How hard IB is?

[Anahi]

Hi. I am a in 10th grade, about to finish this school year. 

I would like to know how hard IB is. I am an A straight student, I study and I think IB would help me a lot in the future. But there is a problem, I don´t know if stay at my school and follow the IB program or change schools.

My school has a bunch of problems, the good students are going away, the good teachers too. The principals are going crazy firing good teachers and hiring horrible ones.

I would like to know if it´s possible getting the diploma without having good teachers and classmates. Do you think tutors might help me?

 

If I take the diploma i would take.

HL English

HL Spanish

HL Economics

AB Initio French

SL Biology

SL Math

 

Btw. I want to say that the students who are staying at my school are really noisy, careless, stupid, etc.

 

[IbTrojan]

I'm sorry about your situation, that's very unfortunate

 

But some good news, I think it is very much possible to learn the content on your own too. With the right resources (good textbooks, lots of practice, maybe keeping in touch with some of those teachers and students so you can ask them for help when you need it) and as long as you keep asking questions to your teachers, whether good or bad, they will give you some sort of feedback. Along with the syllabus for each course, sample works you can find online, and past exams come exam time, you should be fine. I would be slightly worried about the languages because it's more analysis and your thinking rather than specific details that IB looks for...but if you understand the concepts for each unit and apply them in your writing pieces following the rubric, you should be fine. 

[Alex Jordan]

That sorta happened to my school. All of the good teachers left (usually because they wanted to start a family), and although we got some good teachers, others are just.../shudders/. So I was placed in the same boat as you.

 

The IB can be hard if you don't take charge of your own learning - sure, you can go to lectures and scribble down notes and do the readings and pass with a 4 or a 5, but what separates 5s from 7s is the amount of work you do.

 

Interacting with the content in different ways was integral to my comprehension of it. For languages, I'd listen to music, look up the lyrics, and jot down what I knew. (I took HL German and also AB initio French, so I can help you there). For English HL, I would make charts and diagrams of themes, motifs, symbols, etc., and compare/contrast characters and other stuff from the works.

 

For your Group 3 (I see you have chosen Econ), do your readings and interact with the content. A lot of people in my school who took Econ (all but one took HL) were making flashcards and "master" charts - charts which did not have values, but labeled the axes, provided a sample  curve telling what it meant, etc.

 

For Bio, it relies heavily on memorisation. So, flashcards were really best friends for those in my class who took bio. Also, make your diagrams big and colourful so that they're easy to study! Also be sure to complete the assessment statements for your syllabus - write them out!

 

Maths SL - I stuck mainly to the syllabus and took notes by it. I swore to the syllabus. Your notes from IB1 will carry over into IB2 - e.g. algebraic concepts would pop up in trig, which then would pop up in calc.

 

So, with all this in mind, I believe you can do it! Try contacting some of the IB alumni from your school and old teachers who would be willing to tutor you - plus, you have tons of people here on this forum who can help. it shouldn't be hard to search for IB released items and other misc. textbooks and whatnot which would help as well!!

[Anahi]

The problem is that first of all I have NO idea which teachers will stay. My know the Economics teacher, he is really good but he is leaving the school because he is moving to Chile. I have NO idea who is going to be the next Economics teacher. Last year, the Chemistry teacher was fired (he was REALLY good too) and the school just hired a dumb-chemistry teacher that has no idea how to speak English and doesn´t know Chemistry in any language. 

And the classmates, as i said before probably I will be the only one who will care in the classroom. Everyone is leaving the school.

[Alex Jordan]

That was a similar problem at my school. Honestly it all depends on how much you want to work for it.

 

Who cares about what your classmates think/do. They can be little ****s all they want - you are the decision-maker of your learning.

 

If you can get your hands on some good IB textbooks that follow your syllabus, you can learn from those. You'll probably be issued some textbooks at your school - they did that with Econ, Chem, Bio, Physics (we got to keep ours because the curriculum changed hell yeah), French, Spanish, and ESS.

[Anahi]

English and Spanish is okay, I am biligual and i love reading, I think i won´t have any trouble with those as long as I read. 

I´ve got a French teacher that comes from France so I think she would be helpful with everything, besides I also take French outside the school. What it worries me is Economics, Math, ToK and Biology.

As I said, the Economics teacher is moving to Chile. So idk who is going to be our next teacher. 

In Math i think I will be okay, I love math too but I think the teacher will leave the school too.

The ToK teacher is new. He just began to teach the program 4 months ago, and I have no idea if he knows what he is doing.

And in Biology, the teacher is good, but he tends to forget things everyday.

 

Besides all this, the huge problem are my classmates. They are SO dumb, stupid, careless and all the bad adjectives you can find for them. I don´t know if I will be able to study in the class without the good students because they will leave the school.

[Anahi]

So, should stay at the school or leave? I really want the IB diploma and this is the ONLY school that offers it in English in the country.

[Alex Jordan]

I feel like you should stay there - you can always transfer to a Spanish-speaking IB school if necessary.

 

Don't focus on the idiots at your school - you can always study at the library or at home or whatever.

[Anahi]

There isn´t a Spanish school here

It´s either the German School or my school which is ¨American¨ 

Thank you!

Edited May 26, 2015 by Anahi

[Alex Jordan]

Oh damn.

 

I'd try to push through it, then. Don't get yourself into the affairs of the other students - obviously they don't want to take their education very seriously. You can always find tutors and supplementary materials online as well.

