Guide to the IB Subforum ~ Please Read ~ Contains links to IB Syllabi thread

Ultimate Guide to the IB Subforum

Hi, and welcome to the IB subforum. In this thread you will find:

- Links to useful threads
- A list of FAQs about the IB

Please read through this thread before you make a new thread. Please look to see if your question has an answer/thread on it before making a new thread. We do get tired of answering the same questions.

You will find the thread index contains links to threads that:
1. gets new threads but people say the same thing OR
2. have potential to return and renew the discussion with different things to say but get buried because people don't go look for them

If you have any small general questions that are not answered by any of these threads or the FAQ, please post your questions here instead of making a separate thread for them.

Another note: If you haven't gone into the first page of the Past Papers thread, or if you have and missed the big, bold warning there, I'll say it here:

Do NOT post your email address on the forum!!!

Why? Spammers pick it up and you know the rest. If you do need to pass your email address to someone, for whatever reason, PM it to them. Mods will try to edit, but sometimes they are easily missed!

Sticky threads
(The threads are pretty self explanatory by titles but in case you're really stupid, here's an explanation. But if you were stupid I'd advice you not to do IB :biggrin:

)

If you want:

IB syllabus: Links are all on the first page. If you don't see the subject you want, or you want a newer version, try requesting for it by relying to the thread, but I think most of them should be there. IF they are not, it usually means we don't have access to them yet. I'd be surprised though, if you can't find what you want. That list looks pretty comprehensive.

Revision sites: Again, links are on the first page. If you have any new sites not on the list, reply to the thread with the link and I'm sure Deus will add your link and thank you accordingly. :smile:

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Threads of Interest

NB Most of these threads will be out of date.

General threads:
IB Survivors Society: Rant about IB here
How great is your IB school?: Talk about your school, see how other IB schools run.
Teachers: Talk/rant/bitch :p:

about your IB teachers.
Your dream diploma: What if you had unlimited choices on your subjects?
The International Baccalaureate Mafia: Where we discussed the way IBO works and the conversation abruptly ended when I said this was a pointless conversation. :p:

But there are some really good questions/answers on how IBO works on the first page. I swear.
The Symptoms of the IB Candidate: Or you know you have too much of IB when...
Which subjects are hardest to revise for?
Keeping your social connections while studying madly for exams: We went *slightly* offtopic :rolleyes:

but you're welcome to bring us back on topic!
The Altar: Where we thank fellow TSR IBers who have helped us along the way.
Sick of anti-IBers? - What do you want me to say?

Your IB experience:
Welcome new IBers: Introduce yourselves!
Which exam session are you?
How many countries...? See how international IB really is. Where are you from?
LIFE...after IB: I think it's funny!
Where have you lived?
How many hours a day do you spend on IB homework?
What keeps you sane in IB?
Your plans after IB
Free Time: You do get it in IB! I swear!
Self study vs School
Study leave

Starting IB?:
Advice from past IB students to new ones
Completely new to IB
Tips for success
Deciding IB: Some subject choice advice, especially regarding Math and English
General question on IB: Mainly on the topic of small IB classes and its pro and cons. Includes epic post from me detailing my experiences. I think that's still the longest post (full of text, anyway) that you will see on the IB subforum.
Humanities or Science HL? Easiest HL? - the first page goes through the usual "do what you are best at" argument but the last half of the first page and the second page does into which is the easiest HL in a rather silly manner but there IS a point in there. Somewhere.
44/45 Points: How many people get them, how to get them :p:

4 HL or 3 HL and higher total marks?
The How do you get 45 points? thread

Not sure whether to do IB?:
IB vs A levels: Featuring the epic debate [battle] between joint forces of andy_cole2 and danglenister vs IBSweeper (who, bless him, has moderated his stance against IB since then, I noticed), with me in the sideline sniggering. Highlights: pages 2-4 (page 5 goes into fun chit-chat). The thread currently ends with andy's word of wisdom: IB will one day take over the world!
IB vs A levels: This is a poll.
Is it really worth doing IB?
Are you satisfied after doing IB?
IB for me?
To IB or Not to IB
Was it all worth it?

