What is the best way to study?

[Asykar]

People have different ways for studying. My method is to start the timer and give myself 30 minutes to study and 10 minutes to rest. Though I'm trying to look for different methods, so any suggestions?

[eternallyapril]

I usually split up note-taking into sections. So if I do three sections, then I get a 5-10 minute break etc.

If I am doing a past paper, then I like to either do half of it before I take a break, or, if I am doing it under exam conditions, then I do the entire paper and then take a break before I correct it.

If you have a method that works for you, then stick with that. Using flashcards might work for some people, but they won't work for everyone. I also find it really useful to work in the public library because I am less able to procrastinate!

Edited April 7, 2016 by eternallyapril

[IB`NOT`ez]

I'd go by the 80-20 rule an old Humanities teacher taught me. 80% of the hour for studying, 20% for playing. I usually start with the playing first. 

[Keyana]

For me, it really depends on the subject. 

Biology, I can spend hours and hours on making notes. I usually spend between 2-5 hours on Biology but this depends on when I'm doing it. For example, if it's for a test, I spend 2-4 making notes and about 1 hour going over the notes. If it's just for the sake of making notes, I sit at my desk and make the notes until I'm done and probably not revise it. I don't really take breaks but I allow myself to do stuff in between making notes, if that makes sense. (I have good self-control, haha) This is the same process for Psychology and Chemistry except I get bored of Chem quickly :/ 

For Maths, I just go through the different questions I've done and try out some more questions and look through my teacher's powerpoints/textbook. For German, I just go over important and relevant vocab which takes around 30min-1hour.

 

It really depends on A) your subjects B) your self-control C) the task you do and what kind of learner you are 

Do you enjoy making notes? Are you a visual learner? Do you need to read the notes out loud? Do you need to do some practise questions to understand? Try out different things and see what's most comfortable for you as a learner  

Edited April 15, 2016 by Keyana

[^stress^IB>H2pi/4]

WOW! If anybody has a definite answer for this I'll pay to hear it. 

idk, depends for what you want to be studying, personally what i find extremely useful is to just do Past Papers. 
Even in IB1 I remember that i just answered to questions from past papers and learnt the material, also, you get used to the way in which the Ib sets questions up. 

This goes for all subjects, in Language A our teacher used to give us passages and we practiced our 'unseen commentary' skills. Language B, by now(if inIB1) you should be able to complete any Paper 1 and paper 2. For other subjects that you haven't covered the material you can just skip the questions you haven't studied yet. 

I hope that's of any use. I'm interested to hear any other suggestions, although with a month to go, maybe its too late for me to be doing anything else but past papers. 

Edited April 16, 2016 by ^stress^IB>H2pi/4

[IB`NOT`ez]

2 hours ago, ^stress^IB>H2pi/4 said:

WOW! If anybody has a definite answer for this I'll pay to hear it. 

idk, depends for what you want to be studying, personally what i find extremely useful is to just do Past Papers. 
Even in IB1 I remember that i just answered to questions from past papers and learnt the material, also, you get used to the way in which the Ib sets questions up. 

This goes for all subjects, in Language A our teacher used to give us passages and we practiced our 'unseen commentary' skills. Language B, by now(if inIB1) you should be able to complete any Paper 1 and paper 2. For other subjects that you haven't covered the material you can just skip the questions you haven't studied yet. 

I hope that's of any use. I'm interested to hear any other suggestions, although with a month to go, maybe its too late for me to be doing anything else but past papers. 

To an extent, I have to disagree on this.

Practicing past papers is not the same as learning content -- yes, you get used to the format of how they pose their questions, but it's still different to fully understanding the concepts themselves and making relationships between other various sub-concepts that revolve around it, something which past papers don't necessarily help on.

This is especially significant in Group 4 subjects; with the new syllabus (first exams 2016), the "Nature of Sciences" will be heavily emphasized and will require students to be able to think critically in regards to all the knowledge they've attained and the notions they've studied, an ability that cannot be achieved simply through grinding past papers. Furthermore, the new syllabus will also have never-before-seen questions in the exams -- so you really need to know what you're talking about.

But I agree with your sentiment that at this point in time when your exams are coming very soon, past papers are pretty much all that's left you can do as trying to meticulously cover and ensure again fully understanding of everything within a few weeks will doubtfully do any good. Practicing past papers should still be pretty effective preparation for Language B. However if you're taking any extensive Group 4 subjects, I'd suggest going through all the "Nature of Science" sections for all topics within the syllabus, as they will give you much better ideas of what questions the new syllabus exams may pose, as well as the things you'll need to be able to critically think on. 

[Schultz]

As an IB student you should know there is no one way answers. There is a different method for everyone because not all react the same with somthing. I´ve met people who could study 2 hours and not do a interval of break because it could distract them (I could never do that).

Others who only studied like 5 minutes and they both had good grades. Try different methods and find the one that suits you best. 

(In my case it depends on which subject I´m studying for)