What School supplies do I need for my subjects?

[dsokolova]

Hey guys, I was wondering what school supply do I need for this school year. I am starting Gr 11. My subject choices are:

Russian A HL

English B HL

German B HL

Math Studies

Physics SL

Art HL

Psychology SL

and of course TOK

Help me please;)

[cricketcrazynerd]

The only necessary thing I can think of is a graphics calculator for maths

[Blackcurrant]

Pen, paper (or laptop) ... Your brain . ... Surprising how often that gets left at home.

A good monolingual or bilingual dictionary (electronic, online) is a must for almost all your subjects, English B in particular.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Blackcurrant

[Ms.Blackford]

- Personally, I prefer taking most of my notes by hand, so a good quality pen and pencil are required. As well as some paper to write on (a book for each subject). Also, colored pens are fun :-)
-> If you use computer to take notes on, I still recomened getting some paper and pen.

- I would say a calculator for maths, (our school lend us our calculators) but If you are unsure about which model to get I suggest you ask your teacher about that. And maybe a ruler. You don't really need one, but it will keep your math notes(and tests) looking neater.

- A good calendar to keep track of your homework and assignments.

- For TOK get a "thinking book" where you can write down thoughts and so on.

[Gaby]

I made a video a while back, about school supplies for the IB. You might find it useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NbyyR_qbB8

[IBfreakingout!]

You also really need a diary. Whether that is on the computer/laptop/tablet/paper diary that is up to you but it is very useful!

I will stress to get books, 1 for each subject at the very least with a good number of pages. I have seen that I have filled numerous small page number books fairly quickly, so you might want one that is about 128 pages long so that it would last longer (don't bother getting the 48 page ones 96pages or 128 I would recommend), and possible a few display folders... this one depends on how much paper your teachers will hand out...some schools do a lot while others not so much. However, I have noticed that I work better if I have printed past exam papers to work with rather than online...so display folders to keep things neat is helpful!

Graphics Calculator is a MUST! The Casio FX 9860 series or Texas series are allowed by IB but there are other brands that aren't and you don't want to go buying the wrong one! Do check this with your school and online.

Text books will also be needed but you will have to check this with your school...

[Gaby]

I actually recommend getting refill pads over notebooks, you just need to take one with you and you use it for various subjects, then you put the pages in binders when you get home. Perfect solution that worked for me brilliantly throughout the IB. I can't imagine carrying 4 huge notebooks with me every day, plus textbooks, plus a calculator, plus a pencil case. I love my spine too much.

[by.andrew]

I actually recommend getting refill pads over notebooks, you just need to take one with you and you use it for various subjects, then you put the pages in binders when you get home. Perfect solution that worked for me brilliantly throughout the IB. I can't imagine carrying 4 huge notebooks with me every day, plus textbooks, plus a calculator, plus a pencil case. I love my spine too much.

Great tip (I'm pretty sure everyone loves their spines as much as you do Gaby). From personal experience, I think refill sheets are better than notebooks because notebooks tend to get messy with all sorts of homework and doodles (=vandalism from friends) between the actual set of notes. For other reasons, I never seem to fill up a whole notebook with notes for any of my subjects and a bunch of the sheets are left blank towards the end :'(

On top of that, you'll force yourself to take a look at your own notes before you put them into your binder. Gets review done and keeps things tidy.

[madison47]

I actually prefer notebooks, just because I'm a leftie and need to take paper out of binders to write, so I can't always trust myself to put them back in a proper order. I find them more organised, personally. It really just depends on your personal likes and dislikes for the notebooks vs. a binder. Other than that, a dictionary (electronic is fine), DEFINITELY a planner, and whatever art supplies you'll need (pencils, sketchbook, etc.).

[Garrett !?]

My biggest suggestion is a binder/folder for every subject. I used to have one folder for all subjects and separate binders at home, but that gets really messy and unorganized, so I'd suggest having a separate place to put things for each class on you at all times. A folder is best and you can have binders that match at home. Another suggestion is to have everything color coded. All my english stuff is blue, spanish is yellow, etc.