T U D Y S K ILLS

S
GUIDE
From the Elite
IB Graduates at
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Contents
3 App Your Way to IB Success!

7 Staying Awake While Studying

11 Using Mastery Learning to Master IB

13 The Art of Making Awesome Notes

19 Study Group Guide

21 Worst things first – doing the hardest task first can boost productivity

23 Revision hacks: The 15-minute rule

24 Dead Time: the quick-fix solution to productivity

26 Improve Your Memory + Remember Your Studies = Higher IB Score

29 The 80:20 Rule: How to spend less time studying but be more productive

30 The Power of Focus in the IB

33 Remember Facts Quicker: Storytelling Techniques

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App Your Way to IB Success!

Calling all serial procrastinators! Are you searching for a way to cure your
phone addiction? What about turning the source of all distractions into your
new source of motivation? Here’s a list of the best study Apps out there to
help you stay focused and productive without having to peel your beloved
phone from your fingertips.

Forest
Plant a virtual seed as you sit down to study,
and watch the seed flourish into a beautiful
tree! However, give into temptation and
leave the app for even a second and your
tree will die. Every tree you successfully
grow to completion is planted in your forest,
each representing one period of productivity
and focus. What’s more, Forest is partnered
with a real-life tree planting organisation,
meaning that each virtual tree you grow
results in the planting of a real seed! This
way, you can study happy in the knowledge that you’re making a positive
impact on both your grades and the environment!

Be Focused
If you’re looking for another study App to help you stay on track, then Be
Focused is brilliant. This App follows the Pomodoro Technique, whereby work
is broken down into intervals (typically 25 minutes in length), separated by
short breaks. Be Focused helps you get things done by breaking up individual
tasks into more manageable chunks separated by regular breaks. You are able
to specify how much time you want to split between focus and rest, and this
is proven to be effective in retaining motivation and productivity. Be Focused
also allows you to record how much time you’re spending on certain activities,
so you can keep a close eye on your study pattern!

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Strict Workflow
Chronic procrastinators, listen up! Strict Workflow
also enables you to structure your study using
a strategy called the Pomodoro Technique. The
App promotes short, but intense, 25 minute
bursts of productivity, each followed by a 5-minute
break. Here’s the deal. You give your work your full
attention for the entire 25 minute period, meaning
no phone, no YouTube, no staring aimlessly at your
ceiling fan. A countdown timer appears in the tool
bar to help you keep track of how long you’ve been
working, and lets you know when it’s time to break.

Quizlet
If Be Focused or Forest have helped you stay concentrated and motivated, the
next challenge is learning all the content for your IB exams. This is where the
free app Quizlet comes in, allowing you to study on the go! With Quizlet, you
can create your own sets of online flashcards or you can choose from loads of
flashcards created by other students. Quizlet generates a number of games
and activities for you and your flashcards to help you learn the facts! I loved
using this app for revising my ESS (Environmental Systems and Societies)
definitions. It can also be valuable for learning vocab for a foreign language.

Evernote
After searching tirelessly for a good note-taking
app, I finally stumbled upon Evernote and have
never looked back. As we become more proficient
with our laptops and tablets, many students are
preferring to type their notes rather than handwrite
them. Evernote is a platform for effective note-
taking, allowing you to have all of your notes clearly
organised in one place. What’s more, everything
you write automatically backs itself online. This
prevents all those last-minute panics when your computer decides to crash the
night before an essay deadline.

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AnkiApp Flashcards
AnkiApp is a flashcard app similar to Quizlet and is designed to make
memorising facts easier. This app monitors your progress, and subsequently
tests you on the flashcards you are struggling with most. So AnkiApp helps
you tackle the topics you find the most challenging. Again, you can either
make your own virtual flashcards, or choose from a large selection and
download easily.

Memrise
This fantastic flashcard app lets you learn anywhere and
anytime. Put your learning to the test by making your own
flashcards or using one of the many sets already available.
Memrise especially focuses on language acquisition;
perfect for spicing up your Language B revision! However,
it is not limited to this and can be used for anything! Track
your progress and compete against friends.

XMind
If you’re searching for a study App to help you collect and organise ideas,
then look no further! XMind is a mind mapping tool, meaning that you can
effectively brainstorm ideas when you’re on the go. This is perfect for you to
get all your ideas written down in one place, and helps you create a clear and
colourful mind map. This App is great for those of you trying to brainstorm
ideas for forthcoming Internal Assessments, or that TOK essay!

SelfControl
Ever found yourself sat at your desk perusing through your
cousin’s friend’s girlfriend’s holiday snaps from 2008 when
you’re supposed to be working? Be honest, we all have!
SelfControl allows you to block distracting websites whilst
you work, preventing your inner procrastinator from taking
a BuzzFeed quiz to find out what piece of obscure furniture
you are*. Turn your computer on and off again, uninstall
the App, but whatever you do, SelfControl ensures you
can’t access those sites.

