The biggest mistake I made wasn't choosing the wrong textbook — it was not planning around the rest of my life. Revision doesn't happen in a vacuum. You're on shifts, you're tired, and you have responsibilities outside of medicine.

Delegate childcare if you can. Ask your partner, family, or friends to take on more during these 6 weeks. This isn't forever — it's temporary and it matters.

Mute your phone during revision blocks. Not on silent — muted. Notifications destroy focus and you won't get it back for 15 minutes each time.

Book a hotel for a revision weekend if you can afford it. Removing yourself from your normal environment — even for 48 hours — can be transformative. No distractions, no chores, just revision.

Use EDT (Education, Development & Training) time at work. Most trainees don't claim it. Speak to your rota coordinator early. Even 2 hours a week of protected time adds up over 6 weeks.

Use study leave. Apply early. Front-load it if you can — having blocks of time in the final 2 weeks is less useful than having it spread across the whole 6 weeks.

Escape somewhere quiet. Library, coffee shop, spare room with the door closed. Wherever you revise, make it a place your brain associates with focus — not with Netflix or scrolling.

Start in learning mode. Do questions untimed, read every explanation, and understand why each wrong answer is wrong — not just why the right answer is right.

Use frcementor.com as your primary question bank. Work through categories systematically rather than doing random questions. Start with the high-yield SLOs — Resuscitation & Critical Care, Trauma, Stable Patients, and Paediatrics account for 78% of the exam.

Use your analytics to identify weak areas early. If you're scoring below 60% in a category, that's where the marks are hiding.

Supplement with RCEM Learning for topics where you need more depth — particularly toxicology, procedural sedation, and medicolegal topics. But don't let reading replace doing questions. Active recall beats passive reading every time.

Switch to timed practice. The exam gives you 3 hours for 180 questions — that's 1 minute per question. You need to practise at that pace.

Do timed blocks of 90 questions in 2 hours. This is slightly more generous than the real exam, but it builds the muscle memory of reading, deciding, and moving on without agonising.

Track your timing. If you're consistently running over, identify what's slowing you down. Is it long stems? Uncertainty between two options? Not reading the question properly? The fix is different for each.

Algorithm speed drills. Take the high-yield algorithms — ALS, sepsis, major haemorrhage, DKA, anaphylaxis — and practise running through them until the branching logic is automatic. You shouldn't be thinking about the next step; it should be reflexive.

You're in the ED every day. Use it. Every shift is a chance to reinforce what you're learning.

Refer to the guidelines when you're managing patients with your juniors. Look up the NICE guideline for head injury while you're actually managing a head injury. Look up the BTS guideline for pneumothorax while you're draining one. This is active recall in a real context — it sticks better than any flashcard.

Teach procedures to juniors. If you're supervising a chest drain, talk through the anatomy, the landmark, the complications. Teaching forces you to organise your knowledge and exposes gaps you didn't know you had.

Teach algorithms. Run through the sepsis 6 with your FY1. Walk through the anaphylaxis algorithm with your SHO. Every time you teach it, you're revising it.

Do 3–4 full mock exams in the final 2 weeks. These are non-negotiable. You need to know what 180 questions in 3 hours actually feels like.

Simulate real conditions. Sit at a desk. No phone. No breaks (or only the breaks the exam allows). Time yourself strictly. This isn't about the score — it's about conditioning yourself to perform under pressure.

Review thoroughly. After each mock, go through every question you got wrong or guessed on. This is where the biggest gains happen in the final stretch. Don't just read the explanation — understand the pattern of the question and why the distractor was tempting.

Final week: ease off. This is the hardest advice to follow, but it's the most important. In the last 5–7 days, reduce your revision volume. Do light review of flagged questions and weak areas. Revisit your algorithm cards. But do not cram new material. You will not retain it, and it will increase your anxiety.

Tell your family what you need. Be specific. "I need 2 hours every evening without interruption" is better than "I need to revise more." People can't support you if they don't know what support looks like.

Say no to extra shifts. The locum money is tempting, but every extra shift you work is a revision session you've lost. For 6 weeks, protect your time ruthlessly.

Revision guilt is normal. You'll feel guilty when you're revising because you're not with your family. You'll feel guilty when you're with your family because you're not revising. Accept that this is temporary and give yourself permission to be fully present in whatever you're doing.

Exercise. Even 20 minutes of walking. It clears your head, reduces anxiety, and improves retention. This isn't wellness fluff — the evidence is solid.

Watch for burnout. If you're reading the same paragraph three times and nothing is going in, stop. Go outside. Sleep. Come back tomorrow. Pushing through diminishing returns doesn't help — it just makes you associate revision with misery.

Keep it simple. Every week, aim for:

• 150–200 questions reviewed
• 1 timed block (90 Qs in 2 hours)
• 1 guideline reviewed
• 2 algorithm speed drills
• 1 rest day (non-negotiable)
• Total target by exam day: 1,000+ questions completed