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Diploma success help


Ethan.wllms

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Ok well I am a junior in the IB programme and I am very familiar with the program and the processes of it. Now my school doesn't have the best reputation with the program seeing as how we usually have 1 diploma recipient a year. My class has great potential of having 2-4. I was just wondering if some former IBsters, IB seniors, or well anyone could give me some very good advice on how to make sure all of us in this program do as well as we should.

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The school only having one diploma recipient each year indicates that the school is not very used to the ways of the IB. Therefore it is important that you students make efficient use of the syllabus documents; read through them and make sure that you know everything you are supposed to know. Read through the assessment criteria (especially those for the Internal Assessments) in order to secure as many marks as possible.

The key to doing well in the exams is to do all the past papers you can find. You have to get used to the kind of questions asked, and doing old exam questions will also help you ensure that you are focusing on the right things.

Also, use IBSurvival!

Edited by Sammie Backman
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The school only having one diploma recipient each year indicates that the school is not very used to the ways of the IB. Therefore it is important that you students make efficient use of the syllabus documents; read through them and make sure that you know everything you are supposed to know. Read through the assessment criteria (especially those for the Internal Assessments) in order to secure as many marks as possible.

The key to doing well in the exams is to do all the past papers you can find. You have to get used to the kind of questions asked, and doing old exam questions will also help you ensure that you are focusing on the right things.

Also, use IBSurvival!

Ok so use the syllabus from class and from IB as well as look over the past exams and get well acquainted with the past exams and questions. Ummm well besides actually reading umm will the optional guides for purchase help that you know of? I forgot what publisher puts them out but I can find out.

Also I take:

english HL 1

Spanish AP/ IB

Biology SL 1

TOK

Psychology HL 1

Math Studies SL 1

Elective(piano)

History of the Americas SL 1

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It never hurts to have course companions or the study guides. :) Although for some subjects there are better ones than others, so you'll have to look into what's better for you to get.

And like Sammie Backman said make sure you understand exactly what IB's looking for. Even though your teachers might be teaching you one way or one thing or be telling you to do this, it might not be good for IB. Read through the IB syllabi for your subjects and make sure you understand everything. Do past exams (they are very helpful at preparing you for what's going to be on the exam, I promise!) If you ever need help we're always willing on IBSurvival to help you :)

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It never hurts to have course companions or the study guides. :) Although for some subjects there are better ones than others, so you'll have to look into what's better for you to get.

And like Sammie Backman said make sure you understand exactly what IB's looking for. Even though your teachers might be teaching you one way or one thing or be telling you to do this, it might not be good for IB. Read through the IB syllabi for your subjects and make sure you understand everything. Do past exams (they are very helpful at preparing you for what's going to be on the exam, I promise!) If you ever need help we're always willing on IBSurvival to help you :)

Thank you both! And do you have any suggestions on course companions?

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Honestly, nothing beats reading the syllabi (or is it syllabuses?) form the IB when trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. For your IAs try finding people's previous essays and such to use as templates for format and ideas for your own, there are loads in the Files section of the IBSurvival forum and some on TSR as well.

For some reason, a lot of the American teachers I had in the IB were really clueless and kept making us do things the AP way, which was very counterproductive. Be very careful in English though, especially if your teacher was/is an AP English teacher, because he/she might end up teaching you utter rubbish that is very unhelpful for the IB. Speaking from experience here.

The OSC guides are good for certain subjects, but the ones I bought were quite useless. Really just make detailed notes in History and Psychology, learn the proper technique for writing essays in English, memorise everything in Biology, and follow the format meticulously in Spanish. You will be fine.

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Of the classes you have I take English HL and Spanish (is this your third HL?). For English there are no real study guides, but you need need NEED to learn the art of analysis and essay-writing. Your books will be different from mine, but just make sure when you're doing your World Literature papers or your Paper 1 or 2, you analyze like crazy! For Spanish, just learn all the vocab you can. It's also really good to learn idioms, complex phrases, and colloquial language. You don't need to know a ton, but it's good to learn about 10 that can apply to many situations. And learning more only helps. It makes your writing more sophisticated and will help boost your Paper 2 score (assuming you do everything else right :P)

For biology I've heard good things about the Allott IB Biology book and CJ Clegg's Biology for the IB Diploma.

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  • 3 months later...
Guest xroxc23

The most helpful advice I've heard includes something that I do wayyy too often - don't procrastinate. You should follow this advice, not only for projects and schoolwork, but also for studying for the ib exams. The most helpful thing that I've heard is to go over material weekly - perhaps on the weekends. I've only been doing that for 3 weeks, and it really helps. Midterms are coming up and I'm confident - and I know I'll be super confident next May.

May 2013

Biology HL

History of the Americas HL

English HL

SL Mathematics II SL

Chemistry SL

Spanish SL

Physics SL

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