If there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that IB stress can cripple even the smartest students in the program.
Unlike the Advanced Placement and A-Levels, IB is a rigid program with more specific rules that you must follow to a tee to earn a diploma after the two-year period.
Our study on the difficulty of IB indicates that many students give up the program before the first year elapses. And that’s so especially given the workload that requires ultimate dedication.
Despite being a challenging program, it’s easy to manage IB stress, complete your assignments on time, and score better grades in the end.
Key Takeaways
- IB stress refers to difficulties in studying and the inability to complete assignments on time because of the complexity involved in the program.
- Managing the stress means developing good study habits that can help you to elevate your level of focus, study without straining, and write your tests with confidence.
How to Deal With IB Stress
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to managing stress in the IB program. In our experience, developing an effective study plan and sticking to it is a sure way to handle the pressure that comes with the subject.
If you can set realistic academic goals, manage your time, work independently, and accept the level of responsibility that comes with taking IB, you’re off to a good start and there’s a promising ending for you.
So, to deal with IB stress:
1. Develop a Realistic Revision Plan
There is no better way to prepare for IB diploma exam than start your IB revisions as early as you can. More importantly, you must develop a realistic revision plan, as that will make it easy for you to stay focused throughout the exam period.
We understand how challenging it can be to structure a realistic plan. So here are some ideas to help you develop your structure:
- Understand that the IB subjects you selected are equally important because they contribute to your final grades. That means you must focus your revision on all subjects, even if you don’t like some nearly as much.
- Give more time to the most challenging subjects, but never forget that you have to study for all the six subjects.
- Be honest with time allocation. It doesn’t make sense to give time to a certain subject only to fail to revise it altogether.
Your IB teacher isn’t going to teach you how to revise for your exams. And given that you’re in complete control of the direction that you want your revision to take, we recommend that you develop a structured plan that allows you to get the most out of your study time.
2. Create a Conducive Study Space
Studying IB requires that you cut out as much distractions as possible. One of the best ways to do that is to create a conducive space for personal studies.
You’ll be surprise just how you’re able to study and remember everything you learn by simply revising in a distraction-free environment.
Merely finding a noise and distraction-free environment isn’t enough. Take this even further and organize your study space so that it’s more welcoming. For example, stack your books all in one place so that they’re easy to access when you need them. The same apply to your past papers, as well as writing stationeries.
3. Stick to the Plan
It’s one thing to develop a realistic study plan. Executing the plan is a different thing altogether. Anyone can create a study plan that looks promising on the paper, but taking action is what makes the real difference.
So, look at the plan you created, and especially the time allocated to each subjects, and commence your personal studies immediately. You have to push yourself to get started with your personal studies and revisions because your IB teacher won’t be there to constantly remind you to study hard for the diploma course.
There will be times when you can’t cover some materials. After all, life tends to get in the way. However, even in such instances, you must try as much as possible to make up for the lost time.
4. Avoid Procrastination
Procrastination can cripple your progress in the IBO diploma course. So, you want to try as much as you can to ensure that you don’t reschedule your study plan to a future date.
Perhaps the most common cause for procrastination is the illusion that you s till have the time to revise and the false sense of confidence that you’ll still pass even if you revise later on. Then there is peer pressure from friends who have nothing to lose probably because they enrolled in Advanced Placement or A-Level programs.
Keep in mind that IB is, by its very standard, a difficult program. You must study early and dedicate sufficient time to revision if you want to get marks that warrant earning the diploma.
You have to learn to say no to external influences, such as friends. Focus on your study plan and stick to it through to the end.
5. Seek Professional Writing Help
IB is a challenging program because it requires you to read extensively, complete multiple assignments, and prepare for your exams. Therefore, seeking professional writing help online where you deem it necessary can help you manage the stress that comes with the program.
Help for Assessment is a go-to platform to get professional assistance for all of your IB assignments.
Whether you’re running out of time for an assessment or you’re struggling to understand knowledge concepts, our team of writers and editors can help.
Our areas of specialization include:
- ToK Essay: We will help you to understand how to reflect on the nature of knowledge and how to explain what you claim to know.
- Extended Essay: Depending on the topic, we’ll assign you the most qualified writer to help you complete the 4,000-word EE in the shortest time possible.
- Internal Assessments: It doesn’t matter what groups of subjects you’ve selected. Our writers are here to help you score top grades.
- ToK Exhibition: We will help you to choose three objects with real-world context and, in your paper, demonstrate how Theory of Knowledge manifests itself in the real world.