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The Screen Time Feature

The Screen Time feature on all phones
helps us to monitor our addiction to our
devices. And the truth is, we’ve all been a
bit shocked by the results…

Over three and a half hours each day

spent staring at my phone screen? And of
that time, almost two hours spent using
Social Networking? That’s surely not right,
I told myself. But the figures spoke for
themselves. The most surprising thing was
that it really didn’t feel like I was spending
that much time on my phone!

Set Restrictions
Are you someone who manages to spend hours on Snapchat or Instagram
before starting any of your homework? Or perhaps you’re slightly addicted
to the games on your phone? If so, why not limit yourself to 1 hour (or even
less!) of these activities a day. Do this in the ‘App Limits’ option through
Screen Time. You can even customise it for different days, so treat yourself to
a few more hours of Social Media over the weekend! Your phone will notify
you when you only have 5 minutes left for the day, and will then log you out of
all Social Media/gaming apps.

Schedule Downtime
Through Apple’s Screen Time, there is an option to schedule ‘Downtime’ away
from your phone. During this time, only limited Apps (ones that you choose to
allow) and phone calls with be available. My phone automatically suggested
that I schedule Downtime between 22:00 and 07:00, but why not try
scheduling this after school so that you can complete your homework? How
about 15:00 to 20:00? This will be an effective way to stop you procrastinating
on those distracting Apps, and hopefully you’ll be able to focus much more on
your studying!

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Staying Awake While Studying

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself getting sleepy when I study. No
matter how hard I try, after 30 minutes of work I often feel like I am about to
doze off.

One obvious answer to this is caffeine. A cup of coffee is pretty effective at

waking you up when you have an IA to get through. Coffee is not, however,
always the answer. Sometimes I’ve already had a cup or two in the day and
don’t want any more. Sometimes I’m working late at night and don’t want to
stay up any later than I have to. I’ve therefore developed a few caffeine-free
strategies for staying awake to share with you today!

1) Study at your desk

I know this sounds simple but when you are feeling very sleepy the
temptation is to try and study in your bed. While there is no substitute for
snuggling up under your duvet, this will ALWAYS make you fall asleep. It is so
much easier to focus if you are sat up straight at your desk with your work laid
out in front of you. When I still want to feel cozy I tend wrap myself up in a
blanket and grab a hot chocolate to get me through!

(Where you study is crucial to your success)

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2) Drink water!
When coffee is a no-no, I find the second best thing to drink is water-
preferably ice-cold. Not only is it always great to keep hydrated, I find that
cold water particularly gives you a little kick to keep you awake. I tend to have
a water bottle on my desk and regularly sip it. This also gives me a nice little
study break when I can go and refill it, and this actually involves me getting up
from my desk (sounds sad, I know, but very useful).

3) Have some snacks

There is nothing more motivating than having something nice to snack on
while you study, and guess what? Your brain actually needs fuel to function.
I’m a fan of having some mixed nuts which I can easily nibble on throughout
the day, but I also enjoy dried fruit. When I fancy a treat I often go for
chocolate buttons!. Check out this article for some creative study snack ideas.

4) Take a nap
This might sound counter-intuitive, but a nap before you study can work
wonders. However, you need to be very strict with yourself- set a timer for 20
minutes maximum (any longer and your sleep will become too deep) and make
sure you have some water to sip when you wake up. It can definitely give you
the energy for a few extra hours of study!

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5) Take a break
Perhaps the most important piece of advice: you need to take regular breaks
from studying. I like to take a break for 5-10 minutes every 30 minutes to
refresh my brain, but if you’re doing something that needs more focus, then
take a break every hour instead.

A couple of suggestions of what to do when you are taking a break:

• Stretch
• Take a little walk, even just around your house
• Reply to some texts (if you aren’t going to get carried away!)
• Watch a 3-5 minutes Youtube video
• Eat your study snacks

6) Perfect your study playlist

Sometimes when you are revising
something incredibly dull, you need
a cracking soundtrack to keep
you going. My personal favourites
include the Independent Ladies
playlist on spotify and the Lord of
the Rings definitive soundtrack (no
judgment please). You can also sit
down with your friends and create
your own personalised playlist that
you can all listen to when studying.
That way, when you listen, it will
remind you of (slightly) better times!

7) Other people are the ultimate distraction.

If you get distracted at home by your family, then consider studying in the
library or a coffee shop. If you’re in school then ask your IB coordinator to find
you a free classroom and go to study there. Computer rooms and school or
public libraries are a good alternative.

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8) Find yourself a study buddy

One of the worst parts of revision is
having to go through it all on your
own. When I am on study leave I
genuinely crave human interaction.
A great solution to this can be to join
forces with one of your friends
and start studying together. I would
recommend going somewhere
where you can’t actually talk like
your school library. That way you can
focus on your work but also have a
friend to chat to when you’re bored!

9) Get a study lamp

Your ability to concentrate is greatly
affected by your environment.
In one experiment, researchers
gave students a ‘study lamp’ and
told them to switch on the lamp
whenever they studied. This created
an environment that was associated
with remembering content. Study
lamp students showed a notable
boost in the GPAs. You can use the
same effect to boost your IB grade!

10) Think about your position

I used to try to study in bed, propped up against the wall but this often made
me really sleepy. Also, whenever I got a message from a friend I would get
easily distracted because I was so comfortable. Try sitting upright at a real
desk to make sure you stay focused.

