How I revised for IB HL History

History is hard. There’s a lot to remember and there isn’t much time. But, you can make it easy for yourself by preparing well throughout the two years, and, utilizing revision techniques that work for you! Here’s what I did for HL History.

Throughout the two-year course: 

• Taking notes from teacher’s powerpoints (linked here)
• Taking notes from textbooks and readings given by my teacher
• Organising and condensing revision notes in a separate document, by syllabus statements

For unit tests: 

• Paper 1 – familiarizing myself with the type of questions asked (particularly OPCVL and compare/contrast)
• Paper 2 – going through revision notes and brainstorming essay plans, revising specific facts on Anki
• Paper 3 – going through specific facts on Anki and ensuring I have at least 3 points for causes, effects and key features of each event
• All – going through timelines and double-checking the syllabus statements. I listed out questions from past papers that I didn’t know how to answer, and added to my notes based on my weaknesses.
• I usually used 2-3 days before the test to revise, but that’s because our teacher made it quite obvious what the questions would be about…

For the final exam/mock exam: 

• 4 weeks before the exam: reviewing notes and making sure all syllabus statements are covered, explaining key events and themes to a friend, creating a revision checklist of all the possible aspects the exam might be about (not just the events, but whether causes/key features/effects will be asked, e.g. why a certain country lost a war)
• 2 weeks before the exam: reviewing Ankis for topics, at least 3 times a week
• 1 week before the exam: doing essay questions on the weakest aspects and consolidating essay plans for the questions most likely to come up

A side note about Anki 

I relied heavily on using Anki for my revision – particularly for Paper 2 and Paper 3. (Paper 1 is sourced-based, so a lot of information will be provided). Anki is a free and open-source spaced repetition flashcard program, which makes remembering things easy. It’s a bit like Quizlet, unfortunately uglier but (fortunately) more effective. It based on a “Spaced Repetition System”; the theory is that after you learn something, if you review it over increasingly growing timed intervals, you will retain it longer. Here’s a few examples of my Anki cards:

By condensing all my notes to 1-2 sentences, it eased a lot of pressure and helped break down complex events into simple facts. This helped me provide evidence to back up my arguments and helped me remember key essay outlines too!

Anki also helps you to space out your revision, so technically, if you revise monthly, by the end of two years it will be ingrained in your long-term memory! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the level of self-discipline required for that, so I mostly did intense Anki revision during the two weeks up till exams. Nevertheless, I found many of the Anki cards I used in the first year (to revise for unit tests) surprisingly easy when I reviewed them right before the exams – so it really does work.

Do give it a try! Let me know if you have any questions and I hope this helped.