Be it as a group exercise or for an essay writing paper, brainstorming is an effective way of putting your ideas out there. They don’t have to be great, they don’t have to be groundbreaking, but they’re all building towards a goal that you need to achieve. Whether it’s brainstorming for IB LangLit Paper 1 or for IB Lit Paper 1, this is one of the first steps to answering a question. Let’s discuss how to brainstorm for IB English Paper 1.
But before that, what is brainstorming?
Brainstorming in the very essence of the term, is storming your brain with multiple ideas pertaining to a specific question. These ideas could be great ideas. They may also be inconsequential and redundant. But, the purpose behind this exercise is to produce and fabricate thoughts pertaining to that text, literary or non-literary.
Brainstorming for IB English Paper 1
For IB Literature Paper 1 as well as IB LangLit Paper 1, the text in both papers is unseen and cannot be prepared for in advance. In that case, the only material that you have is in hand while sitting for the exams – which is great, because that builds a framework for more accurate ideas.
Types of brainstorming
Positive brainstorming
As the name suggests, positive brainstorming is writing down points that you know. Anything that is relevant to the text – your thoughts, opinions, literary terms, and tools that you can identify – jot them all down. Its use can be decided in the next step.
For example, consider the text in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost. Ask yourself: What do you know about it? The road can be a metaphor for life, a path to choosing your career, or any decision that you take. While reading the poem, you have come across many examples of imagery, simile, and personification. So, you write them down in your brainstorming session, along with relevant examples and how they contribute to the overall meaning of the text. This is positive brainstorming.
Negative brainstorming
Also known asreverse brainstorming, negative brainstorming is the opposite of the previous technique – write down everything you don’t know about the question. Now you’d ask, how is that possible? If you’re aware of what you don’t know, brainstorming will help you find an answer and work your way around it. For example, you’ve picked out the literary devices fairly well, but you don’t know much about the rhyme scheme and how it creates meaning. Brainstorming will help you focus and gain a better sense of direction.
This is an easy yet crucial step to brainstorming. While reading the text the very first time, with a pen/pencil in your hand, underline the important words and phrases that will later on help you generate ideas, analyze them, or come to a suitable conclusion with them. Although this is a common practice, it is often overlooked. Annotating a text is key to identifying important words, patterns, and concepts.
2) Free writing
After you’ve read, understood, and annotated the text, remove 10-15 minutes and dedicate it to a grueling, highly productive brainstorming session. Ignore grammatical errors, ignore self-judgment, put all inhibitions aside, and just freely write what you think and what points you can deduce from the text. Once you’ve laid the foundation, you can easily choose and cancel what you need and don’t need.
3) Graphic Representation
There’s a talented bunch of you who can be the graphic designers of a literary essay. Some like to use Mind Maps, which we absolutely endorse, and some prefer Venn diagrams for their brainstorming points. Some even like creating columns to separate out body paragraphs according to the topic ideas. All of these methods are excellent while brainstorming – you also get the added benefit of planning and organizing your essay while you generate your ideas.
4) Use the Description
The description of a scene or a passage is an effective way of formulating ideas. For example, the question involves a journal entry by a botanist. Think of all the senses involved in the study of a Venus flytrap. The sight, touch, smell – you cannot taste or hear it, so that is stricken off. But the rest are clues to describing the plant, how it catches its prey, the correct conditions that sustain the plant, the kind of insects or animals it feeds off – and how these aspects are used by the author to create appeal.
What should you do after brainstorming?
Short-listing!
Once you’ve come up with some ideas, the next step is to scrutinize their relevance and significance. Is the micro-analysis of the title important to the appeal of the poem? Is the color of the leaves important to the carnivorous nature of the plant? Circle what’s important, and cancel what’s not.
Even if you’ve crossed out many points, don’t lose heart. It’s not a waste of time if that idea has given birth to a newer, different, and more effective idea than the one crossed off. This being a flow of ideas, traversing from one to another, it is a natural way of panning out your essay and reaching a suitable conclusion.
Brainstorming is the nexus of ideas
Dr. Asa Don Brown
So, the next time you practice an IB English essay, keep these points in mind and let us know how they helped you!
Aiming for a Perfect 800 in SAT Math? Well, It might seem impossible at first but with proper guidance, skills, and the right strategy you should be well on your way. The SAT Math test evaluates your understanding to apply mathematical concepts and skills to different types of problems in college and real life. There are two portions on the SAT Math test. The first section will be for 55 minutes with 38 questions where one can use a calculator. The second section for 25 minutes with 20 questions, using no calculator. To know more about what the SAT comprises, read our older blog post on “What you need to know about the SATs”.
