If you’re enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, we’re not surprised if you’re nervous as we understand how challenging and rigorous it is. With all the rumors and myths surrounding the IB program, it’s difficult to find any class of Pre IB students who don’t have a tiny glint of fear in their eyes. Alright, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But at ReWiser, we all felt the same things you were feeling before we started our own academic tutoring program. With numerous exams, projects, and coursework, you may be wondering how exactly you can conquer your exams and crack your IB Exam.
With all that in our mind, we have gathered tips for achieving high scores on your IB exams.
Assess your IB Subjects
You have likely made your subject choices so now is the right time to look over them and make sure you’re happy with your decision. Will you make full use of them? Are they the right level (SL or HL) for you? Do they fit with your expectations when you leave school? The thing to remember is that has different strengths and they face different challenges in the IB. Most importantly, none of the IB students finds everything easy. Having an idea of what to expect will make the transition a lot easier. For this, try to predict:
- Your toughest subject
- Your favorite subject
- The subject on which you’ll spend the most time
Refresh your Knowledge
Usually schools provide assignments over the summer so you can keep yourself updated with your studies and ensure you feel more confident when you head back to school. Following a proper study plan daily over the holidays, allows you to recognize your strengths in each subject and areas where you might need a bit of extra support. Realizing your gap areas early on means you can get the support you need at the beginning itself so you don’t feel behind when your classes start. ReWiser offers student webinars all year round giving you tips on how to prepare for your exams, standardized tests, or key dates, so stay tuned!
Keep up the English if it’s not your first language
If you don’t prefer speaking English, the summer holidays are the crucial and perfect time to polish your English skills. Your IB Diploma needs a lot of written work so having confidence in your English skills is crucial. There are a lot of interesting ways to strengthen your English including practicing with your friends, reading your favorite book or novel in English, watching English or American films WITHOUT the subtitles, or having conversations with your friends only in English.
Keep Up With The Language B
Like English, it’s crucial to keep up with the language B option over the summer break. The key to improving your language skill is to put your effort into it. If you can spend time traveling and speaking in a country where that language is spoken (which is a great experience) you aren’t going to absorb anything naturally unless you commit to it. Find methods to get yourself excited about the language, whether that’s by watching a Spanish TV series, or preparing a dish using a French-language recipe book.
Explore Extra-Curricular Activities For Yourself
The IB isn’t just about academics! This is the time to choose an extracurricular activity that you love, makes you happy & relaxed, and is important for your wellbeing. Something new that you want to try? The overall point of CAS is that the IB wants you to do things beyond academics. Use this summer as an opportunity to explore new activities that could turn into fun CAS projects in the next year. Do things that you always wanted to do but never got round to trying.
Know Your Strengths
Think about your study routines. Are they good or bad? Would you recommend it to your friend? The fact is most of us don’t select our study or work plans, we sort of fall into them accidentally. This can be risky as we end up doing what’s easy or obvious, but not what’s best.
Now is the time to look out for what study plans work best for you. If you’re missing deadlines because you leave it for the very last moment and then start running out of time, force yourself to complete your work on the day itself instead of the day before it’s due. If you can work out how you work best you’ll be light-years ahead of most other students starting their IB.
Get Organized
We all have faced a situation where we start getting ready for the first day of school and then can’t find notes. If you find it difficult to get organized, or if you’re constantly finding your notes mixed up in your drawer, now is the right time to turn things around. Don’t try to change everything in a day, but do start with some baby steps.
We recommend you make a file (on a computer) by subject, topic, and in chronological order for ease. You’ll be thankful when you get to school and you have everything organized to start!
Stay Away From IB Rumours
We have heard the rumors and myths surrounding the IB but the thing to remember is that not all the rumors are true. In fact, most are complete lies. You’ll be able to pursue your interests and enjoy your final years of school as long as you stay organized and committed to your work. It’s not that difficult, it just takes a little bit of effort. Similarly, don’t allow rumors about how difficult a subject is to put you off. We do agree HL Math is hard for people who struggle with Math, but if you love it, want to know more, and are good at it, SURELY it’s a great choice.
On the other hand if you’re anxious about a certain subject or the workload in general, remember that ReWiser is always there to help. Get advice on how you can improve your studies over the summer. A little extra reading or daily exercises in a subject can go a long way. And sometimes a bit of IB prep tutoring is precisely the answer to get that extra bit of guidance and confidence to help you ace the IB with flying colors.
Get Excited About Starting Your IB Journey
Last but not least, you need to be excited! The IB is great. It’s not only a means to a great decision (remember how much colleges all over the world love the IB) but a way to develop your knowledge, and experience, and upskill yourself. Get yourself into the program, and success is just around the corner!
Need more individualized advice?
With the help of this blog, we have certainly smoothed it over for you. If you want to find more amazing blogs, then make sure you keep visiting our website, follow our Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin channel, like, follow our Facebook channel, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content like this in the future! From helping students prepare and score better in the areas of standardized testing: SAT, ACT, AP tests to providing high school academic support requirements: IGCSE, IB Subjects, AS/A Level classes; ReWiser is with you every step of the way! Also, if you need any personal assistance, reach out to our experts here. We’re more than happy to help in whatever way we can.
