First year in IB. Advice!

[Karla B.]

So after completing the MYP program last year I'm finally being introduced to the IB program. I don't know anyone personally well who has done  the IB and some advice would be great! I personally love school and academics, only it does sometimes give me bad anxiety half way through the year. These are my classes:

Psychology HL

Spanish SL

TOK

Language an Literature HL 

Environmental Science and Systems SL

History HL

Mathematics SL

Some studying, organization, and supply advice would be great. Any links that personally help you would be nice as well as advice on how to deal with stress

OH! As well as how to handle CAS and your whole workload, since they aren't giving us a limit on how many hours we need.

Thanks loads if you do respond  

 

[Karla B.]

1 hour ago, Reece said:

We have to do 150 CAS hours, 50 for each of the three components. Although it may vary between schools

Yes, my school told us that we don't have a  "limit" but that 150 hours in between the three categories should be the least we do. But they want us to do it every week and create something likes journal to keep all the info and evidence you went

[Benny365]

good luck thats all i can say  also why did you choose IB? just curious? Anyway some tips:

Study hard and dont procrastinate even though most Ib students dont haha

also try to finish your CAS in your first year and start getting your topics finalised for your IAs and EE during the 1st year! Its very hectic in the 2nd year

Edited September 18, 2016 by Benny365

[mac117]

My only tip I can give you is to survive. Good luck. 

 

You have essay-based HLs, so prepare for a LOT of writing - your notes need to be top-notch for revision, as otherwise you'll drown in papers and essays you and those "did that-one-day-and-forgot" things. I cannot comment on any of the HLs since I don't take them, but I do take LangLit SL and I read the books before we discuss them in class in order to be able to understand what we're doing/reading. You should do the same thing, too, especially since you're taking it at HL.

Maths SL is basically just past papers and constant practice. Calculus might be a bit tough at first but you should be just fine. Don't let some people's saying "maths SL is easy compared to HL" fool you. It is easier than HL, yes, but you need to put a lot of work to end up with a 6 or a 7! Haese books might be the best option, as well as the Cambridge one. Unless you're a math genius and took SL because you can't be bothered to put much effort into HL  

Language B is probably just vocab, unless you're fluent because then it's probably just going to be a walk in the park. Try to expose yourself to the language, and watch videos on YouTube etc. in that language. It'll help your diction and prepare you well for spontaneous conversations (a pen pal would work great too!). The boundaries are high due to the natives taking it at a B-level, causing the curve to be extremely high at level 6 and 7 (90% is a 7 most of the time).

TOK really depends on whether you like philosophy or not. Some people love it, some hate it. Rarely I find someone who is more-or-less neutral about it. My personal belief is that the teacher can really impact your view on this new subject (unless you took something like philosophy before). In my school we need to write weekly reflections so it's actually more work than my SLs so far (4 weeks into IB). 

I do not take ESS but it shouldn't be too hard if you make flash cards and revise prior to the unit tests. Again, people will want to fool you by saying it's extremely easy and requires little revision compared to things such as bio or chem, but it really is up to your abilities. You can't do nothing and expect a 7 afterwards - it's an IB subject and only a few % get a 7 every year. For revision I highly suggest writing flashcards, as for your exams in two years you can just read off of those easily, with your notes already condensed. Depending on how well you do on the unit tests, I'd suggest adjusting the flash cards afterwards. If you get a 6 or a 7 then they're probably fine, but if you get a 3 or a 4 you definitely need to write some more things down.

For CAS etc try to find activities weeks before you start them (2 weeks or so), so that you can fully plan them out and know what you're doing once you start. Sometimes a week or less is enough, but doing something the next day usually is not a great experience and will not be that valuable. Smaller projects require less preparation, but something that will end up giving you more than 10-15 hours should really be thoroughly planned  

 

This is not a universal guide, and won't maybe apply to everyone reading it (maybe it won't even apply fully to you). I hope to give you a general idea on the subjects and what you might expect in the future. 

 

[Karla B.]

