Thirty minutes to an hour, every single day, beats one long session a week.
Students who work consistently like that do really well. Students who do an hour the night before the lesson, once a week, do not. The total hours can be identical and the outcome is not.
Daily beats weekly
Thirty minutes a day is three and a half hours a week. One session of an hour and a half is less than half that, and worse than half, because:
- Recall needs repetition. Tables, vocabulary and formulas stick through frequency, not duration.
- A week's gap means re-learning. Part of every weekly session is spent recovering ground.
- A missed weekly session costs a fortnight. A missed daily one costs thirty minutes.
- Short sessions get done. A child will sit down for half an hour. They will negotiate about two hours.
For some children an hour split into two sessions of about fifteen and forty-five minutes works better still. Short, split, daily.
Building the week
Four subjects, five or six days, thirty to sixty minutes. That is the whole design.
| Day | Focus | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Maths | Fresh after the weekend |
| Tuesday | Verbal reasoning | |
| Wednesday | English and comprehension | Needs a clear head |
| Thursday | Non-verbal | |
| Friday | Mental maths, short | Five minutes, end of a tired week |
| Saturday | The weakest subject | Whichever it currently is |
| Sunday | Off | Deliberately |
Plus reading every day, which sits outside the timetable and is not negotiable. See our guide to reading for meaning.
Note what the timetable does not contain: a full timed paper every week. Those belong occasionally, not weekly. See our guide to how many papers to do.
Write it down, then record it
Two documents, and they do different jobs.
- The directive plan. What they are supposed to do, by day. Written once, stuck up somewhere visible.
- The journal. What they actually did, and what they scored. Filled in after each session, by the child, in three minutes.
Most families make the first and skip the second, and the second is the one that changes anything. A plan tells you the intention. A journal tells you the truth, and it is what shows you which subject is quietly going wrong. See our guide to the summer, where the journal earns its keep.
When it slips, and it will
Every timetable slips. A birthday week, illness, a school trip, a parent working late. The question is only what happens next.
- Do not try to catch up. Three missed sessions do not become a three-hour Saturday. That teaches a child the work is a punishment.
- Restart at the normal size. Thirty minutes, tomorrow, as if nothing happened.
- Protect one thing in a bad week: the reading. Twenty minutes holds the whole thing together.
- If it slips three weeks running, the plan is wrong. Cut it until it fits, because a plan that is survived is worth more than one that is admired.
- Build the slippage in. Six days planned, five expected.
A note for families of children who find sustained attention hard, which is more common than people assume: shorter and more frequent is not a compromise for them, it is the correct design. Two fifteen-minute blocks with a real break between is better than one forced half-hour.
The parent's part
Children whose parents were involved in their study routine have always tended to do a lot better. Not parents who teach, parents who are present.
- Know where your child stands. Which subject is weakest, this month. That knowledge is a genuine advantage and most parents do not have it.
- Read the journal weekly. Fifteen minutes on a Sunday.
- Sit in the room sometimes. Not over them.
- Mark something together rather than only seeing a score.
- Own the timetable yourself. A ten year old cannot be the one who remembers it.
See where your child stands today
Timed sections in the GL Assessment format, marked instantly, with a topic-by-topic breakdown. No sign-up to start.
Half an hour a day, and a parent who knows the score
Students who do it consistently, thirty minutes to an hour every single day just on the 11+, tend to do really, really well when it comes to the test. As opposed to students who spend the day before tutoring, or the night before, and just that one hour a week. It needs to be done every day. Half an hour to an hour is what I would suggest, and sometimes for some students doing an hour split into fifteen minutes and two sessions is also effective.
The plan itself should be a journal plan and a directive plan, so it tells them what to do and it records what they did.
And historically, students who have always had parents involved in their education and in their study routine and plan always tend to do a lot better. Especially as a parent, having knowledge of exactly where your child stands in terms of their subject weaknesses and strengths is a very big advantage.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
How long should a child study each day for the 11+?
Thirty minutes to an hour, every day. That beats one longer session a week even when the total hours are the same, because recall is built by frequency. For some children an hour split into two shorter sessions works better still.
What does a realistic 11+ revision timetable look like?
Four subjects across five or six days at thirty to sixty minutes each, one day off, the weakest subject given its own slot, and reading every day outside the timetable. It should not include a full timed paper every week.
What do I do when the revision timetable slips?
Restart at the normal size tomorrow rather than trying to catch up, because three missed sessions becoming a three-hour Saturday teaches a child the work is a punishment. If it slips three weeks running, cut the plan until it fits.
How involved should a parent be in 11+ revision?
Present rather than teaching. Children whose parents are involved in the study routine tend to do a lot better. Know which subject is weakest this month, read the journal weekly, and own the timetable yourself rather than expecting a ten year old to remember it.
What is the difference between a study plan and a journal?
The plan says what the child is supposed to do. The journal records what they actually did and what they scored. Most families make the plan and skip the journal, and the journal is the one that reveals which subject is quietly going wrong.