Reddit mentions of Chemistry for the IB Diploma Exam Preparation Guide

Buy a revision guide.

This is the one I bought for HL

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemistry-Diploma-Exam-Preparation-Guide/dp/1107495806/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456745322&sr=8-2&keywords=IB+Chemistry+Revision+guide+2016

I basically was the same as you. I got straight A's pre-IB, but when I started the Chemistry HL course, I died. I wasn't able to grasp simple concepts (it took me months and months to understand moles lmao), but with this revision guide, I was able to bring up my grade from a failing 2 to a 4. It basically saved my diploma. Make revision notes using this book, and then make them into flashcards.

I also stuck up important concepts, equations and definitions around my room. Memorising the synthetic routes map is also very important to do. Make your own, stick it up on your wall, and read aloud the routes to yourself every day. Trust me, it will stick in your brain.

Good luck, you got this

Personally, I really like the Cambridge University Press ones, like this one for Chemistry. I only have them for Chemistry and Physics but they're much better than the Oxford ones in my opinion. I also like it because my school use the Oxford IB Diploma Programme Textbooks to teach the course in the first place, and having a study guide with a different brand to the textbook has been really useful for me to find extra examples of questions or different ways of explaining topics that I may not have wholly understood in the main textbook.



For Geography, I use this study guide, though I don't really know if it's the best one because we got lent them by the school. I think it's pretty good, but maybe there is a better one out there.


I don't think you really need them for the other subjects - you can always buy individual study guides for the books you study for English or, if you have to buy the books themselves, try and get the 'Methuen Student Edition' because it has lots of information at the beginning of the book. For French, you could buy a vocabulary book like this or a grammar book, like this, but there's loads on the internet anyway so I wouldn't worry about it too much.



And for Maths, I don't think a study guide will be that useful, as I think the main thing is practice, practice, practice!




Oh, and maybe hold off on buying anything just yet (especially for Chemistry and Physics) - the IB really like messing around with the syllabus and it won't be that useful to have an outdated version of a study guide