Table of Contents
The IB mock exam
Mock exams, as you know, provide an experience as to what the real IB examination will be like that will be conducted by your school. So, why are mock exams so crucial even though the final exam result seems to be more important? The answer is simple. The predicted score, which is from your IB mock exam results, is actually just as, if not, more important than the final exam result. You will require your predicted grade in order to apply to colleges early, such as colleges in the US if your examination session is in November since results come out in January and college application deadlines are in November to December. Colleges will primarily consider your predicted score as a final score.
However, that does not mean they will not review your actual final IB score and give you an acceptance letter when your actual score is completely off from your predicted grade unless an incident such as COVID-19 pandemic occurs.
How to prepare for the mock exam?
Your IB documents must be done and submitted. SUBMITTED.
First and foremost, ensure that all your IAs and EEs and essays are all completed and submitted. This will take a huge amount of pressure off your back and let you prepare for mock exams and the final exams peacefully.
Textbooks are your Holy Bibles
Secondly, read through your textbooks. The Pearson textbook is a primary source where you should study from as it provides good formatting of content that should be learnt. Additionally, you may have to refer to other textbooks such as Cambridge for certain points or portions of the syllabus that may not be included in the Pearson textbook.
Try to procure either a soft or hard copy of the textbook, with a hard copy being more ideal as it’s easier to highlight and create referrals within the textbook itself and then refer to this easily. Even if you have created notes, studying from the textbook for subjects, especially the experimental sciences, is recommended as the textbook consists of key points and terms that are expected to be written in the examination.
Notes and Resources
Procure and read elaborate and crystal-clear notes. Now, though this seems like a contradiction as to the first point, it’s actually not. For subjects such as English and Psychology, you need to essentially just grasp the key points that you need to know and then implement this into your responses for the examination. For example, in English, only through practice and understanding as to what to write in paper 1 and paper 2, can you effectively score well in the exams. In paper 2 of English, you are required to select an essay topic from a list provided in the paper and then refer to two prescribed books and write points accordingly. Rather than re-reading the book multiple times, you can read it once and then refer to notes and analysis of the books and key points online.
Past Papers and Worksheets
Answer as many practice papers as you can. The IB mock exam paper will most probably be questions from past papers. So, by any chance, if the questions are from that past paper, you will be able to score in the mock exams. Past papers will provide you the experience of how the examination paper will be and what type and style of questions to be expected.
However, do not rely on that alone as your mentality will change in such a way that you become dependent on a question paper and answer key in order to score, which is not good. So, try to forget the answers to questions in the past papers if you redo them and answer them assuming it’s your first time seeing those questions.
Doubts and Confusion
If you have any questions in any of the concepts, ensure that you clarify and understand them before the examination. Do not hesitate to ask your teacher or peers. They will definitely help you out. If you do not properly understand or study a concept before the exam, it will bite you in the back and could lower your predicted score.
Time Management
Time Management. During your mock exams, you need to ensure that you manage your time effectively and answer at least most of the questions. If you believe you cannot finish the entire paper, answer at least 90 to 95% of the paper properly and ensure that the responses to these questions are correct and well-organized. For a paper such as English, if you’re short on time, ensure that you include the key points required and simply state additional points and conclude your response effectively.
You need to attain as many points and marks as possible. Remember, IB works on a number-grade system which has different bands for your overall score and these bands have a certain range. Try to aim for a 7, even if it’s a low-band as a 1 point in grade is game-changing. With this, your predicted score increases and the academic performance sheets will be boosted in value.
Progression
This is a super important pointer you have to keep in mind. The main idea of this point is that you either stay consistent if you have a great or high mock exam score(38 or higher out of 42) or you escalate and boost your grade to a 38 or higher out of 42. Let’s say you don’t do so great in your first IB mock exam or you aren’t satisfied with it. Don’t worry about it. Your predicted score will primarily be focused on your improvement throughout the 3 mock exam sessions. Even though you couldn’t perform your best in the first mock exam, you now have an understanding of the exam environment and what to expect in the paper.
According to that, prepare for the next 2 mock exam sessions. The final mock exam is extremely important as it plays a major role in your predicted score, so try to score as high as possible and aim for boosting your grade to a 38 or higher out of 42. Your teacher for the subject will be providing a predicted score out of 7 so ensure that you show your hard work and best performance in your answers.
Mock exams are extremely crucial and important for every student so ensure that you give it your all and study hard. If you miss the next grade by 1 to 3 points, it becomes extremely frustrating, so ensure that this doesn’t happen by carefully writing your responses and managing your time well. With a good predicted score, your college application’s value will become extremely high. Work hard for the exams and we guarantee that it will pay off in the end.
