If you are asking, “Do you guys have anything you wish you did or prepared for in pre-IB?”, the most useful answer is this: choose your subjects carefully, strengthen foundational skills, and build sustainable work habits. Trying to teach yourself the entire Diploma Programme in advance is rarely the best use of your time.
Pre-IB preparation should make the transition manageable, not turn your final school break into an unofficial first semester. Focus on decisions and habits that become difficult to repair later, especially subject selection, mathematical fluency, academic writing, source management, language practice, and personal organization.
Understand what you are preparing for
The IB Diploma Programme consists of six subjects and three compulsory core components: Theory of Knowledge (TOK), the Extended Essay (EE), and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). Students normally take three subjects at higher level and three at standard level, although the IB permits three or four HL subjects.
According to the official IB Diploma Programme curriculum overview, SL courses have 150 recommended teaching hours, while HL courses have 240 recommended teaching hours. This difference matters because an attractive-looking combination of HL subjects may create a much heavier weekly workload than expected.
Each subject receives a final grade from 1 to 7. TOK and the EE can contribute up to three additional core points, producing a maximum diploma score of 45. Although 24 points is the minimum total, students must also satisfy the other official DP passing criteria, including completing CAS and meeting minimum grade conditions.
The RevisionDojo guide to the complete IB pathway can help you see how subject learning, coursework, core requirements, and final examinations fit together. At the pre-IB stage, understanding this structure is more valuable than memorizing isolated syllabus topics.
Make subject selection your first priority
Subject choice is the highest-impact pre-IB decision because universities may require particular subjects, levels, and grades. Interest and current performance matter, but neither should be considered without checking entry requirements for degrees you may pursue.
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The IB advises students to distinguish between university subjects described as required, preferred, and recommended. Its course selection guidance also recommends consulting school counsellors and checking individual university requirements.
Use this process before confirming your combination:
Identify two or three possible university fields, even if your plans remain uncertain.
Check requirements on several universities’ official admissions pages.
Record required IB subjects, required levels, and typical or minimum grades.
Discuss the findings with your DP coordinator or university counsellor.
Balance prerequisites with subjects in which you can realistically perform well.
Pay particular attention to mathematics. The IB offers Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches and Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation, each at SL and HL. The official IB mathematics overview explains the four available courses, but universities decide which ones satisfy their prerequisites.
Do not assume that the hardest-looking combination is automatically the best. Four HL subjects are permitted, but most diploma students take three, and an unnecessary fourth HL can reduce the time available for coursework, university applications, sleep, and revision.
Build the academic skills that transfer across subjects
Pre-learning content can help when you have a genuine weakness, but transferable skills produce a larger return. The following foundations support several DP subjects at once.
Skill
Useful pre-IB preparation
Why it matters in the DP
Academic writing
Practise clear paragraphs built around a claim, evidence, and explanation
Essays are rewarded for developed reasoning, not unsupported opinion
Mathematical fluency
Review algebra, functions, graphs, percentages, units, and scientific notation
Weak basic manipulation makes advanced problems unnecessarily difficult
Reading
Read demanding nonfiction and annotate arguments, evidence, and assumptions
IB courses require interpretation rather than simple factual recall
Language learning
Use the target language regularly through reading, listening, speaking, and writing
Frequent exposure is more effective than occasional cramming
Data handling
Practise reading graphs, tables, uncertainties, and trends
Sciences, geography, economics, psychology, and mathematics use data extensively
Research
Learn to locate, evaluate, record, and cite reliable sources
These skills are essential for the EE and many internal assessments
One strong writing exercise is to answer a debatable question in 500 words. State a precise position, support it with evidence, consider a counterargument, and finish by explaining the limits of your conclusion. This is better preparation than memorizing generic essay phrases.
For mathematics and science, diagnose gaps rather than racing through the IB syllabus. If rearranging equations, interpreting graphs, handling fractions, or converting units is unreliable, repair those skills first. You can then use RevisionDojo’s IB resources to review selected concepts and attempt appropriately targeted questions.
Learn active study methods before the workload increases
Many students enter the DP with revision habits based on rereading, highlighting, and rewriting notes. These activities can feel productive, but they often fail to test whether information can be retrieved or applied.
A stronger study cycle is:
Learn: read or listen for understanding.
Retrieve: close the source and recall the main ideas.
Apply: answer a question without looking at the solution.
Check: compare your response with accurate feedback or a markscheme.
Correct: record the reason for each significant mistake.
Revisit: attempt the material again after a delay.