3 hours ago, Benny365 said:

good luck thats all i can say  also why did you choose IB? just curious? Anyway some tips:

Study hard and dont procrastinate even though most Ib students dont haha

also try to finish your CAS in your first year and start getting your topics finalised for your IAs and EE during the 1st year! Its very hectic in the 2nd year

I chose the IB because personally I love to go into depth into things and getting really into subjects. When I was little I would research everything I wanted to know about little assignments in class. I would go out to the library and reads loads of books and stuff so elementary wasn't that hard. Plus, IB is fairly small in my school so the support system from the staff is great and they all are very dedicated.

Yeah I haven't procrastinated yet and I'm rooting it continues as so 

Yeah our CAS coordinator is coming in this week to explain what the requirements really are so I can start in the next two weeks. According to the past juniors, they managed to finalize everything before the beginning of classes this year so I think I'll be okay  

 

[Karla B.]

1 hour ago, mac117 said:

My only tip I can give you is to survive. Good luck. 

 

You have essay-based HLs, so prepare for a LOT of writing - your notes need to be top-notch for revision, as otherwise you'll drown in papers and essays you and those "did that-one-day-and-forgot" things. I cannot comment on any of the HLs since I don't take them, but I do take LangLit SL and I read the books before we discuss them in class in order to be able to understand what we're doing/reading. You should do the same thing, too, especially since you're taking it at HL.

Maths SL is basically just past papers and constant practice. Calculus might be a bit tough at first but you should be just fine. Don't let some people's saying "maths SL is easy compared to HL" fool you. It is easier than HL, yes, but you need to put a lot of work to end up with a 6 or a 7! Haese books might be the best option, as well as the Cambridge one. Unless you're a math genius and took SL because you can't be bothered to put much effort into HL  

Language B is probably just vocab, unless you're fluent because then it's probably just going to be a walk in the park. Try to expose yourself to the language, and watch videos on YouTube etc. in that language. It'll help your diction and prepare you well for spontaneous conversations (a pen pal would work great too!). The boundaries are high due to the natives taking it at a B-level, causing the curve to be extremely high at level 6 and 7 (90% is a 7 most of the time).

TOK really depends on whether you like philosophy or not. Some people love it, some hate it. Rarely I find someone who is more-or-less neutral about it. My personal belief is that the teacher can really impact your view on this new subject (unless you took something like philosophy before). In my school we need to write weekly reflections so it's actually more work than my SLs so far (4 weeks into IB). 

I do not take ESS but it shouldn't be too hard if you make flash cards and revise prior to the unit tests. Again, people will want to fool you by saying it's extremely easy and requires little revision compared to things such as bio or chem, but it really is up to your abilities. You can't do nothing and expect a 7 afterwards - it's an IB subject and only a few % get a 7 every year. For revision I highly suggest writing flashcards, as for your exams in two years you can just read off of those easily, with your notes already condensed. Depending on how well you do on the unit tests, I'd suggest adjusting the flash cards afterwards. If you get a 6 or a 7 then they're probably fine, but if you get a 3 or a 4 you definitely need to write some more things down.

For CAS etc try to find activities weeks before you start them (2 weeks or so), so that you can fully plan them out and know what you're doing once you start. Sometimes a week or less is enough, but doing something the next day usually is not a great experience and will not be that valuable. Smaller projects require less preparation, but something that will end up giving you more than 10-15 hours should really be thoroughly planned  

 

This is not a universal guide, and won't maybe apply to everyone reading it (maybe it won't even apply fully to you). I hope to give you a general idea on the subjects and what you might expect in the future. 

 

Bless your lovely soul! Our sophomore year of high school our English teachers really hammered us with essays and were practically the definition of grammar-Nazis so I'm good with a massive amount of writing.

Yeah I tend to revise at least 30 minutes a day when it comes to Mathematics, just because although good at math it makes me slightly anxious. I tend to go online and find worksheets with the answers in them so I could make sure I'm doing things right. If not, my teacher stays everyday after school and helps me out  

I was suppose to do French as my language B but I transferred to a different school freshmen year and switched to Spanish. I'm fluent in the language so I don't think I'm really going to struggle with the course. I speak it at home all the time and whenever confused my teacher offers a bit of tutoring after school which is lovely.

