How Do I Overthink So Much And Then Still Make The Wrong Decision

60 Tips for IB - from a 45 pointer

A lot of people have been asking me about general tips for surviving IB and how I got 45 points. If I’m honest I think the difference between 40 and 45 points is just pure, dumb luck, but at least here are some tips to getting up to the 40 -points level :D

This is a list of tips my friend and I wrote right after our IB exams. We were feeling quite high at the moment, so I had to edit some of the tips so you could actually take the advice seriously…

1. HAPPINESS FIRST DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO KEEP YOURSELF HAPPY

2. Don’t do “homework” at home!!!

3. Find a study buddy

4. Proceed to ignore everyone but your study buddy

5. Not your dog though

6. Escape from your family / responsibilities (e.g. do your homework abroad, in someone else’s basement, coffee shops, libraries, group rooms at school, sneak into university study halls etcetc. The possibilities are endless)

7. Set yourself a time limit for doing the TOK Essay. (Don’t do it two weekends in a row, you will go crazy)

8. Don’t attempt to finish the EE in one day

9. Remind your science teacher about the IA. It’s for your own good.

10. Whether it’s 5am or 2am, figure out when you work best and stick to it.

11. Don’t think you’ll learn stuff in class. Seriously. Read the books instead, and use classes as revision / sleep time / relaxing time.

12. Mark schemes will be your best teacher. 

13. Write syllabus notes FROM THE VERY START.

14. You won’t understand TOK but at least try to have fun with it.

15. Don’t forget about CAS, but don’t spend too much time on it either.

16. Install “StayFocusd” but don’t go nuclear option for a week

17. Memorize the opening hours of the public study areas in your vicinity 

18. Listen to Christmas music if you’re sad

19. Get a whiteboard for revision

20. Physics students: buy the Tsokos revision guide

21. Chemistry students: YouTube Richard Thornley 

22. Biology students: YouTube Alex Lee

23. Read the language books during the summer

24. Don’t give a fuck about English B…but TAKE ENGLISH B IF YOU CAN

25. Don’t choose science as your EE subject (unless you have a super smart and helpful and amazing supervisor)

26. Love your teachers, see them as your friend. They’re adorable.

27. Love yourself too

28. Making a plan (without necessarily following it) will help calm you down

29. 8tracks have amazing playlists

30. Dictionaries are cool

31. Thesaurus.com is cooler

32. Watch TV shows all year round to get your mind off things, just not season finales right before the exams

33. Cry it out

34. Shout it out

35. Drink it out

36. Just don’t get too drunk or violent that’s bad

37. Your nerdy classmates are your friends and teachers

38. Bring coffee / tea to school, if you make it to school

39. It’s OK to skip school for school

40. Waste money on school shit, you’ll earn it back in the future

41. If you can afford it, go to Lanterna summer course. You might get friends from other countries who’ll be able to help you throughout the year, by exchanging resources etc.

42. Make puns about nerdy stuff (like, about life, the universe and everything)

43. Be proud of being a nerd, everyone knows it already

44. EAT

45. SLEEP (sometimes it’s worth skipping school for)

46. Some teachers are nice about students sleeping in class

47. Concentrate when doing IA experiments though, take notes, or even better: film it

48. By the way, FILMING can reduce a lot of errors in science experiments. Write that as an improvement in your evaluation part!!

49. Question banks can be found, if you know where to look

50. Don’t care about other people’s grades

51. Don’t care too much about your own grades either. You’ll survive either way. Calm down. “Chillax”. 

52. Don’t do TOK presentation alone.

53. WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER (uni will be a piece of cake for you. also u can puke out a 4-paged-essay, proof-read and everything, in less than an hour, handwritten. amazing)

54. IB therefore I BS

55. Decorate your wall with IB gems

56. You’ll learn a lot from teaching others / making up games / doing past papers. Don’t just read books and highlight. Don’t just listen to the teachers. You won’t remember shit that way.

57. I repeat, DON’T JUST TRUST THE CLASSES, READ THE EFFING BOOKS

58. You’re allowed to protest sometimes

59. Don’t think too much about TOK / the uncertainty principle / relativity / astrophysics / DNA / nihilist bullshit from the language books. Stick to your reality and be happy. Have fun. Enjoy life. Stop giving so much fucks. Lower your expectations. (I honestly spent IB preparing to fail and start a bakery or something. Life is full of pleasant surprises that way)

60. Your Non-IB friends will laugh at you. Your siblings will laugh at you. Your teachers will laugh at you. You will laugh at you. But it’s okay, 2 years will be over in a flash ^^

I did it y'all

Finished the first 3 pages in a little over 45 minutes, then kept at it and finished all 6 pages of notes that I needed to catch up on.

We’re doing les phrases hypothétique, which I forgot about from high school and actually love, they feel like a math problem.

I still have a psych module to do tonight, but I’m proud of how productive I’ve been so far today.

