Whether students take IB History SL or HL, the subject is very content heavy with lots of dates, events, key concepts, figures, and historian perspectives that students have to memorize and apply during exams. The idea of preparing for your IB History exams or mocks can often be daunting, therefore we share the following tips to help you organize your IB History study schedule, reduce your stress, and get that 7!
Most Important Advice
If you are a DP1 student, my biggest piece of advice is to start creating topic overviews as you are going through the unit. Topic overviews can take the form of summary sheets, mind maps, or anything else where you create a clear outline. Your History course will consist of one prescribed subject (e.g ‘The Move to Global War’) and two World History topics (e.g ‘Authoritarian States (20th Century)’ and ‘Causes and Effects of 20th Century Wars’). Each subject and topic is divided into three sections (e.g causes, events and responses), thus you can split your summary outlines according to each section.
If you are unsure of what your outline should include or what you need to know for your exams, take a look at the IB History Syllabus. It clearly outlines all the topics and a general overview of the knowledge you need to have.
Why Work Consistently During the DP, Not Only Before Exams?
The answer to the question, ‘Why create topic overviews throughout the DP and not two months before exams?’, is straightforward. You simply will not have enough time to cram two years of content right before final exams. A common mistake students make is utilising the time before exams to start reviewing and summarising everything they learnt during the DP. Instead, I would highly suggest you to consistently create outlines throughout the DP so that once you get to the actual exams (or even mock exams), you can dedicate your time to actually testing your knowledge using past papers or quizzing yourself by other means.
What About Flashcards?
To help with memorization, you may want to try creating flashcards of the key concepts, figures, events, and historian perspectives you outlined in your summary sheet. By breaking down each unit or topic using flashcards, this can help you memorize the smaller details which can thus help you understand the bigger picture of how certain historical events occurred. If you prefer digital flashcards over hand-written flashcards, you may want to try the Anki app. I have personally used this when studying for University exams. Every time you review a flashcard, Anki asks you to categorize how fast you want to revise the flashcard again (e.g <1 min, 6 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 day), depending on how well you remember the concept.
Understanding What Is Expected Of You
You have begun studying, although you are unsure about what you need to know for the exams. As mentioned earlier, the syllabus clearly outlines all the topics and subtopics taught throughout the course. Besides that, the syllabus also outlines the expectations, time given, and grade percentage of all your internal and external assessments. In the external assessments, both IB History papers ask you to apply your own knowledge. This specifically applies for the last questions in Paper 1, the entirety of Paper 2, and Paper 3 for HL students. For each question, a particular command term will be used, such as ‘To what extent’, ‘Evaluate’, ‘Discuss’, etc. Make sure to familiarize yourself with each command term so that you can understand exactly what the question is asking you to write about. You can check out the following IBlieve Blog Article for a full breakdown of the command terms.
Conclusion
Overall, based on my IB History experience, I would highly advise any incoming or current History students to create topic overviews consistently, creating flashcards, and understanding what the exams will expect of you. With this in mind, approach the topics with confidence and interest, as this will help motivate you throughout your DP years, all the way to your final exams.
IB History Resources
When studying for final exams, the main resource I utilized to study was my personal topic overviews. Moreover, I applied the knowledge by using past papers. For access to these, you may want to ask your IB History teacher, or check various resources online. RevisionDojo, for example, offers past papers for History alongside various other subjects.
Past IB DP students have also shared their experiences on the IBlieve blog! Check out the following articles for more IB History tips and resources: