Plan revision from your syllabus

Begin with the exact board, qualification and syllabus code. If the course has Core and Extended, Foundation and Higher, AS and A Level, or another route split, choose the route you are actually taking. Planning from the wrong route can add topics you do not need or hide content you do.

Find your course in the IGCSEfy subject catalogue and check the code before marking any topic.

Work through the syllabus once and give every topic an honest starting state: not started, in progress, done or reviewed. Do not use “done” to mean that you have merely read the heading. It should mean you can retrieve and apply the material at the level your course expects.

The first pass is an audit, not a revision session. Its purpose is to reveal the size and shape of the work so you can plan from evidence instead of from whichever chapter feels most urgent today.

1. Pick one incomplete syllabus section or a small group of connected topics.
2. Define an outcome you can test, such as explaining a process, solving a question type or recalling a set of definitions.
3. Study, then close the source and retrieve the content from memory.
4. Finish with questions that use the topic, not another passive read.

A block named “revise chemistry” is hard to start and impossible to judge. A block named “redox definitions, ionic equations and two exam questions” tells you what to do and when it is complete.

Topic work builds knowledge; full papers test whether you can select and apply it under the structure and timing of the real assessment. Once enough of the syllabus is covered, schedule a matching paper and use its mistakes to update the plan.

When an error points back to a syllabus gap, move that topic to in progress and revise it again. When you can answer it accurately after a delay and in a later paper, mark it reviewed. This keeps the tracker connected to performance rather than turning it into a checklist for its own sake.

At the end of the week, look at what changed: topics completed, paper errors repeated, and sections still untouched. Carry unfinished work forward deliberately, then give the next week a realistic mix of new coverage, retrieval and paper practice.

Keep the plan smaller than the time available. A short plan you can finish leaves room to revisit mistakes; an overloaded plan hides the most important work under a permanent backlog.