How to study for WSET Level 3 in 60 days

The WSET® Level 3 Award in Wines covers a lot of ground for one exam. You need to explain how the vineyard and the winery shape the style, quality and price of wine, know the still wines of fifteen countries and the main sparkling and fortified wines, and give sound advice on storage, service and food. All of it is assessed in a two-hour theory paper and a 30-minute blind tasting of two wines. This plan turns that syllabus into 60 days of private study that you run alongside your course: the same rhythm every week, a sequence that follows WSET's published learning outcomes, and a final stretch of timed practice for both papers.

This is our own independent plan, not an official WSET schedule. You take Level 3 with a WSET Approved Programme Provider, and your course and the recommended study materials come first: if your tutor's advice differs from this plan, follow your tutor. To use it, count back 60 days from your exam date to find Day 1.

What the Level 3 exam actually tests

You sit both units at the same exam session. Only candidates who have already passed one unit can sit the other on its own.

• Unit 1, theory: two hours, closed book. Part 1 is 50 multiple-choice questions, one mark each, with nothing taken off for wrong answers. Part 2 is four questions that need short written answers, worth 25 marks each. You need at least 55% in each part.
• Unit 2, tasting: 30 minutes. Two still wines, served blind: the paper has 20 marks for the white and 21 for the red. You describe each wine using the WSET Level 3 Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine® (SAT), then draw two conclusions from your description: the wine's quality, on a scale from faulty to outstanding, and its readiness for drinking, from too young to too old. You need at least 55%. The paper is set and marked by a WSET-approved internal assessor at your provider, and WSET verifies the results.

The tasting exam does not ask you to name the grape, the region or the vintage. The marks are for describing the wine accurately and for conclusions that follow from that description, so this plan treats tasting as describing and explaining, not guessing.

Your grade comes from your aggregate mark across all the papers: Pass is 55–64%, Pass with Merit 65–79%, and Pass with Distinction 80% or more with no individual paper below 65%. Two rules matter when you plan. If you fail a unit and resit it, the best grade you can be awarded is Pass with Merit. And once you've passed, you can't retake the exam to improve your grade. Treat the first attempt as the real one.

Where the marks are

The specification publishes how the theory marks are spread across its five learning outcomes:

The still wines carry more than half of the multiple-choice marks and 70 of the 100 written marks, so most of the plan works region by region. Outcome 1 is assessed inside every written question, so the plan starts there and comes back to it every week. The specification also says Part 2 assesses the application of knowledge: you'll be asked to explain why a climate, a vineyard decision or a winemaking technique produces a particular style. Memorised lists don't earn those marks. Explanations do.

How much time the plan takes

WSET puts the total study time for Level 3 at 84 hours: 32.5 guided hours with your provider (including the 2.5-hour exam) and 51.5 hours of private study. Its website describes the 84 hours as a minimum.

This plan covers the private-study side: about 7.5 hours a week, or roughly 64 hours over the 60 days, which takes you past WSET's figure once your course hours are added. Course formats vary (intensive blocks, weekly evening classes, online), so fit the plan around yours: when a class falls on a plan day, it replaces that day's reading. If 7.5 hours a week isn't realistic, spread the same sequence over twelve weeks rather than cutting the tasting or the written practice.

The weekly rhythm

Weeks 1 to 7 run on the same seven days, counted from your Day 1. Week 8 and the last four days have their own schedule.

Writing from memory and testing yourself on earlier weeks are retrieval practice and spaced practice, two of the most reliable ways to make material stick. The timings match the exam: 30 minutes for two wines means 15 minutes per note, and if you give the multiple-choice part about 45 minutes, the theory paper leaves about 18 minutes per written answer. For Day 4, write your own question in the form "Explain how…" or "Explain why…", and take the multiple-choice questions from your course materials or from ones you wrote while reading.

The 60-day plan, week by week

Days 1–7 are Week 1, Days 8–14 are Week 2, and so on up to Day 56. Days 57–60 are the run-in to the exam.

