How to Avoid Burnout During IB Exams
Stay Healthy and Stress-Free While Studying
Preparing for the IB exams can sometimes feel like hell on earth. Two years of hard work, encapsulating complicated and extensive syllabi, all condensed into a couple of weeks worth of exams? Sounds pretty scary if you think of it that way.
For whatever reason, the IB chooses to test its students this way, and trust us when we say, we know how stressful it can be - before becoming IB tutors, we were once IB students too, facing the same pressures you’re dealing with as we speak, the same pressures we see dozens of students struggle with on a daily basis.
But it doesn’t have to be so bad. There are ways to make the process manageable, reduce stress, and actually get the desired results without burning out.
If you’re reading this, we sincerely hope to pass on the lessons we learned the hard way, including some we were lucky enough to have been taught by others along the way. We’re not health experts per se, but these are all the little tips and knowledge we wish we would have had back when we were revving up to take the IB exams ourselves.
Coping with Anxiety
The IB exams are coming. In fact they’re only about two weeks away. The dread is setting in and we begin to realize how much there is left to learn, and how little time we have left.
“What if I don’t do well on that Paper 1 in that IB subject I really don’t like? Or worse, what if I fail the IB Diploma and don’t get accepted into the university of my dreams?”
Before we spiral into a pit of despair, let’s acknowledge that questions like these are entirely natural. The culmination of two years worth of hard work is on its way in the form of difficult exams. It’s completely normal to feel at least a little nervous.
Mock exams may have set certain expectations of success, or in some cases - failure, and the pressure to perform typically comes with a whopping side dish of anxiety.
Low levels of motivational stress, known as ‘eustress’, are considered a good thing - they mean we care. They push us to be the best version of ourselves and prepare for tasks and events that are important to us.
However, as stress increases, it can transform into a pervasive fear that consumes us and warps our perception. In the case that we’re having repetitive unwanted worries about our performance on the IB exams, it’s important to try and create a little bit of space between us and our thoughts. Writing them down as, “I’m having thoughts that….” can prime your mind to understand that they’re only thoughts, not facts, and can help to acknowledge them without giving them too much power.
Practices like meditation follow similar principles, like helping us to become observers of our thoughts and feelings, detaching ourselves from them to the degree to which we can begin to see specific qualities and patterns in our concerns and get in touch with their paired physical sensations.
The more nuanced your understanding of yourself becomes, the less vague the fear is, and the easier it is to take tangible steps to find solutions.
However, if you feel anxiety is getting out of hand, and the following tips we outline throughout this article don’t seem to help, it may be time to consider reaching out to a professional healthcare practitioner for some support.
The good news though, is that there will almost always be early warning signs, and a little bit of pre-exam nerves definitely don’t need to pile up into full-blown anxiety. If we know we’re heading into a particularly stressful stage of our lives (studying for IB exams) we can prepare, listen to our needs, set limits, and create lifestyles of self-care around our study routines in order to prevent burnout.
Staying Active, Eating Healthy
We’re not here to judge anyone’s lifestyle or tell you what to do. We’re here to help you figure out what works for you.
Food has become a pretty controversial topic. All we’ll say is that hopping on a rollercoaster of sugar and caffeine may not be the most sustainable way to effectively study. You know what makes you feel good, and what makes you feel bad. Above all, be forgiving to yourself and seek out the support of a licensed dietician if you’re confused about what’s actually healthy.
As far as exercise goes, the general consensus is pretty clear: a little goes a long way in terms of helping us stay healthy and feel happy. Fortunately, the IB agrees, including activity as one of the core CAS components needed in order to graduate your IB diploma.
Unfortunately, the standards of activity only require a measly minimum of 50 activity hours over the entire two years. We hate to break it to you, but you might need a little more than that to really experience the benefits.
Those of you who play sports on a team will know, that it’s not just the social aspect that’s enjoyable, but the heart-pounding, sweat-inducing cardio that leaves you feeling accomplished and relaxed.
Whether it’s an intense aerobic activity, a quick-paced cycling session, or even a brisk walk to the park, getting in a little daily exercise will do wonders for your mental and physical health, helping you focus, worry less, sleep better, etc…
Getting Enough Sleep and Maintaining Routines
On the topic of sleeping better, please do not underestimate its importance. In fact, calling sleep important would be an understatement. Sleep is vital.
Most of us work best by roughly following a routine. This means consistent bed and wake-up times. If you tend to fall asleep watching shows, maybe try dimming your lights and reading at night instead, get your full 7-9 hours of sleep, and wake up to an alarm that’s across the room from you, forcing you to get up and commit to your schedule.
