Work hard party harder

I did my IOP on the role of love in marriage in Pride and Prejudice. I could upload it if you like?

"First examination" means that if it says "Biology first examinations 2009" then starting from 2008 the students should follow the syllabus in their curriculum. The syllabus is not changed every year and since it was changed for the 2009 examination, I don't think you should worry about the syllabus changing again for your examination session.

1. No
2. No

For the second point, I'd advise you to BS your way through. That seems to be a prerequisite for the satisfactory completion of the IBO DP core requirements.

If you think you're doing it wrong, take the two forms that you have filled in to school and show them to your coordinator. Problem solved. There is no wrong way really, you've the facts of your activity, just describe in them as much detail as possible and flower up your role in the activities that you have completed.

Portfolios tend to vary from person to person, but for the most part, yes, they are rather taxing on the mind, particularly as you approach the harder sections. Make sure that you read the criteria carefully and understand what's expected of you; I find that that's the key to success with the portfolios. It's possible to finish them in a single weekend, but don't plan on moving or going out much.

If you do decide to work together, make sure that you don't have the exact same material in both of your portfolios. I find that this tends to occur when people try to congregate and discuss ideas with each other, and it may be seen as very questionable by the teacher if everybody appears to have drawn the same conclusions to different sections.

All in all, it's hard to completely fail them, but it's hard to get perfect on them, too. How much effort you commit to it is going to be reflected in your mark.

Yep, they are! They're meant to be challenging and if you accidentally go off on the wrong track you can take aaaaages. I ended up taking a day off school to try and solve one of mine because otherwise I would never have finished it in time, but then I was never very good at mathematics

If you get the hang of them quickly I imagine it'd be time consuming but a piece of cake. Or at the other extreme you could be kinda hopeless like I was Maths portfolios were EVIL for me! But they did save my grade, so they were worth the effort. Just. Rather depends on natural aptitude as to how you'll find it, I expect. There should be help threads for most portfolios hanging around on this board.

I'm sorry! Can't help you there! Haven't read the book, although it's a classic. I know the plot, but that's about it. Ask your teacher if he/she can recommend a book which can be comparable. I'm sure there are quite a few which are similar.

However, since you have chosen Jane Austen's most famous work, you have to be ready to delve deep into it. There are likely few original ideas that you'll discover which the examiner does not already know about. My teacher recommended me to stay the **** away from Shakespeare, simply because he believes that examiners will know the book blindfolded.

But don't be disheartened! I'm not completely sure, but I don't think there is any certain criteria for very original ideas. I wish you good luck though! Try and find a comparable book if you want, might give that extra originality if you compare Pride and Prejudice to something else.

I don't think you'll be penalized for exploring just one book. I have seen very good essays about "simply" one book and they have scored A's. What you need to think about is that you have to be more detailed when writing about one book, rather than two.

I did mine on two books (Lord of the Rings & The Silmarillion) and I found it to be easy to structure it in a coherent manner. However, as said before, you can score well on one-book essays. Explore and analyze more. If you don't have a problem getting really into a book and you like it, then I don't see any reason to why you shouldn't go for it.