How to use the IB winter break: a study plan for Year 1 and Year 2

Use the IB winter break to clear whatever is due in January first, then practise under exam conditions, and protect real rest days. In Year 2 (exams in May 2027) that usually means finishing IA or Extended Essay drafts and sitting timed past papers before any January mocks. In Year 1 (exams in May 2028) it means choosing a direction for your IAs and your EE subject, fixing the topics you are shaky on, and planning CAS.

Two weeks is long enough to change your January, and short enough to waste completely. The plans below assume about two weeks off; stretch or squeeze them to fit your school's calendar.

What should Year 2 students do over winter break?

Work in this order. Each step only gets time once the one above it is safe.

1. Anything with a January deadline. An IA draft, an EE final version, a TOK essay draft. These are marked work with fixed dates, and they cannot be crammed in the week you get back.
2. Mock preparation, if your school runs mocks in January. Timed papers, marked honestly, with an error log.
3. University applications if you have any still open. For UK courses with the main deadline, the UCAS deadline is 18:00 UK time on 13 January 2027, early in the new term. Finish your personal statement over the break, not in the first week back.
4. Consolidating weak topics that mocks would expose anyway.
5. Rest. Not leftover time: planned days, written into the template below.

For where the break sits in the whole two years, see the IB Diploma timeline.

What should I finish on my IA and Extended Essay before January?

The single most useful thing to know: you usually get feedback on one draft only. In Biology, Chemistry, Physics and ESS your teacher comments on one draft and the next version is your final one. Your EE supervisor also reads and comments on one draft. A half-finished draft wastes that feedback, because the comments can only cover what is on the page.

• Sciences and ESS IA: the report is capped at 3,000 words. Before handing in a draft, check that the research question names both variables and a range, that every graph has labelled axes with units, and that the evaluation names specific weaknesses rather than "human error". The science IA mistakes guide is a good last check.
• Extended Essay: if you submit in May 2027, you are on the new 30-mark model. The essay is capped at 4,000 words and examiners stop reading at the limit; the reflective statement on the RPF has its own limit of 500 words. Your final version is handed in before the viva voce and cannot be changed afterwards. The 2027 Extended Essay changes explain what is new.
• AI and authenticity: if you used an AI tool at any stage, anything you took from it has to be credited in the text and in the bibliography, with the prompt and the date. Your teacher must be able to see the work developed over time, so keep your notes and versions.

How do I prepare for January mocks over the break?

Mocks are your school's internal exams. Not every school holds them in January, and the format is set by your teachers, so ask what they will cover. Whatever the date, the preparation is the same: past papers, timed, marked against the mark scheme, with every lost mark written down.

• Time real papers. In Biology and Chemistry, Paper 1 (1A and 1B together) is 1 h 30 min at SL and 2 h at HL. In Maths AA, Paper 1 is calculator-free, so practise it without one. Sitting a paper at full length once is worth more than three untimed attempts.
• Mark it straight away with the official mark scheme, and be strict: if your answer would need the examiner to guess what you meant, it does not get the mark. How to use IB mark schemes shows what that looks like.
• Keep an error log. One line per lost mark: topic code, what went wrong (knowledge, method, misread question, time), and the fix. After four or five papers the log tells you what to revise, which is more reliable than your sense of which topics feel hard.
• Rotate subjects. Do not spend the whole break on your weakest subject. Each subject should get at least two blocks a week, so nothing goes cold before mocks.

Official past papers come through your school or the IB's store; where to find IB past papers explains the options.

What does a realistic study day look like?

Two blocks, a long break between them, and an evening that is actually free. A day you can repeat for ten days beats one heroic day followed by three lost ones.

Put the task that needs the most thinking in block 1, and the work that needs care but less creativity, such as marking and redoing questions, in block 2. If you only manage one block on a day, make it block 1.

Rest days count as part of the plan. One full day off in each week, plus whichever days you celebrate, is not lost time: it is what keeps the second week as productive as the first.

A two-week winter break template for Year 2

Change the subjects to your own six and move the rest days to fit your holidays. "Paper" means a full past paper under timed conditions.

That is six full papers plus two second attempts, alongside the coursework. If you have no coursework due, swap those blocks for extra papers in your two weakest subjects. For a longer plan that runs to May, see how to build an IB revision plan.

What should Year 1 students do over winter break?

Year 1 is not revision season yet, and the break should be lighter: one block a day on most days is enough. Four things are worth doing.

Narrow down your IA ideas

You do not need a final research question, but you can save weeks next term by arriving with two or three candidate ideas per IA subject, each with a rough idea of what you would measure and how. Check whether your school can supply the equipment, data or participants. How to choose an IA topic has a feasibility test.

Settle your Extended Essay subject

Your cohort writes the new EE, with two pathways: subject-focused (one DP subject) or interdisciplinary (two DP subjects). The IB strongly recommends that you study at least one of the subjects you write in, and interdisciplinary essays must currently be written in English, French or Spanish. ESS can be used only in the subject-focused pathway. Spend one block reading the questions in how to choose your EE subject and writing down, for your top two subjects, a question you would actually want to answer.

Fix the topics you never understood

List the topics you have covered in each subject, using the codes in your course (for example A1.1 or C1.1 in Biology), and mark each one red, amber or green. Spend your blocks on the reds: reread the notes, then do questions until you can get them right without the notes. A topic fixed now does not have to be relearned in April 2028.

Plan CAS

CAS runs for at least 18 months, you need to show each of the seven learning outcomes at least once, and you must complete at least one CAS project, a collaborative series of activities lasting at least a month. The break is a good time to write your reflections while experiences are fresh and to sketch a project for next term. The CAS guide covers what counts.

One more check if you take History: your cohort is the first on the new History course, first assessed in May 2028. Make sure any revision material you use is for that course; IB syllabus changes lists which subjects have changed for each exam session.

How do I come back in January without losing the habit?

Most of the value of a break plan shows up in the first week back. Three habits help:

• Keep the flashcards going on light days, even ten minutes. It keeps every subject warm at almost no cost (Anki for IB shows a setup).
• Bring the error log back to school. Use it to decide what to ask each teacher in the first week, and keep adding to it after mocks.
• Write down what worked. Which blocks happened, which did not, and why. That note is the start of your spring revision plan.