Pre-IB Preparation. HELP!

[rhapsodysiscaa]

hi again.

My school is a new IB World School and the teachers have no experience on teaching IB students. But they have more than 5 years experience on teaching CIE students.

 

I'm afraid that they can't teach us correctly, what should i do to prepare things to get 35 points above in all subjects?

 

is self-study method useful for getting 6-7 points for one subject? or is there any method that is more useful than self-study?

 

Thanks

[veregudmen]

First and foremost, don't write off your school or your teachers just because they're new to the IB. It could very well turn out that the school ends up brilliant from the very start. It could also turn out to be utterly terrible, but don't just assume it. Even if they don't teach the correct way, or how to answer, they will still teach the subject matter, so either way it's not a hopeless situation. 

 

Anyway, it depends a lot on what you mean by not teaching you correctly. If you mean they won't teach you the correct way to answer papers, or the correct way of doing ToK or the EE or something, then read up on the rubrics yourself, ask other students you know, from both your school and other schools (and even IB Survival) and understand what they are doing and the differences between your school's style and that of others, and figure out the correct way to do things. 

If, on the other hand, they don't cover the entire subject matter, then just study it yourself. If you don't understand some of the content, ask your teachers; even if they can't teach it in class, most would be happy to help you outside class, especially if it's an important part of the syllabus. 

 

 

As for getting good grades in a subject, it honestly depends a lot on the subject. Looking at the subjects in your signature, Math and Chem SL can indeed be survived through self study, without much else. You have to know the concepts and be able to apply them, but it is manageable through self study, and continued practice. 

 

Subjects like BM, and I'm guessing ITGS, though I have no knowledge of the subject, will require more of learning how to write answers the correct way, rather than learning the subject matter (not that it's unimportant). 

 

Languages, presuming you know them well enough and can read, write and speak in them, would only require you to read the books that you need to read and to be able to analyse them in the relevant language. 

 

Generally speaking though, it is possible to get a good grade through self study, in most subjects.

[winvanseb]

I took two self study subjects: Economics HL and Dutch A: Lit.

I got a very high 5 in Econ HL and a high 6 in Dutch A.

 

Generally, if you're willing to work for it, it's possible. However, I do advise you find someone with knowledge of the subject to communicate with on a regular basis. I had a teacher in the Netherlands that I emailed with every week, which definitely was great help. 

 

You can try to find a teacher like this to communicate with via other IB schools in your area, or do some digging online

[IBhelp2015]

I agree with what veregudmen said about not writing your school off. You never know what they'll be capable of. I definitely self-study quite a bit, but IB Survival is a really good place to get certain questions cleared up. Also, yet again, I come to the secret of all my school success: ExamTime.com . Maybe I'm really technology driven, but I know for a fact if I didn't have all my stuff on ExamTime.com , I would not be doing as well as I am in school. Their resources are really easy to make and transfer over to other resources, and they already have hundreds of IB resources created for reference.

SO. I would say as far as the structure and basic advice goes, definitely ask away on IB Survival, and look up syllabi for your courses on Google. For your own personal upkeep of information, and to stay organized, ExamTime. Check them out here:

https://www.examtime.com/guide/ib-courses/

Good luck! Welcome to the IB fam

[rhapsodysiscaa]

Thank youuuuu all

I think you all are right!

I'm paranoid if I can't answer the questions in IB exam later on. I want to do my best Since after IB, I'm going to the university.

 

I agree with what veregudmen said about not writing your school off. You never know what they'll be capable of. I definitely self-study quite a bit, but IB Survival is a really good place to get certain questions cleared up. Also, yet again, I come to the secret of all my school success: ExamTime.com . Maybe I'm really technology driven, but I know for a fact if I didn't have all my stuff on ExamTime.com , I would not be doing as well as I am in school. Their resources are really easy to make and transfer over to other resources, and they already have hundreds of IB resources created for reference.

