GCSE Physics 8-week revision timetable
By Engr. Mehmood Kakar · Updated
Quick answer
Spend six weeks on topics in AQA order (two papers’ worth), with a full practice paper in week 4 and week 8. Aim for four or five 30–40 minute sessions a week: learn or re-read, then do calculations, then check your working. Print this page and tick off each week as you go.
How to use it
- Start eight weeks before your first physics paper (or your mocks).
- Plan four or five sessions a week of 30–40 minutes each.
- Higher tier students cover everything; Foundation students can skip items marked Higher. Combined Science students skip the Physics-only items.
- Tick each week off. Print with Ctrl + P (or ⌘ + P): the page prints in black and white.
The 8 weeks
- Energy stores and transfers; KE, GPE, elastic PE
- Specific heat capacity and its required practical
- Power and efficiency
- Charge, current, pd and resistance; V = IR
- Series and parallel circuits; I–V characteristics
- Power, energy and the National Grid
- Density and its required practical
- Specific latent heat and heating curves; gas pressure
- Atoms, isotopes, radiation and half-life
- One full Paper 1 under timed conditions
- Mark it; list every calculation you dropped marks on
- Redo those calculations with the solvers
- Weight, work done, springs and moments
- Speed, velocity, acceleration and motion graphs
- v² − u² = 2as and stopping distances
Speed, velocity, acceleration · Using v² − u² = 2as · Moments
- Newton’s laws and the acceleration practical
- Momentum (Higher) and pressure in fluids (Physics only)
- Wave speed, the waves practical, EM spectrum
- Magnets, fields and electromagnets
- Motor effect (F = BIl) and transformers (Higher)
- Space physics (Physics only): orbits, stars, red-shift
- One full Paper 2 under timed conditions
- Go back over every required practical
- Final pass on your weakest topic from weeks 1–7
A good revision session
- Recall (10 minutes). Without notes, write down what you remember about the topic. Then check it.
- Calculate (20 minutes). Do three or four questions. Write the equation, convert units, substitute, and give the answer with a unit.
- Check (5–10 minutes). Compare each step with the solver’s working. Note any slip in a “mistakes” list and look at it before the next session.
Tips that save marks
- Revise from your board’s actual equation sheet so it looks familiar on the day.
- Use the endless practice box on each solver page for quick extra questions.
- Don’t skip the required practicals: questions on method, variables and errors come up every year.
- Keep the week 4 and week 8 papers. Sitting a full paper is the best way to find what you still don’t know.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start revising for GCSE Physics?
Eight weeks before your first physics paper gives time to cover every topic once and do two full practice papers. If your mocks are sooner, use the same order but compress it, for example one topic group every three or four days.
How long should a revision session be?
Around 30–40 minutes of focused work, followed by a short break, works for most students. Several short sessions in a week are more effective than one long one.
Does this timetable work for Edexcel or OCR?
Yes, with small changes. The topics are the same; the order and paper split differ slightly, so match weeks 4 and 8 to your board’s papers.
What should I do in a practice-paper week?
Sit the paper in one go with a timer, mark it with the mark scheme, then redo every calculation you lost marks on, using a solver to check each step.
Written by Engr. Mehmood Kakar
Physics educator and engineer (MSc Physics, B.Ed, M.Ed) with 8 years of hands-on teaching, from college students to teacher training. About the author · LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the AQA GCSE Physics (8463) specification on 15 November 2026.