Just keep in mind,

The IB score is not an index of intelligence.

With that, it’s not impossible to score 45 points in the International Baccalaureate. I’ve done it. Others have done it. And here’s how you’ll do it.

To begin with, you need to get familiar with the task at hand.

It’s a simple fact that it takes a lot of mental work and preparation to conquer a big project. The International Baccalaureate is just another one of them. Therefore, it’d be unreasonable to undertake it without a concrete plan. Whilst it probably wasn’t your choice to get involved with it, don’t simply reduce it to an insuperable mission leaving you drained of all your resources.

Though it may not seem worthy of reverence to you at present, in hindsight, I’ll sanguinely say the I.B can be rewarding. It’s a career with prospects; It awards you with a sense of worldliness and set of helpful academic, social and emotional skills that will serve you well later in life.

If you’re only just choosing your I.B subjects, you might as well be on the brink of a decision that’ll either make or break your next two years. Where you can, compensate. If you’ve already identified your university and course of choice, find out which subjects are either required or not. Select subjects at standard levels unless high levels are mandatory and if you can, only pick subjects of genuine interest.

To put it mildly, the IB is an ongoing saga of challenges with endless implications. You’ll probably struggle, you’ll probably cry, but here’s the kicker: you’ll get through it.

My (unexpected) success persuaded me to compile a host of strategies that helped me in my experience. Though you may find some of these strategies somewhat repetitive, trust me – there is no simple formula for success in the IB.

I consider the following techniques the key drivers behind my personal success. In the spirit of sharing, I believe you too can gain from them to muster the motivation and perseverance needed to get through the IB. No need to wind up woefully looking back at your IB career on results day.

Don’t wait until your ship comes in. Swim out to it.

1. Visualise. Set goals. Put them into perspective.

Goal setting is a testified technique to promote productivity. It allows for a long-term vision that’ll help you organize your time and resources effectively. Begin by asking yourself some questions:

How many points do you need to achieve in order to get into your university of choice?

What do you want to see when you receive your results?

What is it, that you want to gain from your IB experience?

This will give you an overview that’ll signpost your way through the programme. Taking the headfirst approach leads to the inevitable pattern so many IB students befall: feebly scrambling to scrape through deadlines as they go. Determine the score that you want, and plan to work accordingly. If you’re a high achiever, simply have faith in yourself. Know it has been done before – so you can succeed too.

If you’re not, don’t worry. There’s always room to improve.

If you know you won’t be able to handle the workload alone, don’t hesitate to ask for help. There are plenty of tutors that dedicate themselves to helping students in your position. Be an active communicator, make use of your teachers and mentors by asking plenty of questions – they make their living by helping you learn. Stay proactive, think about your strengths and weaknesses – do you work better in study groups? One-on-one with a tutor? Or by yourself in general?

Once you have an overall view of how and why you want to work in the IB, you’re off to a good start.

2. C.A.S – Creativity, Amusement, Spirit.

Perhaps you’re naturally sporty, a social butterfly or charitable at heart. Provided, you wouldn’t consider completing C.A.S a struggle even if you tried.

If, like most, of us, you’re not as lucky, adopt the golden rule: only to commit to what you genuinely enjoy. It’ll ultimately spare you of a lot of wasted time and effort. Do you want to learn a new skill? Join a club, or start one with friends?

It’s worth putting all your stock into long-term projects. They’ll turn out more beneficial than short-term projects here and there. Not only are they more fulfilling, but you’ll be thankful when you garnish your CAS portfolio or university application with an artfully selected array of activities, making you stand out. Don’t entirely eliminate the prospect of short-term commitments, though they may do little to embolden your leadership qualities.

Once you’ve decided which projects you want to engage in, make sure they align with the three aspects of the programme – creativity, action and service (incomplete hours are an IB fail condition!) Your school will be a particularly useful resource in this respect: it offers swathes of opportunities for long-term projects.

