Catching New IB Students - Ideas?

[Graeme]

This site runs on users, and therefore it makes sense that the more users there are around, the more help people will get (and the more help is available). In it's current form, this site runs purely as a forum. However, the more I think about it, the more I believe that it may be worth extending the site to become a more general IB help site. Rather than only having help for subjects and the odd bit of advice here and there, I thought it might be worth extending the site to have pages dedicated to advice on academic and school stuff in general.

IB survival should not only be about how to survive your IB exams, but also how to survive in general during the two or more years that you go through the IB.

Now, the only issue is that we would have to compile advice from everywhere, and try to make the "ultimate" pages so that we get the best possible information.

Although I may have been blabbing on a bit, I hope that some of you understand what I am trying to say.

Essentially it would be nice to have external pages (on this site, but maybe not part of the forum) that are dedicated to general advice that would help people in the IB (time management, procrastination advice [both how-to and how-not ], depression help(??), etc).

It would be nice if some of you could throw some ideas about what you think would be nice, and perhaps PM me (Deus) and let me know if you think you can contribute (or if you have more "personal" comments that you don't want made public).

Lastly, I want to make one thing very clear about me. I respect your privacy, and your anonymity (if requested) above all else. I will NEVER make anything that you say to me, in any way, shape, or form, public UNLESS given express permission to do so. This is also the case with my admins, HMSChocolate and ~Lc~.

Thanks for reading this, and please, try to stay constructive.

Oh, and there will be prizes for those with the best ideas, comments, or whatever. I'll try to make it awesome .

[~Lc~]

prizes you say?

I may have some athletics advice for people suffering with their School teams though this is not education wise, it still could be useful plus it's part of the psychology part of my course so I can throw in bits of facts here and there

I'll do it when I'm done with exams though

[Ruan Chun Xian]

I agree that perhaps some pages that is static and external from the forum might be helpful for quick access. Perhaps it might be hard at first to get the ultimate page but I think, as with everything, give it enough time and it should grow.

To be honest this thread caught me by surprise a bit and I've gone blank on ideas. That may have something to do with the fact that it's 1:30 in the morning. So...why am I posting? Just want to tell you I've read it and I'll think about it.

Just so this isn't a useless post, I just want to stress that we appreciate input from everyone. Sometimes I get a feeling it's just the VIP talking amongst ourselves in discussions like this and our members are a bit reluctant to talk. Don't let us intimidate you . So if you have any idea or comments or anything to say, don't be hesitant, go right out and say it.

(Well, I lied. I do have an idea. Deus & Lc, check your PMs. Not exactly personal but perhaps better not public.)

[Ruan Chun Xian]

This just occured to me. How about the blog feature we had before, Deus? Though keeping in mind what you say about reducing distractions that might count as a distraction.

Would you guys want a blog feature on the site?

[Ashika]

I love that idea haha.

I dunno, I used to journal a lot, but now not so much.

But it would be a very cool idea.

[Afterglow]

Blogs are fun! But how would it work? With categorizing and such...

[Ruan Chun Xian]

Haha now I've given up my xanga blog sometimes I do miss it but just can't be bothered to write. But yeah I think it would be a nice feature here now that we've developed a bit of a community. And yes it would be essentially where you whine about IB

I can't remember how it works exactly actually since the only time we had it was about a couple of weeks in...May or something when we tested the first forum. But it would kind of like the PM function - you have an account to the forum/site and you can post blog entries and people can leave comments etc.

[Ashika]

Haha, our own little place to release all that frustration.

It's fabulous

[Guest iber2468]

*twitch* Blogs... competition... IB Years

Ooo GROUP BLOG!!!

[ezex]

Well, concerning the more specific help idea, I'm still open for online tutoring in math whenever. So if you guys decide to open something of that sort I'll gladly contribute. Also what if the webpage had some way of identifying members by schools? And I mean more than just putting it under a dropdown menu. I'm talking something like a whole page with all the members and their schools with the first person to join from the school being the "leader". That way we'd encourage members to ask people from their schools! And as the "schools" grow, the "principal" of the school can obtain powers over his fellow students, like if they reach past 10 legit members then something happens and 50 something else.

That plus the online tutoring would be a HUGE idea (plus if you think about it, all of the admins (being the ones that run the webpage) could offer CAS hours for certain things, like being part of the online program or something on those lines. So the online tutoring, the school idea, and the CAS Just tell me what's wrong with each cause there's bound to be mistakes in these ideas.

[nanki_c]

Well, I don't know how much use this'll be but last year, i wrote a guide for new IB students which was published in this school guide. It's a bit rough and I think looking back, I'd probably change a bit. But i'll attach it anyway.

Guide_for_new_IB_students.doc

[robertomx]

Well, I don't know how much use this'll be but last year, i wrote a guide for new IB students which was published in this school guide. It's a bit rough and I think looking back, I'd probably change a bit. But i'll attach it anyway.

Hahaha me and my mates have been working on a pretty long guide for the new ib students that start next august. When we finish it, I'll upload it. It clarifies many doubts we had when we were the new ones.

Great minds think alike

[Rose]

If I'd known when I started IB1 last year what I know now, I wouldn't have had an occasion where I physically collapsed one day after school. Stress is over rated. Caring about doing the best you can is one thing, but stress kills. We're only 15-18, we have our whole lives ahead of us.

