A couple of months ago we opened a poll asking which charity you would like to benefit from the money and UNICEF got a massive 65% of the vote!

Poll Results

UNICEF – 65%
The Prince’s Trust – 9%
Mencap – 13%
UWC Simón Bolivar College – 13%

A HUGE thank you to everybody! Your money will be put to good use by the United Nations organisation to help children from across the world. £130 is an amazing amount of money, but it is still better than nothing! You can help us raise even more money by clicking through this website to Amazon UK or Amazon USA and/or by purchasing textbooks (from Amazon) after clicking the ‘Buy’ buttons on this website. 5% of the price you pay will be paid to IBDamned.com by Amazon and then this will be donated to UNICEF.

I will now contact UNICEF and request information on how they wish to receive the monies and hopefully they will write a little something for us to put up here for you guys! I will update when we get a response and post images of the money being sent off!!

Many Many Thanks! (Don’t forget! Purchase using IBDamned.com and we can raise even more)

George @ IBDamned.com

The crazy amounts of work you’ve been doing for the past 18 months is about to pay off!

It’s not too late to do some hardcore revision, cramming doesn’t work for everybody, but some people find it very useful.

You can still download and print the IB Timetable if for some bizzare reason you don’t already have one! (Or you’ve lost it) by clicking: IB 2010 exam schedule

I hope everybody does well and meets their university offers (if they’re going) and if not, enjoy employment or a gap year! Don’t forget to tell your friends in the IB years below about IBDamned.com!

Warning: This is a VERY long post, however, it contains a lot of useful information that could help with your exams, skim and scan to find what you want, but I would recommend you read it all! Don’t forget to tell your friends about this post if you find it useful!

Exams are fast approaching for those of you taking your IB May 2010 Exams! And that means you need to start some serious revision and accumulation of all that knowledge you have been given over the past 18 months. The IB Exams are serious business, especially seeing that you need to pass all six of your subjects to get the full Diploma!

You CAS and Coursework requirements will be out of the way, your ToK lessons will now be over (three cheers!) and your Extended Essay will probably be half way around the world by now being marked! Now this is the time to put everything aside and crack on with some Revision!

Revision Tips:

Study Guides

Study Guides are great to help refresh your memory of stuff you’ve gone over in more detail in Class, you can also use them for learning things that you may have missed if you have run out of time completely. Study Guides take all the information you need and compresses it into nice, easy to handle segments that you can revise from, something that is helpful if you’ve got a short attention span!

There are Study Guides for many subjects, but not for all, so use them where you can, but don’t rely on them completely! Use your own notes you’ve made in class, hassle your teachers to help you (email, phone, fax, Facebook, whatever!) and even checkout Youtube, especially for Mathematics where you can find some really amazing e-learning videos to help get your head around everything from Differentiation to Trig to Logarithms. Feel free to leave comments of any useful channels or videos you find that could benefit other students!

Here are the Study Guides available from the Oxford University Press:

IB Business and Management Study Guide

IB Mathematical Studies Study Guide

IB Physics Study Guide

IB Economics Study Guide

IB Biology Study Guide

IB Chemistry Study Guide

IB PAST PAPERS!

These are vital for successful revision! You need to get used to the way the IBO ask you questions! The best way to do this? Past Papers, Past Papers and more Past Papers!

http://www.freeexampapers.com/Dndex.php?d=SUI=

The above lists hundreds of IB Past Papers and their markschemes for anybody to access, it really is an amazingly useful resource and you should seriously consider using it, it will help. The site is really easy to use and everything should be self-explanatory.

Also check out this website that lists some more IB resources that are quite useful. Including QuestionBanks which are also available to purchase from the IBO store should you wish to use them. Downloading them from the following site is illegal, and I am not responsible for your actions, I am simply alerting you to a website that offers useful (and legal) IB resources, however there are also illegal files there which you should not access unless you have the right to.

Yosh.Yolasite.com

and

http://y2sdigitalmedia.com/v2/qb.html

I am not responsible, in any way, for any decisions you make in using these papers or Questionbanks as they are copyright protected to the IBO, you access the above websites at your own risk and agree not to use anything that is copyrighted unless you have permission from the IBO to use them, this means that to use the files in a legal way you need to purchase them from http://store.ibo.org

NB: Print off or complete the past paper exam BEFORE you look at the markscheme, it will be very tempting to take a peak at the markscheme whilst completing the paper to check a little detail, and you’ll then find your eyes looking at the other answers. This won’t help track your progress. It will help you know what they’re asking you, but it would be much better to look AFTER completing the entire paper, that way you can work out what you need to focus on, what you’re good at, and also what the IB want you to say. I’m very guilty of using the markscheme to cheat, so now I don’t print it off at all and leave it closed whilst I complete the past paper (away from any distractions such as the computer or the TV). If you feel tempted to look something up in your notes or on the internet, mark it down by circling the question number, then at the end you can go over it. Some people may find it better to look it up there and then, but that’s down to you, just try not to rely on the markscheme to complete the paper for you as you won’t have it in the real thing, and relying on it may damage your confidence.

