8 replies to this topic

[Tony Stark]

I don't like how they've cut the number of topics to 6 due to separating out the sessions, but it's not like I can do anything about it.

I've only been given a hard copy, so I can't upload, but the topics are as follows:

Quote

1. Can we have beliefs or knowledge which are independent of our culture?

2. "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts" (Arthur Conan Doyle). Consider the extent to which this statement may be true in two or more areas of knowledge.

3. "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand" (Albert Einstein). Do you agree?

4. What counts as knowledge in the arts? Discuss by comparing to one other are of knowledge.

5. "Habit is stronger than reason". To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge?

6. "The ultimate protection against research error and bias is supposed to come from the way scientists constantly re-test each other's results". To what extent would you agree with this claim in the natural sciences and the human sciences?

None of these appeal to me as much as #1, #5, #8 or #10 from Nov 11 / May 12, unfortunately. I'm pretty lost with these, likely due to our school not actually having proper ToK classes, but I'm leaning towards #2, just because every time I read it, I read it in Downey Jr.'s voice . #5 is alright too, I suppose. What do you guys think?

[aangel]

I think it would be hard to score well in number 5, I feel as if it would be the perfect question for a lazy person so I am personally avoiding it.

[Vol de Mort]

5 would be good if you write a good essay. On an unrealted note, I swear I've seen topic 3 before.

[Tony Stark]

aangel, on Feb 09, 2012 - 08:36, said:

I think it would be hard to score well in number 5, I feel as if it would be the perfect question for a lazy person so I am personally avoiding it.

Yeah, either you do really well or really bad on that one. Considering my school's, uh, dedication to ToK; I foresee a lot of students picking it .

Btw, looking at your sig - we can anticipate subjects in the May session!? Any chance we'd be able to anticipate Higher Levels in that session? I've finished the Economics HL syllabus already and am getting clear-high 7s on past papers, yet I still have to sit in class and play along with the kiddies who don't understand the concept of demand and supply. Would much rather have that time as spares to work on my EE/ToK/Chemistry/French. AND you're another November 2011 anticipated history student - how'd you find the exam?

Quote

On an unrealted note, I swear I've seen topic 3 before.

In the actual ToK course? Considering the source, it's probably pretty commonly used, but I highly doubt they've re-used a question for the prescribed titles.

Edited by Saurav Das, Feb 09, 2012 - 09:12.

[aangel]

Saurav Das, on Feb 09, 2012 - 09:03, said:

aangel, on Feb 09, 2012 - 08:36, said:

I think it would be hard to score well in number 5, I feel as if it would be the perfect question for a lazy person so I am personally avoiding it.

Yeah, either you do really well or really bad on that one. Considering my school's, uh, dedication to ToK; I foresee a lot of students picking it .

Btw, looking at your sig - we can anticipate subjects in the May session!? Any chance we'd be able to anticipate Higher Levels in that session? I've finished the Economics HL syllabus already and am getting clear-high 7s on past papers, yet I still have to sit in class and play along with the kiddies who don't understand the concept of demand and supply. Would much rather have that time as spares to work on my EE/ToK/Chemistry/French. AND you're another November 2011 anticipated history student - how'd you find the exam?

Quote

On an unrealted note, I swear I've seen topic 3 before.

In the actual ToK course? Considering the source, it's probably pretty commonly used, but I highly doubt they've re-used a question for the prescribed titles.

Hey,
My school (which is in Brisbane btw) has a policy which makes you anticipate your Group 3 subject (or sometimes English :|).
Higher Levels can never be anticipated only SL unfortunately. As for German being anticipated, I personally wouldn't call it anticipated as it is only 6months ahead but the IB has it recorded that German is another anticipated for me. We are only doing it in May because of the lack of candidates doing Ab Initio German in November I think.

The exam was okay, I wasn't expecting to do very well in it as history was one of my weak subjects. Paper 1--- ehh, Paper 2--- I felt I was really lucky in regards to the topics I studied, it was a good exam.

[Tony Stark]

aangel, on Feb 09, 2012 - 09:23, said:

Hey,
My school (which is in Brisbane btw) has a policy which makes you anticipate your Group 3 subject (or sometimes English :|).
Higher Levels can never be anticipated only SL unfortunately. As for German being anticipated, I personally wouldn't call it anticipated as it is only 6months ahead but the IB has it recorded that German is another anticipated for me. We are only doing it in May because of the lack of candidates doing Ab Initio German in November I think.

The exam was okay, I wasn't expecting to do very well in it as history was one of my weak subjects. Paper 1--- ehh, Paper 2--- I felt I was really lucky in regards to the topics I studied, it was a good exam.

Yeah, I got pretty excited and emailed my IB co-ordinator - turns out we can only do subjects in May (HL or SL is irrelevant, as it's not truly anticipated like doing it a year before is - in which case you can only do it SL) if it's not actually held in the November session due to lack of Southern Hemisphere interest; generally it's language subjects that get this exception. And hey, it's pretty significant - leaves you with 10 exams instead of 12 in November.

I got lucky in that I guessed that either that Conference or Manchuria would be the paper one topic, thus I was prepared. And then when I saw Paper 2 and realised that question 4 or whatever was essentially a full-essay version of what I wrote for Q4 of P1, I felt like cheering. I knew that as we never looked at it as an essay topic, my argument wouldn't be strong enough for a 7, but I figured I could score a solid 12/20 on it and so I did. The Causes of CW question really lent itself well to argument imo, so I feel that one was pretty lucky - particularly compared to prior Causes of CW questions like "Describe the roles of Truman and Stalin in the Causes of the Cold War" (scored a 7/20 on that on a mock, completely misinterpreted it ) or whatever a few years back. The single-party states questions seemed pretty tricky, which is unfortunate as we spent well over half our course on that topic; but I agree that the questions were really fortunate overall. Certainly better than November 2010, their Paper 1 was out of nowhere and Paper 2 not too much better.

[aangel]

Yeah, having 10 exams will be amazing.

[ndrw08]

anyone finished their TOK essay for these prescribed titles ?

[JonathanSpencer]

I find Nov 2012 topic quite difficult, but found some really good ideas on this Facebook site. There are ideas also for other topics.