It depends on where you start
| Starting level | Realistic timeline | The work looks like |
|---|---|---|
| A2 → B2 | 18–24 months | General English first — exam training only in the final 6 months |
| B1 → B2 | 9–12 months of steady work | Language building + one exam-format hour per week, ramping up |
| B1+ / borderline B2 | 4–6 months | Half language, half format: weak-paper drilling with weekly writing feedback |
| B2-ish already | 8–12 intensive weeks | Pure exam training: format drills, timed mocks, feedback loops |
The mistake behind most failed first attempts is starting in the wrong row — usually one too optimistic. A free, full-length, honestly-timed mock (one per paper is free here) sorts that out in an afternoon, and its per-paper results tell you where the hours should go.
Which row are you in?The free fifteen-minute level testReal exam formats, an honest band from B1 to C1 — and the starting level this table needs.StartThe 8-week intensive plan
For the B2-ish candidate with a booked exam date. Forty-five to ninety focused minutes a day beats weekend marathons — frequency builds habits, and exam skills are habits:
| Weeks | Focus | Concretely |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diagnosis | One full cold mock. Identify your weakest paper and your weakest parts inside it. |
| 2–3 | Weakest paper, part by part | Daily drills on the parts that cost the most marks; read every answer explanation. |
| 4 | Writing foundations | One marked task every other day: essay first, then your Part 2 pick. Fix register before style. |
| 5 | Speaking + Listening | Alternate days: speaking drills with feedback; listening parts at real pace, twice-played. |
| 6 | Second mock + patch week | Full mock mid-week. Whatever dropped, drill it for the rest of the week. |
| 7 | Integration | Mixed daily sets across all four papers; keep writing every second day. |
| 8 | Taper | One final mock early in the week, then light review. The last two days: sleep and logistics. |
The 6-month steady plan
For the self-directed learner starting from B1/B1+ with life happening around the studying — roughly five hours a week:
- Months 1–2: language first, format second. Grow the base — topic vocabulary, the B2 grammar structures, phrasal verbs — with one exam-format session a week so the paper never becomes a stranger.
- Months 3–4: flip the ratio. Most hours go into part-by-part training on your weaker papers; writing gets marked weekly from here on, because feedback loops need time to change habits.
- Month 5: full papers. A complete mock every second week, timed honestly, with the off-weeks spent patching whatever the mock exposed.
- Month 6: exam month. Two mocks, tapering volume, logistics rehearsed — the calm-nerves playbook is in beating exam stress.
Self-study without a course: what replaces the classroom
A prep course provides four things, and every one of them can be replaced — most of them free:
- A diagnosis → the cold mock; the Reading & Use of English one is free at both levels.
- A syllabus → the part-by-part structure of the exam itself: the B2 practice hub mirrors it exactly — the first Reading & Use of English, Listening and Speaking exercises in every part are free.
- Explanations → every exercise here explains every answer — the “why” a teacher would give, attached to the question you just missed.
- Feedback on writing and speaking — the one thing self-study famously cannot provide, and the reason it fails. The paid passes put Felix’s AI marking on the writing and speaking tasks: Cambridge-scale scores, your own sentences quoted back.
Signs you are ready to book the exam
- Two consecutive full mocks averaging comfortably above the pass threshold — not one lucky result.
- Your weakest paper is at or above the line, because exam day rarely improves anything.
- Timing has stopped being an opponent: you finish Reading & Use of English with minutes to spare, not in a sprint.
- Writing feedback has stopped surprising you — the same strengths come back marked, and the old mistakes have stopped appearing.
Turn the plan into a calendar
The short, conversion-ready version of this advice — the four-step order that works — lives at how to prepare. Before committing to a timeline, make sure you are preparing for the right exam at all: FCE vs C1 Advanced settles that question, and how FCE scoring works defines what “above the line” means in numbers. Listening dragging the average down? Start with the listening strategies. The whole exam: the complete B2 First preparation guide.