Start your HSC study timetable by setting aside time for school, travel, meals, sleep and other commitments. Then use your assessment calendar and recent feedback to decide what to study in the time that remains.
The blank table below lets you plan a week at a time. Give each session a specific task and leave room to move work when plans change.
Work out when you can study
Include the journey home, paid work, sport, family responsibilities and any tutoring. If you usually need a break after school, allow for it before scheduling study.
Next, check your assessment calendar. Choose tasks that prepare you for an approaching deadline or address a difficulty in recent work. NSW Education recommends a flexible plan with priorities for each session and time for activities that give you a break. NSW Education's HSC exam-preparation advice
Allow enough time for the task you choose. Correcting one short answer may take much less time than planning and writing an extended response. The template does not assume that every student needs the same number of homework hours.
Copy this weekly timetable
Write start and finish times beside each task, with a break between sessions when you need one.
| Day | Fixed commitments and rest | Study task and time | Optional second task and time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | |||
| Tuesday | |||
| Wednesday | |||
| Thursday | |||
| Friday | |||
| Saturday | |||
| Sunday |
Leave at least one part of the week available for unfinished work or a changed deadline. For the sessions you do schedule, write down what you intend to complete. "Economics, 6 pm" still leaves you to choose the work later. "6 to 6.30 pm: answer one exchange-rate question, then check the explanation" tells you what to do when you sit down.
An example around school and work
This example assumes school runs from 8.30 am to 3.15 pm, with travel until 4 pm on weekdays. Dinner is at 6.30 pm, and the student keeps the time after 9.30 pm free for winding down and sleep. It illustrates how study can fit around commitments; the amount of work will need to change for your subjects and deadlines.
| Day | Commitments or time off | Planned independent work |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | School and travel; break until 5 pm | 5 to 5.40 pm: correct four Maths questions and retry one |
| Tuesday | School and travel; sport from 5 to 6 pm | 7.15 to 8 pm: revise an English paragraph using feedback |
| Wednesday | School and travel; paid work from 4.30 to 8 pm | No additional study scheduled |
| Thursday | School and travel; break until 5 pm | 5 to 5.40 pm: Economics short answer, marking and correction |
| Friday | School and travel; evening with friends | 4.30 to 5 pm: check deadlines and finish a small school task |
| Saturday | Morning free; family commitment after lunch | 9.30 to 10.15 am: work on another subject's assessment; break; 10.30 to 11.15 am: timed Maths set |
| Sunday | Morning off; dinner at 6.30 pm | 3 to 3.45 pm: catch-up space; 4 to 4.30 pm: read English text; 4.30 to 4.45 pm: plan next week |
Include all your subjects when adapting the table. You may need more sessions, fewer sessions or different times, especially when an assessment is approaching. If the work repeatedly takes longer than the time available, show the schedule to your teacher and discuss what to prioritise.
Choose what to do in each session
Recent attempts and feedback can help you decide where to spend the time. In Maths, retry a question you got wrong without looking at the solution, then attempt a fresh question on the same idea. Our 2027 Maths past-paper guide explains how to choose older questions that fit the syllabus.
For Economics, write an explanation of a cause and its effects, then check that you have included each step. You can develop it into part of a timed response using the Economics essay guide.
In English, revise a passage for a particular purpose. You might change the opening of a discursive piece to suit a different prompt, then explain which other parts would need to change.
Include time to mark and correct the work. Those corrections will help you choose the next session's task.
Move a missed session
Check whether the missed task is still your priority. If it is, move it into the space you left for catching up or let it replace something less urgent. Adding it to an already full evening may leave you short of time again.
Suppose you miss Thursday's Economics session. You could move the question and correction to Sunday afternoon. If an English assessment has become more urgent, you might make a brief Economics plan now and schedule the full response for later.
Keep a record of what you completed and what you moved. At the end of the week, compare it with the timetable and note what you learnt from the work. For example, recording that you still reverse exchange-rate effects under time pressure tells you what to practise next.
Use those observations and the coming deadlines to plan the following week. Keep the timetable brief enough to read at a glance. If one subject keeps taking longer because the same difficulty is unresolved, take that work to your teacher. Plume's Economics, English and Maths Advanced course pages also describe the teaching available.