Most importantly, allocate a specific time in your schedule for updating your portfolio – you’ll avoid sleepless nights come the final closing stages, having dodged the failing condition, or a rejection from your dream university for an inadequate extracurricular profile.

Don’t let CAS undo all the other hard work you put into the IB.

3. Look before you leap into TOK and the EE

When it comes to the Extended Essay, pick a subject you’re well practiced and authentically interested in.

No matter how generic, this is the most significant advice out there.

The best essays are born from a unique collision of passion and sustained effort. The EE and TOK are key determiners of your I.B score, bumping your mark to the pinnacle if you tackle them well. The EE is a task you’ll be dwelling on for weeks, and if somewhat enjoyable, the sense of enthusiasm shows through your writing, brings an incredible nuance to your content, and will undoubtedly spellbind your examiner.

Contrary to probable assumptions, it doesn’t matter if its contents match the subject you’ll be studying at university.

What matters is whether it returns an A.

With a genuine interest in your subject, you’ll find yourself forming an argument incessantly and writing your essay in no time.



You must devote some of your summer holidays to your EE. This is the last time you’ll have an abundance of free time, which lends itself ideally to the planning stages of the EE. Use it to structure your essay by breaking it down into manageable tasks, contact necessary primary sources (which return higher scores for quality research), and writing a full draft. Returning to school with your essay will leave you more time for editing with your supervisor.

Although TOK Essay titles are prescribed, opt for your preferred subjects when constructing your thesis and you’ll be met with more content for your arguments. In the end, you’ll find TOK rewards you with a new perspective, no matter how tedious or lackluster it may be.

4. The Early Bird Catches the Worm

It seems every teacher possesses an unprecedented capacity to pile study material, assessments, and I.As on you in concurrence with others. If you’re only getting started with the I.B, the deadline schedule is your holy grail.

Plan ahead and be proactive, set your I.A deadlines earlier in your personal calendar. Allocate specific times for tasks during the week, though leave room for relaxation too. Quite frankly, holidays are virtually non-existent in the I.B. Indubitably you should spend time with friends and family, but strike a balance between studying as well. Even if you take just a few times to reread or rewrite your notes – practice makes perfect in the long term.

5. Running the Mile….

There is one simple link that binds all Olympic gold Athletes together: sustained training. Just as this daily practice becomes intrinsic to them over a period of years, you must treat revision as such: ensure it becomes an integral part of your day weeks before the exams.

An invaluable skill is note-taking by hand. Mundane, but information is better retained through active note taking in contrast to typing up the teacher’s words. Although typing up lectures verbatim has its short-term tactical advantages, it’s still a passive form of learning and fails to stimulate the brain in the way that deciding what to note down yourself, would. Although you might have understood and notated something in class, weeks later you’ll forget.

Tapping into your long-term memory facilitates information recall when you’re taking your exams. Revise as much as you can, prepare flashcards and summaries to look over briefly, even if only for a few minutes, then use class time to clarify any inquiries. Make regular revision a habit by doing it on the go. Check your flashcards when you go somewhere, make small handy notes to whip out anytime. That way, you’ll make sure the information is engrained.

There’s power in visualizing yourself taking your exams in the hall: mental preparation can combat intense emotional fears around the prospect. Only do practice tests once you’ve completed your notes and revision for a subject. Experiment with note taking styles (visuals, mind maps), but place an unrelenting emphasis on making sure your notes correspond with the learning outcomes/ objectives in the subject syllabus, as mark schemes tend to be pedantic.

In studying for essay-based subjects, write practice essays and mark them according to the criteria. If you get something wrong, make sure you know why. Revisit the error to ensure you’re not lured into the same trap again once when taking the actual exam. Completing as many past papers as possible (also, under time pressure) will help you gauge what examiners are looking for: e.g use of quotes with complementary justification in essays, subject-specific vocabulary or methods to solving equations, among many others. Practice drawing diagrams, graphs and other visual material required as well.

