Learning

Foundation

Primary

Secondary

IB

Polish Programme

Environmental Systems & Societies

The new Academic and Study Skills course at BISC will take place once a week. This course of instruction is designed to help IB1 students smoothly make the transition from IGCSE to IB and beyond. In successfully making this transition students will become the independent learners they need to be to achieve at the Further and Higher education levels. 
 
With this aim, this course will cover the following main areas of academic study, although the instructor will endeavour to remain responsive to the developing needs of the participants.
 
Critical Reading: Skimming and scanning; Academic Reading Circle; critical thinking.
 
Listening to and taking notes on lectures: Common symbols and abbreviations; note-taking styles, incl. Cornell, linear and
 
Academic Writing: Finding and evaluating sources; using other people’s ideas: quoting, paraphrasing, summarising, synthesizing; referencing and citations (incl. integral and non-integral); structuring texts: academic genres (reports and essays) and paragraphing by rhetorical function and logical style.
 
Academic Language development: Hedging language; avoiding informal language; stance: separating writer’s ideas from the authors’ ideas; noun phrases; metadiscourse
 
Study skills: Note-taking and note-making; proof-reading and copyediting; writing a detailed essay plan; mind-mapping; planning and time-management.
 
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the course, participants will be able to:
Analyse typical features of scientific essays and texts Use a clear purpose for reading a text Evaluate academic texts Understand the structure of textbooks and journals in finding relevant and useful information Find and evaluate sources of evidence including tables and figures Synthesise notes for academic writing Incorporate others’ work into a given piece of writing using summarising, paraphrasing, quotation and referencing Structure academic writing logically and clearly according to rhetorical function and needs Give coherence and cohesion to written academic texts Utilise good exam practice Listen to and taking notes on academic lectures  


Subjects we offer:

Academic Skills
Biology
Business & Management
Chemistry
Computer Science
English A Literature
English B
Environmental Systems & Societies
French A Language & Literature
French B
German A Literature
German B
Geography
History
Mathematics SL
Mathematics HL
Mathematical Studies
Music
Spanish B
Physics
Polish A Literature
Portuguese B
Psychology
Theatre
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
Visual Arts

Leadership

Patrick Lagendijk
​​IB Co-ordinator

Downloads

IB Handbook