Textbooks (which books do people use?):
Multiple subjects: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=362835
Multiple subjects again: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=320085
Physics: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=353638
Biology: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=323904
Chemistry: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=171967
Economics: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=364066
Psychology: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=335573
TOK: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=336207
Oxford Revision Guide books: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=365688
Extended Essay titles: Post your titles here. Queries or questions about EE should also be discussed here. If you feel that your question has potential to grow into a epic, multiple-page discussion, then by all means make a new thread for it. If it's just a small question, post it in the EE thread, please.
[B]

Results:
May 2007: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=420464
November 2006: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=332736
May 2006: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=253415
November 2005: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172238

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Subject-Related Matters

Some IB Documents You Might Be Interested In

IB Diploma Programme General Regulations (includes failing conditions)
Academic Honesty - Guidance for Schools
May 2006 Statistics
The IB Bible aka the Vade Mecum: The answer to about 99% of your questions if you bother to plough through the 479 pages to find what you're looking for. :wink:

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University Matters

Cambridge or Oxford?
Economics schools in UK and US
American universities talk - Again - US University Entry requirements
IB and Australian Unis
Post your university offers for IB students.
IB vs. University: How are they different?

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The Wiki usually has good notes that you can study from for exams!!!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

HMSChocolate

FAQ

Can I fail the IB?
Yes, you can. But it's hard to. Check conditions here, or discuss here.

How does the IBO detect plagarism? What happens if I plagarise?
This, for some disturbing reason, is a question that crops up a lot. Just don't do it, guys. Rumours has it that the IBO uses a software called turnitin to detect plagarism but no one is really sure. What we are sure is: DON'T PLAGARISE because you automatically receive 0 for that assignment or even lose your diploma if you are caught!

If you are interested in what is considered malpractice by IBO, check here. If you are desperate to discuss plagarism, go to this thread. But what you'd have to talk about, I don't know. It's quite straight forward, really. You plagarise, they catch you, you lose your diploma.

How are the final grades calculated?
See this thread.

What does it mean to anticipate a subject?
To anticipate a subject basically means you do the course in one year and take the exam at the end of your first year of IB. The point is to relieve your workload for the second year. Usually you can only anticipate SL subjects as you have to learn the whole syllabus in one year. You have to be given special permission from the IBO to anticipate an HL subject. Usually you'd only anticipate one subject. The popular anticipated subject is a Language B subject as you basically do the same amount of work anyway, whether you anticipate or not. IF you intend to anticipate your school will register you as an anticipate candidate at the same time as the other IB2 candidates. You also have the option to retake that subject's exam the next year when you take the rest of your subjects if you did badly in your anticipated exam. The highest grade will go towards your diploma.

Do I get extra time in the exam if I have *insert problem*/ What kind of special consideration are there?
Check here and here.

Are May exams harder than November exams? Are November exams harder than May exams?
There has always been a rumour going around that one session is harder than another but it seems that no one could really ever agree on which is which. I've heard both sides. :>.<: Personally I don't really see any reason for the IBO to make one session's exams harder than the other but maybe there is. Anyway, you can discuss here.

Can I get IBO to send my scores to UCAS/universities directly?
I will quote mequese on this:

mequese

I went to my IB Coordinator, he let me watch as he logged onto the IBNet, selected "Requests for Results Service" page of the "Results" section. Then he scrolled down the candidates' names and clicked on mine. Where it says which institutions to send results to (it was already filled with lots of names of USA colleges from last year), he chose "Look up" to add a new institution. It looks like there's just about every university in the world. Among them, alphabetically in the U's, he found UCAS -- it's all written out University and Colleges Admission Service (or whatever UCAS stands for), he clicked that, and then it asked for the registration number, where he entered my UCAS number, pressed Confirm and it was done. This way IBO will automatically and electronically notify UCAS of my IB results, and UCAS will forward them to whichever universities I've chosen as my Firm and Insurance. By the way, this is the same procedure to add any American universities or other universities you might be applying to if you want them to receive your official IB results directly from IBO.
[There is a deadline for this but I think it changes year to year, but it's usually around beginning of May. Get it done early is the best way!]

Or alternatively see this thread for more details.

Which time zone am I in?
Time zone 1 (TZ1) covers North and South America. Time zone 2 (TZ2) covers the rest of the world. No, it does not matter which TZ past papers you practice from. They have different TZ only to prevent cheating. The questions might be different but the level of difficulty are similar/the same as much as possible. For exams with time zone (TZ0) this means that there is only one universal exam paper for that subject for that session for the whole world. This happens with Group 1, 2, 3 subjects more often.

When are EEs sent out to examiners to be marked by individual schools?
For May session, EEs are usually sent to examiners by the schools in mid-March. For November exams it's September.

When do I get my exam results?
Usually for May exams, results come out on July 5th. For November exams, results come out on January 5th.

