McKenzie Miller on IB Chinese Tips

Tips for IB Chinese
Don’t take it. Take Spanish at all costs even if the only thing you know is Cinco de Mayo.
^^just kidding.
Mentally prepare yourself for a fast pace course with lots of content.
Stay on top of your packets. There will be a lot of homework but it’s hard to catch up if you fall behind.
Take advantage of time in class. This is not a class to work on other homework, because most likely the most homework you have will be in Chinese so you’ll want to use all class time to work on that
Study for the quizzes!! you can forget it all after but study for them up front
The exam is tough, so make sure to focus on your WA and oral assessment, those will help your overall IB score if the exam doesn’t go well so focus a lot on those during the year
Talk to the teacher! Zhang Lao shi is very flexible and she truly does want you to succeed, she will help you when you don’t understand something and is especially helpful in the WA so don’t be afraid to talk to her and ask for help

Class Units

With every new unit, write or type out a list of all the words, their meaning, and a trick to remembering it. This trick could be wordplay, a rhyme, or some other little hint to help you remember.
Write out all the characters for each word. Sometimes it's clear what they represent and that can help in remembering which one goes to which.
Make sure you keep track of all the previous words you've learned. If you forget them it'll be harder to understand even simple sentences.
Work all year to build your vocabulary for the second language exam. Especially in the topic areas you study - 55% of your IB grade relies on the ability to use this vocabulary on your own (all of internal assessment, and Paper 2). The earlier you prepare this, and the deeper you prepare this, the better.