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Student starting the IB needs advice from present and former IBers


shwareb

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Hi, I´am a student from Sweden who two weeks ago finished PRIB (Pre-IB). I got good grades in all my subjects (except for swedish :P) (You can´t get a 7, a 6 is the highest grade :S). The subjects that I will be taking when I start IB 1 are:

Swedish Literature (A1) SL

English B HL

Economics HL

Maths HL

Chemistry HL

Biology HL

------------------------------

Physics SL (as a certificate)

Now after 14 days of rest I feel that it´s time for me to get back to studying, I´ve got the HL Math book, Physics SL, and Biology and Chemistry books (Not the books for the IB diploma programme but the Pre-IB books --- the school hasn´t ordered the new Chemistry and Biology HL books :busytype:), and some swedish novels and poems.

My dream is to become a doctor, thus my aim is to pursue a career in medicine. Now of course I want to give myself the greatest possibility to achieve this dream, and I was wondering if you IBers could give me some advice on how I can increase my possibilities of getting into med school (preferably one of the top 10 in the world).

First of all a know that I will need to get some good grades at the end of IB2 (38+, right???) but I was thinking if you guys could give me any tips on how I can make my self "stand out" from all other future applicants since competition is huge and not many applicants get an offer, how can I convice the universities that I´m "unique"and that they therefore should pick me :D???

I´ve heard that work experience is important, and that universities generally require an applicant to have shown that he/she are interested in pursuing such a career by doing some volunteering at an hospital/elderly care/youth club etc....

Thus I´m going to volunteer at an elderly care, starting from the 7th of July (No hospitals here in Sweden were willing to offer me a place because they thought that I was to young, is 17 to young???).

I´m thinking of travelling to another country and search for hospitals there who might offer me a place. Now my question is if that will be neccessary (how much more emphasis do universities put upon volunteering at a hospital in comparison to volunteering at an elderly care???) or is it enough to just volunteer at an elderly care?

I have some relatives in Iraq who personally told me that they would be able to offer me a place at the Hospital of Karbala (Its the "main hospital" of the city of Karbala), were I would be able to shadow a doctor and even be present during different types of operations.

Personally I believe that this opportunity might turn out to be very beneficial if I take it. I´ve been at the hospital and its quite crowded all day long especially on days in which there has been a car bombing, and due to the constant inflow of patients with different illnesses (some being more life-threating than others),I believe that this might turn out to be an invaluable experience. Should I go for it???

I´ve also looked at a certain list posted on the university of Oxford´s webpage, it´s a reading list which consists of a number of books which the university suggests that future medicine applicants who are interested read (It´s not mandatory or anything like that!!!, it´s just for students who want to "provide a more general foundation for University").

Now my question is if that applies to students like myself, or am I to young to start reading such books :confused: (are these books to hard for someone who has just finished Pre-IB :confused:)

I´ve also heard that you should finish off CAS in IB 1, and finish all the coursework in IB 1 (the 6/7 subjects during the scool year and then the EE and the World literature assignment in the summer between IB1 and IB2, so that when you start IB2 you only have to revise the subjects that you have chosen and don´t have to learn any new material. Is this true?

Also, will I have time to do any volunteering next summer ( can you finish off your EE and WLA and still have time to volunteer in a period of only two months???), the one between IB1 and IB2 or is this summer my only chance to do so before I´ll apply to university.

Thanks in advance :D

Edited by shwareb
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Okay, it looks like you are on the right path. Medicine is ridiculously competitive (and the drop rate is even worse, but you know that I'm sure) It's vital that you get relevant work experience, but not just one event, try to get involved in as much as you can, the more you do, the more you stand out as being dedicated. However, don't do all CAS related to medicine, you will want some variation.

You will need to show serious dedication to the subject also. Reading books around the subject is good, particularly the more well-known books. University admission officers really like to see a higher than average level of commitment, and reading and work experience is the best way to go about it.

