Revision tips for the last year of IB

[the shiz]

Hey guys,

I have final german exams this May and physics, chemistry, english and maths finals this November. Does anyone here who has been through IB have any tips on revising in the final year of this course? I would really like to start as early as possible, so any tips about starting to revise RIGHT NOW would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Sonneteer_Trombonist]

Well, I'm going through the program right now as well, exams are in May 2010. I experimented with a few different methods last year.

Flashcards: Two approaches here, you could make cards with one question on the front and an answer on the back, or one card per concept. These are useful because you learn when you are making them and they are easy to use and re-use. Also, it forces you to go through all your notes and condense and summarize.

Study notes: Go through everything, write down a concept heading and the most important notes about it. This is advantageous because everything is laid out nicely for you to see all at once, and it is easy to reference things from the past because everything will be in order. Laying everything out will also give you an idea of which areas have the most material and the most weight and, thus, what you should spend the most time studying.

Study guides: I haven't used any of the IB study guides yet but I have heard great things about some of them, if you choose wisely. They are good because they can give you a summary of your notes from a different perspective, which can help you clear up anything or give you useful memorization techniques. It is also very helpful to do the questions in the study guides 2 or 3 times, so do them on a separate sheet of paper! Mark down the ones you got wrong and pay special attention to those. This is also great because you get an idea of what the markers mean when they use certain wording. Some study guides have both multiple choice and written response questions - pay special attention to the answers in the written response questions; I often find that they pop up again on tests.

Question banks online: Same reasons as above.

Tutoring/teaching: For me, one of the best ways to learn. It forces you to verbalize things where you would normally say "I already know this" and don't bother to put it into any form that can be communicated beforehand. If you have study groups with friends, it can be less boring, but make sure you actually get work done. Even teaching a family member, pet or stuffed animal can be beneficial.

The most important thing is to NOT PROCRASTINATE. Even just reviewing the notes you get every day in class and going over one old unit at a time helps you to sort the information in your brain and see what you're up against. It is a good recall trick so that when you're studying you're not constantly surprised by the information you are finding and remembering.

To summarize:

• Flashcards are great to make and easy to re-use
  
• Study notes are good summary tools that lay everything out
  
• Study guides give you a new perspective
  
• Question banks are awesome practice
  
• Teaching forces you to communicate everything and put it into a form that can be understood by others
  
• Do light review first and do it constantly
  
• Start now!
  

You've got a lot of options and I recommend playing around with everything to see what works for you. If you start preparing early, you'll do great Good luck!