How to Study for the IB Biology Exam (both HL and SL)

1. Study in advance. Biology is the most extensive class in the International Baccalaureate in terms of what you have to remember, especially if you are taking the higher level class. In order not to be overwhelmed, start studying early.
   1. If you have not done this, don’t panic. You know more than you think, just by attending classes and keeping up with work you probably refreshed a lot of the material. Read over certain aspects you don’t understand, watch crash course videos, and try to learn as much as you can. However, do not overdo it, since you don’t want to try to cram so much information that you start getting confused.
2. Try to understand what you’re studying instead of just memorizing the material. Learning information is much more useful than just memorizing it, since you can reason through questions on Papers 1 and 2 more easily if you understand what they’re asking instead of just regurgitating the facts. This includes asking your teacher, rereading certain aspects of the book, or even searching for more information online. Different explanations might work better for you than others, so don’t fret.
3. Draw pictures, maps, diagrams, anything that’ll help you understand what’s going on. Paper 2 should be okay, if you do other practice papers you will notice that certain questions or topics come up every single exam. Paper 1 is harder, both because they’ll try to have trick questions and they’ll ask a wider variety of questions. Yet, don’t worry, you’ll do fine!
4. Remember the IB is just another representation of what you’ve learned, so go show it off!