That was always a problem for me and still is. I could not help but always compare myself with my classmates who always seemed to be able to concentrate for 6-7 hours every day, intensively making notes with their coloured pencils and markers and perfect handwriting and always sitting in the library reading, while I cannot sit still for more than half an hour without being bored to death. I was very impressed with their ability to overwork themselves this way, but in the end our scores were not that far apart to make me upset. We all work and grasp information at our own pace and we all have our own level of motivation and expectations from ourselves. Hopefully one day I will be able to stop comparing myself to others to get rid of this constant paranoia following me everywhere.
This dude: I was crying like every single night like a month before the exams!!! Me, watches this the night before the exam without studying too much: eh
IB literally took so much out of me. I wanted to drop the freaking program every year and I came so close to dropping my senior year but my friend made me stay and I worked so hard on all my exams and I never thought I would all 7s (45 points)
Think your points 2 and 3 are the big ones. I remember for my chem and bio HL I studied purely from revision guides and managed a 7. For math HL, just did a bunch of past papers and pushed a 7 (even though I was failing my tests throughout the 2 years).
I never write down things I don't understand but when I have understood something I do make notes of it to make sure I have understood it well. Then once I look at my notes after a long time I can nicely go back to the moment I understood the issue and wrote the notes and remember everything.
I understand what you mean completely - the notes I made (whatever little they were) were initially meant to do that. In the end I decided to skip the notes, but It's a good idea for those especially hard to understand concepts.
i'm making notes from day 1, and using a lot of time on it, so that when we're finished with the syllabus i have notes for everything we've been through in each subject. i do this mainly because i find it really difficult to read and fully comprehend the text books and i learn from writing stuff down
@@studytime7182 it depends on your subjects and what study methods that work for you. i would advise your to try taking notes first as it's proven you learn better by writing things down (preferably by hand), and if you don't feel like it's beneficial simply try something else. though, there's an insane amount of material in the science subjects so having good and organized notes for exams is great good luck in the ib, it'll be a rough time ;)
I´m so glad I found your. One day ago I had my first two IB exams from Business and Management and I spent so much time studying and in the end I think I did so wrong on both papers because of so many factors that affected me, and I think that it was mainly my fault because of my methods to study. So now I´ll turn the page and focus on studying smart cause studying hard is not the same as studying smart, always remember that!!! Great tips
I feel like I know nothing! I've been reviewing the way you've told me to but I'm just really terrible at Maths and I'm really worried I'm going to fail. I have to go to Australia for university and they really only accept the final IB score. So, if it's low...
+Isabelle Bradford Did you go through mathsl1's video? I think hkexcel has some really good math videos. Like this one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xUnurKAo9Vs.html they also have past paper drills on their site. It's a bit pricey, but do what you need to do. Some of them ( like vectors ) are free, but most are not.
I kinda still have 2 months left but I am still freaking out. Thanks for the video and all the tips! Also good luck to everyone who’s writing their exams this year!🤙🏻
My exams were in May and I only started studying sometime in April. Never did past papers or notes. For History HL, all I did was fully re-read all my books and for Literature: analyses from Sparknotes/cliffnotes/whatever, until I had everything memorised for the two subjects. For Maths I just went through several examples in the textbook without really doing any. For languages - I knew there wasn't much I could learn in a month. I had friends who started intensively studying 6 hours a day 2 months prior with Tolstoy-thick notes from the two years which made me quite paranoid, but from my estimates, our final scores were all between 32 and 42 points. I would avoid all these cringe videos with girly study-tips and just study how it makes you comfortable. Also do what is in your ability. If your predicted grades are just average like mine and you are aiming for an average university, don't compare yourself to those who want to get into Ivy League with 42-45 and are thus killing themselves with work 24/7 starting 2 months prior. Also avoid all the paranoid comments from your classmates who are comparing how much they have already studied for up to now. Everyone grasps information and stays focused at their own rate. It's important not to overwork yourself and to stay motivated to do your best at the level you are capable of. Remember that for the past few years, the global IB average is only 30 points.
IB like Cole Can you make a video of how you planned your study schedule the month(s) before the may session? Like how you planned your day and how you distributed all the material over the pre- exam period ?
