Jump to content

Taking the IB in September...


amazingelli

Recommended Posts

Hi Elli!

You can get a general feel for the IB dip if you have a look around the forum.

It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be if you have good time management skills. Secondly what can help you a lot is if you finish off your EE and a couple of your IAs in the summer between the years. I did that and I feel much better now.

Stress levels are high in the second year, in the first half especially where you will have most of your IB deadlines however a bit of nice time management will aid you to evade the high stress. Sleepless nights can be common, and even if you sleep sometimes, you can wake up and feel like you haven't slept at all.

IB can turn you into a monster, but I do think that you come out of it being a more developed person. That may not be true for all, but it certainly is true for some.

Hope that helped :P

Link to post
Share on other sites

The first few weeks are the worst, you feel completely overwhelmed especially if you did not get proper preparation. After that things settle down and you get used to the work load - which is heavy, but you can get through it without much sleep lose if you don't procrastinate (wait, all IB kids procrastinate :D ). So far it's been worth it for me, and it's taught me a lot about myself.

Link to post
Share on other sites

a lot of parents ask me the year before their own kids begin IB if IB was worht it. and i always say yeas. IB is allowing me to skip almost a whole year of college, getting me a scholarship for 1/2 of my tuition next year, and i know that college next year wil be a breeze. living in the US it isn't really encouraged for students to become proficent in a second language... but with IB it is important. i don't thingk i would have taken some of the classes tat i did if it hadn't have been for IB. i feel so prepared to go to uni next year. just maage your time well, don't prcastinate and if you do... find a realiable source of caffine. :D

good luck :)

*edit*

i forgot. Aboo is right... gettting ur EE and some IAs out of the way is a reallybig help. i did 4 IAs in my first year, my TOK essay, and 1/2 of my EE done (i wished that i had done it all) befor my sencond year of IB... it did make everythign less hectic as a senior.

Edited by IBStuck
Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't procrastinate!

That's the biggest piece of advice I can give you. But of course, everyone ends up procrastinating (myself included) lol. Oh well. IB1 is pretty easy..you only have to do your math IAs, TOK essay + presentation, english IOP (if you're taking those subjects). IB2 is hell on earth. Oy..I'm in IB2 and the worst is pretty much over. I'm done my english world lits, 2 of my economics IAs, my EE and my group 4 project. February-March of your second year of IB is basically insanity.

So yes, try to do everything in advance and don't leave assignments to the last week. The homework/reading isn't actually that bad, it's just the assignments that are hard.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm in the pre-IB and I will also begin the IB in September. I think the workload also depends on what courses you take. As far as I know, some courses are "tougher" than others, for instance: three higher level sciences would require more effort than three higher level languages. Nevertheless, IB-subjects are all tough!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm in the pre-IB and I will also begin the IB in September. I think the workload also depends on what courses you take. As far as I know, some courses are "tougher" than others, for instance: three higher level sciences would require more effort than three higher level languages. Nevertheless, IB-subjects are all tough!

I dont necessarily agree with that...the languages (A1 hl) can be very tough too and they have a great deal of workload

Link to post
Share on other sites

That's the biggest piece of advice I can give you. But of course, everyone ends up procrastinating (myself included) lol. Oh well. IB1 is pretty easy..you only have to do your math IAs, TOK essay + presentation, english IOP (if you're taking those subjects). IB2 is hell on earth. Oy..I'm in IB2 and the worst is pretty much over. I'm done my english world lits, 2 of my economics IAs, my EE and my group 4 project. February-March of your second year of IB is basically insanity.

This varies from school to school. At other schools, all IAs are dumped on the second year. For example, my school has a mixture of deadlines between IB1&IB2, but TOK is in IB2 and Group 4 project is IB1.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I dont necessarily agree with that...the languages (A1 hl) can be very tough too and they have a great deal of workload

And I disagree with that :lol: Finnish A1 HL is really easy :D

And btw you can only have one HL A1, the other one has to be SL. But no-one should be crazy enough to do two A1s

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Don't procrastinate!

That's the biggest piece of advice I can give you. But of course, everyone ends up procrastinating (myself included) lol. Oh well. IB1 is pretty easy..you only have to do your math IAs, TOK essay + presentation, english IOP (if you're taking those subjects). IB2 is hell on earth. Oy..I'm in IB2 and the worst is pretty much over. I'm done my english world lits, 2 of my economics IAs, my EE and my group 4 project. February-March of your second year of IB is basically insanity.

So yes, try to do everything in advance and don't leave assignments to the last week. The homework/reading isn't actually that bad, it's just the assignments that are hard.

I agree, u can slip through in the beginning weeks of IB but the last thing you wanna do is procrastinate in your second year. Also, i suggest you take lots of lots of lots notes in your science area (physics, chem, bio) because if your like me, i cant remember what my teacher told me a week ago to study for an upcoming test that i dont know much about. So, LOTS OF NOTES :blink:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Personally, it really depends on what you wanna do and what your IB offers.

Right now I have ToK and SL french, which are literally the worst classes I can have. The teachers doesn't teach properly, and are insanely bias to different people. And they're just boring as hell. Oh yes and a SL economics.

*Note* the only choice I had was between Economics and Geo

Next year I'd have 2 math 2 english (1HL) 2 chem (1 HL) 1 SL physics. Personally, I find IB just really bothersome. If you'd want to go do a uni in another country then I'd guess IB would be pretty useful. But for me, I plan to stay in Canada..the IB scores are not as valuable.

Althou, IB is meant to prepare you for uni, aka work habits and such. But most of us just end up procrastinating, and I can explain the science behind it :)

Spoiler - Click me!
You see, if you manage to finish everything early then the time between you finish it and you hand it in=time to improve. And if you'd end up getting a soso mark, you'd be discouraged thinking you could've done better. However, if you finish it last minute, and you get a soso mark. You'd be happy for what you've done. Althou not smart, it's a popular belief. Ok..I exaggerated a lil, it's only my belief.

[Close]

Well, if you're ambitious and wants to prepare for uni life, and can manage stress. Then I don't see why not, I mean you can always quit if you find it unbearable.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...