Good idea :)

Common mistakes when studying for exams:

1.       Not starting early enough While many students intend to begin studying for final exams a couple of weeks beforehand, that timeline often slips as exams approach. After several days of convincing yourself, it will be OK to skip this one day and get started tomorrow, suddenly what was supposed to be a week of studying turns into one or two frantic nights of cramming. Studying for exams often takes more time than you might anticipate, so make sure you get started early! 

2.       Studying in chronological rather than priority order One common approach to studying for exams is to sit down and look through all of the notes from class in chronological order. In addition to being a very passive study strategy (more on this below), it also puts you at risk of running out of time to review the material you learned most recently, which is often emphasized more heavily on the final exam. Instead of studying in chronological order, try studying in priority order, spending the majority of your time on the information that will be most important for you to know for the test. 

3.    Practicing in the wrong format (not how you’ll be tested) I often find that students will study the same way for all of their exams, regardless of the format. For example, they might study for history by making flashcards for all the key terms in their notes. This might be a great strategy for a test that is mostly multiple choice and matching questions…but it could get you into trouble if your test is the mostly short answer and essay questions that require you to answer “why” and “how” questions about the bigger-picture concepts from the class. If you want to be prepared for your exams, you need to make sure that the way you are studying for your test is similar to the way you will actually be tested on the material. 

4.    Reviewing information you already know Even when students are testing themselves and using active study strategies, they often spend the majority of their time on topics they already know. Doing problems you are familiar with and know how to solve is more comfortable, and gives you a nice boost in your self-confidence. The problem with this approach is that you often end up running out of time to work through the challenging problems that you don’t know how to solve…and those are the ones that you end up missing on the test. Don’t waste your time studying things you already know! Once you’ve confirmed that you understand and can answer questions about a certain concept, check it off your list and move on to something more challenging.

5.    Memorizing, rather than understanding I frequently see students who have been studying by trying to memorize all of the facts from a class, rather than truly understanding the underlying concepts. Memorizing can work well in some classes, especially in elementary and middle school, but it often backfires in more advanced classes. If you’ve memorized a definition but don’t really understand what it means, then as soon as the information is presented in a slightly different format, or you’re asked to apply it to a new type of problem, you will have no idea how to proceed. Rather than memorizing the information from your classes, use study strategies that encourage you to understand it. Explaining ideas out loud in your own words, or teaching them to someone else, are great examples of study strategies that promote understanding.

6.    Calculating Your Final Grade A lot of students try to figure out what effect different final exam grades will have on their final grade in the course. (For example: “I have to get at least a 90 on the final to get an A in the class.”) Indeed, almost every e-mail I get asking for exam preparation tips seems to be prefaced with some range of scores the student has to hit in order to get some desired final grade.

Don’t do this! No good can possibly come from such a superficial focus on the numbers. It will add stress. This, in turn, will make it harder for you to execute a reasonable, specific, and efficient study plan. Also, it’s just plain crass. You don’t want to be that person…Forget about your G.P.A., and focus, instead, on how you can best prepare for the specific challenge in front of you. If you screw up, you screw up.

Source 

Here’s some weapons for your essay writing arsenal!

Hemingway Editor Calmly Writer  The Most Dangerous Writing App Purdue O.W.L. One Look Thesaurus JSTOR Google Scholar

Reply with your favourite or other great websites I didn’t include!

writing a cover letter for a research position be like

there is a difference between people who are smart and people who get good grades

who else can’t wait until next academic year for a fresh start?

tips to have a nice routine

A daily routine is a great way to keep yourself on task. The longer you stick with it, the more each task becomes a habit and it starts to get easier. But a routine isn’t universal, each person has its own. 

plan: before your day starts have in mind - or in a paper - what needs to be done on that day or the next one. It will save you time.

wake up before you need: if you have extra time before you go to work or school, having extra time for you is essential. Eat calmly, take a shower, pack or things and don’t live your house late.

don’t go hard on yourself: enjoy your breaks and take a breath. Pushing yourself to the edge is going to tire you before your day is done. Listen to some music, eat a snack, read.

set a time to sleep and wake up: most people need 8 hours of sleep per day. According to what you need, schedule a bedtime and wake up time that gives you plenty of sleep.

prepare your meals: if you don’t have time to cook daily, take one day off and cook for all week. It’s healthier and cheaper than getting take out every single day. 

follow and repeat your routine: if you don’t try it, you won’t know how your day works. Trying and adapting it is essential to create a perfect routine and transforming it into a habit. 

these are so calming

Source.

Friday | 12 June 2020

Welcome to the chaos, a.k.a my desk, the day before an exam!

Well at least, my papers are still in organised piles. Can't guarantee it will stay that way... 😅

i wrote half an essay in 20mins today when it’s not even due for another 4 weeks, reblog this to have a productivity lightning bolt strike you like it did me today