IB Exam 6-Week Countdown Plan | Week-by-Week Subject Prep Guide
Six weeks out is not the time to panic—it's the time to execute a structured plan. This guide breaks down exactly what to do each week so you arrive at exam day in peak condition.
Why Does a 6-Week Timeline Make Sense for IB Exam Prep?
Six weeks is long enough to close real knowledge gaps, yet short enough to force the disciplined prioritisation that IB revision demands. Start earlier and the urgency that drives deep recall practice never materialises; start later and there simply isn't time to cycle through past papers more than once. The six-week window threads that needle.
The core logic is straightforward: identify your highest-leverage subjects first, review content systematically in the early weeks, then shift to timed practice and error analysis in the middle weeks, and spend the final stretch sharpening weak spots and consolidating what you already know well.
How Do You Prioritise Subjects at the Start of the Countdown?
Not all subjects deserve equal time, and the IB's weighting structure rewards smart allocation. Before writing a single revision note, run through this decision framework:
| Priority Factor | Higher Priority | Lower Priority |
|---|---|---|
| HL vs. SL | HL (greater score weight) | SL |
| Current performance | Weakest units | Strong, consistent units |
| Exam structure | Essay/extended response heavy | Multiple-choice or data-based |
| Personal confidence | Low | High |
In practice, your two or three HL subjects with the weakest unit performance should anchor your weekly schedule. That doesn't mean ignoring SL subjects—it means building your timetable around HL anchor blocks first, then filling in SL sessions around them.
For subjects with significant essay or extended-response components—Economics, English A, History, and others—build in extra time for practising response frameworks, not just content review. A strong grasp of the command terms (analyse, evaluate, discuss, to what extent) is as important as knowing the material.
If you're still thinking about which subjects to prioritise across your whole programme, the reasoning in IB Diploma の時間管理術 applies directly here.
What Should Weeks 1 and 2 Actually Look Like?
The first two weeks are about comprehensive content review and gap identification—not passive re-reading, but active reconstruction of what you know.
Week 1: Full Content Audit
Work through each subject systematically using your syllabus checklist from the official subject guide. For every major topic, answer three questions:
- Can I explain this concept without notes?
- Can I apply it to an unfamiliar example?
- Do I know what the examiner expects in a response?
Where the answer is "no" to any of the three, flag the topic for deeper work in Week 2.
Avoid the trap of spending the entire week on topics you already know well. Familiarity feels productive but doesn't move your score.
Week 2: Active Gap-Filling
Return to every flagged topic with a different approach than the original class notes. Rewrite explanations in your own words, draw concept maps, or work through a single exam question on that topic to test your understanding under mild pressure.
By the end of Week 2 you should have:
- A clear picture of strong, adequate, and weak topic areas across all subjects
- A first attempt at at least one past-paper section per subject (untimed is fine at this stage)
- A revised study schedule for Weeks 3–6 based on what the gap audit revealed
How Do You Run Effective Past-Paper Practice in Weeks 3 and 4?
Weeks 3 and 4 mark the shift from review to exam-condition practice. This is the phase most students either skip entirely or do incorrectly—and it is arguably the highest-return activity in the entire six weeks.
Which Papers to Use—and in What Order
Work chronologically from oldest to newest, reserving the two or three most recent years for Week 5 and 6 mock-style sessions. Older papers build familiarity; newer papers act as calibration tests close to the real exam.
One important caution: mark allocations, question structures, and assessment components can change when syllabi are updated. Always cross-reference past papers with the current subject guide to confirm that the content and format still reflect what you'll actually be examined on. When in doubt, ask your subject teacher. The deeper strategy behind using markschemes effectively is covered in IB最終試験 直前対策.
What Changes in Weeks 5 and 6?
Week 5: Targeted Weakness Revision
By Week 5 you have several rounds of past-paper data telling you exactly where marks are leaking. This week is not for broad review—it is for surgical intervention on your three to five most persistent weak areas per subject.
Common patterns to address:
- Command-term mismatches: Writing a description when the question asks for an evaluation, or listing points when extended analysis is expected
- Conceptual gaps: Topics that felt fine during Week 1 review but fell apart under timed conditions
- Structural weaknesses: Essay responses that lack a clear argument, or data-response answers that don't explicitly link evidence to conclusion
For science subjects like Biology HL or Chemistry HL, weak areas often cluster around specific experimental or data-analysis skills rather than pure content knowledge. The subject-specific guides at IB生物 HL 完全ガイド and IB化学 HL 完全ガイド offer frameworks for the kinds of reasoning those examiners specifically reward.
Refine your response templates this week—not rigid scripts, but flexible frameworks that let you structure answers quickly under pressure.
Week 6: Consolidation and Mental Energy Management
The final week is not the time to introduce new material. Its purpose is consolidation, confidence, and protecting the mental resources you'll need for the actual exams.
High-frequency topic checks: Run through your strongest topics quickly to keep recall sharp. For weak topics that remain despite Week 5 work, accept a realistic ceiling and move on—chasing perfection in a single weak area while letting strong areas decay is a poor trade-off.
Simulate exam-day conditions: Practice under the same time of day as your actual papers. This is more useful than most students expect—cognitive performance varies across the day, and matching your practice schedule to your exam schedule helps.
Protect sleep actively. Sleep is not a passive absence of studying; it is when consolidation of the day's revision actually occurs. Cutting sleep in the final week for extra study hours is, neurologically, counterproductive.
How Do You Stay Consistent Across All Six Weeks Without Burning Out?
Consistency across six weeks is a practical problem, not a willpower problem. Build the schedule so that it is sustainable by design, not by discipline alone.
Weekly reviews matter more than daily perfection. Every Sunday (or whichever day works for you), spend fifteen minutes reviewing what you covered, what drifted, and what the coming week needs. Small weekly corrections prevent the drift that turns a six-week plan into a two-week panic.
Build in buffer sessions. Every week should have at least two sessions that are intentionally unscheduled—available for overruns, unexpected weak areas, or simply rest. A schedule with zero slack fails the moment anything takes longer than planned, which is almost always.
Track progress visibly. A simple checklist of topics reviewed and past papers attempted, updated daily, does more for motivation than abstract goals. Seeing items checked off creates momentum.
Know when to switch subjects. Spending three hours on a single weak concept with diminishing returns is less effective than a shorter focused session followed by a subject change. Fatigue within a single subject is real; rotating subjects can reset focus.
For students who also have Internal Assessment(IA) or Extended Essay(EE) final submissions overlapping with this revision window, the time allocation strategies in IB Diploma の時間管理術 are directly relevant.
Quick Reference: 6-Week Countdown at a Glance
| Week | Primary Focus | Key Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Content audit across all subjects | Flagged gap list per subject |
| 2 | Active gap-filling; first past-paper attempt | Revised priority schedule |
| 3 | Timed past-paper practice + markscheme analysis | Error log established |
| 4 | Continue past papers; deepen error pattern analysis | Per-subject weak area shortlist |
| 5 | Targeted weak area revision; refine response frameworks | Revised templates per subject |
| 6 | Consolidation; high-frequency topic checks; sleep/energy management | Exam-ready state |
The plan above is a structure, not a prescription—your version should reflect your specific subject mix, your current performance level in each, and your exam timetable. If you're working through complex HL subjects and find that the gap between your understanding and what the markscheme expects remains hard to close on your own, that's often where guidance from someone who has navigated the same exams makes the most practical difference. At Quick IB, our tutors work through exactly this cycle with students one-on-one, helping them read markschemes more accurately and build response habits that hold up under exam conditions.