Don’t simply study the material, study the exam.

…Or Doing Sprints?

There’s a fine line between effective and ineffective studying. Identifying which areas require most effort is imperative to effective study. If you’re short on time, hone in on aspects of the subject that may be contenders for this year’s exam.

Luckily, the IB is quite repetitive in nature, especially when it comes to exam content. You can expect topics that have been left out for one to two cycles to make appearances on the upcoming exam.

Then, focus on consistently practicing and reviewing these areas instead.

7. Time is Money.

Its a cliche for a reason. Think about it; Although the I.B may have you falling on hard times, it’ll only take up two school years, (four semesters) of your entire life. It’s essentially a fleeting period, a wrinkle in a fabric.

You’re then eternally liberated from anything I.B related .

so why not work hard while you must?

Let’s dispel some misconceptions about the I.As. No Internal Assessment can be completed in a matter of one day, despite any veneer of hard work – no high scoring I.A, that is. No matter what former students or your friends may tell you, although feasible, the resulting piece of work will never supersede adequate. When you are first introduced to the assignment, calculate how much time you might need for each section. Honestly, grab a pen and paper and scribble down some rough estimates, then pencil them in on your calendar. Our brain is naturally inclined to overestimate the effort required for big tasks we set ourselves. We visualize the crux of the workload, in turn releasing stress hormones that perpetuate procrastination.

However, there’s a route beyond this psychological impasse:

Create a schedule. Allot a specific window of time for each section of the I.A. If you’re unsure how much time you might need, ask a teacher or former I.B students for their opinions. You have enough time to finish it all. If you feel like you don’t, reevaluate your current schedule. Small, hourly habits (such as checking social media platforms) might collectively amount to precious minutes you could use on your I.A. Read, re-read, and proofread again. Check every aspect of your I.A, whether that be calculations, spelling, grammar or fact-checking. Leave yourself enough time to critically examine your own work before you hand it in. Take your teachers advice seriously. Remember they’ve seen plenty of I.As, they’re well practiced in separating the needle from the haystack.

In preparation for your exams:

Begin by creating a study schedule. The clock is ticking in your final year; the second half of the IB programme is the preparatory run leading into final the exams.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to start revising early in the school year. Make revision a daily or weekly habit – make it a rule to allow nothing to pile up until the very end. Identifying which subjects might require more/less studying, and plan accordingly.

Be specific: clearly identify the days you’ll be studying which subject, chapter or even subchapter. Pinpoint the days you’ll be summarising your notes, and when you’ll be revising.

When studying, apply the Pomodoro technique. It’s consistently recycled advice for a reason. Passively trying to keep track of study times will cease to give accurate results, as we often don’t realize just how much time is gone to waste on small distractions. Actively tracking time using a timer gives you a clearer overview of just how much you have studied for the day/ must study the next.

8. Stay organised

This is the true key to success in the I.B. This piece of advice may be simple, but it can take a whole load of failure to wise up to this fact.

Avoid it through developing persistent note-taking and reviewing habits. Class notes covering content from the onset of your IB programme are solid gold when it comes to the final stages of revising for exams. Allocate specific colors to specific subjects, organize them using folders, and keep your work in a space solely dedicated to it in your room.

An organized schedule with study time allocated for each subject every weekend will carry you through the programme. Dedicate certain blocks of time, perhaps 1-2 hours or 30 minutes to certain subjects every day, and plan accordingly for holidays. If you can’t stick to your study schedule one day, don’t worry about it. Simply move the study blocks in your schedule around and refocus as soon as you can. The plan should be flexible, not restrictive, merely functioning as a backbone for support.

9. Consistency is always key

It’s easy to simply say you’re going to do something. Perhaps its Saturday and you’ve set yourself the task of starting an assignment.

But suddenly its 8pm on a Sunday night and you haven’t left your bed yet.