The fact that you're starting working now is impressive (although I wouldn't mention that in your personal statement, you're grades will show that hard work)

Shadowing a doctor is amazingly valuable, it will give you an insight to the world of medicine (and again show your dedication and passion for the subject)

Hope this helps :)

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I doubt those books would be too far above you. once you start getting through your a1 language class you'll be able to read those just fine.

You can finish SL coursework in one year, yea, I wouldn't try it for HL though. At my school the SL courses are only one year anyway, so we were able to test out of them after IB1 and only take 4-5 IB classes in IB2 instead of all 6+.

I don't know much on international universities and IB. They do seem to like IB and recognize it much more than the US does. You will likely need a rather perfect score from IB (I'd aim for 40+, which is getting 5 6s+3 bonus and a 7) but I've seen a lot of different scores needed for varying offers. If you can get the colleges attention and they give you an offer they will probably tell you the score you need to accept the offer. So just aim high (always aim high) but there isn't really a score to aim for; higher is just better.

Don't do your WL essays and EE only in the summer. There's plenty of time to work on it and your EE isn't due til around march of IB2. Same with CAS, you can do little projects associated with your school during the school hours and what not (sports and clubs for example can count for action hours :P)

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Guest Soiboist

I will always help a fellow skåning. :D

Most vital when it comes to university admissions, I believe, is to focus on one particular country or region. Why is this? Well, because of the fact that admissions are clearly different, it will be practically impossible to satisfy the very different admission procedures between different regions. For instance, admissions in the US tend to focus completely on you and what you do in your free time (extra-curriculars), whereas admissions in the UK are completely academic. If you were to apply for both with equal effort, you would not only have to achieve outstanding grades for the UK, but additionally saving apes in India or being a captain for the national rugby team (you can insert anything that sounds impressive here frankly) for the US. You said that you wanted to attend a top 10 university somewhere in the world, but as you mentioned Oxford I suppose you might be specifically interested in the UK? That would from my point of view be a good choice for Swedish students. 100 years of democratic socialism has not by any means underpinned our schools' tendency to give out prices and such to their students. Stuff like that is crucial for American universities as they want to see signs of leadership and similar, remember they are interested in the individual. Thus, I think it is difficult for Swedish students to gain admission to the best universities in the US. It should moreover be noted that the admissions are a lot more unreliable, impressiveness of extra-curricular activies is hard to estimate on beforehand. However, if you are motivated and willing to work for it outside school, everything is possible. If you're applying to the UK it is very simple; achieve good grades and be interested in your subject.

Deciding where you want to study will also help you with your subject choices. Right now you have a combination that allows you to study medicine everywhere, including Sweden, but for the UK such a combination could be devastating. That may sound harsh, but you have chosen a very rigorous combination even for the scientific-minded people. English B HL is fine as it is possibly even easier than SL A2/Language and Literature, but having both Maths and Economics as HL, and hence 5 HL subjects, makes no sense to me. No university in the UK will acknowledge the fact that you have taken an extra HL subject, and it frankly doesn't matter what your third HL is (as long as you already have Chemistry + another Science/Maths to HL). Choose one HL out of Economics and Maths would be my recommendation. You should keep Physics SL if you're interested in applying to Sweden, but if you're certain about applying to the UK, or elsewhere out of Sweden, I would drop that as well. For the UK grades are very, very important, and managing a top score with extra HLs and extra cerificates will only be ridculously hard with no real advantage over other applicants. To improve your chances of admission. other than having very good grades, you should show interest for your subject. This can be done through, as you say, reading books and having work experience through shadowing. Having some sort of work experience is probably adviced for medicine as it is so competitive, even for the UK where such experience never is required for other degrees. So the overall message is to achieve academic success along with a genuine interest of medicine. However, as practically all graduates are employed after a medicine degree, anywhere will be good for medicine. Though this does not mean that you should not aim for a top university, for that is always a rewarding experience.

Oh, and don't worry about school work such as EE and WL now haha. Just do everything thoroughly as you go along.

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What Soiboist said is really good advice for other subjects but not for Medicine (as in, "only academia is important" does not apply to Medical admissions in the UK).