This time around (started again halfway through IB1), my homework does itself, yes, sometimes the day it's due, but I've made a consious decision to not kill myself over it. Procrastination is OK. Incoming IB1s should just chillax. They get all worked up before they even start the program and have massive expectations. IBCs LOVE to talk about 'doing the work' and 'maintaining work ethic' and such. It is possible to do school and have a social life. Incoming IBs need to know that the occasional mental health day/s is/are OK. Take time off school when you have the flu, need sleep after a seriously hectic weekend/ are GETTING sick etc. Taking care of yourself and the people around you has to come first.

I've just seen so many close friends develop anxiety and stress problems, even attempt suicide before they're finished highschool. IBCs make a massive deal over what eventually should just become a fact of life. Take some time over the holidays. Go drinking. Play games. Get some reading done. Chillax.

[Xerox]

You definatly have a point rose and i can see that for some people that is a huge issue, and if someone needs help i am the chill out guy.

I could have needed help during pre-IB but of a different kind, i chill to much and don't get stressed, so even though i am probebly bright enough to do IB i kinda lacked the motivation.

IB is about hard work and some of us need encouraging and advice on how to change our habits to become better students than before, since then i have changed a lot but if i would

have gotten the help on how to do stuff sooner that would have made a huge difference. I had no study habits (before IB i haden't done my homework in years) didn't know how to plan

and was just busy with sports instead of school, so maybe there should be one topic regarding that as well, like how to get motivated and not just one on how to chill out (cause that i'll do just fine)

[harabla]

Deus mate i like your idea.

i can truely say finding this site is something ive been looking for for a while now. If someone would have just 'advertised' it in my school i think i wouldhave been here say... 1.5 yrs if not even more earlier.

i come from finland myself, oulu to be exact. just the time of the IB when EE and IA press on you and seem like they take up all your time.

ill be sure to get the word out. i have my own little forum for my friends whom are mostly IB students themselves, ill pop a link to this place just in a sec when i login.

[Chesire_Cat]

I've told some of the people at my school, since I'm pretty much always on here, but they're too busy trying to get everything done at the moment. Also, I don't think that people think about what they want to be when they grow up enough before they choose their IB subjects (at least at my school), so we might have a space where we could put the recommended subjects for some fields (not many people know that they should have 3 sciences if they want to go into medicine).

[IBdoc]

I've told some of the people at my school, since I'm pretty much always on here, but they're too busy trying to get everything done at the moment. Also, I don't think that people think about what they want to be when they grow up enough before they choose their IB subjects (at least at my school), so we might have a space where we could put the recommended subjects for some fields (not many people know that they should have 3 sciences if they want to go into medicine).

Wrong! They SHOULDN'T have 3 sciences if they want to go into medicine. Biology HL + Chemistry HL and Maths SL is all they need but it depends on the country. Some don't even want you to take chemistry at high level. So I'm sure they don't want you to take all 3 sciences to go into medicine.

Anyhow, the idea is good. We could give the recommended subjects for different fields in different countries.

[breaudreygraham]

hey.

i still have 6 months to make the choice of to do the IB.

i am HOPELESS at maths. i bearly pass every test. and in Australia for the HSC we dont have to do maths.

but i want to go to an overseas university and i love all the other offers the IB has but i dont know if its worth it.

is the standard math that hard?

and what about basic spanish? i dont know another language.

[Hyperbole]

If this idea is still being worked on, I think it would be useful to have guides to all the subjects. Not just the formal overviews, but also our "insiders' understandings" of what to think of when choosing your subjects.

Also - what about a more formal presentation of universities and their requirements? Things like English proficiency tests vs. English in the IB to prove that you can study in an English speaking country, what subjects are desirable for what fields (suggested before - I like the idea!), and what kinds of points you need for different areas/universities/countries and so on.

I think a lot of people on here would be willing to contribute to the writing of these pages - especially in return for CAS hours! I know I'd do what I can.

Another idea to do with blogging and stuff: what about creating a LiveJournal community (or similar) where we could post IB specific entries? I use LJ every day, and it's quite often that my entries are entirely IB centric; I could very well post more or less simultaneously to my own journal and an IB Survival community.

As for your question about Maths: I think it depends on what level you're on now. Before being accepted to the Preparatory IB year, we had to take English and Maths tests to prove that we could deal with working in another language and that we were at a sufficient level in maths. So it is pretty important. On the other hand, if you only need to pass it, I'd say you shouldn't let the thought of maths deter you from doing the IB. You could always ask someone to tutor you! And if you're really not managing, there is also Maths Studies which is quite easy. You don't -have- to do SL Maths (unless it is a requirement at the university you want to go to).

Edited November 18, 2008 by Hyperbole

[paige011]

Well, there should definately be some advice and pages for time/extra curricular management.

IB Kids at my school are constantly found involved in other such activities, like sports, band, newspaper staff, theatre, etc.

And I know a lot of them are thinking about quitting those things because of IB.

Having a site that would help them and give them advice on how to juggle all that would be AWESOME!

(I personally could use it. Haha.)

I'm involved in:

Band (WOO! FRENCH HORN!)

Newspaper Staff.

Theatre.

Math Team/UIL teams in general.

And IB.

Yeah, it's pretty hectic.

I'm sure I myself have some snippets of advice for people,

I think the site would be beneficial overall.

=D