Questionbank

[n00l3]

So my teacher's test questions always come from the question bank. She always said 'from the question bank' but I never bothered to look for it, until now and then I found it. :/ Do you think it would be morally acceptable to study these questions? To share the discovery with my classmates?

[Dmetri Tabor]

I don't see why not, after all, its a learning experience

[cricketcrazynerd]

My maths teacher said that we shouldn't be using past papers for revision and I agreed. But when it comes to sciences, even if I know that the exam is going to be based on the questionbank questions, I still do them. I think there's nothing wrong with using them...especially for content heavy subjects like science. Especially for biology, the markschemes are quite convenient for revision.

[Aegle]

I think that, if you already know the course content, past papers and the Questionbank questions give you an idea of the types of questions and the structure of the questions that are usually asked. I think you can still use past papers for Maths revision for this reason. I don't see why it wouldn't be morally acceptable; they should be available for purchase from the IBO (although I think they might have closed their online store).

[Aegle]

Found this! https://store.ibo.org/IBP-Catalog.pdf The Questionbanks are really expensive, though.

[flinquinnster]

See, I've also been confronted with this dilemma - doing questionbank has been for me undeniably one of the best ways to consolidate learning for maths/science, but then that means that the exams that teachers set using questionbank questions are suddenly no longer really 'exam questions'. So I think that doing past paper questions is your choice - perhaps save most of them for after your trial/mock exams, so that you aren't going to be doing the whole questionbank and all your practice exam questions before those practices.

Otherwise, there is I think no moral dilemma in sharing the notion that the questionbank exists and is publicly accessible to your classmates - it's on the IB website. Whether you want to purchase it from the IB, that is another question.

In regards to the IB online store, I think that they have been having issues and/or upgrading their system - so my impression was that currently most orders are being slowly processed by telephone. Though I'm not sure myself - so I guess calling them up in business hours to inquire about purchases would be the most direct way to find out how to order.

Edited June 28, 2013 by flinquinnster

[IB .]

I found plenty of question banks for Chem, Bio, Physics, maths, etc. BUT the problem is that they are copyrighted so it would be illegal to download them. So, the only way I could get my hands on them is actually paying for it or asking a teacher....

[RandomPeersoon]

Go ahead and use them. They can be super helpful for studying

[Sandwich]

IMO leave past papers until near the final exams. That's when you'll get the most benefit from them and you can undermine that benefit if you recognise the questions. You want to make sure that you're always testing your skills and not just your memory of how you did or didn't do it correctly last time. The questionbank format is very helpful though, for sure

Do past papers too early and you'll have nothing to really test yourself with when finals come around.