First you read, then you HIGHLIGHT important stuff, then write them like bullets. AS YOU STUDY IT! i swear i used to write biology notes since grade 8 and I remember almost everything
I feel like this only works for Maths or Sciences where understanding fundamentals is what matters rather than learning copious amounts of facts like in History.
+Ebun Ladipo I'm sure what you said has truth, but when I learnt history ( not ib ) it does well to really imagine the way things pan out and memorize the finer details like dates and names later. What I'm trying to say is that people spend an awful amount of time making notes when it would serve them better to use that time to actually learn the material over and over again until it's ingrained in your hear. Do whatever works for you though :)
+Ebun Ladipo Whatever works for you, I barely took any notes except a bit for Econ and bio, and never used the bio notes. I feel that the hours you spend writing notes will be better spent slowly reading and reinforcing the topic. But what works for me may not work for you.
Haha! I'd tried to do that for a while but a lot of people don't know how to take good notes :D also, they're not always inclined to let go of their hard work to me for free
cole's 5 tips for IB exams 1. don't make notes. read the material properly, find the fundamentals, if it's in the syllabus. let it sink in, THEN move on. 2. Revision guides are your bestie. elaborate on core info. Andrew Allot 3. Past papers are king. If you get something wrong Look at the marking scheme and find patterns 4. exploit online IB teachers. RU-vid. econ: jason welher chem: mrs Jchem math sl: pei canada (they are fun +past paper drills) 5. Don't compare with your friends NO STRESS PLS or FALSE SENSE OF CALMNESS. ultra competitive also quality over quantity. dont go to ib survival guides or ask stupid questions no one can answer like will i pass or fail. 6. Don't panic! ib isn;t everything remember you still have your national diploma to rely on :) ik this comment goes against #1 but now i know why the heather of my class doesn't take note and im not going to either. obvs watch his don't take notes video, super helpful in explaining #1 and puts you at ease
I have two weeks and a half before my first exam and bio is stressing me out the most. Cause there is so much memorization. I was starting to lose motivation but now I'm gonna try a different tactic. Instead of taking notes, ill start taking advantage of online ib teachers, and trying out a bunch of pass papers. Hopefully, this works Thx for the video, Cole. It really helped.
Ay bro this video is so funny man keep it up I loved these tips so realistic and logical and so non-panic inducing fo shizzles this is exactly what most of us need.
IB like Cole No no I swear I'm being serious this video made me laugh alot and really calmed my nerves. Also, thank you for replying to your comments lool
Just one more tip from a student who has just one subject, three papers remaining in the 2017 IB finals: structure every possible essay that is highly likely to show up. For English Paper 2, regardless of the level, obviously this can be done fairly easily, but as a Econ, History and Chinese B taker, I would say it's pretty much possible in every subject except for the sciences and maths. BTW I agree with most of your points, especially the one that Online IB teachers are saviors; had I known them earlier, learning maths would have been so much more fun.
Don't take IB just yet, currently doing my IGCSEs but his vid made me realize that my studying techniques are ineffective and need to change. Like I've been trying to take 10 pages of notes everyday plus my hw and other studying and Im just not getting anywhere. Notes are useful but I've too little time and there's too much to cover, I'm changing my entire sched right now.. hope it works!
I dont really agree with the first tip. For some reaon I can't understand texts in depth unless I take notes as I read them (I get too distracted when reading if I don't). So I guess it really depends on the person. I think a safe thing to say is: don't believe that one method is generally better for learning than others just because people told you so. There is a method that works for every student. You just have to focus on finding your own and sticking to it:D
+Aisha Muq Trust me, you're not dumb. What you're feeling is a combination of stress and detachment from your traditional way of studying. Even if you studied by writing, you're not just physically copying notes, you're learning as you write. So you still need to learn the content either way. From what I can tell about you, you need to rewrite the content in your own way with your own visual cues and structure. My suggestion, ditch the notes and pretend you're teaching another person. You'll be forced to organize the information in a logical way, because you'd be teaching the concept, not forcing your student to memorize it. Another suggestion, try to slowly read the information, no rush, you'd be surprised what pace can do to your ability of retaining information. Don't worry, there's a great community of IB'ers willing to support you and you can always message me if you need help in anything!
