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People who got 40+ in IB, what are your biggest tips?

What was your study schedule like?
Time management tips?
Subject specific revision tips?
General advice and things you wish you knew at the start?

I'm starting IB this year so anything helps! :smile:

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 1

Annabelle90210

Original post by calamansi

What was your study schedule like?
Time management tips?
General advice and things you wish you knew at the start?

I'm starting IB this year so anything helps! :smile:

Hi!
I just graduated the IB with 45 so here are my biggest tips!
- Try to take 24 hours off every week. This is huge to avoid burnout. I usually took the whole of Saturday off and then on Sunday I would grind. Although it sounds weird, the shorter the amount of time you give yourself to do the work, the better. If you allocate more time than necessary to IAs etc you will spend more time procrastinating and staring at your laptop.
- When it comes to big pieces of coursework like the EE, TOK essay and IAs, try and get a first draft done as quickly as possible and do not aim for perfection. It will most likely be re-written a couple times once you have received feedback from peers, teachers and anyone else who is interested. Also chase teachers/ friends for feedback - it is so valuable!
- For the sciences, take summary notes/flashcards once you have finished each topic. These are so useful when revising for bigger tests, mocks or even the real exams and saves time later on.
- Get the majority of your coursework finished by Jan of year 13. This way you can spend longer revising for the final exams and mocks.
- Pick the subjects you enjoy. You have to spend a fair amount of time on each subject, so try and prioritise your interests over what is more prestigious or what others/your parents want you to do. Also pick ones with good/nice teachers. It will make the whole process so much easier if you enjoy it and you will be motivated to work harder.

In terms of study schedule, find what works best for you. Do you work better in the day or at night? Where do you work and focus better? For me, I would aim to stop working at 9pm because I know that I get too tired and cannot work late at night. On the weekends I found it useful to go to a library and study there. However, I know other people who worked really well at home or at school or at night so it depends on the person. When the workload was really big aka second half of year 13, I would create a revision schedule with what subjects and topics I am doing each day and for how long and try my best to stick to it.

The one thing I wish I knew before starting the IB is don't put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect. With all the coursework you have to do, it is more important that it gets finished than you spend so many valuable hours trying to make it perfect. In the end it accounts for a relatively small percentage of your grades. After moderation I ended up getting 6s in the majority of my IAs and it was fine. I spent a lot of unnecessary time on them stressing in year 12 and then got to a point in year 13 where I realised that I could spend an infinite amount of time on it and it would only make it marginally better.

Basically just rest and enjoy it. Although I loved the intensity of the IB and the workload, I put so much pressure and stress on myself that I spent the majority of the 2 years physically ill - it was a running joke with all my friends, I legit never stopped coughing. Maybe if I had chilled out a bit on the academic perfectionism, I could have had a healthier and more enjoyable 2 years...