I can only speak for the UK, but basically what Soiboist said

f you were to apply for both with equal effort, you would not only have to achieve outstanding grades for the UK, but additionally saving apes in India or being a captain for the national rugby team (you can insert anything that sounds impressive here frankly) for the US

...is true! You need to get top grades AND save the apes. Medical schools have thousands of applicants for relatively few places and it's extremely competitive in the UK. At least half the people I know doing Medicine have done some kind of 3rd world deed-of-greatness - dug a well, helped a charity, whatever. What you have to remember is that, unlike for other courses, academic stuff isn't going to help you through because all your fellow applicants will probably have straight A/A* grades, so every single person will have top grades. Achieving academically is taken for granted (as it should be, because you'd fail the degree otherwise!).

You need to engage with activities which help demonstrate things about yourself that will be useful as a Doctor - for instance, a position of leadership, team activity, teaching other people, "get up and go" style activities which show you're a motivated, organised well-rounded person and anything which shows them you have good communication skills. These are all really important to demonstrate. Being captain of the rugby team would go down well and help you get an interview ;)

Work experience is also extremely important for two reasons - to show you're interested and most importantly to show them that you know what you're signing up to. A lot of people have crazy preconceptions of Medicine based on watching House and various other american TV shows! Volunteering also goes down well. Remember that work experience in a community setting (e.g. the GP) is equally as good as hospital work. Most people try out hospitals (legendarily hard to get work experience unless you have a parent/close friend working there!) and never ask their GPs, but it's a good idea :yes: And yeah you may well be excluded on age grounds, they won't take you younger because you're then a 'vulnerable/young adult' and they have to go through crazy procedures to vet all their staff etc. so it's not worth it for them.

The big thing they look for with work experience (and every activity you mention on your Personal Statement) is your reflection on what you've done, not on how much you've done. What did you learn from it/get out of it?

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Guest Soiboist

http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/courses/medicine/medicine_how_to.html

This link shows the selection criteria for Oxford which is supposedly one of the most competitive universities for Medicine.

So it seems indeed true that extra-curriculars are useful, or perhaps even crucial, for gaining admission to Medicine, and I thus have to revise my stance a bit. :P

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Thank you all for taking some of your time to answer me, I really appreciate it :D

Thanks for all the tips you´ve given me, but your answers have also led to me having to ask you some new questions :P

First of all, White94, you mentioned that I should get relevant work experience, but not just in one event, but that I should try to get involved in a variety of activities. Any suggestions on what type of activities that can be considered "relevant" other than volunteering at an hospital or elderly care?

You also state that it´s a proof of commitment and interest of the subject, if one reads books around the subject, "particularly the more well-known books".

With the "more well-known books", which ones do you mean? (bearing in mind that I´ve just finished Pre-IB, thus the level of difficulty of the subject that the "well-known book" treats shouldn´t be to overwhelming for a student like me). Of course you could also give me suggestions of books that I could read later on during IB1 and IB2?

It also seems as if you want to encourage me to travel to Iraq and shadow a doctor, and get the opportunity to work in a "hospital-environment", am I right???

If that´s is the case, is there anything specific that I should be searching for or try to experience during my visit, which might be good to take up in a potential interview, the same goes to when I´m going to volunteer at the elderly care? Should I bring some sort of notebook with me to document interesting incidents that might occur?

Also out of interest are you going to apply to med school?

Drake Glau, thank you for your response, and good luck with your results, I hope you make your offer :D

Today I visited the library and I took the chance to read the book Biochemistry written by Stryer, L. which is on the reading list and to be honest with you I found it quite difficult :blush:, do you think I should I should start of by reading the books that are listed in the section called "General"???

I also just noticed that you live in the US. May I ask what course you applied for (It´s medicine right??? --- why would you have otherwise chosen Biology and Chemistry HL :P ---- If it is medicine, may I ask what university you applied for, and what you did beside focusing on getting good grades, in order to get an offer??? For example what type of extra-curriculars did you engage in?)

