A printable revision timetable I will actually stick to
Print the week, block out the hours that are already spoken for, then fill what is left with named topics rather than subject names. "Maths" is not a plan; "quadratic graphs, 40 minutes, then check answers" is. Two pages: the timetable itself, and a priority page where you rank your subjects honestly before you allocate a single slot. Fill the priority page first.
Last updated 20 August 2026 · Written and checked by the GCSEwiz team
What is on the sheet
- A blank week, Monday to Sunday, in four daily blocks
- A subject-priority page to fill in before you allocate any time
- Room to write the topic, not just the subject
2 sheets · A4 landscape · black and white
Choose landscape in your printer dialog, or Save as PDF to keep a copy.
Weekly revision timetable
Page 1 of 2Cross out what is already committed, then write the topic in each box rather than the subject.
| When | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before school | |||||||
| After school | |||||||
| Early evening | |||||||
| Late evening |
What goes in the blocks
Page 2 of 2Fill this in first. Score every subject out of 10, name the topic you are avoiding, then give the lowest scores the most slots.
| Subject | Confidence /10 | The topic I am avoiding | Slots this week |
|---|---|---|---|
Why most revision timetables get abandoned
The usual failure is not laziness. It is that the timetable was written by an optimist on a Sunday afternoon: nine hours on Saturday, every evening booked, no gap for the football match everyone knew about. Monday goes fine. By Wednesday you are behind, and being behind on your own plan feels worse than having no plan, so the plan goes in the bin.
Build in the slack first. Cross out what is already committed, then plan roughly two thirds of what is left. The empty third is where the overrun goes, and finishing a week on target is the thing that makes you print another one.
Write topics, never subjects
A block that says "Biology" gives you a decision to make at the moment your motivation is lowest, and you will make it badly: you will reread the notes you already know. A block that says "osmosis, then the required practical" has the decision already made.
Naming the topic also makes the week auditable. At the end of it you can see that trigonometry appeared four times and circle theorems never appeared at all, which is information you cannot get from a grid full of subject names.
Check it at the end of the week
Before you print the next one, look back at the one you have just finished and answer four questions.
- Did every subject get at least one slot?
- Did the two lowest confidence scores get the most slots?
- Did I actually do the slots I wrote, or did I write a fantasy week?
- What is moving to next week, and what is being dropped on purpose?
How many hours should be on it?
In term time, somewhere around an hour to an hour and a half on a school night is realistic for most people in Year 11, with a longer stretch at the weekend. In the holidays, two or three focused hours beats six distracted ones by a wide margin. The number that matters is how much you actually did, which is why the sheet asks you to tick the blocks off rather than admire them.
If your timetable says thirty hours a week and your honest average is eight, the timetable is not ambitious. It is fiction, and you will feel worse every time you look at it.