While scoring within the range of 680-750 is acceptable, you may want to raise your scores by answering all the questions correctly. This will help you earn an 800 on this section! This is especially key when you’re trying to get into a field of study that requires extensive Math knowledge.
So, why do you need to get an 800 in SAT Math?
If you’re planning to get admission to one of the top universities such as Harvard, Princeton, MIT, etc. your score needs to meet the quantitative bar set by them – an 800. You’ll need to be in the top percentile for these highly selective technical colleges as a lower Math score makes you seem underprepared to meet their courses’ rigorous requirements. Another reason why getting an 800 in your Math test is crucial is because it helps make up for the potential weaknesses in other sections, be it reading or writing. The competition is cut-throat and you’re up against some of the best mathematical minds so an 800 will help improve your chances of being considered for admission.
Before we dive into some of the tips to ace your Math section, remember to keep a positive mindset. The most important tip is to stay calm. Yes, the test is important. Yes, you’re aiming for a perfect 800, but don’t let that pressure get to you. Try to be mentally strong, believe in yourself, and know that you can do it.
SAT Math Tip 1 – Find your weak points
Self-analysis is a prime step before you start preparing for your test. This will help you know your flaws beforehand, allowing you to work on it and master them. Here is something you could practice to know your weaknesses. Take two practice tests, one with the test conditions and another without any time constraints. If you score less even without time limits then you’ll need to work on understanding the content of your test, but if you score well with unlimited time then you know, it’s the time management you need to work on.
Identifying your weak spots and working on bettering them will help you be more strategic about your preparation. Remember, for the most part, the SAT is about studying smartly and mastering the proven strategies!
SAT Math Tip 2 – Master the concepts
The Math test focuses on three major topics:
Heart of Algebra – 19 questions
Problem Solving and Data Analysis- 17 questions
Passport to Advanced Math – 16 questions
The remaining questions will test your understanding of topics such as
Area
Volume
Circles
Triangles
Trigonometry
Make sure you have a strong and deep understanding of each topic – move beyond the basic level of these topics and practice past SAT questions that are in line with the various concepts. Identify and analyze your content gaps and familiarise yourself even with the topics that don’t come too often in the exams.
Memorise formulae and postulates that will help you move through questions with ease.
SAT Math Tip 3 – Practice, Practice, Practice.
If your target is 800, you don’t have an option to leave anything. Your practice and preparation need to be on point. If you commit a mistake, make it your mission not to repeat it. Just knowing your mistakes is not enough, you need to understand the cause of your mistake and work towards eradicating it from the roots. Make sure you practice different varieties of questions. This acts as an exercise to your brain. There are multiple practice tests you can take on various sites. If you don’t always have the time for full practice tests, then attempt practice questions that’ll help build your prowess.
SAT Math Tip 4 – Avoid careless SAT mistakes
Imagine solving an entire question correctly only to mark the wrong answer on the answer sheet. That would be galling! Always pay attention while marking the answer, especially while bubbling your answer sheet, make sure you mark the correct question and not above or below it. When using a calculator, check if you’ve entered the correct digits. Careless mistakes are to be avoided at all costs and at all times! Practice the presence of mind while doing the SAT so you’re well aware of what, how, and why you’re doing it.
SAT Math Tip 5 – Get help from the experts!
While self-studying is good and commendable, working with an expert will prove to be more effective. You wouldn’t want to give up an opportunity to learn from someone who is highly experienced and could help you earn the scores of your dreams. Do you?
An SAT tutor will help you identify your weaknesses and strengths and teach you at your own pace. You’ll receive the guidance you need and access to learning materials you perhaps couldn’t get your hands on before! If you wish to enroll yourself for a prep class or personalized class for your Math SAT prep, read up more about our support here and register here.
Conclusion
Those are a few strategies/ tips that can help you improve and get that 800 in your SAT Math! Start your preparation early and most importantly, stay calm and focused.
“The method of loci (MOL) is a mnemonic device that relies on spatial relationships between “loci” (e.g., locations on a familiar route or rooms in a familiar building) to arrange and recollect memorial content.” In Latin, Loci means location or place. Now you may ask what is a mnemonic device or what are mnemonics. Well, mnemonics are basic strategies for encoding information with the sole purpose of making it more memorable.
In simpler terms, the method of Loci works by linking something you need to remember, to a location or place that is familiar to you.
