5:30 am – wake up, wash your face, have two glasses of water and eat a fruit or a handful

of dry fruits. This will

not only give you nutrients, but also the sugar in the fruits will give your brain a burst of energy to start the day.

6am – Start your first study session. Take up the most challenging topic or difficult subject first thing in the
morning. Mark Twain once said that you should ‘eat your frog’ the first thing in the morning. And the frog is the
most important and daunting task.
This session should last till 8 am but do take a 10 minute break in the middle around 7 am to hydrate yourself,
stretch your legs and breathe in some fresh air.

Once you complete this 2 hour session first thing in the morning, when your mind is fresh, and you have attacked
the biggest monster in the pack, you will feel very productive and motivated the entire day.

8 am – wind up your books, keep them aside. Having a clean working space helps in keeping the mind calm. You
have a 1.5 hour break. This is the time to hydrate, exercise and have a good breakfast with proteins and complex
carbohydrates. A high protein breakfast is very important in keeping you healthy during these stressful days. So
keep that muffin away, and reach out to the egg whites, milk, curd, sprouts, oats, dalia or a nutritious smoothie.

9:30 am – Sit down with a timer and solve a mock test. Preferably choose a different subject from the one you
studied in the morning, to avoid mental fatigue. I have slotted 2 hours for this, but you can adjust the timing
according to your own exam time. But sit like you would for an exam, without interruptions and solve the entire
paper in one go in the allotted time. Once completed, put down your pen and get up, hydrate, eat some fruit or a
healthy snack and take in some fresh air and chill.

12:30 – mark your test against the mark scheme and examine the areas where you went wrong. This activity is as
important as taking the test. Looking at our mistakes and making a note of the areas that we need to revise once
again is a winning practice.

 1:30 – Keep everything aside for now. It’s lunch time. Take a break, check your phone, have a good lunch, with a
balance of green vegetables, proteins, curd, dal etc. Take a nap for 20 mins, since short mid-day naps are known
to increase the alpha waves in the brain which are the best for productivity.

2:30 – This is the time when you are most sleepy and unproductive, so I suggest you take up Subject 3 and revise
using mind maps, flash cards, tables, diagrams or online tools. This way you will actively interact and engage with
the content and you won’t fall asleep on your books. However, this is the time to be careful of distractions. Turn off
all notifications on your laptop when you are studying online content. See our 10 best scientific study tips here
This session should last till 4:30 pm but do take a 10-minute break in the middle around 3:30 to hydrate yourself,
stretch your legs and give your eyes a break.

4:30 – take an hour long break. Take a healthy snack, with some greens and protein. Hydrate, out for a walk. Call
a friend to clarify doubts or discuss some important points, catch up on social media if necessary

5:30 – take up a new subject or a new topic in the same subject to study for two hours with a 10 minute break in
between. Study from your notes. See our best note taking methods here

7:30 pm – take a dinner break for an hour. Arrange your books, clear up the clutter.

8:30 pm – study a new topic or a new subject for 45 minutes, take a 15 minute break and then take up the last
session of half an hour from 9:30 to 10 pm. It is important to use this last session to take up stuff that needs
memorisation. When you learn important material just before going to bed, the sub conscious mind works on it and
you remember it better in the long term

10 pm – bed time (have restful sleep for 7.5 hours at night)
Overall, this time table gives us the following

1. Study time of 5 hours before lunch and 5 hours after lunch. This is the maximum that you should study in a
day. I do understand that this might not be possible every single day. So on an average if you can maintain 7-8
hours every day for a month before the exams, that will work well.
2. Sleep of 7.5 hours at night with a 20 minute nap in the day time
3. Exercise in the morning and a walk in the evening
4. Frequent breaks and
5. Multiple subjects