More often than not, starting something may just very well be the hardest part.

Well begun is half done. Use the oldest trick in the book: Set a timer to 20 minutes, in which you force yourself to start. Watch yourself break the ice and discover it might not be as hard as you’d imagined it to be. Even if it is, you’ll be happy you ended up getting something done and left with more knowledge than you had at the start, perhaps in terms of following steps.

You may discover you need to ask for help or allocate more time for the task in your schedule than you initially thought. That way you won’t abandon it, then surprise yourself with an unmanageable workload one day before the deadline.

10. Learn From Others

You’re never alone when you’re struggling with your work.

Active communication is a discipline that concurs with comprehension. Your school community is filled with people who’ve either dealt with this experience or are there to help. Perhaps, your friends are equally as stuck? Get together and form a study group, in which the exchange may raise new insights into a task you didn’t understand before. Not only that – vocally reviewing notes and quizzing each other will reinforce your understanding of the material.

Ask your teachers. They’ll be happy to explain anything you might not have understood during that one class. Visit youtube. There’s a multitude of qualified educators which might explain a subject better than your teacher did, and your understanding will consolidate naturally.

11. A Balancing Act

Remember, the I.B shouldn’t enslave you or rob you of your social life.

It’s simply excessive and altogether unsustainable to stay on top of your work without weaving in a mental break during the IB. It’s at your discretion what you make of it, and it’ll only treat you as such if you don’t prepare and stay organized.

There’s enough time for friends and family on the weekend, fun during holidays and activities after school. Just make sure you avail yourself to the time you’ve allocated to studying as well. If you feel overwhelmed, take a break and do something fun. If you’re of the over-achieving kind, keep in mind that overworking yourself is counterproductive.

Nobody will execute you for having a bit of fun.

12. Go on Hiatus

I positively ascribe my I.B results to bursting my social media bubble just before the exams. Trust me, I have this one pegged.

Although undoubtedly a nightmare for most millennials, ridding yourself of the social media is easier than you think. I deactivated what I considered the most distracting of social apps for weeks before my exams and almost instantaneously, felt a vast expanse in time to spare for leisure activities still within the realm of my study plan.

I got in hours of work daily, simply eliminating the accumulated sum of moments in my day, otherwise spent checking social platforms, then rescheduling accordingly. Ridding yourself of the unnecessary mental clutter also frees up bandwidth for enhanced concentration. You’ll be finding yourself subconsciously recycling study material mentally, as opposed to social media related thoughts. This translates into an effective technique to reinforce your memory so you can recall things with greater ease during exams.

Once you get to the actual exam, you’ll notice a strengthened ability to focus and less distraction when recalling information.

13. Mix up the scene

It’s worth separating your study space from space for recreation. When it came to final exam preparation, I spent days in the library as an alternative to working at home.

Your room is an environment rife with distractions. Its subconscious capacity to lure the brain into a state of relaxation is a direct assault on productivity.

Additionally, a cluttered desk is said to foster a cluttered mind. If you’re not one to enjoy tidying up, find a study space elsewhere, perhaps your local library or a quiet area in school. Each night before you go to sleep, re-read the study material of that day in the comfort of your bed.

A host of research suggests, that strengthened memory retention is directly correlated to sleeping right after learning, as your brain rewires neural connections when you sleep to process and cement new memories. Simply put, success hinges on sleep. However, this only counts for memorizing: struggling to grapple with new concepts late at night, cramming or prioritizing studying over sleep is altogether ineffectual. If you didn’t manage to complete your studies that day simply accept it, sleep and move on.

Give yourself time to recover and let your brain solidify that which you were able to cover during your studies that day – don’t stress about what you didn’t cover.

As aforementioned, balance is a vital aspect of your lives, especially when it comes to maintaining an active social and productive work To study well, you need the freedom to think well – and that’s not within the comfort of your personal space of relaxation, with a bed inviting you for a nap.