How to Succeed in IB Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS): Top Tips from Expert Tutors

11 Jul How to Succeed in IB Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS): Top Tips from Expert Tutors

Does IB environmental systems and societies exam sound scary to you? Do you feel like you don’t understand the subject or you don’t understand ESS questions? You are not alone, many IB environmental systems and societies students feel that way. ESS is a mixture of humanities and science therefore it is listed as a group 3 and group 4 subject. Only data collection and information about the environment and ecology won’t help you score well in your ess exam. There is more to it than just basic data reproduction. What a student needs to do in order to perform well in ess exam is to deeply understand certain environmental concepts and terms and to connect them throughout the ess syllabus. They need to analyze the data and situation regarding certain society using their analytical mind. In some cases students need to be that skilled to even project some trends or aspects in different parts of ecosystem. Also, they should concentrate upon identifying and targeting different environmental problems where they are occuring.

ESS content

As mentioned previously ESS syllabus is designed in a way that students get knowledge from different areas of the environmental issues we are facing today globally and locally. However, many students would simply skip the parts of ESS syllabus they don’t like or don’t understand. Students should learn the syllabus completely and throughoutly therefore they don’t encounter further surprises on the day of their exam.

• Use data flow diagrams and charts because they can help you comprehend the actions and flows in an ecosystem.
• Use system diagrams whenever you can. All in all the subject is called environmental systems and societies therefore a concept of a system is important to understand and represent.
• You can take a walk to the forest and starting to notice the systems around you. What are the flows and storages? What kind of a system is it? Is it an open, closed or isolated system? Why? What animals and plants live in that ecosystems? How did they adapt to that environment? What can you notice on their bodies that is the clear sign of adaptation? Are there any food webs that you are able to draw in that particular ecosystem? How many trophic levels does it have? Who are top predators in that ecosystem? Can you name some producers? Are there any omnivores in there or not? Could you possibly use a food chain to represent them or only a food web is designed for that purpose?
• Do you follow global situation? Do you know what are some global environmental issues that we are facing today as a society? Using and knowing some real life case studies would be good. However, if you don’t follow what is happening somewhere else, I am sure that you know some local environmental issues in the area where you live. What case studies can you use from there? Do you have some local environmental problem such as a coal mine that pollutes local cropland or a river? Is there a thermal pollution happening due to the factory? Is it causing the extinction of fish species of the river? Noticing such issues in your local environment is highly recommended.

Good sides of ESS tutoring?

Ability to work on your own pace and without distractions: ESS tutoring is based on working with one student at the time. Therefore every student is able to get my undivided attention and care. Every student has their own learning abilities and capacity therefore they get maximum from ess classes.

Good results: ESS tutor is committed to working with every student to the maximum capacity. The logical result is usually improvement in IB environmental systems and societies grade which is something that both students and parents would like to achieve. I can say that grade improvement is something that comes naturally when ess tutoring is done on a regular basis. Students are happy and they indeed understand the concepts of environmental systems and societies.

School and ESS become fun and somehow cool: Learning ESS will become fun for you. You will find yourself in an owe when you are actually looking forward to ESS tutoring. Also, your ESS classes at school will become more interesting and engaging now when you better understand ESS concepts and facts. You are learning how to think analytically and apply the actual content of ESS syllabus. Definitions will become more interesting, your local environment will become more appealing and understandable. When you travel places, you will be able to get to the core of the environmental situation in certain region or area. That way you will gain your own environmental case studies that you will be able to use afterwards in your studies. Overall, with our ess tutoring your ESS journey becomes a pleasant ride as it is supposed to be.