I also see that you took English A1 HL ( I´m really impressed I must say :excl: :excl: :excl: )

For CAS I´m going to play football to get my action hours, participate in the amnesty international group at my school to get my creativity hours, and be a member in the EdUSA advising center at our school ( I think students from all over Malmo, Sweden visit us to get some information on how to apply to universities in the US).

Hello Solboist, in which city in Skåne do you live, and what school do you attend?

Thank you for your very detailed and informative response :D

First of all, I´m not really sure if I want to study in the US or the UK, I know that this is a problem since as you´ve already stated there are major differences in the admission procedures in the two countries, if I could dream then my first choice would be Harvard university. Having said that if I got into Cambridge or Oxford, I would also burst into tears (tears of happiness :')).

When it comes to Oxford University, I had the opportunity to talk to their Student recruitment officer, Cat Murdoch, who visited our school, and she more or less stated that they do not look for that well-rounded person that everyone thinks they are looking for, they want to recruit students with great academic skills. Having said that she also emphasized the importartance of doing extra-curriculars which are relevant to the course that the student wants to apply for, and reading additional books that are relevant to the course. So "saving apes in India or being a captain for the national rugby team" wouldn´t be very important if you wanted to apply to Oxford, and the same goes for Cambrige. The US, however, puts more emphasis on this (which you also mentioned).

The reason to why I have taken 5 HLs is because US universities give you college credit for every HL subject that you have, and this could prove to be very vital when I apply to a US university ( A girl did just this, and she got accepted into Harvard. I also asked Cat Murdoch what she thought about taking 5 HLs and 7 subjects, and she said that it would prove that I have great academic skills, increasing my chances of getting an offer. She however also told me that, she would not encourage me to take such a rigorous combination of subjects if it would jeopardize my chances of getting a high score, i.e it´s important to get good grades (which you also mentioned :P)

And yeah you´re right, the reason to why I took physics SL is because it´s required if you want to study medicine in Sweden. I don´t really want to study medicine in Sweden but it´s some sort of insurance if I fail to get an offer from foreign universities, since as you might now, in Sweden its enough to get 40p to be completely sure that you will be offered a place at the university you applied for, i.e they don´t care about work experience and extra-curriculars or anything like that.

Also do you have any suggestions on what books I can read which are relevant to medicine (once again bearing in mind that I just finished Pre-IB), and do you also suggest that I should travel to Iraq and shadow a doctor, since our fellow swedish doctors won´t offer me a place <_<?

Finally Sandwich, I would also like to thank you for your response, but are you sure that I need to "save the apes" to apply for universities in the UK, since Mrs. Murdoch told me that this wouldn´t be that important :P

I also see that you suggested that I engage in activities were I can show that I can work amongst people and be able to communicate well with them, would football fit into that category or were you thinking about something else :blush:. Also I´m hoping that I will be able to establish a leading role in the amnesty international group at our school.

I´m also thinking about doing some volunteering for the Red cross or Unicef, is such volunteering appreciated and favoured by universities in the UK and the US?

Finally as you know I´m going to volunteer at an elderly care soon, and the purpose is to get in contact with the elderly people and try to help them amd just basically understand how it is to work with and help people , but I was just wondering if the universities have some sort of expectations on what I should have learnt from this experience after that I´ve finished volunteering? Are they for example expecting me to talk with the elderly people and try to establish some sort of relationship with them, so that I can understand who they are, their background, any diseases that they have, which might have led to them being the human beings they are today?

(It came out a bit strange, I hope you understand what I mean)

Thanks in advance :D

Edited by shwareb
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Drake Glau, thank you for your response, and good luck with your results, I hope you make your offer :D

Today I visited the library and I took the chance to read the book Biochemistry written by Stryer, L. which is on the reading list and to be honest with you I found it quite difficult :blush:, do you think I should I should start of by reading the books that are listed in the section called "General"???

I also just noticed that you live in the US. May I ask what course you applied for (It´s medicine right??? --- why would you have otherwise chosen Biology and Chemistry HL :P ---- If it is medicine, may I ask what university you applied for, and what you did beside focusing on getting good grades, in order to get an offer??? For example what type of extra-curriculars did you engage in?)

