Stage 2 · Lesson 2 of 7
Planning backwards from the deadline
Take your earliest important deadline and count backwards from it. This is your . Six to eight weeks before: ask your referees, the people writing your letters, and brief them.
Four weeks before: have someone else review your final draft. Two to three months before: take your English test, leaving time for one retake. Four to six months before: fix your shortlist, and contact if you want a research degree.
Earlier still: sort transcripts, (official stamps confirming your degree is genuine) and your passport. These have a long , because they depend on offices you do not control. Put every task in a calendar with a date, not a vague month. The plan then feeds your tracker and budget.
Common trapa plan that assumes everything goes right first time, when test retakes, slow referees and university offices closed for holidays are normal, so leave slack.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 2 cheat sheet entries come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it
Resources for this stage
Start with
- GuideFreeStudy UK (British Council)
British Council
How and when to apply to UK postgraduate courses