SO. I would say as far as the structure and basic advice goes, definitely ask away on IB Survival, and look up syllabi for your courses on Google. For your own personal upkeep of information, and to stay organized, ExamTime. Check them out here:

https://www.examtime.com/guide/ib-courses/

Good luck! Welcome to the IB fam

 

Thank you for the website And thank youu againn

 

 

First and foremost, don't write off your school or your teachers just because they're new to the IB. It could very well turn out that the school ends up brilliant from the very start. It could also turn out to be utterly terrible, but don't just assume it. Even if they don't teach the correct way, or how to answer, they will still teach the subject matter, so either way it's not a hopeless situation. 

 

Anyway, it depends a lot on what you mean by not teaching you correctly. If you mean they won't teach you the correct way to answer papers, or the correct way of doing ToK or the EE or something, then read up on the rubrics yourself, ask other students you know, from both your school and other schools (and even IB Survival) and understand what they are doing and the differences between your school's style and that of others, and figure out the correct way to do things. 

If, on the other hand, they don't cover the entire subject matter, then just study it yourself. If you don't understand some of the content, ask your teachers; even if they can't teach it in class, most would be happy to help you outside class, especially if it's an important part of the syllabus. 

 

 

As for getting good grades in a subject, it honestly depends a lot on the subject. Looking at the subjects in your signature, Math and Chem SL can indeed be survived through self study, without much else. You have to know the concepts and be able to apply them, but it is manageable through self study, and continued practice. 

 

Subjects like BM, and I'm guessing ITGS, though I have no knowledge of the subject, will require more of learning how to write answers the correct way, rather than learning the subject matter (not that it's unimportant). 

 

Languages, presuming you know them well enough and can read, write and speak in them, would only require you to read the books that you need to read and to be able to analyse them in the relevant language. 

 

Generally speaking though, it is possible to get a good grade through self study, in most subjects.

Thanks I can't find a good website for Math  

[veregudmen]

Math.....

I can't imagine that a website would be too necessary, given that getting used to the question style can only be done with practice. That being said, IBSurvival and The Student Room both have Math and IB sections respectively, so you could ask there from time to time. Additionally, you might consider Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/ where you can quite literally type in a question or expression or equation and get all sorts of solutions for the same. It's a wonderful site, and the guy who made it is a genius. 

 

Here is a question bank I found for math. Not sure if it's for HL or SL or Studies, but I'd assume it would have questions fit for all 3.

http://www.2shared.com/file/bCA8fvfr/Math.html

Right-click the download link and select "Save Link/File as..."

 

I think Khan Academy would have something if you had trouble with concepts. They have stuff for Chem and Physics, so I'd imagine they'd have something for Math.

 

Edit: The question bank link has all 3, from 2000-2009. You might find newer questions from different question banks, but it can't hurt to try these questions.

Edited July 10, 2014 by veregudmen

[rhapsodysiscaa]

Math.....

I can't imagine that a website would be too necessary, given that getting used to the question style can only be done with practice. That being said, IBSurvival and The Student Room both have Math and IB sections respectively, so you could ask there from time to time. Additionally, you might consider Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/ where you can quite literally type in a question or expression or equation and get all sorts of solutions for the same. It's a wonderful site, and the guy who made it is a genius. 

 

Here is a question bank I found for math. Not sure if it's for HL or SL or Studies, but I'd assume it would have questions fit for all 3.

http://www.2shared.com/file/bCA8fvfr/Math.html

Right-click the download link and select "Save Link/File as..."

 

I think Khan Academy would have something if you had trouble with concepts. They have stuff for Chem and Physics, so I'd imagine they'd have something for Math.

 

Edit: The question bank link has all 3, from 2000-2009. You might find newer questions from different question banks, but it can't hurt to try these questions.

Thanks for your help

Well, I'm helping my math teacher to find a good website for math.

In IGCSE, I took core Math (an easy math, maximum score of C). I could get an A* actually if I took a normal Math. But I don't like the teacher.

