Revision is a mini-nightmare!

They say that exercise is good for you and of course, at the moment there is no doubt that every second year IB student should be working their butts off – social life, you should have none – all you should be doing is mental exercise – working hard for those exams that are now, oh so close.

If you do not have a revision plan, then you are leaving it a little late. You should have a whole bunch of past exams for every one of your subjects and you should be going through them, trying the questions ‘from your head’ (NOT open-book) and then going through the marking schemes. This is crucial in the sciences – and practice those definitions – whether they ask for them or not, you will certainly need some of them.

You do have a couple of tricky problems however – the new syllabus has a bunch of new areas that have not been there for a very long time and so, there will be no past questions available. For example, Capacitors is a part of the syllabus that has expanded massively – with no past questions. Also ‘Diode Bridges’ – with again, no past questions. My advice would be to seek out AP or A-Level questions – look on the web for A-Level questions on capacitors – there will be lots of them. If you struggle, email me on [email protected], and I will send you some. The same or questions on Diodes and Diode-Bridges.

Also, if you were not aware of the IB questionbank, then look it up – it is a piece of software that is well worth getting. And now, if you seek it out, you will find it is no longer for sale – the company have stopped producing and selling it – so seek it out on the web and see if there is somewhere else you can get it from! It is WELL WORTH IT.

Finally, take every opportunity to work with your teachers and get their help and advice. Also if you have friends that need help, make them aware of the fact that you would be willing to answer any questions they have – remember that when you answer someone’s question, you are testing yourself as well – which is a good thing.

Finally, avoid distraction they get in the way, they are … distractions! Find somewhere away from too much noise and too many people and simply get on with it. It is a lot of hard work now, but well worth it in the end. And remember that whatever happens, good or … not so good, as long as you tried your best, you cannot ask more of yourself.

Good luck.