Each week's wines come from the recommended tasting samples in WSET's specification, the list the exam wines can be drawn from. You won't open all of them at home: your course pours many, and a study group can split the rest. Taste three or four a week (one on Day 3, the rest on Day 6), starting with styles you haven't tasted yet.

Week 1 (Days 1–7): the vineyard, and how to taste

• Read. Day 1: climate and weather, and the natural factors behind them (latitude, altitude, slope and aspect, water, soils). Day 2: growing the vine (training, pruning, canopy management, vineyard hazards, harvest, and conventional to biodynamic approaches). Day 6: how a systematic tasting note is put together; our guide to the WSET Level 3 SAT explains the structure.
• Taste. Four calibration wines from opposite ends of the scales: a Muscadet sur lie and a premium oaked California Chardonnay, then a Bourgogne Rouge and a premium Barossa or McLaren Vale Shiraz.
• Contrast. The two whites side by side, then the two reds, to fix what high and medium acidity, light and full body, and light and firm tannin feel like for you.
• Advice topic. Storage: the conditions wine needs and what poor storage does to it.

Our guides to soils, winds, mountains and bodies of water by region support Day 1 and are worth revisiting every week.

Week 2 (Days 8–14): the winery, Bordeaux and South West France

• Read. Day 8: the roles of oxygen and sulfur dioxide, must adjustments, and how white, red and rosé wines are made. Day 9: maturation, blending, clarification, stabilisation, closures, and the three ways to make a sweet wine. Day 13: Bordeaux, the Dordogne and South West France.
• Taste. A generic Bordeaux AC red, a Cru Bourgeois or Haut-Médoc cru classé, a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru or Pomerol, and a Sauternes or Barsac.
• Contrast. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot: how a late-ripening, thick-skinned grape on warm gravel and an earlier-ripening grape on cooler clay differ in tannin, acidity and body. That cause and effect is what the written paper asks you to explain; our Cabernet Sauvignon vs Merlot guide covers it.
• Advice topic. Service: sequence, serving temperatures, opening and decanting, glassware.

Week 3 (Days 15–21): Burgundy, Beaujolais, Alsace and the Loire

• Read. Day 15: Burgundy, from Chablis to the Mâconnais, and its regional, village, premier cru and grand cru levels. Day 16: Beaujolais and Alsace. Day 20: the Loire, from the maritime Pays Nantais to the more continental Central Vineyards.
• Taste. A village or premier cru Côte d'Or red, a village or premier cru Chablis, a Beaujolais, an Alsace Riesling, Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer, a premium dry Chenin Blanc, and a Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé.
• Contrast. Pinot Noir and Gamay. Both are lighter reds with high acidity and modest tannin, so the differences are subtler: aroma, texture, and how carbonic and semi-carbonic maceration shape the fruit in many Beaujolais wines.
• Advice topic. Faults: cork taint, oxidation, reduction, volatile acidity, Brettanomyces, wines out of condition, and high sulfur dioxide.

Week 4 (Days 22–28): the Rhône, Southern France and French sparkling wine

• Read. Day 22: the Northern and Southern Rhône. Day 23: Languedoc, Roussillon and Provence. Day 27: how sparkling wines are made, then Champagne, Crémant, Saumur and Vouvray, plus Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise.
• Taste. A premium Northern Rhône Syrah, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Gigondas, a Côtes du Rhône or Côtes du Rhône Villages, and a non-vintage Champagne.
• Contrast. Syrah and Grenache: colour, tannin, acidity and alcohol, and why the Northern and Southern Rhône produce such different reds.
• Advice topic. Food and wine, from the food side: how sweetness, acidity, umami, salt, bitterness, chilli heat, fat and flavour intensity change the way a wine tastes.

