- List every final: date, time, how much of your grade it is, and the format (multiple choice, problems, essays).
- Split each course into 6-8 topics from the syllabus or review sheet, and mark each green (solid), amber (shaky) or red (lost).
- Study by testing yourself: practice questions, flashcards, or writing everything you remember on a blank page and then checking. Rereading and highlighting feel productive but help less.
- Rotate courses and come back to every topic at least twice, a few days apart.
- The last full day before each exam: one timed practice test for that course, fix what you missed, then sleep.
Below is the same plan written out day by day for four finals, then how to adjust it for three or five exams, or for only one week.
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Make free flashcards →The 2-week finals schedule, day by day
Example: four finals (Biology on the Monday of week 3, Chemistry on Tuesday, History on Thursday, Statistics on Friday). Each day has two 90-minute blocks and a 30-minute review of topics from earlier in the week. "Topics 1-3" means the first three topics on that course's list. Every block is active: answer questions, do problems, or recall from memory, and only open your notes to check.
| Day | Block 1 (90 min) | Block 2 (90 min) | Review (30 min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Set-up: exam list, topic lists, rate every topic | Biology topics 1-3 | - |
| 2 | Chemistry 1-3 | History 1-3 | Biology 1-3 again |
| 3 | Statistics 1-3 | Biology 4-6 | Chemistry 1-3 again |
| 4 | History 4-6 | Chemistry 4-6 | Statistics 1-3 again |
| 5 | Biology 7-8 | Statistics 4-6 | History 1-3 again |
| 6 | Chemistry 7-8 | History 7-8 | Biology 4-6 again |
| 7 | Light day: re-rate every topic | Your three reddest topics | - |
| 8 | Statistics 7-8 | Biology mixed quiz, all topics | Chemistry 4-6 again |
| 9 | Chemistry mixed problems | History essay outlines | Statistics 4-6 again |
| 10 | Statistics mixed problems | Biology red topics | History 4-6 again |
| 11 | Chemistry red topics | History red topics | Statistics 7-8 again |
| 12 | Biology timed practice test | Biology: fix every miss | Chemistry 7-8 again |
| 13 | Chemistry timed practice test | Statistics red topics | History 7-8 again |
| 14 | Biology: re-quiz only what you missed | Light review, early night | - |
Exam week: Monday, Biology final; that evening, fix your Chemistry practice-test misses. Tuesday, Chemistry final. Wednesday, one timed History essay and fix it. Thursday, History final; that evening, a timed Statistics practice test. Friday, Statistics final.
Adjust it to your exams
- Three finals: drop the fourth course and give its blocks to whichever course has the most red topics.
- Five or more finals: add a third 90-minute block on weekend days, or start at 18 days and keep the same order.
- One final counts far more than the others: check what score each final needs with the final grade calculator, then give extra blocks to the course where the final can move your grade most.
- Cumulative final: list topics from the whole term, not just since the midterm, and start that course on day 1.
- Want the blocks laid out for your own dates and courses? The study schedule maker builds a week-by-week plan from your exam dates and hours.
If you only have one week
Skip the green topics entirely. Days 1-4: one pass through each course's amber and red topics, two courses a day, quizzing yourself as you go. Days 5-6: a timed practice test for each of your first two exams, then fix the misses. Day 7: red topics only, and an early night. Between later exams, the day before each one becomes its practice-test day.
Why this plan is built the way it is
Each rule in the plan comes from a well-replicated finding. In Roediger and Karpicke (2006), students who took practice tests on a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who spent the same time rereading it. Cepeda and colleagues (2006) reviewed a large body of spacing research and found that spreading practice over several sessions beats massing it into one, which is why every topic comes back a few days after you first study it. Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) compared ten common study techniques and rated practice testing and distributed practice the two most useful; highlighting and rereading were rated low. Rotating courses and mixing problem types within a session (interleaving) also helped in studies such as Rohrer and Taylor (2007).
Where Scholarize fits: the quizzing part
Almost every block above asks you to quiz yourself, and writing the questions is the slow part. Scholarize's quiz generator writes them for you: type the course or topic (for example "cell respiration" or "hypothesis testing") and you get a 5-question multiple-choice practice quiz with the answer and an explanation for every question. You can take one without an account; to see your score and the answers you enter your email, which also sets up a free account. With the account you can also make quizzes from your own notes uploaded as a PDF or text file. The free plan includes 2 quizzes a month. Pro is $6.99/month or $39.99/year and includes 100 quizzes a month, or you can pay $19.99 once for a Semester Pass: 4 months of Pro that never renews. The questions are written by AI, so check anything that looks off against your notes.
Questions students ask
How far ahead should I start studying for finals?
Two weeks before your first final is a workable start for three to five exams at about three and a half hours a day, which is what the plan above uses. If you have more exams, cumulative finals in hard courses, or a job, start at three weeks and stretch the same pattern.
How many hours a day should I study for finals?
The example plan is about 3.5 hours a day: two 90-minute blocks and a 30-minute review. Fit the blocks around classes and work. Showing up every day for two weeks does more than a few very long days.
Should I study one subject per day or mix them?
Mix them. Rotating two or three courses a day builds in spacing, and mixing problem types within a session (interleaving) improved later test scores in studies such as Rohrer and Taylor (2007) on maths practice.
Is it OK to cram the night before a final?
A last review the night before is fine. Learning material for the first time that night is what goes wrong. Use the evening to re-quiz the questions you missed, then sleep: sleep after studying supports memory, and an all-nighter trades tomorrow's recall for tonight's hours.