I have an exam tomorrow and I don't know anything. What should I do first?

Spend twenty minutes mapping the exam: its format, and a one-page list of the main topics. Tick the topics you half-know and start with those, because they give you the best return in a single night. Test yourself on them instead of re-reading, then check past questions against the marking guide.

Should I stay up all night before an exam?

No. Sleep helps your brain hold on to what you studied and makes it easier to retrieve under pressure. A focused few hours followed by a full night's sleep will usually serve you better than an all-nighter that leaves you foggy in the exam room.

Can I still pass if I studied the night before?

Nobody can promise a result, but a focused night can make a real difference. Most students know more from class than they realise. Prioritise half-known topics, practise past questions, learn key terms, and attempt every question in the exam rather than leaving blanks.

Is it better to re-read my notes or test myself the night before?

Test yourself. Re-reading feels productive because the material looks familiar, but the exam asks you to produce answers from memory. Read a short summary once, close it, write down what you remember, and check the gaps.

Exam Tomorrow and I Don’t Know Anything: Year 12 Plan

If your Year 12 exam is tomorrow, choose a few useful revision tasks and stop in time to rest. ATARMAxxing’s free subject previews can help you check a topic without committing to a purchase tonight.

If you have an exam tomorrow and feel like you don't know anything, stop for one minute and breathe. You almost certainly know more than it feels like right now, because panic makes everything you have learned feel out of reach. You cannot learn a whole course tonight, and you do not need to.

What you can do is spend the next few hours on the handful of things most likely to earn marks, then sleep. This guide walks you through exactly that.

You cannot cover everything tonight, so do not try. Triage instead.
Past exam questions and the marking guide are the fastest guide to what earns marks.
Testing yourself beats re-reading, even with only a few hours left.
Sleep is part of the plan. A tired brain retrieves less of what it knows.

What can one night of revision realistically achieve?

One night is not enough to master a subject, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. But one focused night can still change how you approach tomorrow's paper. Exams reward specific things: knowing the key terms, recognising common question types, and answering what the question actually asks.

Those are learnable in hours, not weeks. Your goal tonight is not to know everything. It is to walk in knowing the most likely material a little better, and to lose fewer marks to avoidable mistakes.

Official reference: VCAA study designs.

What should you do tonight, step by step?

Check the exam format, choose a few revision targets, practise questions and set a stop time.

First 20 minutes: map the exam. Check the format: sections, number of questions, reading time and what you can bring into the room. Then list the main topics from your study design or syllabus on one page. Tick the ones you half-know and circle the ones you have never really looked at.
Next 90 minutes: the half-known topics. These give you the best return. A topic you half-know can become one you can answer in an hour; a topic you have never seen usually cannot. For each one, read a short summary once, close it, and write down everything you remember. Check what you missed, then do it again.
Next 60 minutes: past questions. Do short-answer questions from a past paper on those same topics, then check them against the marking guide. Notice how marks are awarded, often one mark for each distinct, correct point.
Next 30 minutes: key terms and formulas. Make one page of the definitions, formulas or quotes you would hate to forget. Cover it and test yourself on it twice.
Last 20 minutes: pack and stop. Pack your bag, check the exam time and room, set two alarms, and go to bed.

If you only have a couple of hours, keep the same order and shrink each step. The principle does not change: half-known topics first, self-testing over re-reading, then sleep.

Can I still do well with no study?

Honestly, it depends on what you have already absorbed across the year, and that is usually more than you think. Most students who say they did no study have still sat through months of lessons, done some homework and completed school assessments. That knowledge is in there; it just needs pulling out.

A focused night of triage can lift your result compared with going in cold or spending the night panicking. What it cannot do is replace a term of practice. So set a realistic goal: pick up every mark you can on the topics you know, and attempt every question rather than leaving blanks.

What should you do during the exam?

Read the instructions, budget your time and answer the command word in each question.

Use reading time well. Find the questions you can answer and start there to build momentum.
Read the command word. Describe, explain, analyse and evaluate ask for different things. Answer the verb, not just the topic.
Follow the marks. A three-mark question usually wants three distinct points. Write them clearly.
Never leave a blank. A partly correct answer can earn marks; an empty space cannot.
Watch the clock. Move on when a question is eating time, and come back if you can.

When do 2026 written exams start in each state?

The first written-exam date varies by state and subject; use the timetable links below to check your own papers.

NSW: HSC written exams start 13 October. See the HSC exam timetable and HSC subjects.
Queensland: QCE external exams start 26 October. See the QCE exam timetable and QCE subjects.
Victoria: VCE written exams start 27 October. See the VCE exam timetable and VCE subjects.
Western Australia: WACE ATAR exams start 28 October. See the WACE exam timetable and WACE subjects.
South Australia: SACE exams for most subjects start 2 November. See the SACE exam timetable and SACE subjects.
Tasmania: TCE exams start 9 November. See the TCE exam timetable and TCE subjects.

Always confirm your own subject's date, time and room with your school and the official timetable.

Where can you find quick revision material tonight?

Your class notes and past papers are the first stop. If you want a condensed summary to test yourself from, every ATARMAxxing subject hub has a free preview, and you can get free notes without paying. A few hubs to start with: HSC Maths Advanced, VCE Psychology, QCE Biology, WACE Human Biology, SACE Psychology and TCE English.

Use them for quick self-testing, not for reading cover to cover.

What should you do after tomorrow’s exam?

Once the paper is done, let it go. Do not pick apart your answers with friends in the corridor. If you have more exams coming, take what tonight taught you and start earlier for the next one: spread your revision over several days and test yourself instead of re-reading.

Our guide to active recall and spaced repetition explains how, and how to cram for an exam the night before covers the next night-before if you need it. If you are wondering how one exam fits into the bigger picture, your ATAR is built from results across several subjects; subject scaling and the ATAR calculator show how the pieces fit. One exam is one piece, not the whole result. Learning-techniques research

Where can you practise this next?

Start with the ATARMAxxing subject preview. Check that it fits your course and the task you need to practise before paying for anything.

Which sources should you check?

Use the relevant official source for assessment rules. The practice examples and suggested routines in this guide are ATARMAxxing guidance, not an official marking decision.