---
title: "Working Backwards From a Deadline"
description: "Start at the exam date and lay the sessions backwards to today, counting the hours you really have rather than the ones you meant to have. Then cut the plan until it fits."
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/working-backwards-from-a-deadline-mt_DrdBx9c0pf
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/working-backwards-from-a-deadline-mt_DrdBx9c0pf.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# Working Backwards From a Deadline

Start at the exam date and lay the sessions backwards to today, counting the hours you really have rather than the ones you meant to have. Then cut the plan until it fits.

Subject: Learning to Learn · Area: Learning to Learn · Ages 15 to 16
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/working-backwards-from-a-deadline-mt_DrdBx9c0pf

## Ready when they can

- Build a backwards plan from a real deadline with dated sessions and a named topic for each
- Count the hours actually free in a week (school, travel, sleep, commitments) before filling any of them
- Cut a plan that does not fit and say what was dropped and why that was the right thing to drop

## Lesson: Plan backwards from the exam date

Write your exam date down first. Then place the last revision session a day or two before it. Keep filling in earlier sessions until every topic has its own dated slot.

Count your real hours before you trust any plan. Add up school, travel, sleep, meals and clubs across the week. The gaps left over are your budget, so plan only with those.

**Example.** Amira has six weeks to her chemistry exam. She lists her weak topics first and gives the hardest ones the earliest dated blocks. Each block names its date, its length and one job, such as twenty minutes of mole calculations.

**Tip.** If the topics do not fit the hours, cut the lowest value material on purpose. Say what you dropped and why, and move the saved time where extra marks are most likely. Check the plan once a week and give missed sessions a new date.

**Recap.** Start at the deadline, name every session, plan only with hours you truly have, and cut on purpose when it does not fit.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Mixing Topics Instead of Blocking Them](https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/mixing-topics-instead-of-blocking-them-mt_C28PN50zwX)
- [Setting Learning Goals](https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/setting-learning-goals-mt_jIszRCO2ij)
- [Protecting One Block of Attention](https://lightmysky.com/learn/learning-to-learn/protecting-one-block-of-attention-mt_KMarG52Ab7)