We often think that we are bad at memorizing and remembering things. We can’t remember faces, we can’t remember names, phone numbers, etc. and we tend to forget what we have studied. This is true for people of different age groups. We envy people who have excellent memory power and imagine they are born geniuses or have some sort of magical skills.
Take Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant detective, as an example. He effortlessly stores vast information, recalls details, and skillfully deduces solutions to complex mysteries. How does he do that? In BBC’s ‘Sherlock,’ the creators gave him an ancient Greek mnemonic device, aiding him in unraveling the most mysterious cases. That device is called The Mind Palace or the Method of Loci.
Other names used are
Memory Journey
Memory Palace
Journey Method
Memory Spaces
or Mind Palace technique.
How to use the Method of Loci?
It might sound like a lot of work but once you grasp the method and follow the steps below, it will be easy to do.
Part I
1. The very first step is to decide on the mind’s location. That is to think of a place you are very familiar with and that you can recreate easily in your mind. For example, it can be your street or a walk from the bus stand to your house or anything else.
2. Then you have to walk around that familiar area (all in your mind, of course).
3. All you need along that area are a few set points that you can remember without having to think deliberately about. You already know that there’s always a zebra crossing, a mailbox, a specific shop, a tree, or whatever, just the things that you are very familiar with.
4. Let’s say the first thing you have to remember is to take your silk dress to the dry cleaners and you have to do that the next day so you have to make a bizarre image of that thing.
5. Imagine a glowing beautiful white dress, the glow is so much that you can barely look at it.
6. Now you attach the image of the glowing white dress to the image of the mailbox. Imagine if someone has dressed up the mailbox in that dress.
7. Making this bizarre image in your mind is very important and useful. This helps you to link the two images.
8. Now you can forget about it and you don’t need to think about it until the next day or when you need it.
Part II
9. All you do the next day, or whenever you have to remember it, is just mentally walk down that route again. That is when you think of the mailbox your mind will automatically recall the bizarre image of the glowing white dress, which will then help you remember that you have to take the dress to the dry cleaners.
10. And in a similar pattern, you can go on attaching bizarre, silly images that you don’t forget to the locations or spots you are familiar with.
11. Just remember one thing the bigger your area of locations the better. The image above helps depict the steps we’ve just discussed.
How is the method of Loci useful for learning?
The Method of Loci is used for memory enhancement; hence you can remember things by using it and also enhance your power of memorization. It is not specific to any age bar, be it an adult or a child anyone can use it. Plus, it is fun and creative and it’s unlikely you will get bored using it.
For this method, a real location is not necessary. In the video game era, memory palaces can be constructed using game maps. These offer a creative and accessible approach to enhancing memory skills. Not only locations or maps but any other images can also be used in this method. You just have to remember this – you need to match permanent or familiar items with the temporary information you want to remember.
This method is very useful for students. Students, burdened with memorization, find ease and reduce stress by employing effective learning techniques for enhanced recall. Along with memorization, it also helps us to comprehend things properly. For example, if a school student is unable to understand a particular text from their book, he can use this method. It will help him comprehend as well as memorize the important things they need from the text.
Conclusion
While it may seem like an extraordinary feat to create a functional mind palace, it is quite achievable with a bit of practice. The next time you have a lot to memorize, try the Method of Loci. If you struggle to recall names or find yourself forgetting tasks, it’s a valuable technique. Who knows, you might become the next real-life Sherlock Holmes.
IB Media Analysis Essay – now this section of the IB English paper is a challenge for many students because of its nature. It’s an unseen text with no hint beforehand. The only way to ace this paper is lots of practice, getting your basics right and maybe some magic dust!
Easy? Then skip the article and score away! No? Read ahead then.
IB LangLit Paper 1 at a glance
As if choosing between IB LangLit and IB Literature wasn’t a conundrum on its own, it is essential especially for someone new to the IB DP to understand the paper pattern for IB LangLit.
The IB LangLit component consists of 2 papers. Bear in mind that there’s an SL (Standard Level) and an HL (Higher Level) in these papers; and there is a choice between these levels in all 6 subjects of the IB DP. IB LangLit Paper 1 SL is a paper of Media Analysis, aka the subject of our blogpost today. This analysis is delivered in an essay format, and the structure of your essay will also play a key role in scoring well.
What’s the difference between SL and HL?
The only difference between SL and HL for particular components (post 2021) is that the former has one question on the media analysis of a non-literary text whereas the latter has 2 questions on 2 different texts.
