So, today's topic is surviving IB, from the point of view of 4 months into studying. I'm going to keep this post short as my brain is currently hurting due to two English IOPs (Individual Oral Presentations), so I'll bullet point for you:
- Do your reading homework. I know it seems pointless to start with but trust me, lectures/ lessons are so much easier to understand, and you will get so much more out of it with a bit of prior knowledge. Plus, if you find anything that you don't understand whilst reading, it gives you chance to ask about it during the next lesson.
- Do all your class homework. Again, I know it can feel pointless if you understood what you were doing the first time around, but it DOES help the information to sink in better, and again, you might be fine with the theory, but applying knowledge can be a whole different ball game.
- Leave yourself plenty of time to do Hand Ins. I will admit, that this one took a while for me to achieve. There may have been a couple of up-until-1am episodes, but life is much less stressful (hah, less stress with IB!) now that I have the time to at least work at the Hand Ins slowly.
- If you have a question in class, ASK! This took me a while too, because I am not naturally a very loud person. However, if my school is anything to go on, your grades (from your teachers) are at least based somewhat on class participation. Also, if you don't ask, your teacher doesn't know if you understand or not! I know I always feel like I got so much more out of a class where I left having understood what was going on because I asked questions. And finally, to use the age old saying, you can pretty much guarantee that there is someone else sitting in the class with the same question as you who just doesn't have the guts to ask!
- Make time to relax. The workload can feel overwhelming at times, but if you give yourself allotted time to work, and allotted time to chill, it feels a lot less hectic. IB isn't a mad rush all the time, there are just times that will feel absolutely insane. However, if you have "me time" and keep repeating "It'll be over soon, It'll be over soon" then you can do it, I promise. It's all about time management and not panicking.
- Find ways to motivate yourself. Tell yourself that if you work for 45 minutes, you can have the last 15 minutes of that hour to do something you enjoy, like Facebook, or video games, or whatever you enjoy. I find this one especially useful when working on Hand Ins, because they don't feel quite so insane if you give yourself little breaks.
- Use class time to work. This one sounds obvious, but I don't know how many times I have sat, emailing friends on my computer, looked up and realised that class is over, and I have no idea what happened. It just causes stress and having to catch up, so honestly, try and pay attention.
- Eat breakfast. Really random, but trust me, TOK is much easier to handle when you aren't starving hungry.
So, these are just my few tips from this time set on surviving IB. Take them all as advice from experience, and I hope some of them help. Sorry if they seem obvious, but I know I've had trouble with a few! (She says, saving the blog post and returning to the English Hand In- I took my break! :P )
Thanks for reading, leave any comments below! :)
Megan
xoxox