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Using Mastery Learning to Master IB

We all know how it feels. We’re sitting in a lesson. We’re following what
the teacher is saying. But there’s something that we just can’t get our head
around. Maybe the binomial distribution, or Plato’s Theory of Forms. We try to
reread what we’ve written in our notes. We think it through and… blank. It’s
just not making sense. By the time we focus back on the lesson, the class has
moved on. We’ve all had this problem. We now feel a little like this:

This is a very common problem, and it’s hard to avoid in a typical classroom
setting.

All of us learn at different speeds and think in different ways. Something that
might seem as clear as a bottle of Evian to one person might look as muddy as
a puddle of rainwater to someone else. In the IB Diploma, where each student
studies 6 very different subjects, it’s inevitable that we’ll be faster at picking
up some subjects than others.

So what can we do about this problem? How can we find the missing pieces?

Keep Track of the Gaps

The first step to filling in knowledge gaps in a subject is to keep track of each
gap. Each time you realise that you’re not quite understanding something or
making it stick, make sure you at least remember that it exists. Trust me, I
know it’s tempting to just block the difficult things from your memory, but the
truth is, you have to really understand everything to get the highest marks in
the IB.

To keep track of the gaps you can:

• Colour-code your notes and highlight anything you don’t understand.
• Keep a checklist of all these things, and make sure this is accessible and
visible!
• Even better, add them straight to a To-Do list of ‘things I’m going to learn’.

Stop thinking of the gaps as things you don’t understand. Instead, think of
them as things you’re going to understand!

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Take Time to Fill in the Knowledge

Often even when an entire topic feels impossible, there are actually just a few
specific things that you don’t understand. This is especially true in subjects
like Maths, where each step of the process builds on previous understanding.
The only way to make sure everything is fully understood is to take time to go
through the subject outside of the lessons.

•  ork on the problem by yourself with the textbook (and some chocolate)
W
next to you.
• Ask a friend or a teacher to explain it to you.
• If you’re still struggling you could look into getting a tutor who can help
support your studies.

Make sure you set aside extra time as part of your regular schedule so you
know that you are always staying on top of the work. Treat each gap in your
knowledge as an individual problem and fix them one by one, starting with the
simplest thing first. If you have that checklist, go through it and tick it off as
you go.

Mastery Learning
Mastery learning is a strategy where students must have mastered each topic
or concept before they move on to learn something else. In other words,
studying follows the student’s pace, and no topic is left until that student
understands it.

Even though this is hard to achieve in a classroom setting, it is possible, and

most helpful, if you are studying by yourself or with one-on-one tuition. In
fact, a 1984 study by Benjamin Bloom looked into this method of teaching and
found that students who had received individual mentoring performed better
in tests than those who had only been taught in bigger classes. Not just a little
better, but 98% better!

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The Art of Making Awesome Notes

The art of note-taking, or at least of taking effective notes, is often
underestimated. Yes, almost all of us make them in lessons, but it’s easy to
forget how valuable they can be later on. Making awesome notes for the IB
is especially important, as there is so much information across the 6 subjects,
which all needs to be remembered for the exams. Good notes aren’t just
about taking in information as you go along, but are a way to save time, effort
and frustration (“what was that thing my teacher said I’d have to remember
for one of the exams again?”) in the long-term.

With the Winter break approaching it can be really helpful to think about
how you can make your notes more useful. How will the notes you make in
class during the last couple weeks of term look in January when you return
to school? This is the perfect time to sit in front of a seasonal film and make
some attractive, colourful notes, whether for mocks or for later in the IB
Diploma!

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I’m going to break this down into two sections: content and form. And to
quote the master composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, “content dictates
form”. So on that ‘note’, I’ll talk about content first.

Content
Use your own Words
Don’t just copy what the teacher or textbook says. I know it’s tempting, both
because it’s easier and because you might feel like you’ll never be able to
phrase a point quite as perfectly. However, it’s a fact that you will understand
and remember the information far more easily if you write it in your own
words. Think of your notes as messages to yourself in the future, so think
about how you would explain it to make sure you actually understand.

Stick with the Essentials

The whole point of notes is to preserve the information that you will find
useful later. Don’t write down everything, just write the key points that you
can imagine yourself actually using later. For Mathematics and Sciences, these
will include facts, formulae, and methods. For Literature and Social Sciences,
write down facts, ideas, quotes. For Languages, think about vocabulary and
grammar.

For Literature, Social Sciences and Languages, it’s also okay to order your
notes according to what you consider to be the most essential information.
You’ll save yourself time later if you do this as you go along. Rank the
information from 1 to 3 according to how important or useful you consider it to
be. Then, when you come to revision, learn it in that order.

Keep them Brief

When it comes to notes, less is more. Make sure you have enough so that
you actually understand it later, but don’t write so much that it just looks like a
block of scrawl. Keywords, facts and formulas are the most important. Stick to
short, simple sentences and phrases that you can easily remember. This isn’t
an essay.