Types of texts involved in IB LangLit Paper 1
So what type of texts are we talking about? The term ‘Media Analysis’ is a lucrative and frankly generic term which refers to many text types spanned across multiple modes of media. It could be a magazine article on real paper, or a tabloid piece on the web. Apart from these, there are advertisements, posters, comic strips, newspaper articles, infographics, interviews, travel stories, service/product reviews, opinion pieces, blog posts and even journal entries – you name it. Seems like a lot, but trust us, you just need to get your basics right and you can analyze any type of text or media.
For that, let’s move on towards our Young Scholarz (YS) Approach to IB Media Analysis.
The YS Way of Analyzing text
Here are a few ways to approach and build your skills for IB Media Analysis:
1. Identify the text and its purpose
We’ve given you the ammunition – the entire list of possible text types. Once you’ve successfully identified the type of the text, you can approach it with full gusto and many ideas also come into being. For example, let’s take a look at this interview with Minoli Salgado. Spend some time studying the text at a glance.
A few questions to ask yourself:
What is the mode of this text?
Has it been published online, or does the layout look like that of a newspaper/magazine?
Who is the author of the text, what is the purpose of this text?
What type of content do you see?
What’s the tone and mood of this text?
2. Identify the themes, global issues, and its brief overview
These are key to your analysis – structure your essay on the basis of its themes. Let’s look at the interview mentioned above – some questions to ponder on:
What themes could you come up with?
What would the overview or main idea of this advert be?
When we look at it, we see a range of themes – race/ethnicity, feeling of belonging, women empowerment, voice of the oppressed, bias against diasporic writers.
Based on these, you need to build up on your ideas. Try to come up with the main idea for this text and many supporting ideas can come to light.
3. Apply ‘The Big 5’
The essence has been conveyed above, but narrowing it down to these 5 aspects will help you structure a much better, well-organised answer. Famously called The Big Five, or the acronym ACTSS.
Audience and Purpose
Content and Theme
Tone and Mood
Stylistic Devices
Structure
Keep these 5 things in mind while analyzing the text and you’re sure to achieve a win.
Do you find this cryptic and difficult to follow? Reach out to our experts for an in-depth understanding of this section with individual, one-on-one focus.
4. Plan, plan, plan
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, but you HAVE TO plan your essay before beginning your answer. There’s no way out of this. Believe us when we say that we’ve seen a huge difference between student answers where they have blindly dealt with their essay and those where they have planned and organised their ideas before they begin. Divide your essay into subtopics, and include relevant examples, literary devices and stylistic features for each of your ideas.
This works for just about any literary answer and makes a TON of difference to the quality of your answer.
5. Annotate as you read
How do you extract important points from the text? Use a pencil and underline those words, images; put those grey cells to use as soon as you’ve begun on the title of the text. Circle, doodle around, but make sure to highlight any bits of information that add value to your ideas. This could be words, images, colour schemes, font size and style – these are crucial to your answer.
Annotating the text is a great way of ensuring that you’ve picked up information without reading the text a second time, saving extra time to focus on your essay.
6. Study the stylistic features
As we’ve mentioned before, the essay is broken down into different aspects that you need to identify. You need to study what stylistic features and literary devices are beforehand, and this is key to analyzing any text type. The ability to identify the role that images, colours, font-sizes and layouts play in achieving meaning and effect upon the reader is all that the question is about. You’ve got your main idea, themes, and examples from the text. All you need to do now is practice.
7. Practice, practice, practice
We’re confident that this blogpost has laid out key pointers for you to attempt the LangLit Paper 1, but you know it’s not that easy!. We have students coming in every day but yet, we don’t give them a grade 7 after their very first practice assignment. Why? Because practice and ONLY practice will help you out with scoring well. Along with that, you also need to know your errors and work on them.
At Young Scholarz, we can help you do just that. With detailed and personal feedback, we have seen students go from a 4 to 7 in just a few months’ time, depending on the student’s inputs too of course.
Now that we’ve brushed up on tips, would you be able to analyze this text/ blog post you’ve just read? Leave comments below – we’d love to hear from you.
Do you want to study in a more organised way or are you tired of the traditional note-taking method? Do you want to organise your thoughts and ideas in a more structured way? Well, in that case, read on to see how Mind Maps help you study better!
What are Mind Maps?