I also see that you took English A1 HL ( I´m really impressed I must say :excl: :excl: :excl: )

Yea, I'd start with the more general books :P Biochemistry won't make sense until you've taken bio...and chem...

Hmmm US colleges...where to start. We don't apply for "courses", we just kind of do what we want. My current major that I'm planning on pursuing is chemistry with maybe a math minor (debating it, looks fun to me) and eventually a graduate program in Biophysics. I thought about pharmacology (the research side) but then came to the realization that I'd rather work with how biology works, but more on the molecular level rather than make medicines that mess with that stuff.

If you're looking for medicine in the US there's Drake University (I'm not related, promise >.< I think), ahhh there's more good ones I can't remember but my friend knows so I'll edit when I ask him :D

And about offers...the US doesn't really look at IB and give offers...we simply receive credit for getting x score in y class:

http://admissions.missouri.edu/apply/ap-ib-and-college-credits/international-baccalaureate-diploma-certificates.php

That's the university I'm going to in August and that's an example of the credit I'd receive for certain scores in certain classes.

But since we don't really get offers we still have to apply and IB is looked upon there but whether you got a 25 or a 45, it's looked at the same =/

When they look at it they are looking for diversity (minorities get special treatment :P), community activities, GPA (grades, and not IB grades, just the class grades), and initiative. So the perfect profile would be something like some from india with perfect grades who constantly used his/her talents to initiate community activities to help their society...

But then you CAS which covers that last part...and you're in IB so I'd hope your grades stay good (don't expect perfect grades) and seeing as you don't live in the US you've already got the diversity thing :P

And when it comes to activities in the US, it's not like Oxford. Go play rugby or whatever, it shows you did something besides school. This is why I don't like US colleges and how they do admissions. There's people with TERRIBLE grades getting full paid tuition for 4 years because they can play football (not soccer...) or basketball really well...I'm pretty sure several people who took minimum courses but were able to keep high grades because they took those minimum courses got into schools that rejected me because IB took my GPA down because I wanted to actually learn...

I kept reading your thing and had more to add...

Some schools will only accept HLs some accept both. Some give less credit for SL than HL but still take both. It's dependent on the school so I'd check that out first before doing 5HLs because you're still required to do 2SLs with them. 7 IB courses isn't fun, I did it, and that was only 3 HLs with 4SLs...not 5...

Edited by Drake Glau
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Hello again, I was just wondering if you guys could give me any advice on how I can improve my language A essay writing skills (especially in essays in which one has to analyse a specific character/theme in a book) , because to be honest I´m really poor at writing essays and it´s is probably my weakest point in swedish (which is the A language that I will be taking next year). It´s not that my range of vocabulary is bad so that the essays become informal, it´s just the fact that when I write essays, under severe time pressure, I tend to start writing about the plot and forget to actually analyse the specific book, which results in that I usually get a crappy essay. I also find it quite difficult to actually get a grip on how to structure the essay. For example, this one time, our class read a book called Tristan and Iseult, we studied the themes/characters and so on quite thoroughly in class, two hours a week for six weeks, thus a week before we would write the essay I felt quite confident that I had sufficient knowledge about the book to write a marvellous essay. At the day of the "test" we received a question in which we had to analyse the love between Tristan and Iseult (I don´t really remember how the question was posed --- but we were supposed to conclude if love is worth it despite all the suffering and hate it causes or if one should live a peaceful life alone without love -- and support our "theory" with proof and quotes from the book). We had one hour to write the essay, and instead of working with and analysing the question I more or less subconsciously, instead, described the plot. Why did this happen? Well I really do not know. Despite the fact that I initially had the intention of writing an analytical essay, the essay became a description of the plot. This always happens to me when I write essays, any ideas on how I can solve this problem?

It´s really important that I understand how to write good essays under time pressure before IB starts, since I really do not want to get 4s or 5s (I´m aiming for a 6 in Swedish A). So I would really appreciate it if you could give me any advice on how I can better my essay skills now during my summer break.

I would also appreciate it if you could give me any advice on how to write a good poem analysis?