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Make them Personal

This is different from using your
own words. What I mean by this
is remember that they are for you.
If you don’t understand a word
you’ve written down, make a note
or mark in the margin to point out
that you’ll probably have to go back
to the topic later. Think about how
you can write notes about your own
notes (Ooh, meta…). For example
“personally I think that David
Copperfield is a flawed and one-
dimensional character”.
You might want to think about
dividing up the page before you
start so you can break up your
thoughts, like in the Cornell System.

Visual Diagrams
Ideal for: Literature, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences

Spider diagrams, mind maps, or whatever you call them, are the perfect option
if you know you’ll never remember lines of notes on a page. They work by
letting us associate ideas and information visually. Start with the key topic in
the centre, and work outwards by connecting the facts and topic areas most
closely associated with the topic. The key to making these work is to:

•  ctually compress each idea into minimal words. This isn’t about writing
A
mini essays on different parts of the page.
• Make them look nice. These try to aid visual learning, so they won’t work if
they’re ugly to look at.
• Think about new connections and associations as you go. You should feel
creative as you make them, so that you are making new connections as
you go.

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You can read this article here on how to create a mind map, and also you can
download a programme that will let you create one online.

Classic notes on paper

Ideal for: Mathematics, Natural Sciences

Here, I’m talking about what most of you probably imagine when you hear the
word ‘notes’: basic lined paper with the points written down in order of how
you learned them. There are a few things to keep in mind:

•  e as neat as you can. Please. Even if it takes you twice as long than using
B
your typical messy writing, they will be twice as easy to read when you are
going over them later.
• Embrace the space. Double-space the notes if you can, or if you are
conscious of wasting paper then leave at least a line between each section.
Make them as pleasant as possible to read later.
• Use highlighters to colour code the information.
• Use codes to indicate how you want to treat the notes later, e.g. an
asterisk next to any points you think are particularly important*, or a
question mark to indicate that you want to look at it again later?

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The Wall
Ideal for: Literature, Languages

What do I mean by the wall? I mean post-it notes everywhere. Use different
coloured paper or pens, write in big, clear letters. This is perfect if you want
to surround yourself with the information, and ideal for memorising individual
words or quotes. N.B. this method is not for the weak! It’s really only for those
of you who feel up to immersing yourself in your subject, and I’d probably
recommended it only if you’re revising for exams.

Digital Notes
Ideal for: Literature, Social Sciences
As much as I like to recommend physical notes that you can hold, touch and
annotate, rather than whatever programme is on your laptop, I know that
digital notes are the simplest option for most of us. I’m not going to tell you
how to make these (you don’t need me to do that!), but the same rules apply
as for classic notes: think about how they look. Format your notes as if you
had to print them out to hand in to your teacher. And when it gets to the stage
of actually revising, make sure you print them out! They will be so much more
effective than reading them off a screen.

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Useful programmes for these aside from Word include Evernote and
Simplenote, both free!

Flashcards
Ideal for: Languages, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences

If any of you ever handwrite Christmas cards (now there’s a dying art form),
or if your parents write them, you can make sets of flashcards the same way;
with snacks at the ready and music playing. They’re a great way to compress
topics into just a few bullet points or summaries. They’re also perfect for
travelling if you want simple notes to go through during your journeys to and
from school later in the year. You could even write them on Christmas cards –
they will be pretty, colourful, and more useful in the long-term!

The Notebook
Ideal for: Everything

If you like having all your notes and topics in one place, this is perfect for
keeping track of all your subjects and also for making your notes consistent.
Like flashcards, these are great for when you are travelling. However, do
make sure you that remain concise when using a notebook! Just because
you have all that paper available does not mean you need to fill it. Keep your
notes to the bare minimum so you don’t end up writing The Odyssey. And do
use dividers or coloured indicators between the pages so you can easily flick
between subjects. Better yet, leave the first few pages at the front free so you
can create an index!

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Study Group Guide

When I started high school, I quickly realised that things were not the same as
they used to be. Nobody was feeding us knowledge anymore. So much of our
studying required us to be more independent and we needed each other to
help get through the course.

The IB is a two year course. That’s a long time. It is also quite difficult. To
make these two years easier and more fun you can use ‘study groups’. In
this guide I am going to help you to figure out 1) Why a study group is useful
2) How you can run a study group 3) How to avoid any problems and make
your group really useful.Study groups are great because they give you an
advantage over all the other students, around the world, who have failed
to form a group.

Why learn in a group?

• You can help each other understand difficult material.
• Learning is more exciting together – textbooks don’t make good friends.
• If we talk through a subject, we remember that information much more
easily than if we study alone.
• The IB is hard but you don’t have to face it alone. If you work together you
can help each other through exams, coursework etc. without feeling like
you’re alone.You can support and encourage each other.
• Teaching and working with other people will increase your confidence.
• You can learn some study habits from your brainy classmates.

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So, obviously study groups can be really helpful, but how can you make
yours work?

Handling your first meeting

• Make a Facebook group to share documents and resources
• Find out which topics each person finds easy or hard. Make sure you cover
the most tricky topics together!
• Figure out a good place to study – and ask a teacher for a room if you want
to use the school.
• Plan meetings for a regular time, like ‘Wednesday straight after school’ –
this way everyone knows when the sessions are. Also send out invites for
each session on Facebook to remind people.
• Give your group a funny name – don’t be too serious!
• Create a Whatsapp group to stay in touch.

