O-Level Practical Revision Plan: 8-Week Timetable (All 3 Sciences)
23 Mar 2026, 00:00 Z
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TL;DR
Practicals are worth 20% of your O-Level science grade, yet most students only start hands-on revision a week or two before the exam.
This 8-week plan splits your preparation into clear phases: apparatus confidence first, core experiments next, then data-handling and graphs, and finally timed past-paper simulations.
Follow the weekly checklist at the bottom, cross off each skill, and you will walk into the lab knowing exactly what to do with every piece of equipment on the bench.
Why you need a practical revision plan
Paper 3 (or Paper 5 for Combined Science) carries 20% of your final grade across Physics (6091), Chemistry (6092), and Biology (6093). Unlike theory papers, practical marks come from what you do in the lab - how you handle apparatus, record data, draw graphs, and write planning answers. You cannot revise these skills by reading a textbook the night before.
Most students invest hours into theory revision but leave practical preparation to chance, hoping that school lab sessions are enough. The reality is different: school practicals teach you the procedure once; exam practicals test whether you can execute under pressure, with unfamiliar data, on a timed clock.
A structured 8-week plan solves this by breaking practical skills into four phases:
- Weeks 1-2 - Master every instrument on the SEAB apparatus list.
- Weeks 3-4 - Drill the core experiments you are most likely to see.
- Weeks 5-6 - Sharpen data handling, graphing, and analysis.
- Weeks 7-8 - Run full timed papers and refine your exam-day routine.
If you start this plan roughly two months before your practical window, you will cover every assessed skill at least twice.
Weeks 1-2: Apparatus and measurement skills
Your first priority is to become fluent with every instrument on the bench. Examiners award MMO (Making, Measuring, and Observing) marks for correct readings taken to the right precision - not for getting the "expected" answer.
Physics apparatus
- Vernier caliper - read to 0.01 cm, check for zero error before every measurement. See our vernier caliper and micrometer guide.
- Micrometer screw gauge - read to 0.01 mm, take readings at different orientations to check for non-circular cross-sections.
- Stopwatch - always time multiple oscillations (at least 10 for a pendulum) and divide. Start counting from zero, not one.
- Ammeter and voltmeter - choose the correct range, read to half a scale division, and connect ammeter in series and voltmeter in parallel. Our