How should I study for the IB business exams?
As a teacher, you have probably gotten this question a lot from students or also wondered about how to best help them study before the IB Business exams. With only 18 days until the first exam (April 26th), it is an important question to answer. While each student is different, this is what I tell my students and the general way I structure the course after all of the content has been taught.
1. Review the theory
By knowing the theory well, most students can achieve a 5. I give my students review packets for each topic which contain a question to review each syllabus topic. Also, don’t forget to review the toolkit! It’s not 100% clear how it might come up in an exam, but reviewing it is essential.
Check out my review packets here. There are over 130 different exercises testing all of the points mentioned in the guide plus the tool kit!
2. Practice doing case studies
Once students have reviewed the theory, it is essential to put it into practice. This can be done using case studies from the book, going back to case studies in the PowerPoints, using past papers from previous IB Business exams, etc.
Also, it is important to do at least some of the exams in timed conditions. I always say that the Business exam is not that hard, but finishing everything on time and with the level of detail that you would like is hard. Paper 1 and Paper 2 allow for about 2 minutes per mark and Paper 3 is about 3 minutes per mark.
3. Review the structure of the exam
This might seem like a silly thing to do, but reviewing the exam structure is essential. I have seen too many students do extra questions which reduces the amount of time that they can dedicate to each question. In addition, I have seen students not answer all of the questions they should. This is leaving points on the table that can help them move up the markband. Therefore, it is essential to review each paper and the required and optional questions to optimize marks.
4. Have fun
While this might sound counterintuitive, I like to do fun activities with my students in the lead up to the exam. An obvious one is doing Kahoots to review each unit. I have listed my favorite ones below.
Unit 1: Introduction to Business- Click here
Unit 2: Human Resource Management- Click here
Unit 3: Finance- Click here (break-even is here, but actually in Unit 5)
Unit 4: Marketing- Click here
Unit 5: Operations Management- Click here
**To access these Kahoots, click on the link above and sign into your Kahoot account. Then you can play them individually or with a class.
Another thing to do is choose activities that the students enjoyed during the course and repeat them. For example, they loved building the final accounts with Legos, playing Heads up with sources of finance, stacking cups to review motivational theorists, etc. As the exams get closer, students are stressed and trying to cram a lot of information into their brains. These moments of fun give them a break and allow them learn in a more engaging and less stressful way. I believe that this will help them remember better anyway.
How do you think it’s best for students to study? How do you structure your review classes once the content is finished? Let me know if the comments below.
Check back next week as I share 10 tips for getting the best marks on the external IB Business exams.
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