Week 5 (Days 29–35): Germany, Austria, Tokaj, Greece and Italy

• Read. Day 29: Germany (including its Prädikat levels and Sekt), Austria and Tokaj. Day 30: Greece (Naoussa, Nemea, Santorini) and Northern Italy. Day 34: Central and Southern Italy, plus Asti and Prosecco.
• Taste. A German Riesling with some residual sugar (Kabinett or Spätlese), a VDP dry Riesling, a Grüner Veltliner, a Tokaji Aszú, a Barolo or Barbaresco, a Valpolicella and an Amarone, a Chianti Classico Riserva or Brunello di Montalcino, and an Asti or Prosecco.
• Contrast. Riesling and Grüner Veltliner: two crisp, usually unoaked whites, separated by their aromas and by how ripeness and residual sugar vary between Germany and Austria.
• Advice topic. Food and wine, from the wine side: sweetness, acidity, tannin and oak, alcohol, fruitiness and complexity.

Week 6 (Days 36–42): Spain and Portugal, including Sherry and Port

• Read. Day 36: Spain's still wines and its ageing terms, from Joven to Gran Reserva. Day 37: Portugal's still wines, and Cava. Day 41: Sherry and Port, and how the timing of fortification and the type of ageing create each style.
• Taste. A Rioja Reserva or Gran Reserva, a Ribera del Duero, a Priorat, a Rías Baixas or Rueda, a Cava, a Fino or Manzanilla, a dry Amontillado or Oloroso, a Late Bottled Vintage or Vintage Port, and an age-indicated Tawny.
• Contrast. Tempranillo and Sangiovese. Sangiovese comes back from Week 5 on purpose: revisiting earlier material is part of the spacing.
• Advice topic. Recommendations: matching a wine to the customer's preferences, the occasion and the price, and explaining why.

Week 7 (Days 43–49): the Americas, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand

• Read. Day 43: the USA and Canada. Day 44: Chile, Argentina and South Africa. Day 48: Australia and New Zealand, then premium sparkling wine from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, and Rutherglen Muscat. It's the heaviest reading week, so use Day 5 if you need it.
• Taste. A premium Napa or Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, a Zinfandel, a premium Carmenère, a mid-priced Malbec, a premium Pinotage, an Eden or Clare Valley Riesling, a Hunter Valley Semillon, a New Zealand Pinot Noir, and a traditional-method sparkling wine from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or the USA.
• Contrast. Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé beside one from Marlborough: the same grape in two climates, and a good test of whether you can explain why they taste different.
• Advice topic. The social and health issues of drinking too much wine.

Week 8 (Days 50–56): mock papers and revision

• Day 50 (3 hours): a full mock theory paper, 50 multiple-choice questions and four written answers in two hours, marked the same day. Use your provider's practice paper if you have one; otherwise build one from the questions you wrote in Weeks 1–7.
• Day 51 (90 minutes): go back over the learning outcome where the mock lost the most marks.
• Day 52 (45 minutes): a timed tasting of a white and a red in 30 minutes.
• Day 53 (60 minutes): two written answers on your weakest areas.
• Day 54: rest.
• Day 55 (2 hours): another timed two-wine tasting, your two most-missed contrast pairs, and a quick re-test of the advice topics.
• Day 56 (75 minutes): 50 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes, then marking.

The tasting exam uses still wines, so keep this week's tastings to still whites and reds. Sparkling and fortified wines still matter for the theory paper.

Days 57–60: the run-in

• Day 57 (60 minutes): a final timed two-wine tasting and one last pass through your error log.
• Day 58 (45 minutes): light recall of labelling terms and classifications.
• Day 59: rest. Check the practical details: bring photo ID, and don't wear perfume, aftershave or any other strong scent.
• Day 60: exam day.

How to practise tasting at home

Pour blind, but keep the colour. Ask someone to pour into a clear tasting glass with the bottle out of sight. Black glasses are popular for identification games, but appearance is part of the Level 3 note, so you need to see the wine.

Check every note against something you trust. Your tutor's feedback and your course tastings are the best reference. At home, use what you can verify (the alcohol on the label, the residual sugar on the producer's technical sheet), the style description in your study materials, and a study partner's note on the same bottle. Log every call that was off by a step or more. If you keep calling acidity medium(+) when your tutor calls it high, that habit costs marks on every wine.

Make the conclusions follow from the description. Quality is judged from what you've described, such as balance, length, intensity and complexity. Readiness comes from the structure, the concentration of fruit and how developed the wine already is. A note that calls a wine balanced, intense, complex and long, then rates it acceptable, contradicts itself.