[Anahi]

Thank you!

[ThisIsMe98]

I am going to finish my first year in the dp program now, so far I think I'm getting used to the whole system and workload. Sometimes when it comes to tok, they have the usual be "open-minded" thing, that is the part when I try to forget everything that I know and absorb what comes from the textbook or what my teacher says. I'll start thinking from what I was taught then add my own thoughts and that's how I handled tok. It was really hard for me at first, maybe you'll figure out a method for studying tok in the future? Many good teachers are leaving my school too, especially my english teacher who is really passionate about teaching us. I rather doubt the one who's going to be my new english teacher in year 12. My not-so-good tok teacher is also leaving with the others so that's quite a headache for me to adapt to the new environment next year. You should stick to IB, trust me. Biology really is all about memorizing, not just that, there are always specific answers in the textbooks and remembering the key terms will always give you an easy 5 or 6/7 if you put in more effort. It isn't just about the teachers, you can find a lot of resources online or from the textbooks to help you, the teachers are there to guide you and give you feedback or explain things to you. I know it would be hard, my school is relatively new too, I'm the first batch of dp students here but I would really like to tell you, IB is worth it. Good luck to you for whatever choice you made. 

[Basty Schwinte]

IB at my school is pretty hard

i study in a german school so we MUST have 3 subjects in german (history, german and biology) and you obligatory also have spanish and math

i can choose between chemistry, english and business 

i personally chose chemistry because i like it

besides the hard signature the only thing u have to consider is organization

u have to be really organized to have good grades

the IB is not hard, its just more homework, reading books, presentations etc.

if you are organized and study you will have no prob

god luck

[Anahi]

I am going to finish my first year in the dp program now, so far I think I'm getting used to the whole system and workload. Sometimes when it comes to tok, they have the usual be "open-minded" thing, that is the part when I try to forget everything that I know and absorb what comes from the textbook or what my teacher says. I'll start thinking from what I was taught then add my own thoughts and that's how I handled tok. It was really hard for me at first, maybe you'll figure out a method for studying tok in the future? Many good teachers are leaving my school too, especially my english teacher who is really passionate about teaching us. I rather doubt the one who's going to be my new english teacher in year 12. My not-so-good tok teacher is also leaving with the others so that's quite a headache for me to adapt to the new environment next year. You should stick to IB, trust me. Biology really is all about memorizing, not just that, there are always specific answers in the textbooks and remembering the key terms will always give you an easy 5 or 6/7 if you put in more effort. It isn't just about the teachers, you can find a lot of resources online or from the textbooks to help you, the teachers are there to guide you and give you feedback or explain things to you. I know it would be hard, my school is relatively new too, I'm the first batch of dp students here but I would really like to tell you, IB is worth it. Good luck to you for whatever choice you made. 

 

I am going to finish my first year in the dp program now, so far I think I'm getting used to the whole system and workload. Sometimes when it comes to tok, they have the usual be "open-minded" thing, that is the part when I try to forget everything that I know and absorb what comes from the textbook or what my teacher says. I'll start thinking from what I was taught then add my own thoughts and that's how I handled tok. It was really hard for me at first, maybe you'll figure out a method for studying tok in the future? Many good teachers are leaving my school too, especially my english teacher who is really passionate about teaching us. I rather doubt the one who's going to be my new english teacher in year 12. My not-so-good tok teacher is also leaving with the others so that's quite a headache for me to adapt to the new environment next year. You should stick to IB, trust me. Biology really is all about memorizing, not just that, there are always specific answers in the textbooks and remembering the key terms will always give you an easy 5 or 6/7 if you put in more effort. It isn't just about the teachers, you can find a lot of resources online or from the textbooks to help you, the teachers are there to guide you and give you feedback or explain things to you. I know it would be hard, my school is relatively new too, I'm the first batch of dp students here but I would really like to tell you, IB is worth it. Good luck to you for whatever choice you made. 

 

Thank you so much! Well I am taking the IB now, it´s been alright. EE scares me a little, but I think I´ll be able to handle it. 

What it worries me is Economics, the teacher hasn´t explained anything yet, I dont know if I will need a tutor for Economics .. 

[Anahi]

IB at my school is pretty hard

i study in a german school so we MUST have 3 subjects in german (history, german and biology) and you obligatory also have spanish and math

i can choose between chemistry, english and business 

i personally chose chemistry because i like it

besides the hard signature the only thing u have to consider is organization

u have to be really organized to have good grades

the IB is not hard, its just more homework, reading books, presentations etc.

if you are organized and study you will have no prob

god luck

 

As far as I know the Deutsche Schule in Nicaragua teaches all the subjects in German except Spanish and English. It sounds tough though, German is really difficult, I am studying it like for 3 year and a half and i know nothing 

I take all the subjects in English, except French and Spanish, so yeah, not that hard. 

I been in the school for 2 weeks and it doesn´t seem that hard, but it´s a lot of work.

 

btw. Do you know if there is a C1 Deutsch exam in El Salvador?

 

Thank you for the good luck, I´ll need it   

[Sylvette]

I guess you just have to be really careful. EE and other internal assessments/essays/tok have a heavy emphasis on teacher marks, and if your teachers arn't good enough to give you accurate markings, you might find yourself in a situation where you get awarded less points then expected because your teacher doesn't know the mark scheme very well (happened to me, would have changed it if I knew something was amis). Sometimes coursework can be essential in saving you a grade, and sometimes it would be the reason why you lost one too.