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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

Hi, well first of all thank you for your response but I believe that one can get the IB diploma doing 5 HLs since there was this one girl at my school who did her exams this year and she had 7 subjects with five of them being HLs. If she can do it, then I believe that I can do it, and if it gets to tough then I can just drop my 7th subject or swith one of my HLs to SL (this option will always be available during my two IB years). I was also encouraged by my teachers to take 7 subjects and the reason to why I´m taking 7 subjects (with physics being the 7th one) is because you need to have studied physics SL/HL in Sweden to be able to apply to med school.

I´m also not expecting 7´s in the majority of my subjects, I´m aiming for 7´s in the majority of my subjects. My expectations will change during my two IB years depending on how I perform in each individual subject. However, because of the fact that in my previous school years I´ve been really good in, for example, maths and performing really well in it in comparison to swedish in which I´ve been achieving weaker results, naturally my expectations will be higher in maths than in swedish. That´s why I´m more concerned about how I will perform in swedish in the IB than I´m in maths for example, and that´s why I asked for advice in my previous post on how I can better my swedish essay writing skills.

Now if you have any advice to me on how I can better my essay writing skills, I would really appreciate it if you could write a reply to me with your advice/tips :)

Thanks in advance

Edited by shwareb
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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

Hi, well first of all thank you for your response but I believe that one can get the IB diploma doing 5 HLs since there was this one girl at my school who did her exams this year and she had 7 subjects with five of them being HLs. If she can do it, then I believe that I can do it, and if it gets to tough then I can just drop my 7th subject or swith one of my HLs to SL (this option will always be available during my two IB years). I was also encouraged by my teachers to take 7 subjects and the reason to why I´m taking 7 subjects (with physics being the 7th one) is because you need to have studied physics SL/HL in Sweden to be able to apply to med school.

I´m also not expecting 7´s in the majority of my subjects, I´m aiming for 7´s in the majority of my subjects. My expectations will change during my two IB years depending on how I perform in each individual subject. However, because of the fact that in my previous school years I´ve been really good in, for example, maths and performing really well in it in comparison to swedish in which I´ve been achieving weaker results, naturally my expectations will be higher in maths than in swedish. That´s why I´m more concerned about how I will perform in swedish in the IB than I´m in maths for example, and that´s why I asked for advice in my previous post on how I can better my swedish essay writing skills.

Now if you have any advice to me on how I can better my essay writing skills, I would really appreciate it if you could write a reply to me with your advice/tips :)

Thanks in advance

You can only take four HLs in the diploma programme: http://ibanswers.ibo.org/app/answers/detail/a_id/36/~/how-many-ib-exams-are-there,-and-when-do-students-take-them%3F

Any additional Higher Level subjects must be taken as certificates.

If you want to improve your writing, the best thing to do is simply to write, write and write. Read books, and write essays on them. In the syllabus document there is a section with assessment details, explaining what examiners look for in an essay.

Good luck!

Edited by Sammie Backman
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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

Hi, well first of all thank you for your response but I believe that one can get the IB diploma doing 5 HLs since there was this one girl at my school who did her exams this year and she had 7 subjects with five of them being HLs. If she can do it, then I believe that I can do it, and if it gets to tough then I can just drop my 7th subject or swith one of my HLs to SL (this option will always be available during my two IB years). I was also encouraged by my teachers to take 7 subjects and the reason to why I´m taking 7 subjects (with physics being the 7th one) is because you need to have studied physics SL/HL in Sweden to be able to apply to med school.

I´m also not expecting 7´s in the majority of my subjects, I´m aiming for 7´s in the majority of my subjects. My expectations will change during my two IB years depending on how I perform in each individual subject. However, because of the fact that in my previous school years I´ve been really good in, for example, maths and performing really well in it in comparison to swedish in which I´ve been achieving weaker results, naturally my expectations will be higher in maths than in swedish. That´s why I´m more concerned about how I will perform in swedish in the IB than I´m in maths for example, and that´s why I asked for advice in my previous post on how I can better my swedish essay writing skills.

