The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is known for its challenging curriculum and rigorous assessments. As an IB student, the final exam is a crucial component of your academic journey. Therefore, it is important to prepare yourself well in advance to ensure that you can perform to the best of your abilities on exam day. In this blog post, we will provide you with some tips on how to prepare for the IB final exam.

Make a study schedule and be organized

Being organized helps you to see things clearly and puts everything into perspective, and enables students to meet deadlines effectively. Planning a schedule in advance helps students to know which subjects you need to focus on the most and which ones will require the most amount of time. Formulating an exam schedule is highly recommended. Additionally, manage your time effectively in and out of exams and make sure to have small breaks in between your study blocks. Your mind cannot focus the whole time and you need to take a break every couple of hours, to regain focus and recall information. Set a specific time for your break- a fifteen-minute break every 1 hour 30 mins of studying is effective and sufficient. Use the break to do something that will re-energize you, such as a short walk or reading your newsfeed.

Compile past paper questions, textbook content, and make a revision package compiling past paper

Utilize the past papers to allow you to get more familiar with the format of the questions, thereby improving the speed in solving them. It ensures you understand the requirements and implications of the question, and builds time management skills required to complete a paper within a set amount of time. Using a study package also allows you to practice using the various tools, and response types that will be tested in the examination, so you can learn to express yourself without difficulty in the examination. Furthermore, solve past papers like your external exam with time constraints and resources you are allowed to take in for it, such as the formula booklet and calculator. Doing past papers makes you more familiar with the format of the questions, consequently making you speedier in solving them as well.

Understand the format of the exam

Before you start preparing for the exam, make sure that you understand the format of the exam. The IB final exam consists of two or three papers depending on your subject choices. Each paper is typically 2-3 hours long, and includes a range of question types, such as multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions. Knowing the exam format will help you to plan your revision effectively.

Spend two weeks before exam week and do revision

Now is not the time to study every topic as if you are studying it. Focus only on the topics which you find challenging. After mastering the topics, do a full past paper under exam conditions and see what marks got and look at mistakes and correct them. Answering questions under time pressure shows you if you can actually complete tasks within the allocated time. It also shows weaknesses so you can work on the test parts and question types that take up more of your time. This method will help you to understand and absorb information faster. Additionally, utilize the question bank and ensure that you solve every paper (tip: focus mostly on the past papers of the last seven years from the current year; the IB syllabus changes every few years and thus, if you try and solve very old past papers, you may come across command terms and content that the IB no longer uses/teaches).

In conclusion, preparing for the IB final exam requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but it is not impossible. By following these tips and strategies, you can create a solid revision plan, practice effectively, and improve your chances of success on the exam day. We offer a crash course to prepare for IB final with IB examiners, Cambridge graduates. Do approach QE if you have further enquiries at enquiries@qeducation.sg.