How to Approach History IB Revision To Achieve a 7: Our Updated 2024 Study Guide
In this blog, Rachel, a double first-class Cambridge HSPS graduate, gives tips on how to revise to achieve a 7 in IB History Higher Level. Before she attended Cambridge, Rachel took the IB and achieved a 45, a score attained by only the top 0.44% of students worldwide in her examination cohort. Her subjects were History, Philosophy, and English Literature Higher Level, and Maths, Biology and Spanish Ab Initio Standard Level.
How to prepare for the History IB: Revision, Notes and Tips
I often felt overwhelmed by the amount of content I had to cover in History. However, there are a few methods I used to break down the content and make the whole revision process a lot easier.
Step 1: Figure out what you need notes for
There’s a huge amount of content to cover for History HL, and you’ll find details of this in the syllabus guide. You should start by noting down each heading on the syllabus guide that’s relevant to you, as you may be required to write an essay about all of these subjects, even if you haven’t necessarily studied them in class.
For History, it’s particularly important to take note of which factors you may be asked to compare and contrast. For example, as you can see in the screenshot below, if you are doing authoritarian states in Paper 2, you might be asked to compare the importance of economic factors, social division, war, and the political system in the emergence of authoritarian states, so you should make sure your revision compares and contrasts all of these factors, as opposed to just preparing one argument about why one of these factors was the most important. Similarly with the methods used to establish authoritarian states, make sure your revision covers how persuasion and coercion, leaders, ideology, force, AND propaganda may have contributed to the establishment of authoritarian states, as you may be asked a question on just one of these factors i.e., how does the use of force contribute to the establishment of authoritarian states? Although your response should compare the importance of the use of force to other factors, you need to have a good understanding of how all of these factors contribute to the establishment of an authoritarian state, and how they may interact with each other, in order to make a good argument.
Step 2: Divide the material with friends
There is a lot of content to cover for History, and so it’s best to divide and conquer if you can. I had a friend who I really trusted and had worked well with before, so we split up the material for each paper and each wrote essay plans for half of the topic areas. It was also good as we kept each other accountable – I couldn’t procrastinate writing those essay plans as I knew I’d be letting her down as well as myself.
Step 3: Write essay plans, not notes
A constant problem that people encounter when writing History essays is that their essays become descriptions of facts as opposed to actual arguments. I think the best method to fix this is to make sure your notes are written as essay plans from the outset.
With my essay plans, I would write a thesis statement for each paragraph, and then underneath that, a few pieces of relevant evidence and explanation of how that evidence was relevant. This meant that all the facts I memorised were clearly linked to a point I was trying to make, and I was therefore able to avoid the trap of just listing a bunch of information. I also made sure to insert allusions to at least one historiographical debate relevant to my argument in the introduction or conclusion.
Step 4: Memorise your essay plans
I know this sounds really tedious, but after I’d written up all my essay plans, I memorised them. As I’d used the syllabus guide, this meant I was basically prepared for any question on the examination paper. During the exam, I was able to write out the essay plan I’d memorised without having to think too much, meaning I had a lot more time to write as well. This also meant I was a lot less nervous going into the exam than I would’ve been otherwise, as I felt assured that no matter what I was asked, I had a corresponding essay plan.
Step 5: Practise the source paper
The one paper you can’t apply this method to is the source paper, as that’s supposed to be unseen and writing out essay plans in advance will make your responses seem too rehearsed, and often times will mean your responses don’t really answer the question. As a result, it’s best just to do quite a few practice papers in advance, and to develop a general structure that you want your answers to follow. Make sure you also get feedback from teachers on your past papers, as this will help refine your responses.
An Oxbridge History Graduate’s Top Tips for Source Analysis and Understanding Historiography
Check out our blog on Historiography & engaging your historical imagination on our co-curricular site, Minds Underground.
Step 6: The actual exam
Make sure that you eat and sleep well in the week before the exam so that you’re on top form on the day. Don’t try and cram the night before – even if you feel less prepared than you like, I promise it’s more important to get a good night’s sleep than to memorise a few extra essay plans. Best of luck!
Looking for an IB History Tutor?
Due to the amount of work involved, the IB can feel overwhelming, but our specialist IB tutors are skilled at finding strategies to manage the large amounts of material required to cover, and to help students score highly across each component. Each tutor is capable of adapting their teaching style to suit each individual student’s needs and adept at helping students develop the skills required to create high quality essays under exam conditions. We also offer sessions on Study Skills, Essay Writing, Theory of Knowledge and Academic Research for Pre-IB candidates.
The IB Tuition Process:
Most clients book a complimentary consultation to discuss their particular requirements. We have a large team of Oxbridge-educated IB History tutors, including a number of tutors who have achieved perfect (45) or near-perfect scores. For both Standard and Higher Level subjects, we will pair students with an IB tutor who has not only excelled in their own IB in the subject (Scored 7), but also gone on to take the subject (or a closely related subject) to degree level at Oxford or Cambridge university.
We suggest a specialist IB tutor/s and send their full CV/s for review: Our tutors are deeply familiar with the IB process, and are well-placed to guide students through examination preparation, IA assessments, Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essays etc. We may suggest a range of IB tutors to choose from with slightly differing rates depending on qualifications and level of experience.
We typically suggest beginning with a 1.5 hour informal assessment/ preliminary session, where the tutor will informally assess the student’s current subject level and identify areas for development. Following this, we issue a report with feedback, and structure a plan to best prepare.
Regular IB sessions: If you are happy to proceed following the initial session, we will have registered you on our online system, following which, sessions can be arranged as and when you need, with reports sent after every session. Our IB tutors will guide the student through each element of the process required, will plan for sessions meticulously, and ensure the student is on track to achieve their desired grade.
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