An IB tutor is a must to achieve this!
Every year, IB students work hard for their IB exams in May and November so as to enter their dream universities. Students always want to strive for the good, better and the best. Many students choose to go to IB classes. With the help of IB tutors and IB guides, students believe that they can achieve their desired grades and proceed to better university life. The question is, what is a good IB score that students, parents, and teachers would be satisfied with? According to the IBO, the world’s average IB score of 29.63 in 2019 and 29.76 in 2018. Does it mean that scoring above the world’s average is considered good enough? The first thing to ponder before answering this question is to set a goal.
For universities that have higher rankings all over the world, they usually require a 38 in IB overall grade. For top universities such as Cambridge and UCL, the required grade would be even higher up to 40. These are definitely considered good IB scores, but they are not the only criteria. Course combination is also an important factor of a strong IB profile. One student may have 40 overall with 7 in Economics, Arts and History HL, but he or she is not considered a competitive candidate in, for example, the field of Dentistry. A good IB score is not only about the outstanding overall grade but also taking course selection into consideration that fits into students’ desired fields and helps them build up a powerful profile.
After knowing what a good IB score is, students should also know how to get a good IB score. This blog will focus on some general tips and study tips in the following sections so as to encourage students and help them improve their academic performance.
Get enough sleep
The most important and useful tip of all is to get enough sleep. When it comes to study and revision, many students would sacrifice their sleep to stay up late. Although it enables students to make use of time and study more, health is the most precious asset. Without a healthy body, students cannot even continue studying, not to mention striving for a good grade. Nothing comes first before being healthy, both physically and mentally. Therefore, students must take care of their own bodies, especially during stressful IB preparation. Getting enough sleep is way more important than sacrificing sleeping time to study for another hour.
Manage your time wisely
Second of all, time management. IB is all about deadlines, deadlines for internal assessments, deadlines for essays, as well as university application deadlines. Missing out any deadline would definitely be a nightmare for students. As a result, it is important to know how to manage time wisely. Students are advised to make their own to-do list or a calendar plan, in order to visualize all the deadlines for a better sense of time management and how much time you have left for your deadlines.
Time seems shorter and faster in the calendar as it can easily visualize one month in just a page. Therefore, one week before a deadline seems shorter by visualizing it in the calendar, which potentially encourages students to complete their deadlines.
Color-coding is also a good idea to manage time wisely in your calendar. (Not too many colors tho). For example, one can label all tests red in the calendar, while deadlines in purple, and to-do in orange. Color-coding gives students a sense of priority to decide which task is more important to start with. When there are more red tasks, students would be more nervous and start to work on deadlines earlier.
Be organized
Keeping things organized makes everything simpler and clearer. It is not only about studying but also about every aspect of your life. Arranging notes accordingly, for example, by subject or by topic, enables students to keep clear of what they have learned, and make it easier to retrieve information when necessary. Being organized helps students form a habit that is beneficial to their whole life. When there is order in life, students would find it easier to handle stress and obstacles. It also makes one feel positive about life when everything is in order.
Other than these general tips, there are also some study tips that would greatly help with students’ studying efficiency and performance.
Stop rather than unproductive study
Making good use of time effectively increases one’s efficiency. If a student is studying unproductively, then he or she should reconsider how to make use of time. If one is not able to learn anything during the time, then it would be better to just stop instead of forcing oneself to continue learning. This does not only apply to IB study, but also to other aspects of life. Everyone should make plans and utilize time wisely to maximize the outcome.
Do not rely on highlighter
Highlighter is not effective when numerous words are highlighted in the text. It would just be the same as no highlights. Some students even like to use several colors at a time. Multiple colors might make the notes look messier and students might lose track easily while reading the notes. Although highlighters help with emphasizing keywords in the text, it is still better to grab a piece of paper and note down all the important notes while reading.
Make your own study guide
Everyone has his own style of studying. Making sure of which style of learner one belongs to really helps a lot with one’s study as well. For example, one can be a visual learner. With the help of diagrams and flowcharts, one can make his own study guide that suits himself. It is important to know that study guides are not meant to be very neat so that others can understand. One should work on his own notes so that he can really read and go through them again and again. Study guides are not made to impress others, but to help one’s own study and revision.