Build a Useful Reading Plan Before DP1
Choose a small, accessible reading mix and practise the habits you will need for subject learning and discussion.
Begin with your school's instructions
Ask whether teachers have specified reading, editions, or preparatory tasks for your courses. Put required school reading first and clarify unfamiliar instructions. There is no universal book list that prepares every DP student equally well: subjects, language courses, interests, and available time differ. Once school expectations are clear, choose a small optional reading mix that you can finish and discuss. A plan you actually use is more valuable than a long list collected because the titles look academically impressive.
Choose three kinds of reading
Build your optional mix around one sustained work, one accessible subject-related source, and one contrasting perspective. The sustained work might be a novel or nonfiction book; the subject source might explain a scientific or historical question; the contrasting source should complicate an assumption you notice. Use library access, language confidence, and your chosen subjects to guide selection. You do not need to predict your EE topic now. Reading should expand questions and vocabulary without turning leisure into a premature research commitment.
Match difficulty to a purpose
Preview a few pages and decide what you hope to gain. If every sentence requires translation or specialist knowledge, a more accessible introduction may support better learning. Keep a challenging title if there is a clear reason and enough help to understand it. Difficulty alone is not proof of quality or preparation. Ask a teacher or librarian for an appropriate route into a topic. Reading in another language can be valuable, but choose a manageable text and define whether you are practising comprehension, style, or academic vocabulary.
Keep a small evidence notebook
After a session, write a brief summary from memory, one question, and a passage or claim you want to revisit with its location. Then check whether the summary accurately reflects the text. Record the author, title, and publication details so useful ideas can be traced later. Separate what the author argues from your response. Avoid copying long extracts without a purpose. The notebook should help you explain and question what you read, rather than document every page or fill space with quotations.
Worked example: a manageable reading mix
Imagine Nia is preparing for biology and history and enjoys fiction. She follows the school's required reading, adds a library novel she can finish, chooses an accessible article about interpreting ecological evidence, and reads a historical account that differs from one she already knows. After each session she records a question and source location. She notices how the writers justify claims and what their accounts leave uncertain. This is an illustrative mix of reading purposes, not a prescribed list or a substitute for either subject's syllabus.
Turn reading into a conversation and revision
At the end of the week, explain one idea to someone who has not read the source. Notice where your explanation becomes vague and revisit that section. Discuss a question with a teacher when classes begin, without presenting an interpretation as settled simply because a respected author proposed it. Adjust the next reading choice based on interest and comprehension. Include enjoyment and rest in the plan. Preparation should help you become a more attentive reader and a more precise questioner, not make finishing the greatest number of books your target.
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Official references
This is an original practical guide from IBvia. The examples are illustrative; your subject guide, assessment year and school instructions determine the requirements.
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