ib study guides vs. osc revision guides

hey, i want to buy a review guide and i was just wondering if i should buy the ib study guides
(these, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biology-IB-Diploma-Standard-Guides/dp/019914818X)

or if the osc revision guides
(these, http://www.osc-ib.com/revision/index.htm)

if anyone has bought one or both of these, can you tell me which one would be better for exam preparation? thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Annie Hall

IB study guide for chem is brilliant. It has only the stuff you need to know, and I think it's really good. I haven't got any of the others, but i might do later on. All i know is the chem one was ace.

Reply 2

King

I have both books and I would say that Allott's guide is definitely better. Allot compiled a lot of information from actual IB mark schemes and integrated them into his study, which makes it really excellent for exam preparation. It has well labeled diagrams and it's neat and easy to read.

The Oxford study guides are also good, but not as good as the Allot guide. The are simpler and tend not to go into details. They are colored, whilst the Allot book is monochrome. Also, they have these stupid questions at the end of each lesson which (I find) totally useless.

But then again, these are only study guides. That means that you should use them alongside with a reference. I personally use Campbell's Biology; a great book that contains everything you need to know.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biology-Neil-Campbell/dp/0321269845/sr=1-1/qid=1157830674/ref=pd_bowtega_1/026-8386503-6447607?ie=UTF8&s=books

I hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 3

water_melon

Thanks for the advice :biggrin:

, it really helped. I think I'm going to get the study guides from amazon.

Reply 4

aluakz

oxford study guides. i have maths, business and chemistry. first of all, reading constant typos and looking at bad formatting just seems so unprofessional! they are fine, but nothing amazing. and... they aren't worth the money. and the chemistry one has a weird sense of humor.

IB study guides are amazing! i had the one for chem and it is sooooo damn good. helped a lot not only during revision, but just to consisely summarise what we've been talking about in class. because when discussing the details, one might lose the general picture.

i also had business a-levels revision guide from oxford http://www.amazon.co.uk/Advanced-Business-Studies-Diagrams-Revision/dp/0198328362/sr=1-1/qid=1157882446/ref=sr_1_1/026-9452991-8170034?ie=UTF8&s=books which is very close to what we were doing at the ib. and it's wasn't bad either, just not precise enough.

overall, go for ib guide

Reply 5

satisfactionatlast

hey sorry for waking up this thread from the dead (it has been over 4 years!) Anyway, obviously with the constant new changes in the IB syllabus, books have improved.
Well, I ask the same question now. Which is better to revise for (for Econ HL, physics SL, and Math SL) the IB guides from Amazon or the Osc books? thanks! :biggrin: