How to prepare effectively for the IB (November IB edition)

               In this article, I detail the exact timeline I took to prepare for the IB examination. This is a lead up from another article about why you should start preparing before it’s too late. This hopefully answers the following questions: “How early should I start studying for IB?” and “How to effectively prepare for the IB?”

               You should not follow this article in its entirety because how one studies varies from student to student. All this article presents is MY own experience preparing for the IB. Feel free to adapt it for yourself or use it as a guide.

               I personally sat for the November IB examination so the article will be based on that. Do adapt it if you are sitting for the May IB examinations.

The first two months of preparation (June/July)

               The first 2 months were spent looking through the content from scratch. I would flip through the IB textbooks to see if I had missed anything out. This meant reading the textbook on a very superficial level. It was only to see if I needed to add anything to my existing notes.

               Then, I began to read through the content more thoroughly, actually trying to Understand what was being conveyed. It is important to note here that I had not begun to memorise content. I was just seeing if I could fully comprehend what the content meant.

               At the same time, I would create notes about what I understood. I made it a point not to make notes for what I didn’t understand but instead clarified with my teachers first. Only once I really understood the content would I then write it down in my notes.

               This is important because if you don’t really understand what you are writing, it causes a knock-on effect as revising with a incomplete set of notes will cause you to spend more time deciphering what you wrote down before, possibly even causing misconceptions if you are not careful. This causes a delay to your revision overall because when you move on to the next stage of your revision, you would have to side-track and tackle this misconception.

The next 3 months (August - October)

               By now, I had a basic set of notes and established an understanding of most, if not all of the content for my subjects. I may not have known how to apply these concepts to questions, but just solely based on what the content was, I understood it.

               In this month, I began applying the content. This was done by topical questions, allowing me to really check if I understood the content for that topic. I always believe that if you truly understand the content, you will be able to apply it to any scenario-based question.

               Through this process, I was able to really identify which I areas I thought I had a solid foundation in, but was lacking in reality. This also gave me an idea of how my understanding of the topic will be tested in examinations. Thus, I was able to modify my understandings to be better suited to answer the questions.

               I would say that this phase was the most tedious as it was really just three months of doing questions every day and then consulting my teachers, tutors and friends if I did not know how to apply them appropriately.

               If you are an IB Lounge student, this is the Appreciating part of learning.

The last 2 months (October/November)

               During these two months, I could see many of my friends starting to panic. I even vividly remember them having a countdown to the IB examinations. Many began to ask about how to prepare for the IB and others began rushing through past year papers.

               It was in this period where I was actually the calmest, having done most of the heavy lifting before this.

               So, what did I do then?

               I took my time to read through my notes again but more than that, I tested myself on the concepts. I tried “teaching” myself (yes, as if I was the teacher teaching a student) the very concepts that I did not understand. Then, I would “teach” it to my friends and see if it was the correct understanding. This really helped to reinforce my learning and, in a way, helped me to memorise as well.

               After which, I would revisit concepts that I knew I didn’t quite understand. These concepts were usually the more complex ones, for example the kinked demand curve in Economics. I would source Youtube videos or blogs that were able to explain these accurately yet concisely.

One week before the November IB Exam

               I still vividly remember not really feeling stressed. I felt prepared for the IB examination. I began to try to look for interesting videos about the topics. One that I can still remember was about natural disasters which I had frankly never really fully understood. But watching the videos helped shed some positive light on the topic. Something that was tedious and boring to me before (perhaps because it was from the textbook), now became something I actually found interesting.

               I owe credit to the video because it had helped inspire me to be actually interested in what I was learning. And I put this to use. I wrote about natural disasters in my IB Geography examination.

The week of the November IB Exam

               Not wanting to let the nerves get to me, I decided to once again re-read what I had prepared for. I read my notes at a comfortable pace and re-tested myself on the questions that I had consistently gotten wrong.

               This helped remind me about what I had forgotten (throughout the weeks). It also had the added benefit of helping me feel increasingly confident as I was able to answer questions I previously could not.

               Finally, when the big day(s) came, I tackled the examinations with relative ease, having reinforced the learning multiple times.

Concluding words

               Ultimately, starting your revision later doesn’t mean that you will score badly for the IB examinations. If you want to ace the IB examinations, the most important thing is to know yourself. If you are like me and find yourself having to study way before the examination, this guide is for you. But if you would rather burn the midnight oil and risk not being able to revise in time, this may not be the right guide.

               A word of caution though. Don’t underestimate the amount of content, practice and reinforcement you need. The IB has a pretty large amount of content being tested but more importantly, they evaluate you based on how you are able to apply these concepts. That takes practice.

               If you need clarifications, practices or resources, please email contact@iblounge.org, Singapore’s specialised IB tuition service.