Practise this cycle with current school material before the DP begins. RevisionDojo’s explanation of how flashcards and practice questions serve different purposes is useful here: flashcards support retrieval of compact knowledge, while questions test selection, application, analysis, and written communication.
Create a simple error log with four columns: question or topic, error made, reason for the error, and corrective action. “Careless mistake” is usually too vague. A useful diagnosis might be “ignored the command term,” “did not define the variable,” or “used evidence without explaining how it supported the claim.”
Prepare a workload system, not a perfect timetable
The DP becomes difficult when several medium-sized tasks accumulate unnoticed. Before starting, practise using one calendar for deadlines and one task list for actions. Enter commitments immediately rather than relying on memory.
A workable weekly system should include:
fixed school, travel, activity, and sleep commitments
two or three focused study blocks on ordinary weekdays
a short weekly planning session
buffer time for work that takes longer than expected
protected time for exercise, friends, family, and rest
Break large tasks into visible actions. “Work on essay” is vague; “find three scholarly sources and record full citations” is specific. Starting earlier also creates time to ask teachers meaningful questions rather than requesting emergency help near a deadline.
Do not create an intensive schedule that you cannot maintain. Consistency matters more than completing five hours of preparation on one day and then avoiding study for the remainder of the week.
Learn citation and academic integrity now
Citation is not merely an EE formatting issue. The IB expects students to acknowledge ideas, words, images, data, code, translated material, and other work obtained from external sources.
The IB academic integrity policy defines plagiarism as presenting another person’s ideas, words, or work without proper, clear, and explicit acknowledgement, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It also explains that AI-generated material is not automatically the student’s own work and must be acknowledged when used, subject to the school’s rules.
Before the DP, learn to:
record bibliographic details when you first open a source
distinguish quotation, paraphrase, summary, and your own analysis
place citations where borrowed material appears, not only in the bibliography
keep research notes linked to their original sources
ask your school which referencing system it uses
The IB does not prescribe one universal citation style, so consistency with your school’s chosen system is more important than independently choosing a particular style. Tools such as Jojo AI may help explain a difficult concept or generate practice prompts, but assessed work must remain authentic and compliant with your school’s academic integrity policy.
Understand the core without trying to complete it early
The official IB core overview describes TOK as reflection on knowledge, the EE as an independent research paper culminating in a 4,000-word essay, and CAS as engagement with creativity, activity, and service. These components should be taken seriously, but they should not normally be completed unofficially before your school introduces them.
Component
Useful pre-IB preparation
What not to do yet
TOK
Question assumptions and compare how different disciplines justify claims
Memorize philosophical quotations or write an unassigned TOK essay
EE
Practise research, citation, and narrowing broad questions
Commit to a research question without a supervisor or current guidance
CAS
Continue meaningful creative, physical, and service activities
Assume activities will count before learning your school’s CAS procedures
Avoid spending the entire break trying to finish subject syllabuses. You may use outdated materials, misunderstand concepts without feedback, or study topics in an order that conflicts with your school’s course plan.
Also avoid:
writing an EE or internal assessment before receiving current instructions
purchasing a calculator before confirming your school’s model and the IB rules
collecting unofficial notes without checking their syllabus version
choosing HL subjects only because others describe them as prestigious
abandoning sleep, exercise, or hobbies to create an unsustainable head start
treating predicted grades or university plans as fixed before classes begin
Light preparation is enough. Review weak foundations, read the official subject briefs, organize your files, and begin the programme rested.
A practical pre-IB checklist
By the time the DP starts, aim to have completed the following:
Confirm that your subjects support likely university pathways.
Discuss uncertain choices with the DP coordinator or counsellor.
Review essential algebra, writing, language, and data skills.
Practise active recall and question-based study.
Set up a calendar, task list, file structure, and source log.
Read your school’s academic integrity and AI-use policies.
Maintain at least one physical activity and one non-academic interest.
Learn the basic purpose of TOK, the EE, CAS, and internal assessment.
Rest properly before classes begin.
Conclusion
The most valuable pre-IB preparation is not finishing the syllabus early. It is entering the programme with an appropriate subject combination, secure foundations, reliable study methods, basic research discipline, and a sustainable routine.
Use the months before the DP to remove preventable problems rather than manufacture extra pressure. RevisionDojo can support that preparation through Study Notes, Flashcards, the Questionbank, and Jojo AI, but your best starting point is a focused review of genuine weaknesses rather than indiscriminate advance study.
Grace holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh and has taught IB English A for over 20 years, most recently as Head of English at an IB World School in Geneva. Her focus is the Paper 1 guided literary analysis and the Paper 2 comparative essay, teaching students to structure an argument around a text's effects rather than its plot.