Mind Maps are visual thinking tools that help us utilise our cognitive abilities to the maximum. We use these as a study aid to clarify our thoughts, structure information, simplify complex ideas, memorize information, and take notes efficiently. Individuals have used visual diagrams, including branching and radial maps, to map information for centuries. The term ‘mind map’ gained popularity through Tony Buzan, a renowned British psychology author and television personality.
Why use Mind Maps to study?
You might be wondering why we need mind maps when the traditional note-taking method already exists. Well, mind maps or mind mapping can do just more than note-taking! Let’s see how useful mind maps are and how they can help you study better.
Mind maps help you to learn and analyse new concepts, comprehend and generate new ideas in a better way.
Students can benefit greatly from using Mind Maps for studying, as the format enhances information recording and creative problem-solving abilities, ultimately aiding better memorization.
Mind maps are versatile tools, aiding in note-taking, planning, organizing information, creative thinking, studying, and more. They efficiently break down large topics, presenting a visual and manageable overview. This way, you can plan effectively without getting overwhelmed or forgetting something important.
Mind Maps are not lengthy like conventional notes and often take up just one side of the paper.
Unlike conventional or linear notes, mind maps are visually more attractive, enabling you to see the better-connected relationships between different ideas or concepts.
How to create a mind map?
To create a mind map, you need to start with a specific topic or central idea and then follow these steps –
You need to place the central theme or main idea in the centre of the page. Placing the page in landscape orientation might be helpful for drawing purposes.
You need to draw lines/ arrows/ speech bubbles/ branches as ways of showing the connection between the central theme/main idea and the other ideas that stem out from that central idea. These branches are very important.
As you go on brainstorming, you can go on adding more branches from the existing branches adding more information to the primary idea till the point of completion.
The sub-branches will contain more detailed pointers or branches for overall understanding which will help you develop and elaborate on the overall theme of the mind map.
Including images and sketches can make your mind map visually attractive.
A Mind Map pro tip –
You can create mind maps either on paper or on a computer using mind mapping software such as Bubbl.us and MindMeister, enabling us to edit as we create. Check out another mind map article here for more tips!
Conclusion
Now that you know how using mind maps for studying can be effective, we hope you’ll try them out! If you’d like to see how mind maps can be used in a subject/ topic, book a 1:1 session with us! Our teachers at Young Scholarz can help guide students towards grasping concepts better through mind maps.
In the present era, being a student is not how it was before. Today we have technology that is responsible for distracting and consuming unproductive time. Having social media, Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney Hotstar, and games just on every swipe and click does make it hard to stay productive. Do you often try to start an activity but end up watching another episode of your favorite series? Or do you get distracted when a friend sends you a reel on Instagram while you are studying and you end up scrolling reels for hours? This might happen! While technology can be distracting for students, there are multiple free productivity apps and tools that keep you prepared for the struggles that Gen Z students face today.
Based on our primary and secondary research, we have narrowed down the areas of struggle that a student goes through in these five categories:
Organization
Time management
Mental health
Physical health
Creative productivity
Based on the areas above we have put together 10 free productivity apps for students like yourselves to help you stay on track and productive. The list mentioned below has no specific order of preference.
Organizing Personal and Academic Tasks
Do you plan for multiple things each day, but end up doing maybe one or two of those things only? That happens sometimes! When you pile up too many tasks, you tend to bite off more than you can chew. Perhaps, you face difficulty organizing your academic notes. You can check out our blog on The Art of Effective note taking, which gives helpful tips on note-taking to be better organized.
A few apps that can help you multitask and stay organized are:
Trello is a flexible app that allows students to plan, track, and accomplish their work. It also allows you to manage your tasks and assignments, giving you a clear view of what you are working on and what needs to be done.
It is a To-Do List application with tasks, reminders, checklists, calendars, and more. Taskade can be used individually or with a team. It allows you to share and collaborate with your friends. It has the simplest way to create a to-do list, checklists, and workflow – getting work done with Taskade is simple, fast, and fun.
Time Management
Do you always end up procrastinating on your tasks? It might often happen that you come close to your submission deadline but you haven’t yet finished your assignment. This could be due to a lack of focus. If that’s the case, here are some pretty cool apps that can help you manage your time and stay focused while on an ongoing task.
Pomodoro Technique was a time management method by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. This application follows the original technique but in a technical way. It allows you to decide on the task to be done and then set a timer allowing you to work within the designated time. It also rings for short or longer breaks depending on your task and set time.
It is one of the best productivity apps for students. It allows you to stay focused by providing a little plant that grows while you keep aside your phone. The tree starts to wither when you go through any app like Instagram or WhatsApp. The app’s creativity allows you to stay focused.