Little bio-hacks, like catching the early morning and late evening sun, can help your body acclimate to ‘light anchors’, regulating your circadian rhythm. This is said to work best if we limit exposure to bright artificial light after about 8 pm. These lights can mimic sunlight, telling our brains it’s daytime, which can confuse our bodies. If you must stay up late studying, try to dim the lights on your laptop, turn on the night light mode (we’d recommend you keep it on forever), and avoid overhanging lights if possible. Keeping your room cool at night to reduce body heat by a couple degrees has also been shown to aid in achieving quality sleep.
Even if you’re not up studying, it’s normal to have little naturally occurring spikes in your alertness before going to sleep. Sticking to your routine regardless, by doing a little stretching, some meditation or breathing exercises, or simply reading, can do the trick. Once you feel sleepy again it’s imperative not to fight that drowsy sensation.
Unfortunately, there’s no escaping a certain degree of discipline when it comes to establishing a routine, especially not while preparing for IB exams. Try to resist the temptation to let go of your sleep schedule during weekends, and consider planning social activities with friends earlier. Delay morning caffeine consumption, and avoid caffeine after the late afternoon, as it negatively affect your sleep. Tick off daily exercise in the mornings and walks in the evenings, and notice how much it helps you with deeper sleep and higher overall energy levels.
Above all else, it helps to keep your routine relatively simple, consisting of just a few steps. You can always layer on later, as opposed to stacking difficult habits right from the start. If starting the day with journaling works for you, try to identify the most important task that needs getting done. Try not to reach the end of the day without having addressed that one most important task.
There are some of us, however, that are born night owls and hopeless procrastinators. Not everyone needs to follow the same routine in the same way. As long as you’re getting enough sleep and taking care of yourself overall, there’s no need to obsess over forcing a change that will paradoxically cause you more anxiety than before.
The bottom line is that regularly getting less sleep than necessary can lead to a lack of productivity and fluctuations in mood, the last thing we want during an intense period like IB exams.
Eliminating Distractions - Staying Focused
One of the most tempting, for some reflexive, things to do right as we wake up is to doomscroll or swipe through social media. Not only does this tend to make you feel bad, but it also interrupts valuable momentum early on in the day.
Try not checking notifications first thing in the morning as this will help avoid the anxiety of being permanently connected. By planning out your key tasks and sticking to your simple morning routine as outlined in the section above, you’ll be far more likely to get a head start studying.
If you must consume your daily dose of social media, try subscribing to content that is nourishing and avoiding content that makes you feel like you should be doing something else, somewhere else. You'll know it by how it makes you feel afterwards. We’re subliminally affected by all the stimuli that go in, and some activities may not consume much time, but will tax us energetically throughout the day, even after we’ve moved on to the next activity.
It can be difficult, but do your best to set time limits. Better yet, make use of short-form entertainment as a reward system for crossing things off your list at scheduled times. The less structured distractions are, the more insidiously they consume our time, often leaving us to realize after the fact, several hours later.
Less Study Time, More Results
In another article we wrote, we went over ways of making the IB exam study process more effective and less time-consuming, with the use of a few proven academic tricks.
The days of highlighting entire textbooks we’ve forced ourselves to read and re-read cover to cover are long gone.
Sophisticated tests like the IB don’t generally test our ability to memorize huge banks of definitions, but rather demonstrate flexible conceptual knowledge.
This is where getting someone like a teacher or a tutor to explain IB subjects to you in a synthesized way can help you break information down to its essence, rather than endlessly piling up notes and flashcards that ultimately add to your IB exam stress.
Of course, as we’ll cover in the next section, we highly recommend getting the help of a qualified IB tutor, but if for whatever reason you can’t, practice IB exams are probably your best bet as far as self-study goes. If you want to truly be ready for the real thing, you have to simulate it as much as possible.
Study methods, such as spaced repetition and active recall have been tweaked and redefined several times over, and can be as simple as closing a freshly read chapter, dumping everything you remember onto a blank page, or calling up a friend and trying to teach them the very concept you just learned.
Don’t get stuck on a single method or technique if it doesn’t seem to be working for you. Personalize your IB exam study process to your specific needs and adapt when necessary.
For example, the very popular ‘Pomodoro Technique’ of studying for 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break (on repeat) has been modified to the ‘flowmodoro’, in which instead of setting timers as a countdown, they’re started from 0, allowing students to work for as long as they can focus, setting breaks in proportion to the chunk of time just spent studying.
