The 3-month study plan that actually survives contact with real life
Most exam study plans die in week two. Here's one built around minimum viable consistency: daily five-minute floors, weekly mocks, and honest checkpoints.
Every exam candidate has written the heroic study plan: two hours a day, every day, starting Monday. And every candidate knows how that ends — a strong week one, a busy week two, and a plan quietly abandoned by week three.
The plans that survive have a different shape. They're built on floors, not targets.
The core idea: a five-minute floor
A floor is the minimum you do no matter what — sick, traveling, exhausted. Ours is five minutes: one daily booster round, or one practice drill. That's it.
Floors work because they protect the habit, and the habit is the asset. A student who does five minutes daily for 90 days beats the one who does three heroic Sundays and quits — not because of the minutes, but because the daily student is still in the game in month three, when preparation actually compounds.
This is why certifyboost's streak counts any day you hit your XP goal, and why boosters are deliberately tiny. The mechanics are engineered around minimum viable consistency.
Month 1: diagnose and build the floor
- Week 1: Take a full timed mock exam cold. The score will sting. That's the point — it's your baseline, and it tells you exactly which skills need the most work.
- Weeks 2–4: Daily floor (boosters + one practice drill), plus three course lessons per week targeting your weakest skill from the mock.
Month 2: raise the ceiling
Keep the floor. Add:
- One timed mock section midweek (just a section — 30–45 minutes).
- One essay per week, submitted for AI feedback. Rewrite it once, applying the corrections. The rewrite is where writing improvement actually happens.
- Two speaking interviews per week in practice mode.
Month 3: simulate exam day
- One full mock per week, under exam conditions: timed, single-play listening, speaking in exam mode with no do-overs.
- Between mocks, drill only what the mock exposed. Your readiness chart should be trending above the pass line by mid-month.
- The honest checkpoint: if you're not clearing the pass threshold two weeks out, consider moving your exam session. A €30 preparation month is cheaper than a €225 retake.
The plan in one line
Five minutes every day, one essay and two interviews a week, one mock a week in the final month — and let the data, not your optimism, tell you when you're ready.
Start your baseline mock free — it takes one afternoon, and it turns the next three months from guesswork into a plan.