Is a week enough to study for a final?

For most courses, yes, if you triage first and spend your time on weak, likely topics with active recall and practice exams. It is much harder if you spend the week rereading everything equally.

Should I pull an all-nighter before the final?

No. Sleep is when what you studied gets consolidated, and an all-nighter leaves you slower and less accurate on the exam. Stop at a reasonable hour and sleep normally.

What if there are no past exams?

Use end-of-chapter problems, homework you got wrong, the professor's review sheet and any practice problems from the textbook's website. Ask the professor or TA what kinds of questions to expect.

How to study for a final in 7 days

Spend the first day sorting topics by how likely they are to be tested and how well you know them, then work through your weak topics first, test yourself instead of rereading, switch to mixed practice exams in the last few days, and sleep every night. A week is enough time if you spend it on the right things.

First, triage

You cannot relearn a whole semester in a week, and you do not need to. Start by finding out what matters most.

Pull out the syllabus, the professor's review sheet if there is one, and any past exams or practice exams.
List every topic. Next to each, mark how likely it is to show up (did the professor spend a lot of time on it, is it on past exams, did they say it would be) and how well you know it right now: solid, shaky or lost.
Topics that are likely and shaky or lost go to the top. Likely and solid get a light review. Unlikely and lost get looked at last, if there is time.

This list is your plan for the week. It takes about an hour and saves you from spending two days on the chapter you already know.

The plan, day by day

Day 7: triage, as above. Then take one past exam or practice set untimed, open notes, to see what the questions look like. Start on your top weak topic.
Day 6: work on the top two or three weak topics. For each, understand it first (lecture notes, textbook, office hours), then close everything and explain it from memory, then do practice problems. Short explanations of single ideas help here, such as what a derivative tells you, meiosis vs mitosis or what a p-value means.
Day 5: next batch of weak topics, same routine. Spend the first 20 minutes recalling yesterday's topics from memory before you open anything.
Day 4: finish the weak topics. Do a short review of the solid ones by doing a few problems from each, not by rereading.
Day 3: a full practice exam, timed, closed notes. Grade it honestly and list every question you missed and why.
Day 2: fix what the practice exam showed. Redo the missed problems from scratch, then do a mixed set of new problems across all topics.
Day 1: a second timed practice exam or a large mixed set. In the evening, a light pass over your summary sheet. Stop at a reasonable hour.
Exam morning: eat, look over your one-page summary or formula sheet, and do two or three easy warm-up problems. Do not try to learn anything new.

Understand the weak topics before you drill them

Practice problems only help once you understand the idea well enough to start one. If you open a problem and have no idea where to begin, go back a step: reread the relevant lecture, find a clear explanation, or ask a TA or classmate. Then try to explain the idea in your own words before doing any problems.

It is tempting to skip this because it feels slow. It is faster than doing twenty problems by copying the method from the answer key and still not knowing why it works.

Recall, do not reread

Rereading notes feels productive and does little. Recognizing a page is not the same as being able to produce what is on it. Every session this week should involve pulling things out of your head: explaining a topic on blank paper, answering a question before checking, working a problem without the worked example open.

Start each day by recalling what you covered the day before. That small spaced review is what keeps day 6's work alive on exam day. How to study for exams without forgetting explains why this works and how to do it over a longer stretch.

Mix your practice in the last three days

Early in the week, practicing one topic at a time is fine. By day 3, switch to mixed sets. On the exam, questions do not come labeled with their chapter, and part of the skill is recognizing which idea a question needs. Mixed practice trains exactly that, and full practice exams also train your pacing.

Sleep is part of the plan

Sleep is when the brain consolidates what you learned that day. An all-nighter before the exam trades the memory you built all week for a few extra hours of tired reading. Keep a regular bedtime, stop studying an hour before it, and treat the night before the exam as a normal night. Short breaks during the day, meals and a walk help more than an extra hour at the desk.

Where Isotoon can help

When a weak topic will not click from your notes, typing the question into Isotoon gives you a short animated explainer of that one idea, with sources, which is often faster than rereading a chapter. Pick your subject from the study hub. Use it for the understand step, then close it and do the recall and practice yourself. Exam prep has more on fitting it into a study plan.

Questions

Is a week enough to study for a final?: For most courses, yes, if you triage first and spend your time on weak, likely topics with active recall and practice exams. It is much harder if you spend the week rereading everything equally.
Should I pull an all-nighter before the final?: No. Sleep is when what you studied gets consolidated, and an all-nighter leaves you slower and less accurate on the exam. Stop at a reasonable hour and sleep normally.
What if there are no past exams?: Use end-of-chapter problems, homework you got wrong, the professor's review sheet and any practice problems from the textbook's website. Ask the professor or TA what kinds of questions to expect.