What to Do at Meetings
• Go through class notes together, discuss anything anyone did not
understand. Remember, teaching helps stronger students as well!
• Discuss key ideas from class. What’s hardest? What’s easiest? Why?
• Do your homework tasks and help each other if anyone’s stuck.
• Students who feel more confident should do extra homework questions
and help others
• Study for tests or exams. Use exam past papers and help each other
mark them!
• Discuss what questions you expect to be on the tests and exams
• Take breaks and chill out together every 30 minutes

Help Each Other Out!

• Listen carefully to each other and encourage each other to ask questions
• If you do not understand something, ask your friends what they / the
textbook mean.
• Ask people to explain what they mean. This helps both of you.
• Everyone should work on the same topic at the same time. This makes
everything clear and consistent.
• Discuss how well the group works and how it could be better.

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Worst things first –

doing the hardest task first can boost productivity
I am always tempted to start by revising the easy topics and end up putting
off the difficult stuff. I might start the weekend with doing the reading the
English teacher had set. I might work on a project I found interesting for my
Philosophy IA and then do some French practice by listening to a podcast.

Unfortunately doing the easy thing first often means that the hard work
gets put off for so long that you end up not doing it at all! But why does this
happen?

There’s an interesting psychological phenomenon that means that people

prefer the difficult or stressful part of a task to come first and for things
to get easier from then. This means that if you start with the easy work it’s
actually even harder to motivate yourself to do the difficult bits later! Don’t
worry though, you can actually benefit from this psychological quirk.

If you have a project or even a task list, one really great way to make
things easier is to start with the hardest task. If you start with the difficult stuff
then you know that things are only going to get easier and you’re going to
get a boost from doing every single task! Plus there’s a double benefit: if you

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use the hardest-first technique for studying you will have a more enjoyable
experience. This is because we enjoy the most the experiences where things
get easier over time. Have you ever had to stay up all night trying to finish an
essay? Horrible isn’t it?! Part of that suffering comes from the fact that you
left your hardest piece of work until the end of the day. Beat this problem by
using the hardest-first technique!

This applies in the long run

too, not just over a
weekend. So let’s say
you’re taking Physics HL
(lucky you!). Maybe you
find understanding the
theory OK and don’t have
too much trouble with
definitions, but get tripped
up trying to remember
how to plug the numbers
into the equations. Well, in
that case you should put
half an hour everyday into making sure you can manipulate the equations
you’ve been studying in class properly. Then when it comes to the end of the
term you can just brush up on your theory and definitions. This use of
the hardest-first technique will mean that you are not as stressed or busy
right at the end of the term (and that you have a better term too!).

We can all use the hardest-first technique to improve our work. For many
people the hardest step is getting started. If this sounds like something you
struggle with, head over here and get a wall planner. Make a plan of your work
(starting with the hardest-first) and dive right in. I promise you won’t regret it.
When you’ve reached your goals you’ll look back on the day you learned to do
the hardest-first technique and be glad that you started putting the effort to
get what you want!

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Revision hacks: The 15-minute rule

With exams approaching fast, I know many of you may be starting to get
thinking about revision. However, given the vast amount of in-class tests and
assignments you have left, it may feel impossible to get started. If this is the
case, I have the perfect solution for you; the 15-minute rule!

15-Minute Rule
To make sure I felt as though I was getting somewhere with revision early on,
I decided to make small weekly targets for myself. These targets were always
realistic, specific and consistent. For example, rather than promising myself
to do two past papers in Maths each week, I promised myself I would do 2
questions a week. Targets are meant to help you maintain focus on the goal
ahead, rather than immediate progress. Think of your IB as a marathon, not
a sprint. Having realistic, specific and consistent targets will ensure that you
are not overworking yourself and creating unrealistic expectations. As you set
targets for your revision, you should recognise that some subjects or topics
will require an incredible amount of time and patience.

One of my favourite revision hacks

is setting myself the target of doing
Realistic Specific Consistent 15-minutes of revision. The
15-minute rule advocates that once
a week, you sit down and do 15
minutes of your hardest subject.

My hardest subject throughout the IB was Maths. Therefore, at 8 pm every

Thursday, I would sit down and do 15 minutes of Maths. Whether that was
looking over my notes from class or doing a past exam question, I promised
myself I would do a focused 15 minutes.

This really helped me achieve two things:

• Get started with revision early on!
• Ensuring I was making progress on my most difficult subject!

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Dead Time: the quick-fix solution to productivity

Time management is a true art. One which few ever totally master. IB
students are forever complaining that they don’t have enough hours in the day
to get everything done. But 24 hours is a lot of time, right? So where does it all
go? And how can you better use your time to become more productive? The
secret to productivity is hidden in your dead time.

Dead time will enable you to make more time available in your day-to-day life.
Or rather, to make use of the time you were otherwise wasting.