Getting Academic Guidance
We’ve said it over and over again, but there’s no better time to reach out for a little academic support than now. Sure, it would’ve been nice to get tutoring early on, but it’s definitely not too late. You’d be amazed just how much a qualified IB tutor can simplify the entire study process, helping you to focus on the important aspects of the IB exams.
Your teachers are a great resource, and your parents and friends might be willing to help, but everyone has a lot on their plates during exams and may not be able to give you their full attention. Tutors, on the other hand, accommodate their schedules for exam times to be available for as much review as necessary to get the IB scores you need.
Not to mention, IB tutors work with you one-on-one, personalizing every aspect of tutoring to a study plan designed just for you. When you start listing the benefits of working with an expert IB tutor, it’s no wonder we see tutored students boost their scores by an average of two points, even this late in the game.
Whether you're feeling completely overwhelmed, calling mayday and in need of rescue, or simply want to secure a 7 in that subject you’re almost fully confident in, we’ve helped hundreds of students reach their academic goals.
Think Smart Tutoring matches you with a tutor based on your specific academic needs who cares about your well-being and success beyond the classroom.
Come to think of it, there’s almost no reason not to streamline your study process with the help of tutors during IB exams. It’s no mystery why most successful students have received some form of tutoring during their IB years.
If you’re curious about how we can help you make studying for IB exams easier, and substantially improve your IB scores, go ahead and book a trial lesson with us and feel more prepared after just one session.
Reaching out For Emotional Support
Thankfully, talking about what we’re going through with an objective professional is something that is increasingly more accepted and commonplace. Many of us either know someone who has been to therapy or have even been to therapy ourselves.
Studying for the IB exams is tough, and it’s even more complicated if we have unresolved personal issues that impede our ability to function at 100%. Whatever your concerns may be, no matter how drastic or seemingly insignificant, you don’t have to handle them alone.
Teachers, tutors, family, and friends may have the best of intentions and want the best for you, but there is a level of psychological care that only a mental health professional can provide. As we mentioned before, be honest with yourself about what you’re experiencing. If you’re unsure about whether or not you (or a friend) are ok, don’t hesitate to reach out for help, no shame in doing that.
Letting go of perfectionism (and overthinking)
We get it, you want to reach your full potential. But what if we told you that sometimes too much ambition can be a negative thing?
We throw around this word perfectionism like perfection is possible and we have full control over attaining it (spoiler alert: it’s not, and we don’t). Spending time needlessly spinning the wheel of perfectionism is perhaps the number one recipe for burnout on this list. How will you ever be good enough if everything you already do super well isn’t cutting it in your mind?
There is so much out of our control it’s almost unbelievable.
If you’ve ever wandered down the rabbit hole of IB exam despair, you’ll have imagined hundreds of ways you could potentially bomb your IB exams, when the exact opposite could be true!
Picture this: you show up to the gym (or wherever you sit the exam), and instead of being plagued by that dreaded stomach ache, or getting cursed by a seemingly cryptological listening comprehension, you receive a text that is so easy you can’t believe your eyes. You cruise through the question booklet and walk out feeling like you’ve aced it.
We know this is possible because we’ve seen it happen hundreds of times.
Of course, in the case of the IB exams, it’s not all up to luck. But the point is, we have to spend our time chipping away at what’s in our control, and not obsessing over what’s not. Once we accept our relatively limited power, we can truly approach our review with agency, making a difference where it matters, and not dwelling on what doesn’t.
Leaning on Friends and Finding Balance
Your IB results don’t define you as a person, and they definitely don’t define you as a friend.
Think of your best friends. Are you friends with them because of their predicted IB scores? Have you memorized each and every one of their IB Mock exam grades? Even if you’re in a particularly studious friend group, it’s more likely that your camaraderie is defined by shared values and common interests, not a competition for academic superiority.
A little competition and a bit of jealousy here and there can be a healthy part of growing up. We’re social beings that care about status after all. But if your friend group is distracting you, demotivating you, or in any way bringing you down, it might be a good idea to take a step back and limit exposure.
We’re not saying everyones’ friends have to be perfect, because that would be impossible, but we are saying that your friendships will ideally have a positive impact on your overall well-being.
Whether they’re your classmates, teammates, or even your cousins or siblings, lean on them during times of hardship and treat them the way you’d like to be treated.
I remember back when we were nearing the exams, we’d all get together to study, exchange notes, and even laugh at a couple of silly IB memes.
Studying for the IB exams gets a whole lot easier when you can share the burden with those who care about you, whether that be a teacher, a tutor, or even a friend who’s in the same exact boat as you.
Don’t let the IB exams burn you out
We’ve been there, we’ve done it, now we can help you crush it on these last few steps to your desired university.