Yeah, my TOK teacher was one of my freshmen teachers so ever thing is well! I already had some weekly reflections so I'm kind of getting used to the vibes. We mediate either 5-15 minutes at least two times a week which is awesome.

Yeah, my teacher has already warned us about how he will only provide what we need to know and from that he'll let us figure out on our own. He's quite sassy so loving him thus far (let's see when the workload hits lol).

My school has loads of activities and programs, top ones are Build-on and Columbia College after school ( prestigious art school in Chicago). They both have LOADS of activities of service that they do every Saturday as well as throughout the week so I don't think It'll be hard to work into my schedule  

THANKS LOADS FOR THE ADVICE! 

Question: Where are you from and how dedicated is your school to the IB? 

[mac117]

2 hours ago, Karla B. said:

Bless your lovely soul! Our sophomore year of high school our English teachers really hammered us with essays and were practically the definition of grammar-Nazis so I'm good with a massive amount of writing.

Yeah I tend to revise at least 30 minutes a day when it comes to Mathematics, just because although good at math it makes me slightly anxious. I tend to go online and find worksheets with the answers in them so I could make sure I'm doing things right. If not, my teacher stays everyday after school and helps me out  

I was suppose to do French as my language B but I transferred to a different school freshmen year and switched to Spanish. I'm fluent in the language so I don't think I'm really going to struggle with the course. I speak it at home all the time and whenever confused my teacher offers a bit of tutoring after school which is lovely.

Yeah, my TOK teacher was one of my freshmen teachers so ever thing is well! I already had some weekly reflections so I'm kind of getting used to the vibes. We mediate either 5-15 minutes at least two times a week which is awesome.

Yeah, my teacher has already warned us about how he will only provide what we need to know and from that he'll let us figure out on our own. He's quite sassy so loving him thus far (let's see when the workload hits lol).

My school has loads of activities and programs, top ones are Build-on and Columbia College after school ( prestigious art school in Chicago). They both have LOADS of activities of service that they do every Saturday as well as throughout the week so I don't think It'll be hard to work into my schedule  

THANKS LOADS FOR THE ADVICE! 

Question: Where are you from and how dedicated is your school to the IB? 

My school is an IB-only school, so I think they're pretty dedicated  It's rather new to IB, but it's pretty good nonetheless ^^

[Karla B.]

9 hours ago, mac117 said:

My school is an IB-only school, so I think they're pretty dedicated  It's rather new to IB, but it's pretty good nonetheless ^^

Ah! Well good to know! I always wonder how prestigious different IB schools are around the world.

[Julia H.]

My advice is get really good at time management and pace yourself! You're not superhuman, although it feels as though that's what they expect out of you! If you ever get flustered, or have really bad anxiety, just leave the work you're doing (if homework) for about 10-15 minutes to just clear your head, and then go back to your work. For my school, I'm in NYC, they said as long as you get 20 hours in at least 2 areas, you can get 110 hours in another subject. 

[vanillafireworks]

In general, this is something nobody really says but can get quite crucial-- everything you learn these two years you will have to know by heart and retain for the long term, because you're not just learning this to take one term test and then forget everything afterwards. Pace your learning, this is a marathon, not a race, and in the long run it doesn't matter how you did on the 2nd term of your first year compared to what you got for your predicted grades and Externals.  Check out past papers as early as now to get an idea of the direction your learning should be taking! Cramming may work for acing a quiz the next day, but externals are the endgame (and in your case, year 1 finals as well.) 

The subjects we have in common would be Spanish SL, TOK, and Maths SL, so here goes: 

Spanish: Year 1 Spanish was honestly pretty easy for me (I'm a native speaker of Filipino, which is basically botched Spanish thanks to history), but don't be fooled, for your Year 2 IAs you're going to have to get comfortable speaking the language! When you have free time or the summer before IB 2 try watching Spanish movies (or your favorite shows, thanks to nifty Netflix-- just make sure it's not Gilmore Girls or you won't understand a thing hah.) It helps seeing how the tenses and words you learn come together in real conversation. 

TOK in my opinion is a subject that is very easy to teach terribly, so if you feel you're not getting much out of your classes, go check out the TOK forum and give yourself a solid foundation for your coming presentation and essay. 