Mental Health
Most of the students today undergo stress and anxiety. This takes a heavy toll on their mental health. If you ever feel overwhelmed by your thoughts and need help, you can always contact and use our student counseling services. It is important to practice self-care and here are some apps that can help you relax.
This is an exclusive self-care app, that gives you tools for your mental health such as meditation, mental health tests, prompted journals and self-care motivations built by therapists and coaches. It also helps you care about your proper sleep routine. It is created to allow you to improve your mental health to achieve happiness through scientifically proven techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).
THAP, also known as The Happiness Project, is a mental wellness app that enables you to deal with stress, anxiety, depression, and a wide array of mental health ailments by equipping you with mental well-being tools so you can design your unique well-being journey. THAP has something for everyone like daily short mental wellness workouts, Psychological first aid tools, self-therapy modules, online counseling & therapy, and journaling.
Physical Health
Do you find yourself in your room, in front of the screen, studying, playing, or watching, for almost the entire day? Well, while doing so you are neglecting your physical health. It is important to invest in your health and give your body a much-needed routine. Below are a few apps that can help you.
It is a health and fitness app that helps you track your health, guides you every day towards weight loss, eating a healthy diet, keeping an active lifestyle, monitoring your health indicators, and training at home with goal-based workout plans. It tracks your health with a calorie tracker, carb manager, and weight loss tracker. It also records your sleep, water intake, and workout.
It is a hub for your fitness goals. It reduces stress with a calming yoga practice, increases your fitness with a fun cardio workout, and helps you stay fit with hundreds of free fitness videos. Also, it helps reduce stress, get better sleep, improve breathing, relax your body, and rejuvenate your mind with short and effective meditations.
Creative Productivity
While you focus and work on all the above aspects, you can also develop the creative side of yourself. Technology has paved the way for many fun apps that can help you develop and learn interestingly. Instead of playing Pubg, you may want to play something more brain-developing. Or, instead of binge-watching some Korean series with English subtitles, you may want to learn the language itself! Look for these few apps that we have listed below.
Duolingo is an excellent application to learn languages for free with proper revision of the topics from time to time. It also has daily reminders that could get you in the habit of learning something new. It has short lessons that help you practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing to improve your vocabulary and pronunciation.
Exercise your brain with crossword games, rather than playing games with no possible outcome. This will allow you to improve your vocab in a fun way. Crosswords are these traditional educational games that have a board and set of letters, which most of the 90 students remember playing. But today, it is more portable to carry as it can be on your devices. So next time you see yourself free or your mind needs a break from school work and studying, you can indulge in something fun and productive.
Conclusion
Technology can not just be harmful or distracting, it can also be very effective when used properly and for the right reason. For further reading, you can scroll through this article The Best 8 Productivity Apps for Students in 2022 for more academic-based apps and tools for students. Now that you know which apps could help you, head on over to their websites and try them out. Let us know if you have any other recommendations for this list – we love hearing from our readers. Until our next blog post, stay productive!
The ToK, or Theory of Knowledge, is a mandatory component of the IB DP Core. The ToK essay is a 1600-word essay that students prepare in their own time, before the set deadline. This tends to easily be one of the most dreaded topics for an IBDP student, we know. Especially when the deadline is nearing, the pressure to score well is ever on the rise. But, once you’ve understood the basic concepts and how to approach the topic, the IB ToK Essay is not as difficult as you perceive it to be. In this blog post, we’ll talk about some key tips for the IB DP ToK Essay.
How important is the ToK?
The IB Core Component consists of ToK, EE (Extended Essay), and CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service). Failing either one of these fails you in your Diploma Programme even if you’ve earned the rest of the 42 credits in total, so one cannot take it lightly at all. Not only are these components crucial to your score but also add immense value to your college application, if you score a 3 in total (ToK + EE) you’ve earned yourself 45 credits and that plays a vital role during university admission.
What is the Theory of Knowledge?
Scientifically known as ‘epistemology’, ToK (and not TikTok) is the answer to how we know what we know. Epistemology by definition is “the theory of knowledge, especially about its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion”. It explores the main question of ToK – ‘How do we know what we know?’, ‘How do we discover what we know?’ and any other theories or questions about knowledge.
Now, without further ado, let’s jump onto the tips and tricks of scoring better in an IB ToK Essay:
Plan, Plan, Plan.
