before the Exam

Twelve weeks before the exam is the optimal point to shift from learning new content to structured revision. Earlier than this and you risk burnout or forgetting early revision by exam day. Later than this and you will not have enough time to address weak topics systematically. The May/June session means starting revision in earnest around late February or early March; for the October/November session, this means late July or early August. The 3-month plan below assumes you have covered the full syllabus in class and are now consolidating. If you are still learning new material, you need to accelerate your coverage and may need to compress the revision plan into the final 8 weeks — which is still enough time for significant improvement but requires more intensive daily sessions. The plan is divided into three 4-week phases, each with a distinct purpose: Phase 1 is diagnosis and targeted topic revision, Phase 2 is practice and technique development, and Phase 3 is exam simulation and fine-tuning. Each phase builds on the previous one, so skipping ahead is counterproductive.

Week 1: Complete one full past paper untimed (Paper 2 or 4 depending on your tier). Mark it with the official mark scheme and create a topic-by-topic breakdown. Rank each topic as Red (below 50%), Amber (50-75%), or Green (above 75%). This is your personalised revision map. Weeks 2-3: Focus entirely on your Red topics. For each one, go back to the textbook, re-read the theory, work through the examples, and then do 8-10 questions from past papers on that specific topic. Do not move to the next topic until you can consistently score 70%+ on practice questions. Common Red topics for Extended students include: functions and inverse functions, vectors, matrices, trigonometry in 3D, and algebraic fractions. For Core students, common Reds are: ratio and proportion, probability, and interpreting statistical diagrams. Week 4: Do a second diagnostic paper (untimed). Compare your Red-Amber-Green map with the first paper. Any topic that has moved from Red to Amber or Green confirms your revision is working. Any topic still in Red needs more attention in Phase 2. During this entire phase, aim for 45-60 minutes of focused Maths revision per day, 5-6 days per week. This is more effective than cramming 3-hour sessions on weekends.

Now you start doing timed papers. The goal is to build exam technique alongside mathematical knowledge. Week 5: Do Paper 2 (non-calculator) under timed conditions. Mark it and analyse: were marks lost to knowledge gaps or to time pressure and technique? Week 6: Do Paper 4 (calculator) under timed conditions. Same analysis. Week 7: Review your Amber topics from the diagnostic — these are the topics where you understand the basics but make errors under pressure. For each Amber topic, identify the specific type of question that catches you out and practise those variants. For example, if you score well on basic trigonometry but lose marks on bearings questions, practise bearings specifically. Week 8: Do another pair of timed papers and compare with Weeks 5-6. You should see improvement in both score and time management. Key technique focus areas during this phase: reading questions fully before starting (many marks are lost by solving the wrong thing), checking whether the answer should be exact or rounded, labelling graph axes correctly, and showing all working for multi-mark questions. Increase your daily revision to 60-75 minutes during this phase, and consider two sessions per week of 90 minutes for full timed papers.

This is the sharpening phase. Weeks 9-10: Do 2-3 more full timed papers, but now focus on optimising your question order strategy. Many students work through the paper front to back, but a better approach for some is to scan the paper first and tackle your strongest topics first to build confidence and bank marks. Experiment with both approaches and see which gives you a higher score. Week 11: Do the most recent available past paper as a full exam simulation — same time of day, same desk setup, no interruptions. Mark it rigorously. This paper is your most reliable predictor of your actual exam grade. If you are within 5-10 marks of your target grade boundary, you are on track. If you are more than 10 marks below, identify the 2-3 highest-value improvements (the topics or technique changes that would rescue the most marks) and focus exclusively on those in Week 12. Week 12 (exam week): Light revision only. Review your revision notebook, redo 2-3 questions from topics where you have recently improved (to build confidence), and get good sleep. Do not attempt a full past paper in the final 3 days — this can create anxiety if it goes badly, and you will not have time to address any issues that surface. The taper is crucial: your brain needs rest to perform at its peak on exam day.