What is it?
Dead time is time in which someone or something
is not acting productively. Perhaps the time spent
when you are waiting for something, or when you
do something without a real purpose.

Dead time is everywhere…

Your journey to school. The five minutes you spend between lessons. The
two minutes it takes for your laptop to load up in the morning – dead time is
everywhere. Although seemingly insignificant in isolation, it really adds up. If
you can get into the habit of using this dead time to do little bits and pieces of
larger tasks, you’ll be able to use those random, useless moments in your day
to your advantage.

Here are some examples of situations where dead time tends to hide, and
how you might make use of it:
On your journey to school…
• Download Duolingo and practice your language B
• Make yourself a set of flashcards on Memrise to help you revise for an
upcoming test
• Listen to podcasts. Whether related to your studies or not, listening to
podcasts can make you feel worldly-wise! There are some great IB specific
podcasts out there – find some suggestions in this guide to the best
IB internet resources.

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Whilst you’re brushing your teeth…

Take a pack of post-it notes. On each, write a definition that you need to learn,
a buzz-word or a quote. Stick these around your bathroom mirror. Then, every
morning and evening when you stand there mindlessly brushing your teeth,
glance over the notes. Remember – dead time adds up. You may only brush
your teeth for 2 minutes, twice a day. But that’s half an hour a week. Two
hours a month. Now that’s time well spent.

Waiting for an appointment…

Carry a small revision guide around with you in your backpack. When you find
yourself stuck in a waiting room, or outside a teacher’s office, take it out and
flick through. Perhaps even bring a highlighter too.

Make mind-maps. At the end of each topic you study, make small A4 or A5
mind-maps containing buzz-words and key points you need to remember.
Keep them all in a little notebook – something that is light and easy to carry
around. When you’re sat waiting in a quiet place for a while, take it out and
flick through the topic summaries to ensure you are constantly reminded of
the bigger picture of the topics you’re studying.

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Improve Your Memory + Remember Your Studies =

Higher IB Score
“If I had a better memory, all this work would be no problem”.
Does this thought sound familiar? Does it creep up on you before a test? Day
to day in school?

While there is of course more to the

IB than just remembering facts and
figures, being able to recall all these
facts, formulas, words and ideas is
a massive part of getting the top
grade. It’s not enough to be able
to understand something in class.
Wherever stage you’re at in the IB,
you’re going to have to remember
all the things you’re learning when it
comes to the final exams.

You might think that this is what revision is for, and that revision still feels a long
time away. But actually, there’s a lot that you could be doing to improve your
memory right now. And given that some research suggests the adult attention
span has got worse by roughly 12 minutes in the last decade, you might
want to think twice before relying on the technology around you to get by!
From techniques developed over the course of centuries to practical things
you can do every day, here are my top tips for improving your memory.

Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonics are techniques created to help us remember large chunks of
information, and they use methods such as association, sense memory and
reorganisation to give your brain shortcuts to what it needs to know. A study
of mnemonic devices back in the 60s showed that students who regularly
used these devices increased their test scores by up to 77%!

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Examples include:
Acronyms and Acrostics: playing with the words and letters in the information
you need to remember can be really effective in turning things that are hard to
remember into something, well, memorable. These are especially useful for
subjects with hard facts, like sciences. You can create your own or find ones
already in use. e.g. “How I wish I could recollect pi” – count the number of
letters in each word to get the sequence of digits: 3.141592

Chunking: breaking down big pieces of information into smaller ‘chunks’ of

information. We already do this to remember things like telephone numbers,
when we’ll break down a list of 10 digits or more into a few smaller chunks of
3 or 4 numbers.

Music mnemonics: how many song lyrics do you think you’re holding in your
head right now? Did you sit down and learn them? I doubt it. Music, especially
catchy melodies, does wonders for helping words stick in our brains. That’s
why half the adverts on TV contain some sort of jingle, or set the brand
name to music in some way. You don’t have to be a composer to make this
technique work for you though, and you don’t even need to write a whole
song (although if you want to, go for it!), but reciting information or words to a
melody is a great way to make it stay in your head.

Don’t Repeat – Reorganise

Repetition is probably the most common method of revision and memorising
information, but it’s actually one of the most inefficient methods. Most of
us find it boring, and that is exactly because repetition alone involves only
the most basic, surface level of the brain. Instead, find a way to reorganise
the information, and connect it with what you already know – activate your
brain. In fancy terms this is called ‘elaborative rehearsal’. So, next time you
learn something new in class, don’t just copy down what the teacher is
saying, rewrite it in your own words. Next time you are reading a big chunk
of text, make notes in your own words in the margins. Think about how this
information connects with what you’ve learnt before, and how it changes the
information.

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Stop Multitasking
I know, I know, this
sounds like a weird one.
Isn’t multitasking what
we do, every day, as an
IB student? Not exactly.
Yes, there are 6 different
subjects to manage, plus
Theory of Knowledge and
all the social activities you
might do. But that doesn’t
mean you need to do
them all at the same time. Studies show that it takes eight seconds to commit
a piece of information to memory. What that means is, if we don’t give the
important information the time to find a place for itself, it will roll straight out of
our brains, never to be seen again (at least until we try to learn it again).

