Guide
Exam revision guide
How to use Educator in the 6 weeks before your GCSE exam. The same daily-practice approach applies to KS3 assessments; just adjust the timeline to your end-of-unit or end-of-year test date.
Why spacing beats cramming
Your brain forgets things on a curve: fast at first, then slower. The only way to fight that curve is to review material just before you forget it, again and again, at increasing intervals. That's spaced repetition, and it's what Educator is built around. A daily 10-minute session beats a 2-hour Sunday session every time, not because the total time is different, but because the spacingis different. You don't need to understand the science. You just need to show up every day and let the algorithm do the work. The cards it shows you are the right cards at the right time. Trust it.
The 6-week plan
Week 6
6 weeks out: start fresh or re-engage
- 1Log in and review your topic list. If your teacher has set a topic filter on your class, some topics may not appear, so check with them if anything seems missing. Individual learners have access to all topics.
- 2For topics you have never studied, use Study mode from the Learn page: prompt and answer shown together, no right/wrong, a read-through before drilling. Then immediately do a Topic drill session to start building retrieval.
- 3The default daily goal is 15 cards, but if your teacher has set a different target, use that. 15 is a good starting point for exam season.
- 4Run two standard sessions per day: one in the morning, one in the evening if you can.
- 5Target: every topic has at least some Seen cards by the end of this week.
The goal this week isn't accuracy. It's exposure. Get the cards in front of you.
Week 5
Identify and attack your red topics
- 1Open the mastery chart on your subject page and find the topics with the most Unseen or Seen cards.
- 2Pick your weakest two or three topics and run a Topic drill on each.
- 3Keep your two standard sessions per day going, and don't drop them for drills.
- 4Minimum: 2 sessions every day. No exceptions.
Targeted drilling on weak topics now prevents panic in Week 1.
Week 4
Build accuracy, not just coverage
- 1Keep standard sessions going every day.
- 2Check your accuracy per topic, and aim for over 70% before moving on.
- 3Run one Marathon session on the weekend for breadth across the whole spec.
- 4If accuracy is stuck, slow down: read each prompt carefully before answering.
Rushing through cards to hit XP is counterproductive. Accuracy is the signal.
Week 3
Familiar to Proficient: the hard push
- 1Your weakest topics should now be at Familiar. Keep drilling them in standard sessions.
- 2Focus on bringing Familiar cards to Proficient. That's where the exam gain is.
- 3Add Speed Rounds to build recall under pressure, one per day if possible.
- 4Use Drill weak cards for any cards you keep getting wrong repeatedly.
This is the hardest week. Proficient cards under exam pressure is the target.
Week 2
Full coverage sweep
- 1Marathon sessions on the weekend. Standard sessions every weekday.
- 2Speed Rounds daily. You should be quick on most topics by now.
- 3Use Mark it if available for your subject: practise applying the mark scheme.
- 4Keep streaks intact. No skipped days this week.
You're polishing, not learning new things. Trust what you've built.
Week 1
Exam week: light and confident
- 1One standard session per day only. No marathons, no cramming.
- 2Focus on Proficient cards. Keep them fresh, don't try to master new topics.
- 3No new topics. Everything you haven't already learned won't stick this week.
- 4Trust the work you've already done.
More revision this week will not help. Sleep is more valuable than cards at this point.
Key things to remember
🤖 Trust the algorithm
The app knows which cards to show you and in what order. You don't need to manage your own revision schedule: just show up daily and let it run.
✅ Wrong answers are part of it
Getting a card wrong is not a setback. It tells the algorithm to bring that card back sooner. Every wrong answer is the app working as intended.
📖 Accuracy over speed
Read each prompt carefully before answering. Rushing to hit a card count trains the wrong habit. Slower and accurate beats fast and careless.
📝 Combine with past papers
Use Educator for recall: facts, dates, terminology, definitions. Use past papers for application and extended writing. They're not competing: they're complementary.
🔥 Don't skip streaks
A 42-day streak into your exam date means 42 days of spaced retrieval. That's the revision plan. Protect your streak with a streak freeze if you know you'll miss a day.
📊 Use the Learn page
The Learn page lists the key facts for each topic. If a topic is scoring under 50%, read through it before your next drill: context makes cards stick.
Warning signs and fixes
“I keep seeing the same cards.”
You haven't answered them correctly enough times in a row yet. That's the algorithm doing its job, so keep going. The interval between appearances will lengthen once you've nailed them consistently.
“My accuracy is stuck at 60%.”
Slow down. Read each answer fully before submitting. Open the Learn page for the topics you're weakest on: you may be missing underlying context that the cards assume you have.
“I missed a day and my streak broke.”
Use a streak freeze next time. School students earn freezes by completing homework assignments and at every 7-day streak milestone, up to 5 held at once. Individual Pro subscribers earn freezes via the same milestone mechanism and can hold up to 5. Free individual accounts outside their trial cannot earn freezes, so consider upgrading to Pro. One missed day shouldn't derail the habit. Start again today.
“I've run out of sessions (free tier).”
The free tier allows 5 sessions per day after your trial, and they come back fresh at midnight. Upgrade to Pro (£50/yr or £6/month) for unlimited sessions. (If your school runs Educator, joining your class with a code lifts the cap too: school accounts are uncapped.)
Quick reference: practice modes for exam season
| Mode | Use it when | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Standard session | Every day: this is your core habit | Keeps your streak, adaptive card order, covers the whole spec |
| Topic drill | Week 5–4, targeting red topics | Focused exposure on one topic at a time |
| Drill weak cards | Any time you see a pattern of repeated failures | Repeat-until-correct loop on your specific gaps |
| Speed Round | Week 3–1, once topics are Familiar+ | Simulates exam pressure, builds fast recall |
| Marathon | Weekends in Week 4–2 | Breadth sweep across the full spec in one block |
| Mark it | Week 2, if available for your subject | Practice applying the mark scheme, not just recall |
Mark it is only available for subjects that include extended-response cards. Check your subject's practice screen to see if it's active.
Need help?
If something in the app isn't working, a card looks wrong, or you have a question about your account, email support@educator-labs.com. Your teacher can also raise issues through the teacher dashboard.