We said it 3 times because it’s THAT important. Like any other answer method that we teach at Young Scholarz, you need to plan your ToK essay. Read the title carefully, annotate the keywords, think of 2 real-life examples, and then plan.
If you have signed up at Young Scholarz for solo sessions with the best teacher onboard, you’ll know how to carefully plan out a ToK essay, making it a tad bit easier to fill in the information and structure your response more neatly. You can also refer to this website to help outline your essay. (But our recommendation would be to consult an expert who can tailor your ToK.)
Understand the AoKs and WoKs of the essay
We say keep them enemies closer than your friends. Tricky as they may sound, the Areas of Knowledge (AoK) and Ways of Knowledge (WoK) are integral to building a logical and well-defined essay. Understanding them well helps you pinpoint the knowledge claim in your chosen question. You should have at least 2 to 3 WoKs and AoKs* in your essay, making sure to draw up relevant connections and appropriate claims and counter-claims.
Display your knowledge on the topic
Come up with a few interesting and unique things to write about your ToK title to show that you know the title well. Read up well on the ToK concepts and include them in your essay. Begin your essay with these ideas to hold the examiner’s attention and form an impression in the beginning. Enhancing your vocabulary and incorporating ToK-specific jargon can also help you score higher levels.
Challenge your own opinion
You heard it right. Although in real-life situations a conflict in your mind is often discouraged as you come off as indecisive, for ToK that’s exactly what we need. Challenging your initial opinions and thesis will help you come up with the right claims and counter-claims for a well-researched IB ToK Presentation.
Expanding your research base
ToK being a vast and vague topic, there’s no beginning nor end to acquiring knowledge in this field. To make every word of yours count, it’s essential to read up on different topics, collect material from different resources, and understand a range of perspectives by involving others in your essay – talking to classmates, teachers, friends, and family, and using various other sources can help you construct arguments effectively on both sides of your thesis, also providing examples to support your claims and counterclaims.
Study exemplar ToK essays
How do you find your voice when your knowledge is dependent on external resources? Read past ToK essays with great scores written by previous students. This provides a platform for a multitude of ideas, displaying different ways of thinking and unique ways of approaching a topic. Reading past essays will also help you overcome any challenges that you’ve faced while writing, at the same time providing opportunities for you to choose which approach works best for you.
Deconstruct past ToK essays for an outline
You’ve got all the material in front of you. It’s a lot of information to take in. How do you incorporate these to form your original piece of work? After reading past ToK essays, you need to deconstruct them and form an outline of their essay. This will help you study how the others have structured their answers, and also give you an idea of how you can incorporate examples, evidence, and supporting ideas to explore and develop your claims and counterclaims.
Conclusion
And there you have it: 7 effective tips in scoring for your ToK Essay. Planning, researching, and organizing are crucial for any essay, but you should know where and how to build an effective one. You don’t? There’s no need to worry. You can sign up here, or browse our course page if you want personal guidance and feedback for your ToK Essay!
Notes:
*Ways of Knowing are what they suggest – the tools or methods of gaining knowledge. These include language, emotion, perception, reason, imagination, etc.
The Areas of Knowledge are the IB ToK Topics that help you focus on a particular ToK title: ethics, history, natural sciences, mathematics, language, religion…the list is long.
Main idea. Check. Intro. Check. Purpose of Essay. Check. Effective Conclusion. Umm…
Now let’s imagine this. You just had the best meal of your life. Scrumptious, juicy, and flavourful. And then came the dessert – a mousse that was chalky and grainy in texture. That perfect meal isn’t so perfect anymore.
This is similar to a perfectly ruined essay. From our years of teaching experience, we have found that students lose important marks because they don’t end their answers well. Be it an IGCSE exam, an IB exam, or a University Essay, every component of your essay needs to be done properly. Some students begin very well, but then lose their flow in the middle, or even towards the end. By the time they’ve reached their conclusion, they’re in the middle of an ocean with no shore to swim to.
This blog post should help give some insight into writing an effective conclusion that also functions as an appropriate ending or a close.
But first, why is the conclusion so important?
It is an appropriate close to a thesis statement or an argument. Where the thesis answers the ‘what’ or ‘why’, the conclusion answers the ‘so what now’. It leaves a lasting effect on the reader with a thought process to carry forward.
Writing An Effective Conclusion for your essay
PLAN
Our students know this. We teach them from the very beginning to plan their answers before they begin. This not only organizes your ideas in a logical sequence but you’re also equipped with points to include in your conclusion.
A good body structure is the basis for a good conclusion.