In other words, focus on just one thing at a time. This lets you give your
subjects the real time that they need. It might feel more productive to do your
homework while you catch up on the latest season of Game of Thrones, or
while you get the gossip from Facebook, but I bet the work won’t stick as well
as if you had separated those two things. When was the last time you had a
conversation with someone who was texting someone else at the same time?
Do you honestly think they heard every word of what you were saying? The
same is true for your studies.

Think (and Act) Healthily!

Getting enough sleep is still one of the best ways to improve focus, attention
span, and memory. By ‘enough’, the recommended amount is 7 or 8 hours. So
take note all you IB students who are proud of your 4-6 hours of sleep a night!
Finally, exercise is another tried and tested way of improving our faculties. A
recent study has showed that exercise increases the size of the hippocampus,
the part of the brain involved in memory.

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The 80:20 Rule: How to spend less time studying but be

more productive

We all know how it feels to be inefficient: spending many hours “studying”

without getting much productive work done can be incredibly frustrating, and
is a drain on time and energy for IB students everywhere.

What if you could spend LESS time studying, but still get MORE done in
your day? If this sounds too good to be true, then prepare to be pleasantly
surprised. The secret to maximising productivity is The Pareto Principle,
otherwise known as The 80:20 Rule. Pareto was an Italian economist in the
early 1900s, and he declared that in many aspects of life, 80% of effects come
from 20% of causes. In other words, 80% of your IB exam success will
come from 20% of the work you put in:

You may have seen in the news recently that Sweden has decided to shorten
its employees’ working day from 8 hours to 6, after research showed that this
leads to less sickness, lower stress levels, and greater overall productivity.

The same principle can be applied to your IB working life. Rather than dragging
out you homework for hours and hours and half working/half procrastinating,
you should focus on how you can maximise productivity when you sit down to
work. This way, every task on your to-do list will take less time, but the result
will be of a higher quality.

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The Power of Focus in the IB

If I ask you about how you want to do in the IB, you’re probably thinking that
you want to do really well! Okay, maybe you’re just hoping to pass at this
point – but either way you have a score in mind that you want to achieve. The
struggle is attaining that score. But why is it so difficult?

Well one of the reasons is that your brain isn’t very smart…Okay that’s a lie.
Your brain is actually incredibly capable – in fact it took a supercomputer with
1.4 million GB of RAM 40 minutes to process 1 per cent of 1 second of brain
activity. So, the human brain is amazing. The problem is…it isn’t very focused.

The problem is with the IB you need to focus incredibly well in order to get
those high grades. The chances are that you want to do well in the IB, and this
means you’re probably always thinking about all the things you’re going to do
to achieve success. Do extra maths tests, stay in school after hours, get ahead
in all the projects, catch up all the projects, score 100% in all the tests and be
the BEST STUDENT EVER!

Well those are all great intentions – you can be the best student ever. But not
like that. You need to be focussed, to identify clear targets for what you want –
and need – to achieve and then work steadily toward them. Think less Flubber
more Terminator.

So how is this God Mode focus

even possible. It actually isn’t all
that hard. You start saying no to
pointless things. ‘But wise blog
post, how do I know what is
pointless when everything in the IB
is so important?’. Ok good
question, but that it mostly your
panic talking. There’s basically 3
rules we can use:

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The rule of the big picture

Always always always have the big picture in mind. This means you must think
about your goals and what you need to get there, and then work on only the
things that help you get where you want.

Maybe you want to study Engineering at university and need a 6 in maths, a 6

in physics and 35 points overall.

If this is the case then remember that getting a 7 in biology isn’t the goal. and
getting 40+ points isn’t your primary goal. Your first and most important goal
is to get those 6s in maths and physics (and to get yourself over the 35 pt
boundary). This means understanding electromagnetism well enough that it
doesn’t drag your physics score below a 6. That is much more important than
your history homework unless your history is pulling you below the magic 35.

Using the big picture will mean that you will get much less distracted by all
the demands that every teacher and subject puts on your time.
And that’s it! Follow the 3 rules to decide what is important and cut
everything else out. If you do this you will find your scores shooting up in no
time! Good luck!

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The rule of purpose

Identify the purpose of the task. This is the first rule in deciding what to spend
time on. It’s easy to panic if you have a test in maths and to think that if you
fail it will be the end of the world. Actually, 99% of the time it will make no
difference at all. So, you have to identify how important something is. Actual
IB Exams = Very important, extra credit homework = not important.

Now you can see how that piece of work affects your Goal of a certain number
of IB Points and you can say no to things that aren’t important.

The rule of diminishing returns

Ok so now you’re just working on the important stuff and that’s great. Now
let’s talk about diminishing returns. This is the idea that as something gets
better it takes more effort to improve it further. Which makes sense when
we think in terms of a piece of history coursework. Doesn’t take that much
effort to get a 3, but to push that up to a 5 is quite tricky. Getting that up
to a 6 is hard and up to a 7 is really tough. The trick here is to know when
enough is enough. If your teacher says you’re almost up to the next grade
then you better start putting in the effort to get over the boundary. However,
if your teacher says your coursework is fine, then putting in an extra 20 hours
might not be that useful – especially if you could have used that time better
somewhere else.