Can I get my exams remarked?
Yes you can get your exam remarked. There is a deadline for application for remark which is around the end of the month when your results become available. Your grade doesn't change if the remark comes out with a lower grade than the original grade. Oh yes, it costs money to get your exams remarked, about USD85.00 per subject. If there was problem in the marking of your exams and your grade gets increased, they give you your money back. If not, your grade doesn't get moved down but you don't get the money back either.

Can I resit my exams if I don't get the results I want?
Yes. You can resit in the next session of exam (i.e. resit in November if you took your exam in May and vice versa). You don't have to resit every subject, you just resit those you want. You don't have to redo IA for resit exams. You can choose to use the same IA or you can also choose to redo them.

Can I use whiteout/tippex/correction fluid in the exam?
Technically no. It's messy, it's so inconvenient as you have to wait for it to dry. And it's in the rules that you can't have it in the exam room. If you for some reason (like you don't know), managed to take it in the exam room (your invigilator should stop you) and used it, they would mark your exam anyway. But I would definitely NOT recommend using it.

Can I use a dictionary in the exam?
You may not use dictionary in language exams. You may only use dictionary in other subjects when the language of the exam is not your first language. You may only use a paper translating dictionary, not an electronic dictionary. Your invigilator will check your dictionary before the exam for any hidden notes so don't bother hiding any. :p:

What is a certificate?

IBO.org

A student who does not satisfy the requirements of the full Diploma Programme, or who has elected to take fewer than six subjects, is awarded a certificate for the examinations completed. Students who complete more than six subjects receive an extra certificate for the additional subject(s).

What happens if I go over the word limit on an IA?
If you go over the word limit on IAs and the examiner detects it, you will lose some marks. For EE, you immediately lose 3 marks if you go over word limit. However, there are ways to 'disguise' excess words in footnotes, tables, diagrams and appendices (if these are appropriate to your IA) . However, some subject will give you a 10% leeway, but this is NOT universal. Check that your subject has this 10% first!!

We have the maximum word limit for EE, but what is the minimum?
This largely depends on your subject. For essay based subjects like Groups 1, 2, 3 subjects, you should find yourself pushing the word limit (i.e. writing 3800+ words) to have a well-developed essay. For Group 4, 5 subjects, where you'll have a lot of equations/tables/graphs/codes (Comp Sci), an essay as short as 3,000 but has reasonable working with other elements could be considered adequate. For Group 6, it depends on the subject, like Visual Arts could be backed up by pictures/photos had therefore have less words

What level Maths/Physics do I need to do Engineering at university?
For some reason this question crops up a lot. It's advisable to do both Maths and Physics at HL in IB you want to do Engineering.

Should I take *insert subject* HL?
Does your school offer *subject* HL? Do you need *subject* HL to get into your course at university? (Check with the university) Do you like *subject*? Are you good at *subject*? If you answered Yes to any of those, then, yes, do *subject* HL. These questions are in order of importance, BTW. This question is more often asked in regards to Maths HL because the perception is that Maths HL is very hard and impossible and whatnot, but it can be applied to any subject, really. Tip: Start the year doing *subject* HL and see if you like the subject or can cope with it at HL. Then if you can't, drop down to SL. But have a backup HL so that you will still remain with 3 HL. (Side note, for Maths HL, I managed to get a 5 on it. And trust me, I'm very bad with maths, I hate it, so it's not undoable).

HELP! My school doesn't offer *insert subject* HL and I need it at HL for university!
This question crops up from time to time as well, and most often it's Maths. Again. I don't know why. The best thing to do, instead of wailing to strangers over the internet :p:

is to email the university, explain your situation and they will come up with a solution for you.

Can I not take a Group 3 subject? Can I take 3 Group 4 subjects?
Yes, this is actually possible. You can apply to the IBO for permission to take the Non-Regular Diploma, which means you can take 3 science subjects instead of the regular 2 sciences and a social/humanities subject. But this should ONLY be considered when the university you are planning to apply to requires all 3 sciences.

I need help with Maths Portfolio!
Ok, this comes up A LOT! The topics we already have threads on include, off the top of my head:, Properties of Quartic, Properties of Cubics, Orbital radii of Jupiters and its moons, Modelling blood streams, Sunrise over New York, etc etc etc.