I regret it, so I'm gonna take math SL instead of Math studies since I'm capable to take higher math

[veregudmen]

Yikes! Core math doesn't really have much at all- one of my friends took it and he told me his paper had a question wherein he got 4 marks for measuring a line on the paper. No jokes. 

 

From what I understand, Extended math is presumed knowledge for SL Math, so you might want to go over Extended math first, especially the algebra sections, because core math leaves out quite a bit in algebra. Just a suggestion though, you obviously don't have to do it.

 

My school tells people who took core math to study extended over the summer so they can be prepared for SL. Of course, they never do and flunk out of SL, like they did in Extended 2 years prior.  

[rhapsodysiscaa]

Yikes! Core math doesn't really have much at all- one of my friends took it and he told me his paper had a question wherein he got 4 marks for measuring a line on the paper. No jokes. 

 

From what I understand, Extended math is presumed knowledge for SL Math, so you might want to go over Extended math first, especially the algebra sections, because core math leaves out quite a bit in algebra. Just a suggestion though, you obviously don't have to do it.

 

My school tells people who took core math to study extended over the summer so they can be prepared for SL. Of course, they never do and flunk out of SL, like they did in Extended 2 years prior.

Trust me, core Math is the easiest subject in IGCSE. (Since I don't have any problem with Math.)

 

So I should study Extended first? any suggestion where to?

Did you take IGCSE this year?

[veregudmen]

Honestly you just need to know inequalities and quadratic equations, and in trigonometry the sine and cosine rule. I think a Google search would find just explanations for all of them. They're not too difficult, but they need to be understood well usually. 

 

I did the IGCSEs this year; I took English Language, English Literature, French B(biggest mistake ever), Extended Math, Geography, Physics, Biology and Chemistry. I would have taken Additional Math and Music as well but my school decided that they won't let students take more than 8 subjects anymore. 

Edited July 10, 2014 by veregudmen

[rhapsodysiscaa]

Honestly you just need to know inequalities and quadratic equations, and in trigonometry the sine and cosine rule. I think a Google search would find just explanations for all of them. They're not too difficult, but they need to be understood well usually. 

 

I did the IGCSEs this year; I took English Language, English Literature, French B(biggest mistake ever), Extended Math, Physics, Biology and Chemistry. I would have taken Additional Math and Music as well but my school decided that they won't let students take more than 8 subjects anymore. 

which one is that? hahaha. I don't remember haha

 

The IGCSE announcement will be at the 13th of August, right?

[veregudmen]

It's all in the algebra 2 chapter of most books, or you can quite literally just google the topics and you'll find thorough explanations. 

I think so. I honestly don't care about the IGCSEs though, my school's coordinator will just walk in with the sheets and give them to each student when results come out. 

[rhapsodysiscaa]

It's all in the algebra 2 chapter of most books, or you can quite literally just google the topics and you'll find thorough explanations. 

I think so. I honestly don't care about the IGCSEs though, my school's coordinator will just walk in with the sheets and give them to each student when results come out. 

Because there's IB after IGCSE?

Well, I do care. I wanna get Merit, atleast hahahaa

[veregudmen]

Not just that. My school makes us do both the MYP and the IGCSE, and they flat out tell us that the only reason they have IGCSE is because for Indian universities you need a grade 10 exam certificate which the MYP doesn't do. I won't be applying to Indian universities at all, my MYP grades are excellent, and I have a general idea of what my grades will be like: I know my best case and worst case scenarios, and both are

a) better than most of my classmates' possibilites  

b) good enough for the UK universities I want to apply to

so I really don't care about IGCSEs now

[rhapsodysiscaa]

That's true

I have a lot of Indian teacher at my school. He told me everything in India (which I actually kind of forget, he told me 3 years ago? bleh, don't remember haha)

 

But that's good! Aim higher I just want to stay in Indonesia. I'm lazy to go abroad like all my friends.