Geography HL

[6tk]

Hi,

I am predicted a 7 in HL Geography, however I am quite worried about the fact that sometimes our teacher doesnt know what he is doing. I most of the time get full points for my essays and tests, however I am quite unsure about the exams.

Could any of you please help me and tell me how to study for Geography course effectively? Sometimes I feel I study too many details, which are unused in my tests.

Feedback will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[astonky]

Hi,

even though I'm still in the first year of the IB, I'll try to give you some advice. Geography is my favourite subject, so I spend pretty much 30% of my overall study time revising it.

The first thing I would do (if you haven't already) is to find the geography syllabus and identify all the sections you're being tested on (ie. Core themes, HL extension and the 3 options that you are doing).

Each of these are divided into different sections that have fairly clear requirements on what you need to know. If you're aiming for a 7, you will want to ensure that you know the demands of each of the sections. - if you are lacking materials to study from I can recommend greenfieldgeography.com, geographeronline.net or this site specifically for IB HL Changing Space - the Shrinking World.

Ok, assuming you've got all the necessary material for your revision I would suggest that you condense all the information in the shortest form possible (but without comprosing the quality of the information). Then, there are two study strategies I can recommend (both are about equally effective).

The first involves lecturing the information from your notes to an imaginary class (ie. repeating it out loud). The second method is rewriting 2-4 pages of your notes in 20 minutes.

The lecturing method can be faster and is less harmful to the environment - you save paper - but if you're not the type of person who likes to speak out loud, or you're revising in a quiet place such as the library, you'll prefer the second method.

Both of these methods work because you're forced to recall all the information without any stimulus material, so don't go peaking at your notes while you do this.

Finally, I recommend that you practise your exam skills and timing using past papers, as particularly in Paper 3 where you need to write 2 essays in 1 hour, you need to be able to manage your time well to score the maximum number of marks.

If you've got any other questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'll answer them as best as I can.

Greetings.