Good Textbooks + Studyguides

All the study guides by Geoffrey Neuss were very good. He does them for all three sciences, and they will probably be among the cheaper books you'll buy. These books give EVERYTHING you need to know for the exam, and then have exam questions at the end of every chapter. They are good for both HL and SL. The only thing is that they condense the information and order it very well -making what you have to learn appear very manageable and short -do not be fooled. When you read this, you need to remember EVERYTHING. The most insignificant line will turn into a question on the exam. This book wastes no space with useless information and it answers all and only the statements in your syllabus. Thus, while it may seem like there's a lot less to read and study -everything on that page matters, so remember it well.
(every person in my IB class used these -the school even bought them for later years). They also have diagrams to illustrate (and for you to memorize) along with the material. Very helpful (and light!)

example http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-IB-Diploma-Study-Guides/dp/0199151423/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

This chemistry textbook was also VERY VERY VERY good. It has statements, exam questions at the end of every chapter, practice questions, ib examiner tips, word definitions, help on writing an EE on chemistry, doing labs -anything. It was very useful, and very colourful :D . Our school again bought this as well. (It is for both higher and standard level). I also see that they make this for bio and physics -if it's anything like the chemistry one, this is WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

For history I bought this textbook -and it was a fail. While it was semi-helpful, it had many spelling mistakes and overall seemed off. I didn't use it.

We did not use books/studyguides for either english or history -so I don't really know of any.

For biology, this textbook (though a university one) was very helpful. The writing is tiny, there is a ton of information, and the language is more difficult, -however I found it to be the best teacher of all. The diagrams are great and the explanations fully developed. It was the only thing that helped me learn the krebs cycle, dark cycle, glycolysis etc.; basically cellular respiration and all that jazz. It is expensive though (and huge) -we were lucky because our school had already bought it for us :S Note -many people did not like or use this book. but those of us who did were very grateful -and I like to think did better :P)

The tiger book (for bio -you can tell by the cover) was a so-so -some people liked it, others thought it only skimmed over things.

For math we used the standard IB math book, and everyone bought the exam prep guide -very useful with lots of questions and overviews on how to solve problems.

Lastly, I bought an EE + TOK book written by an IB alumni, and through it was sometimes common sense/obvious what he said -it was still a good read and I loaned it to some of my friends. This is the book if you're interested. (It gives no samples or examples though, so beware)

And that's all I can remember for right now -happy studying.

Useful sites

Here are some useful sites my IB wave used:

*another helpful tip is to write the statements (with answers) in a notebook everyday after class -that way you not only review, but you have everything you need to know for the exam. In that way you have everything organized and ready to go once the exam comes around.

Multipurpose:

http://www.khanacademy.org/get it - (to practice; all from previous years)

Free exam papers and Xtremepapers work for getting past years' exams.



Biology:

http://click4biology.info/index.htm
This site was INVALUABLE. Has all the statements and answers!!!! Make sure to supplement as sometimes they may be slightly vague, but otherwise it was amazing!!
Everyone I know used it for the exam.

*another helpful tip is to write the statements (with answers) in a notebook everyday after class -that way you not only review, but you have everything you need to know for the exam. In that way you have everything organized and ready to go once the exam comes around.

Chemistry:
http://ibchem.com/IB/ibsyllabus.htm

Some people used this, most didn't. i personally found it much too vague and it left out some key concepts. However as a brief overview it's okay.


English:

This site helped enormously! It's really obvious, but it gives you a reality check. Use for anything from commentaries, to the world lit, to the exam. (I did).

http://www.slideshare.net/mtalspaugh/ib-english-written-commentary

French:

This site corrects your work! grammar, conjugations - anything! It's really good, just make sure to put only about 1 paragraph at a time -otherwise it won't work.

http://bonpatron.com/

That's all I can think of for now -happy studying.