How to Revise:

Many people revise in different ways, and trying to work out which way works best for you is probably the hardest part of revising, it is for me anyway! There are a number of ways in which you can revise, and you should give them a try and see what works and what doesn’t. These are:

• Prompt Notes – Like what people use when giving speeches
• Buzzwords – Where you use single words of phrases to trigger a memory
• Copying – Rewriting your notes may help you remember your content, it may be a waste of time and paper for others
• Audio – Record yourself saying the most important stuff, play it back.
• Video – Youtube videos to help you visualise processes (for Sciences) learn techniques for Mathematics, economics and business related commentators etc. Youtube has almost everything, it’s the best thing since sliced bread the IBO.
• Colourful Posters – Great for people that like learning with colour! (Don’t spend more time making it look pretty than actually revising! It’s very easily done)
• Tables & Grids – Summarising things into Tables and neatly into grids can be really useful for ‘Causes and Effects’ for History, Differences and Similarities for History and the Sciences, and a whole number of things. Very good for comparison type questions that may come up in the Sciences and Group 3 (Individuals & Societies)
• Teach your friends – Teaching somebody else helps to set stuff into your memory, take it in turns with class mates to teach eachother a topic and help reinforce what you know, it will build your confidence, which is important if you sometimes hesitate when answering a question because ‘I may be wrong’, if you have no other answers, go for it!
• Mnemonics – These are fantastic for remembering the ordering of things (Scientific processes! Think MITOSIS! (PMAT)), the most known one is ROY.G.BIV – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet – Or, ‘Richard of York gave battle in vain’. Any type of these will help you remember the right ordering which is sometimes a way the IB like to trick you!
• Take a Break! – This one gets onto every list about Revision Tips, but it’s one of the most important. Don’t work your brain into overdrive, it will most likely make you feel worse in the long run, especially if you’re not used to intense revision. Take a break every hour, whatever you think is best. Be strict with yourself! Don’t go for your break and return 5 hours and 3 beers later, Procrastination is evil, I know all about it!

Revision Timetable

Having a timetable and sticking to it is tough, it’s a lot easier to stick to a timetable set by authority, e.g. Your School, but following a timetable you set yourself is hard and it requires discipline and effort and determination. Planning what you need to revise and when to do it will help you get through your revision, it’ll help you manage your time and prioritise what needs the most work. It’s good to have a timetable, but you must stick to it. I can’t emphasise this enough! Having a timetable and then putting everything off to go to the Cinema or to watch that latest episode of House will build up over the days to a point where you’ve lost hours upon hours of revision time!

Okay, so how do I go about making a Revision Timetable with the minimum amount of effort required? One site: GetRevising.co.uk This site will help you plan out your time, you can prioritise what subjects needs the most work and then it will make you a pretty and colourful timetable that you can print out. It’s not a one click process, it requires effort and the site may annoy you at times, but it’s worth it! And it is almost certainly going to be a lot easier than you opening up an Excel spreadsheet and making one yourself.

Now, I would like to wish ALL of you the BEST OF LUCK in your examinations!!! I hope you all do well and get the grades you need for your University Offers (if you’re going). It has been a long ride for you all, and I’ve got it all to look forward to next year!

If you have any comments on revising, tips, or wish to say Good Luck to others, please feel free to leave a comment, you can log in with Facebook or just use the form below this post.

Those of you in IB2 that have their exams start on the 4th May 2010 can access a timetable by clicking here

Those of you in IB1 that have their exams start on 3rd May 2011 can access a timetable by clicking here.

I would like to thank everybody that has been benefiting from the website and has clicked the and purchased a textbook from Amazon!

ALL revenue from the sale of Textbooks will be donated to a Children’s or Educational related charity. You can vote for which charity you want to benefit from the money we raise below. If you have any comments please feel free to leave them here!

How does IBDamned make money from me buying a book at Amazon?!

If you click from IBDamned you are redirect to Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com (depending on whether you click the UK or USA button). When you purchase a textbook Amazon pay IBDamned 5% of what you pay. So if you purchase a number of textbooks for £50 or $50, Amazon gives IBDamned £5 or $5, respectively. All this ‘revenue’ is what will be donated to charity.’

Why do Amazon pay IBDamned?

Amazon pay a percentage to website owners as a sort of ‘motivation’ for the website owner sending people to Amazon to buy something, thus making Amazon money. This sort of agreement between IBDamned and Amazon is called an ‘Affiliation’. Most websites that send people to Amazon were built purposely to do this, so the website owner can make money. However, the 5% that Amazon give me will not personally be for me, All of it will be donated to Charity.

But what about the website hosting and other costs of the site?

Good question. Hosting a website with a lot of visitors like IBDamned doesn’t come cheap. As I’m only an IB Student myself I am not made of money. So a small amount of money that is made from Amazon will be used to pay for the website hosting. I would love to be able to donate 100% of the revenue to charity, but this isn’t possible unless people were to donate to pay for the website upkeep, instead by buying textbooks using our Amazon links you help pay for the website to remain on the internet and also the vast amounts that will be left over are donated to charity!

