Crafting Your IB Revision Plan: Structured vs. Flexible Approaches

It’s that time of year again when IB students worldwide buckle down for the final stretch. The prospect of consolidating two years' worth of work can be daunting, but fear not – at Lanterna, we’ve been through it and are here to help! The first thing to remember when planning your revision is that everyone works differently. Just because your friend claims to be revising for 10 hours a day doesn’t mean you should be too. Know yourself and what works for you, and create a plan that suits your own needs.

We all respond best to different levels of planning: whilst some people get stressed out by too much structure, others like to know in advance exactly how and when they will get the job done. With this in mind, we’ve included two alternative ‘routes’ in some of the steps below:

• The ‘Operation IB’ route for those who like a little more structure in their life.
• The ‘Easy Breezy’ route for those who prefer to go with the flow.

Step 1: Make a Game Plan

The best place to start with IB revision is to remind yourself what you are dealing with. Two years’ worth of work is a lot to remember, so begin by refamiliarizing yourself with the topics you’ll need to revise. Find the syllabus for each subject, look at the ‘Syllabus Outline’ page, and highlight any topics or options that are relevant to you. Use this as an outline to make a list of all the topics you will need to cover, in as much detail as you find helpful, until you feel like you’ve got everything in front of you. You can use this list as a checklist throughout the revision period, crossing things off as you cover them and ensuring you are progressing at the right pace.

Step 2: Work Out How Much Time You Have

Having a clear concept of how much time you will have for revision is important so you can pace yourself properly and avoid running out of time. Potential ‘revision time’ includes the Easter holiday, study leave (if your school provides any!), evenings, weekends, and any time in school where you will not be in structured ‘revision lessons’. Remember, you are not expected to be working all the time you have to yourself – relaxation time is crucial too, so plan for this. It’s all about balance! As a very general rule of thumb, 6 hours of revision per full working day is a good aim, but feel free to adjust this higher or lower to suit you as a learner.

Step 3: Divide Up the Time You Have Between Your Subjects

Use the game plan you made in Step 1 to determine what portion of the revision time you calculated in Step 2 you should be spending on each subject. The IBO recommends that teachers spend 5/39 of total teaching hours on each SL subject, and 8/39 on HL subjects, so use these portions as a guideline and adjust them according to:

1. How much content there is to cover – The game plan from Step 1 should give you some idea of this. Some subjects are more ‘fact-focused’ whilst others are more ‘form-focused’. As a rule, the former tend to take longer to revise.
2. How difficult you find that content – It’s okay to devote more time to subjects that you struggle with, as long as you are leaving yourself plenty of time to deal with your other subjects too – be wary of putting all of your eggs in one basket!
3. How time-consuming the revision techniques you plan on using are – Have a think about this in advance. Some techniques take longer than others but can be worth the time investment.

You could even do this using a packet of Smarties (or equivalent)! There are around 40 in a tube, so start off with piles of 8 for each HL subject, and 5 for each SL subject. Then, move the Smarties between the piles until you’re happy with the proportions!

Step 4: Make a Schedule

And that’s it! Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t stick to your schedule 100% – it’s inevitable that some things will take longer than expected. It’s okay to go back and make changes where you need to (obviously this is where making a digital timetable comes in very handy). Stay flexible, always maintain a sense of how much you need to cover and how long you have to do it, and you will be absolutely fine!