What should I prioritize first in the IB DP2 fall term?

Begin with tasks that could threaten diploma eligibility or miss a genuinely fixed school deadline. Next, move assessed coursework such as IAs, the EE, TOK tasks, or oral components toward the next required milestone. After that, prepare for imminent assessments that provide useful evidence of your current achievement. University applications need protected time according to their actual deadlines, but they should not occupy every available study period. Keep a small amount of cumulative revision running throughout the term so that older material does not disappear.

Should I prioritize IAs or exam revision in September and October?

In many schools, urgent IA milestones deserve more time during September and October because coursework deadlines arrive earlier than final examinations. However, stopping exam preparation completely is unwise because forgotten DP1 material will make later revision harder. Use most of your independent study time for the nearest significant coursework deadline while maintaining short recall and exam-question sessions. The exact balance depends on your school's submission calendar and your current coursework progress. Ask teachers which components require action now and which can safely wait.

How many IB subjects should I focus on each week?

Choose two priority subjects for substantial attention in a typical week, while keeping brief maintenance work in the others. Select them using upcoming assessments, recent feedback, major weaknesses, and realistic opportunities to improve. Priority does not mean ignoring every other subject, since current lessons and required homework still continue. Rotate subjects as deadlines and evidence change rather than assigning permanent labels such as "strong" or "weak." This concentration is usually more productive than dividing every evening equally among six subjects.

What should I do if several IB deadlines fall in the same week?

Confirm the exact deadline and required submission stage for each task before assuming they are equally urgent. Rank the tasks by consequence, assessment value, remaining workload, and whether teacher feedback is still available. Break each project into specific actions and place those actions into the days before the deadline. Reduce optional commitments and low-value study activities, but retain sleep and a small buffer for unexpected problems. If the workload remains impossible, contact the relevant teachers or coordinator early rather than disappearing or submitting nothing.

Is it acceptable to submit work that is good enough rather than perfect?

Yes, provided the work meets the required instructions, represents your own effort, and has received the permitted checks. Perfectionism can become harmful when polishing one component causes another important deadline to be missed. Use the assessment criteria to distinguish improvements that could earn marks from cosmetic changes that merely consume time. Complete essential analysis, evidence, citations, and evaluation before adjusting formatting or individual sentences repeatedly. Once further editing offers little likely benefit, submit responsibly and move to the next priority.

How can I use AI tools without risking academic integrity?

Use AI to support learning, planning, or clarification only within the rules set by your school and the IB. Jojo AI can help explain a concept, quiz you, or identify an area that needs further review, but your assessed work must remain authentic. Do not submit generated wording, analysis, calculations, or citations as though you created them yourself. The IB requires transparent acknowledgement when AI-generated material is included, and individual schools may impose more restrictive instructions. When uncertain, show your teacher exactly how you intend to use the tool before relying on it for coursework.

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Prioritize When You Can't Do Everything This Term

IB Diploma IA and EE Season IB Study Guides

• 28 Sept 2026•9

Prioritize When You Can't Do Everything This Term

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Prioritize When You Can't Do Everything This Term | RevisionDojo

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Prioritize When You Can't Do Everything This Term

IB Diploma IA and EE Season IB Study Guides

• 28 Sept 2026•9

The September-to-November period of IB DP2 often combines unfinished coursework, new syllabus content, predicted-grade assessments, university applications, CAS, and mock preparation. If you cannot do everything equally well, prioritize by consequence, deadline, and academic value, not by which task feels easiest or most stressful.

Your usual order should be: protect diploma eligibility, meet immovable deadlines, advance assessed coursework, prepare for assessments that provide current evidence, complete applications, and maintain a small amount of cumulative revision. This is not an official IB hierarchy, but it is a practical framework that you should adapt to your school's calendar.

Use an IB DP2 priority hierarchy

A priority list is a decision about where limited time will produce the greatest benefit. Some work needs an excellent standard, some only needs competent completion, and some can wait.

Ask three questions whenever tasks compete:

What happens if I do not complete this on time?
How much could this affect my diploma, subject result, or application?
Can focused work still improve the outcome?

Priority	What belongs here	Appropriate response
1	Diploma requirements and fixed deadlines	Schedule immediately and confirm requirements
2	IAs, EE, TOK, orals, performances, and assessed coursework	Complete the next submission-ready step
3	Tests and work contributing to predicted-grade evidence	Practise the relevant format using feedback
4	University and scholarship applications	Work backward from official and school deadlines
5	Cumulative examination preparation	Maintain short weekly recall and question practice
6	Optional activities and low-value polishing	Reduce, postpone, delegate, or remove

Protect diploma requirements and fixed deadlines first

The Diploma Programme includes six subjects plus TOK, the Extended Essay, and CAS. TOK and the EE are assessed, while CAS must be completed successfully as a diploma requirement.

