Are you ready for the upcoming Maths IA? Or do you have the GloPol engagement activity under control? If these questions make you nervous-sweat, you might want to consider IA tuition. I’m just one of Lanterna’s tutors who are seasoned experts at helping students through the tenuous IA process – in many different subjects! In this blog post, I will walk you through how I, and other tutors like me, have helped and continue to help students make the IA’s less intimidating. IA tuition holds your hand every step of the way and makes what once scared the bejeezus out of you less scary than a kitten gritting its teeth. Trust me – I’ve met plenty of students who were probably even more nervous than you are!
No Idea What to Write About? We Have You Covered
If you’re trying to think of an excellent idea for your exploration, you want to talk to someone who knows the IA process inside out. They can give you guidance on how you can choose a topic that remains interesting to you (which is crucial for an IA!) while still viable for the IA! They know what goes and what doesn’t. This knowledge can also come in handy if you’re sitting on an idea you like but are unsure if the IB would.
Do keep in mind that they are not all-knowing, however. Your tutor might need to look up the details of what you’re suggesting to ensure they fully understand it before weighing in on whether it is a good idea. In addition, they cannot actually choose the IA topic for you – this is up to you, and we can only give guidance on how to think of something interesting!
When the Experiment/Investigation Doesn’t Go as Planned
It is an unfortunate but common pattern that IA experiments/investigations do not go as planned. What you expected to happen just… doesn’t. What you get from your book analysis is the opposite of what you hoped.
These misfortunes happened to me on multiple occasions. In my chemistry experiment, for example, my titration set-up did not work and gave me next to useless results. I felt like my experiment was ruined and was beyond stressed for a period. In that situation, I would have loved a tutor to walk me through possible solutions and fixes which could redeem that situation. I was fortunate enough to get an alternative set-up to work, but not without a good round of stress.
IA Tuition and Proofreading
I don’t need to tell you why proofreading is so important. It’s not just catching grammar mistakes and adding missing commas. It’s about ensuring the examiner understands precisely what you are saying. It is in scenarios like these that IA tuition truly shines.
Of course, you want someone else to read through your essay so that you know that it is legible. Why not have that person be an expert in the topic your IA is about? Sure, your parents and friends can make some sense of it, but having someone who really knows the subject in and out and gives you feedback is invaluable. Of course, we can’t rewrite your work or tell you what to write, but we can point you in the right direction on how to think about your IA differently and eventually make changes yourself!
Free IA Guides
We have gotten some of the brightest heads from Lanterna together to write up IA guides on a handful of topics. You can check those out here. They are a great help if you want a general overview. However, they do not offer personalised support as our IA tuition packs do.
We also have more free resources that help you survive and even thrive in the IB, like our blog, which you can check out here.