I was in Lit&Lang for about a term before transferring to Lit, and if you're considering a career path where in-depth writing and analysis would help, I suggest you consider the latter! In my experience at least, in Lit you get a lot more opportunity for introspection and writing literary criticism, and I feel it's a much better preparation for uni-level writing  (Of course, I could just be biased, as at my school our Lit teacher is much more compelling...) 

For Math SL, check out the prior learning topics and make sure you've got everything down pat! In addition, always answer the review sets (if you're using the Haese Maths textbook, which I am), and check out past papers to familiarize yourself with the points system. Practice, practice, practice! 

Also, really, IB 1 is a breeze compared to IB 2. This isn't to say it's easy, but take the free time you will definitely have (if you manage your time well) to familiarize yourself with what IAs and the EE will require of you and make sure you're in tiptop shape on the topics you're learning. Also, do try and get the best predicted grade you can-- don't be afraid to get tutoring-- so come next year you can confidently submit your grades for early applications in universities. 7's are not out of reach, especially since you seem to be familiar with the (strangely elusive) concept that school is awesome and helps you learn stuff!  I didn't listen to that advice  and now I'm scrambling to get midyear grades I can submit to my dream school, study for the SATs, and do all my IAs... It is not fun and I probably shouldn't even be on the internet right now oh my god 

Also, if I may suggest the wonderful app Todoist, which is basically like your token iOS Reminders but on steroids (too many features to explain on this post, just try it out and see :-) ) It's on Apple, Android and todoist.com and  it is such a help as long as you keep on top of your to-do list, otherwise it is really stressful to look at. It's definitely at its best on Premium (that's where it really starts to put iOS Reminders in the dust) but it works fine free, and once you complete a certain number of tasks they give you six months free.  I use that in conjunction with Google Calendar (another glorious organization app)and it helps me feel like my life is together!

Plus, make sure you've got your list of colleges thoroughly researched and organized as early as now! Especially if you're planning on the States, there are just so many choices it's terrifying. 

All in all, IB is just such an amazing opportunity-- many people go through worse to get less (less being, not a shot at the hippie liberal arts college of your dreams). Never ever forget that. It is so cool that you're asking for tips as early as now (and all that research stuff wow!) and I hope you don't lose that sense of initiative, best of luck  

(P.S. Please don't be weirded out that this is my first post I've been creeping on here for a while) 

 

 

 

[astonky]

For dealing with stress and managing workload, I highly recommend that you read Cal Newport's book How to Be a Straight-A student, and read his blog calnewport.com

He offers some great study advice that has helped me (I'm also in IB1) to reduce my time spent on homework and studying from 22 hours a week to 10 hours a week and made me worry less about my grades (all within a week).

[Karla B.]

20 hours ago, The IB makes me cry said:

My advice is get really good at time management and pace yourself! You're not superhuman, although it feels as though that's what they expect out of you! If you ever get flustered, or have really bad anxiety, just leave the work you're doing (if homework) for about 10-15 minutes to just clear your head, and then go back to your work. For my school, I'm in NYC, they said as long as you get 20 hours in at least 2 areas, you can get 110 hours in another subject. 

Thank you very much for the advice. I got a planner and calendar to keep me up with my assignments 😋 Yeah, I've been trying to develop good habits now before the storm hits 😂 Hopefully my school ends up doing something like your CAS system, there is this service program in my HS and its every Saturday (you get 8 hours 😁).

[Karla B.]

3 hours ago, astonky said:

For dealing with stress and managing workload, I highly recommend that you read Cal Newport's book How to Be a Straight-A student, and read his blog calnewport.com

He offers some great study advice that has helped me (I'm also in IB1) to reduce my time spent on homework and studying from 22 hours a week to 10 hours a week and made me worry less about my grades (all within a week).

I'll take you up on that advice! This seems unreal but I'll give you the benifit of the doubt 😋 thank you very much!

[Karla B.]

