Friday, October 14, 2016 1

An exponential function is any function where x is raised to a power, for example $f(x) = 1.5 \times {2^{x}} + 10$. For most of this blog I will concentrate on $2^x$, but the same rules apply whatever the base of the power is. 2x is not the same as x2 They feel like the same sort of thing, don't they, but they're completely different functions. Look at the graphs: yes, both functions increase rapidly for x > 0, but they're very different to the left of the y-axis ...

Friday, September 9, 2016 1

Many of you will be starting, or have just started, the new school year. What should you be doing to make a success of your mathematics course? Will I be expected to know topics at a more advanced level before I start? Some of you will find mathematics comes easily to you, and you are looking forward to new challenges in the subject. Others will be anxious that it's all going to be above your head. Let me allay those fears by ...

Friday, August 19, 2016 0

Whether you are taking HL, SL or Studies, you can be certain that there will be at least one quadratic expression to factorise in your exams - probably several. Here is my quick guide. If I multiply out these brackets: $(x-1)(x+3)$ I will get: $x^2+2x-3$ The result is a quadratic expression: a quadratic must have a term in $x^2$, and can also have a term in $x$ and a constant (a number). If you reverse the process, you will be factorising the quadratic. So, here are ...

Monday, August 15, 2016 0

This is a tough one, and there's no doubt about that.  Here are a few bits of good advice selected from various teachers. Collaborative advice from teachers for HL/SL candidates facing the IA for Part 2 Preparation through the year Take good notes in class, mark up your poems or passages, and all of your Part 2 works, color code, so that you have easily accessible materials to revisit for review for both the IOC and the HL discussion. Pace your review, ...

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 No tags 0

With the May exam session behind us by nearly six weeks, and most exams marked by the examiners, it is time to address an important issue with regard to IB exams: your handwriting. In much of life, your ability to hand write work clearly may not seem that important, especially if many of your teachers are already moving to having you submit electronical copies of work. However, the IB exams are still hand written.  Most of you are able to produce ...

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 0

Just in case you're not willing or able to take on the whole of Sarah Blakewell's At the Existentialist Cafe, (New York, 2016) I thought I'd provide you easy access to some points from her summary on page on page 34.  Sometimes it's good to just have a solid reference point to play your ideas against, particularly if you are reading works by Sartre or Camus.  These, remember, are her 'take' on some important facets that she sees in the ...

Friday, June 24, 2016 1

Were you aware that a new EE guide was out? It has been live for around three months and is for first examinations May 2018, so that will be students whom you start to teach this coming August / September. Now that things have got quieter with IB teaching (IB2 students are finished) I thought it was worth writing about it so that it can inform your planning. The first thing is that the guide is entirely electronic. I am sure that ...

Friday, June 17, 2016 0

There are a few references to lab work in this post – I do need to stress that any labs you carry out need to be under the supervision of one of your teachers (and risk assessed by the teacher) and carried out in school. I have always been fascinated by the link with the number of substances dissolved in the sea. For example, gold ions are dissolved in the sea and it is estimated that there are getting on for ...

For most applications a personal piece of writing is required (but of course there are exceptions). This piece of writing may be restricted to a word or character limit, some may have a specific prompt, others may offer a choice of prompts, some will have specific instructions, some are written separately to the application form, some are written as part of the application form and some will have a mixture of the aforementioned. Whichever it is be sure to take this requirement ...

Friday, May 13, 2016 No tags 0

KEY IDEAS for May 2016 HL Paper 3 exam Online help for students Students must refer to both their secondary research and any primary investigations, visitations, interview or any other first-hand experiences they have had related to the  2016 Case Study SMART HOMES. The following sources provide a wealth of articles and guidance for the HL Paper 3 exam. Facebook group: ITGS Case Study 2016 Smart Homes ( resources and examples may be useful in responses) ITGSopedia Case Study and Paper ...