I do feel though we all have different learning styles. If you learn by writing and repeating then I think writing notes is a good idea. I have used note taking throughout the IB program and University and it has worked for me. I am not someone who can read other peoples notes and be able to learn or work through the material. I always re-write concepts and color code them after each class and look back to these to study for the exam. Just ideas!!
I have a question please reply!! ‼️‼️‼️ Do i study like n entire subject then move on to the next one like finish the entire bio textbook then when im done i move on to math etc. Or do is it better to divide each.. unit 1 unit 2… Btw I have like 20 days until the exam i did study half bio and physics books 2 months ago but i gave up bec of the personal project ://
I have 2 months left and I am not stressed. I just wanna get it over with. I'm tired of this shit man. I'll be sticking to the guides. Past papers and the syllabus guide so that I dont waste time. I've got physics and chem HL to do. So wish me luck :)
My externals start next month I have done little to no studying These are my subjects HL: Chem Bio Business management SL: Math AA English A Arabic AB Am I done for?
Where did you get the revision guides and past papers? Are there certain websites where I can find those or do I get them from other sources. Thanks for this video. Starting Ib in a week so wish me luck. 🙏
I mainly used the Bio study guide - for the others, I used RU-vid videos. But there are some really hopeful ones that I'm sure you would find on IBsurvival and Reddit.
U are a blessing to the IB students!!! I have a question, if throughout the first year of IB ive been doing notes (especially for bio and chem HL), should i continue until like december ?? Im currently in the summer between IB1 and IB2 and im working on my IAs, ee, and studying for chem/making notes for some chapters i dont have notes for. Do u think its really worth it if i continue making notes for chem and bio cuz its what makes me feel safe whenever i have a test or quiz
Everybody has their own studying style. There are people who take ( a lot ) of notes and end up getting 45. Note taking isn't bad and really does help in some ways. Though, I also made notes for many chapters and never completed the rest of the chapters after I realized not to take notes. Don't take notes just because you feel you need to have a complete set of notes. Personally, I don't think note taking is worth it especially for sub where you have good revision guides ( bio Chem Econ ). I'd say try studying without notes for a bit, give it a real shot, if it doesn't sit well with you, start taking notes again.
I never make notes and i always get the highest grades and I'm one of the top students in my medical school, but still i feel insecure about not writing notes
Me podrias recomendar algunos canales de youtube para aprender matematicas, quimica, gestion empresarial, ingles, historia, lenguaje. Es porque ya mismo me tocan dar los examenes de Noviembre 2018. Voy a seguir tus consejos
Well... I’ll take IB the next academic year, and I really wanna start studying this summer before starting school, so will these methods be helpful for someone who still did not attend a class of IB??
Uchiha Takeshi no dont waste time like that. Enjoy ur last summer before the IB. And when u get into the ib just really pay attention in every class and revise and practice every day. Don’t leave everything till the last minute ( like i did) my exams are next week 😂
Moses m I know, I’m trying to reduce workload by doing this, I’ll try to finish the syllabus earlier so that I can be ahead of my class if that makes sense, and so that I can solve past papers a long time before the mock exams, plus I’ll be solving past papers by subtopic for each quiz, because teachers usually bring quizzes and exams from past papers, so I wouldn’t attend a quiz without solving past paper questions related to it. And also please If you have any (past papers by topic) website PLEASE send me a link, that’d be really helpful.
ironically I was just doing bio notes as I took a break and had this video suggested to me, but you are right #1 #5 and most of all #6. The notes one actually really surprised me because you see I was never the notes type of person, however after watching many..many youtube videos (because IB students know how to procrastinate the best :D) everybody would always say "do notes, notes notes notes! so your tips are really refreshing and actually helpful. I mean lets be honest there really isn't a "secret" in being successful in the IB, you just need to do the work in a smart way to cutdown your study time :)
Hi, do you have any tips about how to not panic or panic less? I get really nervous before tests and exams even when it is easy and I don't do well because of my panicking. How should I calm myself down??
I like your pen lol.. How are you supposed to not panic? and how do you find revision guides that are the good ones.. like they can look all nice and look like they will have the important info but how do you know for sure before you spend a lot of money on it?
For Bio, my teacher and others recommended to use it. I'd recommend asking others for recommendations or asking the IB community on ibsurvival.com or Reddit