Now if you have any advice to me on how I can better my essay writing skills, I would really appreciate it if you could write a reply to me with your advice/tips :)

Thanks in advance

Well, I hate to say this... But the only way for essays is practice. And lots of it. I'm not sure what you do in swedish, but just practice past IB papers and write an essay a day...

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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

Hi, well first of all thank you for your response but I believe that one can get the IB diploma doing 5 HLs since there was this one girl at my school who did her exams this year and she had 7 subjects with five of them being HLs. If she can do it, then I believe that I can do it, and if it gets to tough then I can just drop my 7th subject or swith one of my HLs to SL (this option will always be available during my two IB years). I was also encouraged by my teachers to take 7 subjects and the reason to why I´m taking 7 subjects (with physics being the 7th one) is because you need to have studied physics SL/HL in Sweden to be able to apply to med school.

I´m also not expecting 7´s in the majority of my subjects, I´m aiming for 7´s in the majority of my subjects. My expectations will change during my two IB years depending on how I perform in each individual subject. However, because of the fact that in my previous school years I´ve been really good in, for example, maths and performing really well in it in comparison to swedish in which I´ve been achieving weaker results, naturally my expectations will be higher in maths than in swedish. That´s why I´m more concerned about how I will perform in swedish in the IB than I´m in maths for example, and that´s why I asked for advice in my previous post on how I can better my swedish essay writing skills.

Now if you have any advice to me on how I can better my essay writing skills, I would really appreciate it if you could write a reply to me with your advice/tips :)

Thanks in advance

Well, I hate to say this... But the only way for essays is practice. And lots of it. I'm not sure what you do in swedish, but just practice past IB papers and write an essay a day...

Okay thank you for your advice but is there anything I can practice during this summer which can improve my essay writing skills, since I would start doing past IB pappers when I start the IB.

Or do you mean that I should start doing past IB pappers already now ?

Edited by shwareb
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You seem to be so determined, but the thing to remember in IB is to deal with disappointment.

First of all, you cannot get the IB diploma doing 5 HLS. You can have a maximum of 4 HLs. So take a HL as a certificate and switch it out.

There is no point doing 7 Subjects, the work load will be too much.

Oh and All the courses you are taking, excluding economics and swedish are considered the harder IB course. Do not expect a 7.

As for volunteer, I'm not sure how it works in sweden, but CAS is just a fail/pass.

Hi, well first of all thank you for your response but I believe that one can get the IB diploma doing 5 HLs since there was this one girl at my school who did her exams this year and she had 7 subjects with five of them being HLs. If she can do it, then I believe that I can do it, and if it gets to tough then I can just drop my 7th subject or swith one of my HLs to SL (this option will always be available during my two IB years). I was also encouraged by my teachers to take 7 subjects and the reason to why I´m taking 7 subjects (with physics being the 7th one) is because you need to have studied physics SL/HL in Sweden to be able to apply to med school.

I´m also not expecting 7´s in the majority of my subjects, I´m aiming for 7´s in the majority of my subjects. My expectations will change during my two IB years depending on how I perform in each individual subject. However, because of the fact that in my previous school years I´ve been really good in, for example, maths and performing really well in it in comparison to swedish in which I´ve been achieving weaker results, naturally my expectations will be higher in maths than in swedish. That´s why I´m more concerned about how I will perform in swedish in the IB than I´m in maths for example, and that´s why I asked for advice in my previous post on how I can better my swedish essay writing skills.

Now if you have any advice to me on how I can better my essay writing skills, I would really appreciate it if you could write a reply to me with your advice/tips :)

Thanks in advance

Well, I hate to say this... But the only way for essays is practice. And lots of it. I'm not sure what you do in swedish, but just practice past IB papers and write an essay a day...

Okay thank you for your advice but is there anything I can practice during this summer which can improve my essay writing skills, since I would start doing past IB pappers when I start the IB.

Or do you mean that I should start doing past IB pappers already now ?

you might want to save doing past papers later to keep it fresh. Im not sure how swedish tested, and what types of essays you will need to write for the ib exam, but just practice similar formats.

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