Do not assume that an online deadline is your personal deadline. The IB communicates submission dates to schools, which commonly establish earlier internal deadlines for the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. Your coordinator's confirmed calendar is therefore your operational source of truth.

Create one master list containing:

IA draft, feedback, authentication, and final deadlines
EE supervision, reflection, revision, and submission milestones
TOK deadlines relevant to your cohort
CAS interviews, evidence, reflections, and completion checks
Oral, performance, portfolio, and practical dates
Mock examinations and significant tests
University, scholarship, admissions-test, and reference deadlines

For UCAS 2027 entry, the deadline for Oxford, Cambridge, and most medicine, dentistry, and veterinary courses is 15 October 2026 at 18:00 UK time. Most other undergraduate courses have an equal-consideration deadline of 13 January 2027, although schools may require earlier completion so references can be prepared.

Advance coursework through concrete next actions

Writing "finish Biology IA" creates pressure without providing an instruction. Replace each large project with an action that fits one focused block, such as correcting uncertainty calculations, drafting an evaluation around three limitations, recording five credible EE sources, or checking citations against the bibliography.

If several projects are unfinished, rank them by confirmed deadline, current stage, assessment value, and dependence on teacher feedback. A draft due tomorrow normally outranks polishing a nearly complete project due next month.

Use the official criteria supplied through your school. RevisionDojo's IA guides can clarify structural issues, while coursework feedback can identify areas to review. Submitted writing must remain your own, and all assistance must follow your school's rules and the IB's academic integrity expectations.

Protect assessments that provide current evidence

Schools determine predicted grades using their own policies. Ask each teacher what evidence matters, when predictions are finalized, and what measurable improvement would look like.

Choose two priority subjects each week, usually those with an imminent assessment, a realistic opportunity for improvement, or an unresolved weakness. For each subject:

Identify one weak topic or paper skill from recent feedback.
Review only the material needed to repair it.
Complete relevant exam-style questions without notes.
Mark the work and classify each error.
Retest the skill with a fresh question later that week.

RevisionDojo's Questionbank supports targeted practice by subject, level, and topic. Jojo AI can clarify a specific misunderstanding, but complete the next question independently to confirm that you understand it.

Maintain a minimum revision floor

Coursework and immediate assessments may deserve more time than full-paper revision early in DP2. However, abandoning old material until mock season creates a larger problem later.

Aim for:

10-15 minutes of recall on most school days
One or two targeted question sessions each week
One short timed section in a priority subject
A mistake log recording why marks were lost

Review formulas, vocabulary, quotation banks, essay structures, and important DP1 concepts. The RevisionDojo Study Planner can convert these into specific daily tasks.

Full papers are useful for testing timing and stamina, but they are inefficient when obvious content gaps remain. Short diagnostic sets usually provide better value in September and October. Mixed and timed practice can become more regular by November.

Build a week that can survive disruption

Plan from your available time after accounting for school, travel, meals, activities, sleep, and personal responsibilities. A realistic week might include three 45-60 minute coursework blocks, three 35-50 minute subject-practice blocks, five short recall sessions, one application block, one buffer block, and protected rest.

Choose no more than three important outputs each day. "Revise one EE subsection, complete eight calculus questions, and send a reference request" is more useful than "work on school" because each task has a clear stopping point.

For more detailed scheduling, use the IB study-planner guide with the month-by-month guide to IB DP2.

Reduce repeated note rewriting, unnecessary file organization, extra questions on mastered topics, premature polishing, and optional commitments during deadline clusters. Do not sacrifice sleep routinely, since reduced attention and memory will damage the work you are trying to protect. If the workload remains impossible, ask a coordinator, teacher, counsellor, or parent to help determine the order before deadlines are missed.

Conclusion

When you cannot do everything this term, prioritize diploma requirements, fixed deadlines, assessed coursework, current academic evidence, applications, and a minimum floor of revision. Break projects into concrete actions, concentrate on a small number of subjects each week, and deliberately remove low-value work.

RevisionDojo can support this system through its Study Planner, Questionbank, Study Notes, Flashcards, coursework feedback, and Jojo AI. Start by mapping confirmed deadlines, then use targeted practice and feedback so each study block produces visible progress.