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Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, and Paladins - Near Death
Clerics, Druids and Monks                   - Near Death to Badly Wounded
Wizard, Sorcerer, Rogue, and Bard           - Badly Wounded

You can usually cast 3 to 5 spells while under a Haste effect during one
Time Stop.  So in a fight cast Time Stop spell first, followed by your choice of maxed direct damage spells, Save or Die Spells, or Horrid
Wiltings, and a
Power Word Kill spell last when you think an opponent in under 100 hit points.
Remember that potions can quickly restore hit points often before you can finish casting the Power Word Kill spell so do this while the Time Stop is still in effect.

**** Some great damage spells for a level 20 wizard are

*Level 4 Spell
Maxed Magic Missile                    - 25 Hp

*Level 5 Spell
Maxed Melfs Acid Arrow                 - 120 Hp over 18 rounds

*Level 7 Spells
Maxed Fireball, Maxed Lightning Bolt   - 60 Hp
Maxed Flame Arrow                      - 120 Hp

*Level 8 Spells
Maxed Cone of Cold                     - 120 Hp
Horrid Wilting                         - 25d8

*Level 9 Spells
Maxed Chain Lightning                  - 120 Hp to first opponent, 60 Hp to secondary opponents

**** Some great Instant Death spells are

Finger of Death                        - Wizard, Sorcerers, Bards, or
Rogues
Wail of the Banshee spell              - Wizard, Sorcerers, Bards, or
Rogues
Weird spell                            - Fighters, Barbarians, or Monks


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9- SOLOING TIPS
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If you want to try and max out your wizard as quickly as possible then you need to go adventuring alone without help.  This is called soloing.  Most of the Wizard guides that I have read didn't recommend that a wizard or sorcerer go adventuring alone without help as this class is too weak to survive the early encounters.  Soloing is difficult for a wizard or sorcerer and it requires both patience and tactics early in the game.  Latter in the game it becomes much easier although you still need to plan your attack carefully.
Here are some tips for those who are bold enough to solo as a wizard.

Here is an example of a character that I used to solo successfully during the single player campaign.  Using this character I was able to reach Level 19 just after I started Chapter 3 in the game.

* RACE: Elf IMO the best race for a wizard especially you plan to solo.
Elves have the following bonuses:

* Keen Senses, Skill Affinity (Search) - Helps you spot traps so you don't need to use your familiar or a henchman.
* Skill Affinity (Listen), Skill Affinity (Spot), Low Light Vision - Helps you scout ahead and spot monsters at longer range so you have more time to plan your attack.
* Bonus Proficiencies (Longsword, Rapier, Shortbow, Longbow) - Gives you access to good melee weapons and bows without the need to take an additional feat.
* Hardiness to Enchantments - Helps you resist the effects of mind spells.
* Wizard is an elves favored class so you don't get any experience points penalties for multiclassing.
* +2 Dexterity helps with ranged attacks.

* Ability Score:
Str    10
Dex    12
Con    12
Wiz    10
Int    18
Cha    8(-1)

You can raise your ability scores by one point at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20.
Put your first point in to Dex and every other point into Int.

* SKILLS: In addition to your class skills (Concentration, Spellcraft, Lore,
Heal) I'd recommend these skills to help you survive.

* Disarm Trap - Just one point here will allow you to disarm the vast majority of traps you encounter right up to the middle of the game.
* Set Trap - You find traps in chests all the time so put a couple of points here and use them.  Helps you conserve your spells.  More powerful than level 1, and 2 spells.
* Move Silently - Helps you sneak up on an opponent and get the first shot off.  You get a bonus on your attack if your opponent does not see you and is not prepared (flat footed).
* Hide - Allows to escape your opponents if you need to run because you are out of spells or low on health.

* FEATS: Your going too need to specialize here so you can maximize your chances to survive the early encounters.  I will list the feats here in the order I would take them.

* Level 0 - Spell Focus (Illusion) - Gives you more spells.  Your spells are not that strong in the early levels so any help can be a huge boost.  I choose the Illusion school because I never used spells from the enchantment school very much.

* Level 3 - Point Blank Shot - The reason for choosing this feat over
Combat
Casting will become apparent in the Tactics section.  I wanted to help my attacks on weaker monsters with my Longbow to save my spells for the stronger ones.

