Before week 1: set up
- Take the diagnostic (126 minutes, all units) under timed conditions. It gives a predicted grade and a percentage for every topic.
- Rank your topics by priority, where priority = topic weight × (100 − your diagnostic %). Gravitational fields (weight 3.3) at 40% scores 198; SHM (weight 3.0) at 80% scores 60. Spend the most time at the top of this list.
- Start an error log with four columns: question, mark lost, cause (knowledge, method, arithmetic, unit or s.f., misread, time) and the fix. Review it every Sunday.
The weekly rhythm
| Session (about 90 min, 5–6 per week) | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Flashcards: due cards only (spaced repetition) | 10–15 |
| Lesson for today’s topic, with notes written from memory afterwards | 25 |
| Topic bank questions, marked against the mark scheme | 35 |
| One mixed question from an earlier week’s topic | 10 |
| Error log | 5 |
Spaced retrieval: after you study a topic, revisit it with a few questions after about 1 day, 3 days, 1 week and 3 weeks. Courselo schedules flashcards this way automatically. For bank questions, the “mixed question” slot does the job.
The 12 weeks
| Week | Focus | Timed practice | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diagnostic review; maths toolkit, uncertainties, graphs and linearisation | 10 mixed MCQs | Error log started; priority list built |
| 2 | Vectors and moments, kinematics and projectiles, Newton’s laws and terminal velocity | 15 MCQs in 21 min | – |
| 3 | Momentum, work–energy–power, materials; circular motion | one 30-mark structured set | – |
| 4 | Current and resistivity, d.c. circuits and potential dividers, EMF and internal resistance | 25 MCQs in 35 min | 65%+ on weeks 2–4 topics; 18/25 MCQs |
| 5 | Progressive and stationary waves, interference and diffraction, refraction | one 6-mark answer | – |
| 6 | Photons and energy levels, particles and quarks; SHM, damping and resonance | Paper 1-style paper, 2 h | 70%+ (60/85) |
| 7 | Thermal energy, ideal gases and kinetic theory; gravitational fields and orbits | 25 MCQs (Paper 2 content) | – |
| 8 | Electric fields and potential, capacitors, magnetic fields and moving charges | one 6-mark answer | – |
| 9 | Electromagnetic induction; Rutherford scattering, radioactivity, binding energy | Paper 2-style paper, 2 h | 72%+ (62/85) |
| 10 | Required practicals, planning and evaluation; your option topics | Paper 3 Section A set (45 marks, 70 min) | 70%+ on Section A |
Weeks 2–9 follow the paper structure because Paper 1 content underpins Paper 2: fields need energy and circular motion, and capacitors need exponentials. Within each week, study the topic with the highest priority score first. If a checkpoint shows a gap of more than 10 percentage points, give the weakest topic an extra session the following week, taken from your strongest topic’s time.
What each checkpoint tells you
- Below target by 5 points or fewer: stay on plan and fix the error-log causes.
- Below target by more than 5 points: check the cause column. If most losses are method or unit/s.f., re-read the Calculations, Show-That Questions and 6-Mark Explanations guide and redo the lost questions. If most are knowledge, repeat the lesson and bank for those topics before moving on.
- At or above target: increase the proportion of hard (difficulty 3) bank questions. The A* is decided on the last parts of long questions.
Paper 3 and the option
Paper 3 is 32% of the grade, so it gets weeks 10–11 rather than the last few days. For Section A, learn each required practical’s method, graph and uncertainty (see the Required Practicals and the Practical Endorsement guide), then practise graph plotting, gradients, log graphs and uncertainty combination until they are automatic. For Section B, the option is 35 marks (14% of the A level), as much as two or three core topics combined. Complete its lessons and banks in week 10 and revisit it in weeks 11 and 12.
The final fortnight
- Sit papers in full, timed, and in the right order. Use the same start time as the real exam if you can.
- Mark the same day. Then add every lost mark to the error log.
- Keep a definitions sheet and test yourself daily. Definitions are quick marks that stress makes you forget.
- Taper in the last two days: flashcards, the error log and one short timed MCQ set. No new topics.
Adapting the plan to other boards
- Edexcel 9PH0: replace the option work in weeks 10–11 with Paper 3 synoptic practice (120 marks in 2 h 30), the 16 core practicals, viscosity and the Space topic.
- OCR A: fit compulsory astrophysics and cosmology and medical imaging into weeks 9–10. Use 15-question MCQ sets (about 20 minutes).
- OCR B: add iterative modelling and the Boltzmann factor to week 7, and study the pre-release article carefully once OCR issues it.
- Eduqas and WJEC: put the option into week 10, and practise the Component 1 comprehension (Eduqas) or Unit 5 lab tasks (WJEC).
- CCEA: add practical-technique and data-analysis booklets from week 8.
- Cambridge 9702: if AS is already sat, cut weeks 2–5 to retrieval only and use the time for Paper 4 topics (alternating currents, the Hall effect, medical physics, astronomy). Add at least six timed lab practicals for Paper 3 and a weekly Paper 5 plan and analysis.
- Edexcel IAL: run the plan per unit, so that each sitting has its own 4–6 week block ending in two full timed unit papers.