Why are you doing this?

IBDamned is part of my Creativity, Action and Service. I have got a lot out of making this website so far, and there is a huge benefit at the end of it. Money for charity, but also a huge section of my CAS requirement being complete!

What are your plans for the future?

Well, I’m planning on adding many new textbooks to the website in the coming weeks as there are a great deal more textbooks that have recently been released. After that I’m going to try and get the International Baccalaureate Organisation to help spread the word about the website, I think this website is a fantastic resource and the more people that know about it, the better!

What can I do to help?!

There are a number of things!
1) Whenever you want to buy a textbook come and search for it on IBDamned and purchase it through out link @ Amazon.
2) If you ever want to buy ANYTHING at Amazon you should do so using these links:
AMAZON UK
AMAZON USA
Using the above links to buy anything on Amazon will still result in IBDamned receiving 5% of what you spend, The more for charity the better!
3) Submit more reviews for IB Textbooks! If you have a textbook and you have an opinion of it, share it! By providing reviews you’ll be helping other students know which books to buy!
4) Tell your friends!! If you know other IB Students or have friends that know IB Students, then let them know about this site so they can help out too.

Don’t let the IB exams scare you!! With revision and hard work, you’ll do great!

It’s time to make sure all your coursework is close to being done, and that you start revising! 118 days sounds like a huge amount of time, but it will fly! And every little bit of revision WILL HELP!

Do a little bit each night, don’t go crazy, but don’t be too relaxed about it, a bit of work in the evenings and you’ll help secure the best grade possible. Get a few revision guides if you think that will help, they are listed on this site here, many with reviews.

And most importantly, Good Luck! (I’ll be sure to wish you this as the time draws closer!)

You can download the latest timetable by clicking here. Share the Ib Exam Schedule 2010 with all your IB friends so they know what to prepare for!

It’s 2am and I’ve just finished changing the template of IB Damned and adding some new features that will be working behind the scenes to improving loading times and make things smoother.

The new template is up and running (finally). I hope you prefer it to our old template and that it will make your time on this site more enjoyable.

If you have any comments on the new layout or some ideas for further site updates, please leave a comment!

Watch this space for some more Textbooks coming soon, and also look out for some Textbooks that aren’t specifically for the IB Diploma, but instead Textbooks that you may be interested in.

Keep studying hard!

Just want to give everybody a quick update.

More books will be added to the site over the next few weeks, I am aiming to have almost every IB textbooks on the site for the end of July and the start of August, so that students starting the IB from August and September will have a resource to help them find textbooks.

Hope everybody is enjoying their summer holidays if you’re having them (sorry UK IB1 students!) and hope you’re getting ready for another year of study

Most students that are in the year before embarking onto Further Education (International Baccalaureate, A Levels, SATs, APs) have finished their exams and have started their summer holidays. Some of them may even be planning to study the IB Diploma Programme when the new term starts. If this is you, carry on reading!

I’m sure that you know the fundamentals of the International Baccalaureate by this stage, especially if you are studying it next year! But, if you don’t I would strongly advise you check out the following websites that will be able to give you an idea of what to expect, IBO DP website & International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Article on Wikipedia, these sites will be able to explain the IB much better than I could ever hope to.

Now, you have an idea of what to expect, it may seem a little bit daunting! But if you are willing to put in the hours and work during your own time and organise! I’m sure you shall be fine.

I’ve got all this free time, what can I do to prepare myself? – Well, it’s up to you. If you want you can try and learn some of the content now, or you can just wait until the course starts. I would recommend that you start learning during your free time as there is alot of content to learn, especially when you’re studying six subjects, doing your 150 hours of CAS and ToK and the Extended Essay. You should probably get in touch with your school now if you can, see what textbooks they recommend you buy and whether they will provide them, or you can have a look at the the textbooks reviewed here and decide which will be best for you.

What should I do to prepare myself? Just spend a few hours a day, not every day, just a few days per week, reading up in the textbooks and answering the questions, making notes, researching on the Internet. Just do something that will make you more familiar with the course! Don’t over do it though, otherwise you will find your motivation may suffer when you do actually start full time.

I don’t want to prepare now, I want to enjoy my summer! Good! Remember, it’s up to you. The IB focuses on directing students to learn for themselves. If you would rather spend your last ‘free’ summer doing fun things then go for it! Remember, the summer holiday between IB year 1 and IB year 2 will be very busy with work and internal assessments.

Once again, It’s up to You whether you do work or not before the course starts! I would recommend you do a little to give you a brief head start, it will help in the long run and when you do start the work load won’t be as big a shock to you than if you did nothing! Good Luck! Have Fun! Prepare!!

If there is an IB textbook that you have and want to submit a review for please request that we add it!

You can use the form below to submit a request for a book here (http://www.ibdamned.com/request)

Thank you for your contributions so far! Keep those reviews coming in and we can make this a really useful resource for IB students!!