* Level 4 put 1 ability point into Dex for the Rapid Shot Feat.  Every other point should go to Int.

* Level 5 - Spell Focus (Evocation) - Your going to have access to Level 3
Evocation spells at this point so you may as well maximize their effectiveness against the tougher monsters that you come up against.  This will make your
Fireball spell even more deadly.

* Level 6 - Rapid Shot - With this feat you can kill 2 - 4 weaker monsters just using your Longbow and a Haste spell.  This can really help you conserve your spells.  You can go for longer periods of time without resting to rememorize your spells.

* Level 9 - Toughness - IMO having more hit points is more important earlier than later.  Will give you a 9 bonus hit points and one more hit point at each level up.

* Level 10 - Great Fortitude - Allows you to better resist poison and contagion from your encounters with spiders and mummies.

* Level 12 - Spell Penetration - The monsters your are going to face will be tougher so make your all your spells more deadly.

* Level 15 - Spell Focus (Necromancy), Empower Spell - You gain access to some great Necromancy spells like Finger of Death and Horrid Wilting.  Good time to start using Empowered Fireballs and Ice Storms.

* Level 18 - Maximize Spell - You will want to start using maxed Cone of
Colds to take down the tougher monsters.

* Level 20 - Extend Spell - Extend your higher level buffing spells like
Shadow Shield and Tensors Transformation to help you survive the difficult encounters.

* TACTICS: Here are the tactics I used.  These tactics only apply to soloing.
You should also read my "TIPS AND TRICKS" section for some great general purpose tips.

* EARLY GAME: Character levels 2 - 9.  In the early levels you will be relying on 4 attack tactics primarily to win your battles.  At this level
You have very low hit points and 1 - 3 melee blows will be enough to kill you.  Don't get in to melee combat.  Run away if you have to or use an invisibility spell.  This is the main reason I didn't choose the Combat
Casting feat.  You need to conserve your spells as much as possible so you can use them against the harder monsters.  Most of these tactics will be used during your entire career but they are vital in the early levels.

* Fishing: I call this tactic fishing.  If you spot a group of weaker monsters get into the visual range of only ONE of them.  When he spots you get him to chase you about 1/2 a screen away from his buddies
BEFORE you attack him.  This is to make sure that when he dies his buddies will not hear his death cry and come running to help him.  Begin your attacks with your Bow and finish him with your Longsword.  Repeat this tactic on his buddies until they are all dead.  Only use your spells if you have to.  You can clear entire sections using this tactic without using any spells and most will die from arrows running to you.

* Traps: Setting traps is a great way to save spells and can often end the encounter as soon a they set off a trap.  For a trap to work effectively set them on front of doorways or any other confined area and then use your bow to bait the monsters in to the trap.  Always aim for the center monster so the whole group comes after you.  If your firing a ranged attackers then hit them with an arrow wait until they get closer and then move a little way back so they will trip the trap trying to get within range of you.  For tougher monsters set multiple traps in hallways and bait them in to each one of them.

* Coup de Grace: Ok you tried to fish one guy out and now you have 4 bearing down on you.  What to do?  First try to kill one of them using your bow.  When the group gets about 1 second away cast a Color Spray spell.  This will daze 1 or 2 two of them letting you do a Coup de
Grace attack with your Longsword killing them instantly.  Now focus your attack on the one that did not get dazed.

* Hit and run: You will have to take out a strong monster every so often and these guys won't go down with arrows.  Take them out using hit and run tactics.  Most NPCs can't open doors and won't pursue you if they lose sight of you.  Use this to your advantage.  Cast 1 or 2 direct damage spells like Melfs Acid Arrow, Magic Missile, or Fireball and then run around a corner.  Cast 1 or 2 spells and then run into a house.
Cast 1 or 2 spells and then close the door.  Use your best spells and don't confront them until they are near death.

* Summon Creature 1: When you get to level 7 start casting this spell.
You will get more experience points and level faster if you kill a monster with a dire badger than by yourself at this stage.  You won't get a lot more initially but as you gain more levels the amount will dramatically increase. Use your buffing spells, invisibility, and healing potions to help keep him alive.  You can also have him stand his ground before you enter a battle to keep him out of a fight.  Just remember to have him follow after the fight.  This is a real cheesy tactic and a lot of people complain about it but losing experience points for using your familiar in a fight is also lame so you may as well use the rules to your advantage.