How to plan your AEAS study time

Before deciding what to practise, find out what actually needs it. Sit one untimed test in each of Vocabulary, Reading, Writing and Speaking, at your real year band, before building any plan around an assumption.

Why untimed, and why all four

Untimed removes the clock as a variable on your first pass, so a low score tells you about the skill itself, not about pacing; add the clock back in once you know where you stand. And testing all four matters even if you're sure you know your weak spot: it's common to assume Writing is the problem when Vocabulary is actually the bigger gap, simply because Writing feels harder in the moment.

What to do with the result

Rank the four skills by your /20 score. The lowest two get the most study time, but not zero time on the other two, since AEAS scores all of them, but a real plan spends more time where there's more to gain.

Four or more weeks

• Weeks 1-2: one timed test per day in your two weakest skills, alternating; review every wrong answer before moving on, not just the score.
• Week 3: add your two stronger skills back in at 2-3 tests a week each, so nothing goes stale, while keeping daily practice on the weak two.
• Final week: shift to the "one week left" plan below, regardless of how the month went.

One to two weeks

• Daily: one timed test in your weakest skill, reviewed properly (see "Review, don't just redo" below), plus one shorter untimed session in a second skill.
• Every 2-3 days: one Writing or Speaking attempt with AI feedback, since that's the slowest skill to improve and benefits most from repeated, specific correction.
• Stop introducing new question types in the last 2-3 days; consolidate what you've already seen instead of adding new surprises right before the test.

Two to three days

There's no time left to fix a weak skill from scratch; the highest-value use of very little time is removing avoidable mistakes, not building new ability. Do one timed test per skill, focused entirely on the format traps already documented in the Guides for that skill (the EXCEPT-question trap in Reading, the genre check in Writing, the comparison-language gap in Years 7-9 Speaking); these cost real marks and are fixable in minutes, unlike raw vocabulary size.

The night before

Skim the format guide for each skill you'll sit, not a full practice test. A late timed test the night before tends to raise anxiety more than it raises score at this point; rest is the higher-value choice.

Finishing a test and moving straight to the next one is the single most common way to waste practice time. The test that just taught you something is the one you're about to walk away from.

A real review pass

• For every wrong answer, work out WHY it was wrong before checking the explanation; guessing first, even briefly, builds the skill; reading the answer immediately doesn't.
• Group your misses by type, not by test: "I keep missing EXCEPT questions" is a fixable pattern; "I got 3 wrong on Test 14" isn't actionable the next time you sit a different test.
• If AI feedback flagged the same issue twice in a row (Writing or Speaking), treat it as the priority for your next attempt specifically, rather than starting a fresh piece with no memory of the last one's feedback.

The Progress page shows your first-try score next to your score now for each module and level; a quick way to check whether review is actually fixing mistakes, not just a feeling that you're improving.