I will NOT be providing links to all the Maths Portfolio threads because that would be a very painful task because there are simply too many threads out there and a lot of them just got 3-4 replies that frankly doesn't help much. If anyone want to do a list of links to portfolio threads, they are welcome to and I will add it here.What I do want to say is, in my experience with this subforum, a lot of people have trouble with Maths Portfolio. Ok, almost all of us do. I had a lot of trouble with mine. However, if you post a thread asking for help here, generally what I see is that you don't receive very many replies. Why? Because unlike with things like English, History, etc where we can give you points and you still have to write your own essay, Maths it's not so vague. There are times when all you can ask is "How do you do this?" and if we answer you properly, we'd have to type out exactly the lines of working for you to really understand - i.e. show you how to do it. Otherwise we end up confusing you further. This provides you incentive to copy. That's plagarism. And do you know how HARD it is it type up Maths without a proper software? It's messy. For questions where we could tell you how to do it instead of show you, well, that you can ask your teacher/friend. It's frankly a lot easier to ask your teacher/friend for help on portfolio rather than people over the internet.

:rolleyes:

I will say this and people will continue to post threads begging for portfolio help but I've never really seen one that received actual helpful assistance before so...

Can I use the calculator/data booklet in Science Paper 1?
Physics: You are provided with the data booklet but are not allowed a calculator
Chemistry: You are not allowed the data booklet. However the periodic table is attached to the exam paper.

How do the grades of the TOK presentation and the TOK essay make up the final TOK grade?
Here or here for the whole thread.

What should be included in the cover page of IAs? What should be in the header/footer of IAs? How should the presentation of IAs be?
Your IA/EE should be in a legible font, the preferred fonts are Times New Roman (at size 12) or Arial (at size 11-12). Your work should be double-spaced. Included in the header should be your name and candidate code. In the footer should be the page number. If you have a cover page for your IA, it should include: the subject of the IA, the title of the IA, your name, your candidate session number, your school name/code, the word count.

Can you (that is, me, HMSChocolate) recommend some BnM books, help with BnM ad nauseum?
For some odd reason, many, MANY people assume I did Business and Management at IB. I have no idea where they came to that conclusion, especially when all my IB subjects are listed in my sig. To settle it once and for all, I did NOT do Business and Management OR Economics at IB level. I am doing BCommerce at university which is both of those subjects but I don't know anything about those subjects at IB. So please, stop PMing asking for help on BnM or Econ IA or ask me to recommend books for these subjects. Because from now on, I'm not answering them! Seriously, they were mildly amusing but after the 10th, it's frustrating since I have no idea how people think I did these subjects!!!

Reply 2

Sadie_F

my god, the IBO should pay you to do this stuff.

Reply 3

IB-more

This seems pretty comprehensive to me. Nice job!

Reply 4

HMSChocolate

Yay! It got stickied!!

Reply 5

IB-Seed

the mark boundaries thread isn't sticked, though you listed it under sticky topics :frown:

mods sticky it plx :biggrin:

nice guide btw.. truly ultimate :biggrin:

Reply 6

HMSChocolate

IB-Seed

the mark boundaries thread isn't sticked, though you listed it under sticky topics :frown:

mods sticky it plx :biggrin:

nice guide btw.. truly ultimate :biggrin:

Oh, is it not?? Oops. well it should be stickied. You can get it stickied by making a thread in the Ask a mod forum and asking them to sticky it.

I think I'll leave it where it is though. That will be the Sticky (and should be stickied) section :p:

Reply 7

Deus

Amazing stuff. I would give you rep but it won't let me :frown:

I repped you already and need to wait.

Anyway, so much work to do!

Need to finish this revision book. :smile:

Reply 8

HMSChocolate

Deus

Amazing stuff. I would give you rep but it won't let me :frown:

I repped you already and need to wait.

Rep other people in the mean time! :p:

Otherwise you could wait but it won't let you rep me again anyway...

Thank you to everyone who'd PMed me and told me this was useful! It makes the whole Saturday I spent on this worthwhile. :p:

Yes, I have that much to do right now... :rolleyes:

Ok, should be off with my accounting text book, really..

Reply 9

HMSChocolate

ATTN: IBers!!!

Does anyone have the Vade Mecum? (Preferably the latest one obviously) Or a link to it? Or any kind of access to it? We really really should have it somewhere on this subforum! If you have it, can you give me the link or how to access it and I'll link this page to it. Thanks heaps guys!

Reply 10

nota bene

HMSChocolate

Deus has it, I bet it is on its way...

Reply 11

IB-Seed

I have it, but I don't think I should upload it. You wouldn't need the Vade Mecum is what should be said. It is a Bible of administrative instructions from the IBO - the "IB Gospel". Who would want to go through a Bible of plodding text? Law-inclined students could read it for practice. But an ordinary IB student, no, shouldn't. Unless you have time to spare or don't need to sleep, you're welcome to read through the entire Vade Mecum - the lengthiest and most tedious document the IBO has ever published.