O/L Buddhism 2026: an 8-week revision plan to 8 December

The O/L Buddhism paper is on Tuesday, 8 December 2026. Counting back from that day gives eight weeks, and this plan fills them with the topics that actually repeat in 13 past Paper I sittings (2013 to 2025), not with the whole syllabus in textbook order.

The eight weeks at a glance

Weeks 1 to 4: the topics that repeat

Every topic below has been asked in at least three of the 13 sittings. They are split into four weeks of similar size, so no week is all easy or all heavy. Each day: twenty past-paper questions from that week's topics, then read the explanation of every one you missed.

Week 5: the hardest topics

These are the topics where the largest share of past questions is rated hard by our curators. A week on them, after the core is in place, is the cheapest way to lift a good score to a very good one.

• ධම්මපදය · 8 of 15 questions rated hard
• සූත්‍ර දේශනා · 10 of 22 questions rated hard
• ධර්ම සංගායනා · 8 of 24 questions rated hard
• බෞද්ධ සෞඛ්‍ය චින්තනය · 3 of 11 questions rated hard
• ශාසන ඉතිහාසය · 3 of 12 questions rated hard
• බෞද්ධ සාහිත්‍යය · 3 of 14 questions rated hard

The reasons, with worked questions, are in the hardest O/L Buddhism MCQ topics.

Weeks 6 to 8: from your mistakes to the paper

• Week 6: no new questions. Go back through every question you got wrong in weeks 1 to 5 and answer them again until each one is right twice.
• Week 7: two full Paper I papers on the clock, from years you have not done yet. Mark them, and add every miss to the list.
• Week 8: the list, one last time, and sleep. Nothing new in the last three days; the paper-day guide has what to do on each of them.

Three things specific to Buddhism

• Learn the doctrine lists as lists: the Noble Eightfold Path, the five hindrances, the qualities of the Buddha and the Sangha. Many questions ask for the missing item or the odd one out.
• Make one table of the councils (සංගායනා): where, under which king, who presided, and why. The councils are asked in most sittings and the table is most of the answer.
• For the Dhammapada, learn each verse you study with the story it was spoken in. Questions often give the situation and ask for the verse, or the reverse.

Started late? Keep the order and squeeze it: weeks 1 to 4 become one topic set every three or four days, and never skip the wrong-answer list. The list is the plan.

A question from week 1, to start today