Alright, let’s talk about the IB Psychology exam – although it can get very tricky, with the right tips and resources you can surely nail that 7.
Psychology is such a fun topic to read about but taking it as an IB subject is a completely different thing. Something that many students might not be aware of is the syllabus’s size and the amount of information and topics covered in it.
(yes, even SL)
Do not let it scare you though, with an organized schedule and effective study methods it is very doable.
General Tips:
- First and foremost, you should know the syllabus inside out. What are the different sections and their topics, as well as the High Level (HL) extensions if you’re an HL student. The content is no joke, you better make sure that you are really familiar with the key studies for each topic, methods, and tools. Don’t just memorize it because it is too much and you are bound to forget something, you have to understand
- Do NOT give little attention to the key studies because they are the backbone to ALL of your exam responses, whether it is a Short Answer Question (SAQ) or Extended Response Question (ERQ).
- Practice writing SAQs and ERQs like your life depends on it, it is the most practical and effective way to prepare for those exams.
Now I’ll be sharing some detailed tips and resources which helped me score relatively well as a High Level (HL) student.
Methods
Memorizing studies:
A thing to note is that not all methods work for everyone, you should explore them all and see which one is the most effective for you.
Some common issues when it comes to studying IB Psychology is the number of studies needed to be memorized, obviously the content too. To solve this issue make a list of studies and arrange them by topics, while doing that you will realize that some studies may apply to more than one topic therefore minimizing the number of studies you have to memorize! (trust me, even if it is just 3 studies less, you will be jumping up from joy)
