This article is provided by Lanterna Education for Kognity users. Lanterna Education is an online tutoring organisation that specialises in the IB and IGCSE.

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I know the feeling. You ask someone what they scored in their diploma and they say 40-something. You can’t help but roll your eyes - those people are definitely robots. Wrong. In this post, I want to share five tips that made a massive difference in the outcome of my diploma!

We know that the IB and our teachers love throwing hundreds of assignments our way. The first way to make sure we feel able to tackle them, is to prioritise. What tasks are urgent and which are less so? Which assignment is the most important for our diploma? Once we’ve categorised these tasks, break them down! I know how hard it is to sit down and try and write an essay plan let alone a 1500 word internal assignment. My advice is to ‘chunk’ this work up into smaller parts - for example, the introduction, methodology etc. Not only does this help us see where we are, but it gives us a psychological boost to see our progress. Remember: a 4000 word Extended Essay is just four, one-thousand word essays!

We all know that the IB requires us to study independently for extended periods of time. This, however, makes it extremely difficult to keep focused and stay motivated. It’s important then, to find something to keep us going in both the long and short terms.

IB students love talking about IB points, but the truth is points don’t matter unless we work out what they’ll unlock for us. Do you have that dream university? The job? That amazing gap year plan? Living in a small village, I was always attracted to the city lights of London. During my IB I did a whole host of research: Where would I live? Who would I meet? Where would I party? I felt that I was no longer working towards a total, but a whole new way of life. Bring these to the front of your mind so you can see that the hard work you put in now will matter!

Procrastination has never been easier. A focus on digital learning and access to the internet means it takes seconds to switch from TOK to TikTok. But why not try and fight fire with fire? There are a countless number of great apps and plugins that you can try out to put down your phone and pick up your pen! Some of my personal favourites are Self Control and Screen Time – both free and effective!

Everyone in the IB has that one or two subjects that they just don’t ‘get’. No matter how hard we seemingly try, it just won’t click. This is where ‘dead time’ can prove super useful. ‘Dead time’ is that time when we aren’t relaxing or working that we could plug with a productive task like listening to an educational podcast or looking over some notes. My Spanish was always my weakest area but looking at 30 or 40 flashcards a day on a little walk did so much for my confidence and thus my final grade in the subject. Don’t get too weird and start studying poetry in your bathroom, but five or ten minutes spent on something small really adds up!

Make life easier for yourself by figuring out exactly what the IB wants. In fact, make it a priority to collect the ‘golden triangle’ of the diploma; the syllabi, past papers and mark schemes.

It took me an embarrassing amount of time to check out the syllabus but as soon as I did, I could see the gaps I needed to fill. But don’t be like me, why not use it to structure your learning? The simple act of placing new knowledge within that framework enables us to make better notes and actually retain the content even better. I was always worried about remembering all the course content but having my notes framed by the syllabus helped me see exactly the points I needed to remember!

You’ve probably heard this time and time again, but being familiar with past papers will be key in doing yourself justice. It’s great to understand the course content but it’s just as important to know how to use this information. Used effectively, mark schemes almost work as mini revision guides (particularly for your sciences and math subjects) to show what the IB wants from us!

Getting stuck is a killer of both progress and motivation. How many times have you sat down with your math book, tried to do an exercise, and ended up just staring at it? You know that you don’t know how to do it, but you don’t know what to do about it! If you don’t have access to your teacher for these moments, you can start a WhatsApp group with friends. A lot of IB students also turn to Lanterna, the company I work with specialised in IB tutoring, to get an expert IB tutor to help them progress faster (as Kognity users, you get discounted tutoring by visiting this link).

Whichever way you do it, make sure you have someone to help you through those sticking points!

The final and most important point to feel and do better in your diploma, is to look after yourself. Life might feel incredibly stressful right now, not least because of your IB diploma. I know it’s hard, but try and prioritise your mental and physical health. Interestingly, having a great sleep or going for a sweaty jog (if you can!) will have a much better outcome for your schoolwork than pushing yourself to study for that extra hour. Don’t be afraid to change up your study environment and never be worried about asking for help!

It’s also important to look out for each other. Your best ‘resource’ might well be your coursemates. A problem shared is a problem halved. Hop on FaceTime, Zoom or Skype and work through a piece of homework! Stay social whilst studying smart!

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So there we have it, five tips that took me from feeling pretty hopeless about my IB to finding productive habits. Why not try one of them out today? Who knows, it might just make all the difference.

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Liam studied Geography at the London School of Economics. Since graduation, he has been part of the Lanterna team where he travels to 100s of schools per year around the world to inspire and help IB and IGCSE students. He is also one of the many online tutors at Lanterna that together support 1000s of IB students.