Two Practical Study Habits for IB ESS Students

27 Dec Two Practical Study Habits for IB ESS Students

You do not need to wait for a new year to improve your IB study habits. Two useful changes are to turn a difficult task into a specific weekly goal and to plan assignments as a sequence of small actions. For ESS students, both habits can make it easier to identify what needs practice and arrive at a lesson with a clear question.

Habit 1: work on one specific difficulty each week

A goal such as “get better at ESS” is difficult to check. Choose something observable instead: explain one process without notes, describe a graph using relevant data, or plan a response to an evaluate question.

Begin with an answer you have already attempted. Identify the part that needs attention, practise it and review a fresh attempt later. Keep a short record:

• Task: what question or skill am I practising?
• Difficulty: what was missing, unclear or incorrect?
• Action: what will I do differently?
• Check: what will show whether I can now do it?

For example, if a graph answer only says “the value increases,” your next goal might be to describe the overall pattern and support it with appropriate values and units. A later question can show whether you have learned to apply that habit to unfamiliar data.

For a session structure, use our 30-minute ESS revision routine. Adjust the time to the task and review the work before adding more questions.

Habit 2: plan the next action before the deadline

Write school deadlines in one place, then work backwards from each one. An assignment becomes easier to start when the next step is concrete. “Work on my IA” can become “compare two possible data sources and note their limitations.”

1. Clarify the task. Read the instructions and note what you need to ask your teacher.
2. Break it into stages. Separate planning, evidence collection or selection, analysis, writing and checking.
3. Schedule a first action. Choose a manageable task and a realistic time to begin it.
4. Leave time to review. Allow for missing information, corrections and other school commitments.

For an IA, check any plan involving fieldwork, participants or practical procedures with your school before starting. Keep your investigation and submitted report your own.

A short weekly review

At the end of the week, ask: What did I complete? What can I now explain or do? What still needs clarification? Choose the next task using those answers. If the plan was too large, reduce it to a smaller action you can complete and check.

Parents can help by discussing the next task and available time. A specific question such as “Which part of the answer are you practising?” can make the conversation more useful than focusing only on the final grade.

Bring a clear question to your ESS lesson

Share your SL or HL level, the topics covered at school and a recent task you found difficult. Read how online ESS tutoring works to prepare for a lesson.

Marija Maletz is an ESS teacher, examiner and tutor. Students and parents can request a free 20-minute trial lesson to discuss a suitable learning goal, or check the current lesson options and prices.