BE CONSISTENT
While writing your conclusion, make sure that your tone and style are consistent with the rest of your thesis argument. A contradictory tone will confuse the endpoint and hamper your main ideas explained throughout.
Your conclusion must reinstate the same points that you’ve touched upon, but try not to use them verbatim, and summarise your points in a brief manner.
AVOID NEW SENTENCES OR IDEAS
Avoid bringing in new ideas in your conclusion. This is another thing that we notice in students’ answers. Bringing in new ideas does not do justice to them, and they also have no scope for exploration, nor do they add value as they’re left incomplete. Instead, shift these new points from your conclusion to your body paragraphs, giving them more scope for exploration.
FORM A CONNECTION
The point of your conclusion is to bring an appropriate end to your answer or essay. And, that means that you need to connect your closing statement with your opening statement. That makes the end of your answer look more structured, systematic, and cohesive.
This displays your focus on organizing your ideas and sets a neat impression on the examiner or the admissions officer.
Apart from these, here are other pointers to help you write a strong conclusion for your next writing project:
Plan your conclusion just like you’d plan the rest of your essay to ensure a great flow of ideas.
Maintain a consistent tone throughout your conclusion.
End on a positive note.
Rephrase and summarize your main points.
Communicate the importance of your argument.
Write with the intention of providing closure to the reader.
Avoid beginning your conclusion with the words ‘in conclusion, to conclude, in summary, to recap’, etc.
Here’s a brief outline to help you plan your conclusion paragraph:
Topic sentence – This would be a repetition of your thesis statement or overarching idea. You must make sure not to repeat the exact words and yet retain the essence of the thesis.
Supporting sentences – These should include all your important points that support your thesis statement, and express the importance of your ideas as well.
Concluding sentence – Being the final word on the subject, the closing statement should connect back to an image or an anecdote that was initiated in the introductory paragraph.
Remember, if you’re an IB or IGCSE student needing help with your essays, our experienced, dedicated teachers are there to guide you. Contact us!
The most necessary task to do for an increase in productivity during exams is to revise the topics learned so far. The key is to not forget what you have learned and retain it for a long time. Memory is formed by revision that depends on consistency, frequency, and regularity. However, if it’s not planned properly, the process can become tedious. The IB Chinese with the course code CHIN 1002, is rather an easy-to-score paper if planned and revised properly. Here are a few tips which could be used to make revising less daunting.
Read and Highlight
Reading is a skill that can be nurtured and developed. Consistent reading practice will make you better at it day by day. While reading through a new text, it is also important to highlight the words that are unfamiliar to you. This will help improve your vocabulary and will also enable you to understand the text better.
Since you are learning a new language, content mastery is also important.
Write
Documenting all the new words learned might help you navigate through the syllabus better. It can be beneficial if you are able to consolidate all the content you have been exposed to, into one place. Try to add at least 20 words every day to the list. This will broaden your vocabulary so that you are able to articulate concepts accurately and more effectively to others.
Thus apart from learning your subject material, this will also increase your ability to communicate. Writing also helps in improving your spelling.
Practice
As the famous proverb goes, “Practice maketh a man perfect”, it is important to continuously practice especially while learning a new language. It is advisable to write down each of the new words three times along with the English words so that you can comprehend them in a better way.
Practicing 10 -20 new words every day and repeating the process when you read through another new lesson will help you in the long run.
Stick to a study plan
With multiple distractions coupled with the intense rigor of the IB syllabus, students might find it hard to focus on studying, especially for their SL subjects such as IB Chinese. Hence, it is necessary for students to craft a study plan and stick to it. It is important to create a study plan that is feasible and realistic. Taking breaks in between your study hours is advisable.
Every day, take 15-20 minutes to read a book that is not a part of your IB Chinese syllabus. When you learn any new words and phrases, find some friends speaking the language and practice what you have learned with them.
Learn with a Chinese Expert
For those who come from non-Chinese speaking backgrounds and are not exposed to Chinese on a regular basis, the language will be challenging. They may need to spend extra time and effort learning the language and find themselves discouraged easily whenever they do not see large improvements. For this reason, it is beneficial to get extra help.
At Young Scholarz, students will have an allocated amount of time every week for targeted, personalized help in Chinese. You can register for 1:1 or group classes with us and learn from our expert Chinese teacher. Check out our IB Mandarin ab initio and IB Mandarin Language B at both SL and HL.
Ready to start your lifelong journey with us?
We guarantee an improvement in grades, with most students improving by an average of 2 bands.