9 hours ago, vanillafireworks said:

In general, this is something nobody really says but can get quite crucial-- everything you learn these two years you will have to know by heart and retain for the long term, because you're not just learning this to take one term test and then forget everything afterwards. Pace your learning, this is a marathon, not a race, and in the long run it doesn't matter how you did on the 2nd term of your first year compared to what you got for your predicted grades and Externals.  Check out past papers as early as now to get an idea of the direction your learning should be taking! Cramming may work for acing a quiz the next day, but externals are the endgame (and in your case, year 1 finals as well.) 

The subjects we have in common would be Spanish SL, TOK, and Maths SL, so here goes: 

Spanish: Year 1 Spanish was honestly pretty easy for me (I'm a native speaker of Filipino, which is basically botched Spanish thanks to history), but don't be fooled, for your Year 2 IAs you're going to have to get comfortable speaking the language! When you have free time or the summer before IB 2 try watching Spanish movies (or your favorite shows, thanks to nifty Netflix-- just make sure it's not Gilmore Girls or you won't understand a thing hah.) It helps seeing how the tenses and words you learn come together in real conversation. 

TOK in my opinion is a subject that is very easy to teach terribly, so if you feel you're not getting much out of your classes, go check out the TOK forum and give yourself a solid foundation for your coming presentation and essay. 

I was in Lit&Lang for about a term before transferring to Lit, and if you're considering a career path where in-depth writing and analysis would help, I suggest you consider the latter! In my experience at least, in Lit you get a lot more opportunity for introspection and writing literary criticism, and I feel it's a much better preparation for uni-level writing  (Of course, I could just be biased, as at my school our Lit teacher is much more compelling...) 

For Math SL, check out the prior learning topics and make sure you've got everything down pat! In addition, always answer the review sets (if you're using the Haese Maths textbook, which I am), and check out past papers to familiarize yourself with the points system. Practice, practice, practice! 

Also, really, IB 1 is a breeze compared to IB 2. This isn't to say it's easy, but take the free time you will definitely have (if you manage your time well) to familiarize yourself with what IAs and the EE will require of you and make sure you're in tiptop shape on the topics you're learning. Also, do try and get the best predicted grade you can-- don't be afraid to get tutoring-- so come next year you can confidently submit your grades for early applications in universities. 7's are not out of reach, especially since you seem to be familiar with the (strangely elusive) concept that school is awesome and helps you learn stuff!  I didn't listen to that advice  and now I'm scrambling to get midyear grades I can submit to my dream school, study for the SATs, and do all my IAs... It is not fun and I probably shouldn't even be on the internet right now oh my god 

Also, if I may suggest the wonderful app Todoist, which is basically like your token iOS Reminders but on steroids (too many features to explain on this post, just try it out and see :-) ) It's on Apple, Android and todoist.com and  it is such a help as long as you keep on top of your to-do list, otherwise it is really stressful to look at. It's definitely at its best on Premium (that's where it really starts to put iOS Reminders in the dust) but it works fine free, and once you complete a certain number of tasks they give you six months free.  I use that in conjunction with Google Calendar (another glorious organization app)and it helps me feel like my life is together!

Plus, make sure you've got your list of colleges thoroughly researched and organized as early as now! Especially if you're planning on the States, there are just so many choices it's terrifying. 

All in all, IB is just such an amazing opportunity-- many people go through worse to get less (less being, not a shot at the hippie liberal arts college of your dreams). Never ever forget that. It is so cool that you're asking for tips as early as now (and all that research stuff wow!) and I hope you don't lose that sense of initiative, best of luck  

(P.S. Please don't be weirded out that this is my first post I've been creeping on here for a while) 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for the helpful advice! Spanish was my first language so I think the only killer for me is getting vocabulary down. Me and my favorite teacher (she has two masters in art omg) were discussing colleges today and there's a college fair I'm planning to attend in a few weeks 😋😋😋 Hopefully I'll be able to get into the grind well and have an okay transition. When you started the IB how did you get used to the workload and studying more than before?

[astonky]

14 hours ago, Karla B. said:

I'll take you up on that advice! This seems unreal but I'll give you the benifit of the doubt 😋 thank you very much!

Why unreal? Because I study so much less now? Well to be honest, I used to be an extreme procrastinator before reading Cal's books, so I would waste a lot of time online. Now I spend a lot less time browsing the net, and I revise more effectively, so I guess that's what makes the difference