Use contrast pairs to sharpen perception. The exam doesn't ask you to name the wine, so the weekly pairs aren't a guessing game. Tasting two similar wines side by side makes differences in acidity, tannin, body and flavour easier to perceive and to explain. Our guide to ten commonly confused grape pairs goes through the separators.

You need to be of legal drinking age to taste. Spit when you taste several wines in a session, and share bottles with a study group to keep the cost down.

How to practise the written answers

Most good answers link three things: a factor (a cool climate, time on the lees, fortification before fermentation has finished), what it does to the grapes or the wine, and how that shows in the glass. If a question asks why Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc keeps its high acidity, a good answer explains that the region is sunny with cool nights: the sunshine ripens the grapes and builds intense aromas, and the cool nights slow the loss of acidity.

When you practise, answer the exact question asked, part by part: the marks for each part are printed on the paper and tell you how much detail is needed. Keep to about 18 minutes per question. Mark against your study materials, and only give yourself credit for points that are both correct and explained.

WSET does not publish past Level 3 papers. The specification includes five sample multiple-choice questions and one sample written question, and your provider can point you to its practice material. Don't rely on "recalled" exam questions shared online: candidates agree not to reveal exam content, and recollections are often wrong. Our guide to how hard Level 3 is explains why the written paper rewards explanation over recall, and our short-answer guide goes further on technique.

Where Sensium fits

Sensium is an independent practice app, not a course. It doesn't teach the theory syllabus, it doesn't replace your provider or the recommended study materials, and it can't taste wine for you. Its structured-tasting framework is our own, written independently, and is not WSET's SAT.

It helps with the recall and contrast parts of this plan:

• Before each Day 6 flight, open the week's pair in Compare to see where the two grapes' structure and aromas overlap and which cues separate them, then check those cues in the glass.
• On reading days, the grape pages (for example Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc) give a quick reference for a grape's structure, aromas, regions and most common confusions.
• For short daily recall, Train runs card drills on aromas, winemaking processes, regions and commonly confused grapes. Drills start with the ten most popular grapes, and you can widen them to the full catalog. Timed Exam Mode rounds are part of Premium.

Frequently asked questions

Is 60 days enough for WSET Level 3?

It can be, if the 60 days hold enough hours and you start with Level 2 or equivalent knowledge, which WSET recommends. WSET puts the total study time at 84 hours, including your course; this plan adds about 64 hours of private study. If you can't manage about 7.5 hours a week, run the same plan over twelve weeks.

How many hours a week does this plan take?

About 7.5: three 60-minute sessions, a 45-minute tasting, a 2.5-hour tasting and reading session and a 75-minute review, with one rest day.

Do you have to identify the wine in the WSET Level 3 tasting exam?

No. The WSET® Level 3 tasting exam asks you to describe two still wines accurately and to assess their quality and readiness for drinking from that description. Naming the grape, region or vintage is not part of it.

What do you need to pass WSET Level 3?

At least 55% in each part of the theory paper and 55% in the tasting paper. Pass is 55–64% overall, Pass with Merit 65–79%, and Pass with Distinction 80% or more with no paper below 65%. Resit candidates can't be awarded more than Pass with Merit.

Are there WSET Level 3 past papers?

No. WSET does not publish Level 3 past papers. Use the sample questions in the specification and your provider's practice material.

Can I take WSET Level 3 without a course provider?

No. Level 3 courses and exams are run by WSET Approved Programme Providers, so you go through one even if you do most of your studying alone. What each provider includes varies, so check with yours.

Source: exam format, mark allocation, grading rules and study hours from the WSET® Level 3 Award in Wines specification (Issue 2, 2022) and WSET's qualification page. WSET can change these rules, so check the current specification with your provider.

Ready to start? Put Day 1 in your calendar, then open Compare and look at Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the plan's first grape pair, before you taste them in Week 2.

Sensium is an independent tasting-coach app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET®), the Court of Master Sommeliers®, the International Sommelier Guild®, or any other educational body. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.