IB Bio study guides/course companion

[amillionlittlepieces]

I am looking into purchasing a couple of books to help me with studying for IB Bio HL. I've been looking through amazon and noticed that a lot of books weren't published in 2014.

 

I was wondering how much the syllabus has changed since 2012 and if anyone had good recommendations of IB study guides that they're currently using.

 

Thanks in advance!

[susanne]

i used the OSC IB Biology HL guide and the old Allott biology guide.

 

As long as you don't wander into the options part of the Allott bio, most part is passable, as you can still find the new syllabus wthin the old. (But as far as I remember, the new syllabus doesn't include the stuff about contraceptives and family planning...awks). But overall, Allott, much like BioNinja, is very good for revising

 

on the other hand, the OSC guide is good to help you with your learning, not so much as revising. It is good, but the only problem is that you will have to buy the options book separately.

 

But overall, I found that my teacher and my classmates are the best study guides

[Pink97]

I've got the Oxford study guide (Allot) and course companion (Allot/Mindorff) for the new syllabus. I think both of them are great books so I'd buy them. My teacher said the syllabus hasn't changed much but it'd still be advantageous to get the textbooks/study guides for the new syllabus so you don't miss out on key things and don't learn irrelevant information.

[Sandwich]

The way it works is that the books have to be published 2 years before the exams start. So a book for exams in 2014 has to be published in 2012 by default. Otherwise the students wouldn't be able to use it for the 2 years of IB leading up to exams!  There's no point in publishing a textbook just a few months before an exam.

 

Any books published in 2012 onwards will therefore be the most current books for the new 2014 exam syllabus. The previous exam change was for 2009 so those texbooks were published in 2007.

 

IMO the Course Companion and the study guide from the same people were excellent, which are the ones I think Pink97 just recommended. They're literally all you need, and well explained. I didn't really use the study guide that much as I prefer to make my own notes, so mostly relied on the Course Companion. I bought the OSC guide and it was a massive waste of £££, but that was back when I was doing my exams.

[amillionlittlepieces]

The way it works is that the books have to be published 2 years before the exams start. So a book for exams in 2014 has to be published in 2012 by default. Otherwise the students wouldn't be able to use it for the 2 years of IB leading up to exams!  There's no point in publishing a textbook just a few months before an exam.

 

Any books published in 2012 onwards will therefore be the most current books for the new 2014 exam syllabus. The previous exam change was for 2009 so those texbooks were published in 2007.

 

IMO the Course Companion and the study guide from the same people were excellent, which are the ones I think Pink97 just recommended. They're literally all you need, and well explained. I didn't really use the study guide that much as I prefer to make my own notes, so mostly relied on the Course Companion. I bought the OSC guide and it was a massive waste of £££, but that was back when I was doing my exams.

 

Thank you all for your responses!

 

I was also confused by the new format of the bio syllabus. Back in 2008-2010, the syllabus was really clear in terms of what we were required to know. I'm not sure what to make of the new syllabus.. My question is, has a lot of the syllabus statements changed since 2010? I'm currently tutoring 2 students in IB bio and just want to make sure I'm up to date with everything. 

 

Thanks again

[ultimateone]

The way it works is that the books have to be published 2 years before the exams start. So a book for exams in 2014 has to be published in 2012 by default. Otherwise the students wouldn't be able to use it for the 2 years of IB leading up to exams!  There's no point in publishing a textbook just a few months before an exam.

 

Any books published in 2012 onwards will therefore be the most current books for the new 2014 exam syllabus. The previous exam change was for 2009 so those texbooks were published in 2007.

 

IMO the Course Companion and the study guide from the same people were excellent, which are the ones I think Pink97 just recommended. They're literally all you need, and well explained. I didn't really use the study guide that much as I prefer to make my own notes, so mostly relied on the Course Companion. I bought the OSC guide and it was a massive waste of £££, but that was back when I was doing my exams.

Yes, Sandwich, textbooks do come out 2 years prior to the effective syllabus change exam. But for the experimental sciences, the new syllabus is for first examination in 2016, so amillionlittlepieces was looking for a book that is published in 2014 for that reason. I'm afraid you're mistaken in saying that the new syllabus is for 2014 and the books were released in 2012, yes, that was for other subjects like Mathematics. But for the sciences, the syllabus has only changed now for the 2016 first examination.

[Guest]

Don't buy the course companion 2014 one. It is not good enough in my opinion, even my teacher said so. The pearson baccalaureate one just published and i am planing to get that one. Pearson baccalaureate biology is recommended by many teachers and ib students .