So next time you’re memorising definitions for physics, and you get 99% right,
consider whether it is worth studying more of the same to try and get 100% or
whether you would be better off spending time on something easier to affect.

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Remember Facts Quicker: Storytelling Techniques

If I sat you down and recited a list of historical dates, kings, and dynasties,
would you remember those facts tomorrow? I’m guessing that for most
of you the answer is probably not. What about if I played you a television
drama showing the epic tale of those dynasties? A drama full of thrilling
battle scenes, sweeping landscapes and human ambition. Maybe you won’t
remember all of the details. But the chances are that you’d remember a lot
more of it tomorrow than that list I recited. The reason for this is that our
brain absorbs information much easier and a lot faster if we’re faced with
a story rather than a list of facts. Why? Because the human brain is wired
to chemically respond to stories. Therefore, in this blog I want to encourage
you to use stories when it comes to memorising large chunks of information. I
promise it will make your life easier when you study for the IB!

Facts vs. Narrative

Take a look at the following examples:

Example A:
• The Battle of Waterloo was fought
on June 18th 1815, near Waterloo
• The French army, under Napoleon’s
command, lost the battle to two
armies of the Seventh Coalition

Example B:
When Napoleon led his army onto the
sodden battlefield, little did he know
that this day would see his defeat. Over
breakfast he had criticised the English
troops and their pompous commander,
the Duke of Wellington. Now, amongst
the mud, rain and sweat, the 18th of
June 1815 would be the day that
decided Europe’s fate.

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Example B is way more interesting, right? The reason for this is revealed by
neuroscience. When listening to facts, the part of our brain that processes
language and meaning is activated. But, when we are told a story, more parts
are activated. In fact, all other areas that would be used if we were actually
experiencing the story ourselves are activated!

You can read more about the exact research into this here. It could even be
an interesting topic for a TOK presentation!

But what can we, as IB students, do with this knowledge? Well, when we
study for the IB there’s so much information to take in for lots of different
subjects. You will naturally engage more with some subjects than others.
However, by incorporating tricks into our studying that make use of the
brain’s natural response to stories, we can retain information and facts
more readily and enhance our engagement with our subjects. Nice,
huh?Read on for my three easy steps to turn your IB facts into stories. As
you study for the IB, it should make your life so much easier!

1. Give information context

Originally, storytelling was a matter of survival. Back in the Stone Age, humans
needed to hear how their cousin Wiglaf was injured by a wild bear in order to
know that they should avoid bears themselves. Therefore, when they caught
sight of a dark, furry shadow in the woods, they would remember the story of
good old cousin Wiglaf, and run. The information: bears are dangerous.

To make this useful for us, let’s reverse this process.

Information: When caesium reacts with water to form caesium hydroxide
(CsOH) and hydrogren gas (H2) the reaction is exothermic.

When Fred decided to sneak into the chemistry lab and drop caesium into the
tank of water, the reaction was so violent he singed off his eyebrows.

Alternatively, watching videos that present this kind of information can do

the same trick. This one here shows what happens when you mix especially
reactive alkali metals with water…

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2. Turn information into a narrative

Humans think in terms of cause and effect. That’s how we go through the
world every day, from brushing our teeth, to spilling the toothpaste on our
shirt, to missing the bus because we had to change our shirt.

All of this means that we remember things more easily when we can track
the pattern of cause and effect. So, when learning a list of facts, invent a
narrative around them so that you remember everything more easily. This
technique is great for subjects like History or Economics, but you can definitely
use it for other subjects as well.

For example, you need to memorise a list of Spanish vocab:

La ducha = shower
Tacones altos = high heels
El alce = moose

Instead of remembering the individual words, put them together:

El alce llevaba tacones altos en la ducha.

The moose wore high heels in the shower.

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3. Visualise the Specifics

The human brain thinks in terms of specific images, and not abstract terms.
Stories work by helping us visualise and imagine a specific situation and so
generate an image. That’s why the example above in which we can imagine
Napoleon stepping out onto the battlefield at the Battle of Waterloo is more
effective than when we think about it as a list of facts only.

The keyword here is ‘specific’, because the brain hooks onto concrete details
much faster than it does with generalisations. Taking the time to visualise
what specific facts would actually look like is a great way to help make
that information stick.

For History, thinking about how events and policies specifically impacted
individuals will make the facts a lot more memorable. For example, when
Mussolini was in power his party introduced the ONP to provide the Italian
people with improved leisure activities. But a detail you could use to both
enhance this fact and help it stick is the fact that by 1939 the ONP sponsored
over 3,000 brass bands!

Recap
The thing is, even maths and science facts can be memorised in this
way. Einstein himself, when coming up with E = mc2 in his theory of
relativity, started off by imagining what it would be like to ride on a beam of
light. He said:

“My particular ability does not lie in mathematical calculation, but rather in
visualising effects”

I’m not saying that we can all be like Einstein. But if he used his imagination
to visualise the facts and information he was working with, this is a piece of
advice we can all follow!

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