At a glance
- Ideal for IGCSE
- Start of Year 10 or early Year 11
- Ideal for A Level / IB
- First year of the course
- Still workable
- About 6 months before exams
- Cambridge June 2026 pattern
- 23 April to 9 June
- IB May 2027
- Late April to 18 May
What each starting point allows
| Start | What a tutor can do | Realistic aim |
|---|---|---|
| 12 to 18 months before exams | Rebuild weak foundations, keep pace with new topics, then a full past-paper cycle | Lift the grade where foundations were the problem; secure higher-tier or HL entry |
| 6 to 9 months before | Cover the weakest topics, then timed papers with mark-scheme feedback | Move up a grade where the student is close to a boundary |
| 3 months before | Prioritise high-mark topics; practise papers under time | Remove recurring errors and lift exam technique |
| Final 6 to 8 weeks | Triage: past papers, mark schemes, the topics that appear every year | Protect the grade and pick up marks lost to technique |
These are typical patterns. A student with a large gap in a cumulative subject such as maths needs more time than one with a technique problem.
Dates to plan around for 2027
Checked on 6 October 2026.
| Exam or deadline | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| UCAS deadline for Oxford, Cambridge, medicine | 15 October 2026 | Predicted grades must be ready; Year 13 grades from September count |
| UCAS main deadline | 13 January 2027 | Predictions for most UK applications are set by now |
| Cambridge IGCSE and A Level June 2027 series | Final timetable due end of October 2026; June 2026 ran 23 April to 9 June | Expect papers from late April |
| IB Diploma May 2027 | Late April to 18 May 2027 | Internal assessments are due earlier, set by the school |
Edexcel publishes its own timetable. Your school's exams officer or IB coordinator confirms each paper.
Why earlier is cheaper
Maths and the sciences are cumulative. A student who never secured algebra in Year 9 meets it again in quadratics, graphs, physics equations and chemistry calculations, and loses marks in all of them. Fixing that early takes a few weeks of focused work. Fixing it in the last two months competes with every other subject's revision and with past papers that keep exposing the same gap.
For A Level and IB students there is a second reason: university offers are based on predicted grades. Schools set predictions from Year 12 or DP1 work, mocks and internal assessments, and for UCAS applications they are fixed in the autumn of the final year. A tutor starting in the spring of the final year can still help the student meet an offer, but cannot change the predictions that shaped which offers arrived.
Signs it is time to start now
- A mock or end-of-term grade more than one grade below the target.
- Tier or level decisions coming up (Core or Extended IGCSE, HL or SL) and the student is on the boundary.
- The same topic losing marks on test after test.
- Internal assessment or coursework deadlines approaching with no plan.
- The student is anxious about one subject and avoiding it.
What a late start should look like
If exams are close, the plan changes rather than the effort. The tutor collects recent papers, finds the topics that carry the most marks and the errors that keep repeating, and works on those first. Lessons become a cycle: the student sits a timed section, the tutor marks it against the official mark scheme, and the next lesson fixes what it shows. LiveTutor tutors who teach Cambridge, Edexcel, AQA and the IB work this way in one-to-one, 60-minute online lessons.
Common questions
Is it too late to start tutoring two months before IGCSE exams?
No, but the aim changes: protect the grade, remove recurring errors and practise exam technique rather than rebuild the course.
When should A Level tutoring start?
Ideally in Year 12, because predicted grades for university applications are set in the autumn of Year 13.
Should tutoring stop after the mocks?
Usually it should change, not stop: the mocks show which topics to target before the real exams.
When is the Cambridge June 2027 timetable published?
Cambridge's calendar says the final timetable goes to schools at the end of October 2026. The June 2026 series ran from 23 April to 9 June.
How much do exam lessons cost with LiveTutor?
Each one-to-one 60-minute lesson is $15, on a weekly plan of 1 to 5 lessons billed monthly. The first lesson is a free trial.
Sources
Dates and figures on this page come from these official and published sources. Always confirm deadlines on the official page before acting on them.