By Flora Lepage, Year 10
With the IB exams slowly but surely approaching the Year 13 students are studying to their full potential. As half the school year has already passed, the Year 13’s are entering one of the most stressful yet exciting times of their highschool life. In order to be prepared for the final IB exams, the students will take their IB mock exams mid February. The mock exams are set by the school as a preparation for the real IB exams that take place in May. They resemble the real exams so that the students are prepared and know what to expect and what they need to prepare for. The rules for these mock exams are just as strict as for the IB exams: the students sit their exams in a large auditorium in Salle des fêtes in Chêne-Bougeries with only their pens, calculator that is inspected before exams, and clear water bottle with no label on. The conditions are exactly the same in the mocks as in the real exams so there will be nothing new or shocking to add to the student’s stress before the IB exams.
There is a tremendous amount of work and endless hours of studying spent by the students in order to prepare for such important exams, even if they are only the mocks. Students must be able to balance all of the studying for these exams along with studying for other tests, university applications and interviews and all of the other work such as the Extended Essay and Internal Assessments. In order for this work to be done on time and to be prepared to their maximum for the exams, the students must come up with a different study system that works for them or else they would struggle to be able to complete everything needed.
The LGB Express was lucky to be able to interview Perla Lepage, a Year 13 who is deep into studying for IB mock exams while juggling everything else for universities.
What are the most important points that the Year 12 students should know when studying for their IB mock exams next year?
Start preparing your revision material! I would say that is the most important. At the end of every unit, make summary sheets and quizlets, so that you don’t have to do that before mocks. This is what many Year 13’s regret not doing as it is time that could be spent actually studying. I am not saying to start studying for mocks in Year 12, of course not, but rather prepare revision material that will not only be useful for your Year 12 exams, but also Year 13 Mocks and IB Exams.
How are you able to balance studying for these exams along with all of your other school work?
Honestly, its extremely difficult. I had planned to only study for mocks after the December holidays but it has been so hard to do that when essays and coursework that count towards my real IB results are due. I am trying to study a little every day which helps a lot, along with final drafts of Coursework, TOK Essay, Math IA and History IA. Many also have interviews and admission tests for universities!
How do you think that the mock exams will benefit you?
What’s really great about the mocks is that it gives us a good feel for what the real IB exams will be in May. Firstly, we get to have a first trial run for the exams as a whole, and see what the stress is like. We are also able to see how the timing for each paper is, some papers together add up to 4 hours! The mocks are also an opportunity to see where we need to improve for the exams.
How will you proceed with your studying after the mock exams in order to prepare for the IB exams?
I think I will be studying according to my mock “IB grades” and the break-down of the marking. I will be able to practise more for essays where I need more time and also, based on the marking, parts of subjects where I need to study more.
