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Advice for someone starting the IB


macbakeib88

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First off, welcome to the IB! It's going to be hard, but whether or not its worth the effort depends on how much you personally put it to good use. The IB can allow you to go through your education in a much more interesting, directly involving way. But, if you don't ride the wave as they want you to but instead go in with a closed mind, you'll be met more with nuisances than constructive challenges. (The fact that you've come here to ask this question is already a good sign, though, so my guess is you'll be just fine :D )

Expect a heavy workload, and not much help with it (then if you do receive proper help, it'll be a bonus and not something you depend on). You may often become overwhelmed with the amount of work you have but from what I've seen, the best way to overcome it is to stop worrying and to just start on the work ASAP..... and I do mean ASAP. If you ever find yourself with assignments not due for a little while, and some free time, it's best to work in advance so you can avoid having everything pile up. That's really the major mistake you can make: procrastination. That's not to say you should give up your social life or sleep or leisure time for work, but have a healthy balance of everything. 

Otherwise, you really just need to be prepared to take care of your own studies. If you didn't understand a lesson, ask the teacher. If not the teacher, search online. There's a looot of sites with IB-specific material to help students, so you should find a few that work for you and take advantage of them. Most subjects and/or teachers have a sort of 'formula' of what they like to see on their tests; for example, Biology tests usually are graded based on key words that must be used, not only general ideas.

The key factor here is that you should be the one to do this, don't wait for your teacher to tell you what to study when and how to go about it. The IB prides itself on making the students independent learners and, if nothing else they preach holds true, this does.

So basically, organize yourself well, work in advance (and don't be afraid to work when others aren't), and find a study method you can depend on. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/10/2017 at 6:16 PM, Kilwee said:

First off, welcome to the IB! It's going to be hard, but whether or not its worth the effort depends on how much you personally put it to good use. The IB can allow you to go through your education in a much more interesting, directly involving way. But, if you don't ride the wave as they want you to but instead go in with a closed mind, you'll be met more with nuisances than constructive challenges. (The fact that you've come here to ask this question is already a good sign, though, so my guess is you'll be just fine :D )

Expect a heavy workload, and not much help with it (then if you do receive proper help, it'll be a bonus and not something you depend on). You may often become overwhelmed with the amount of work you have but from what I've seen, the best way to overcome it is to stop worrying and to just start on the work ASAP..... and I do mean ASAP. If you ever find yourself with assignments not due for a little while, and some free time, it's best to work in advance so you can avoid having everything pile up. That's really the major mistake you can make: procrastination. That's not to say you should give up your social life or sleep or leisure time for work, but have a healthy balance of everything. 

Otherwise, you really just need to be prepared to take care of your own studies. If you didn't understand a lesson, ask the teacher. If not the teacher, search online. There's a looot of sites with IB-specific material to help students, so you should find a few that work for you and take advantage of them. Most subjects and/or teachers have a sort of 'formula' of what they like to see on their tests; for example, Biology tests usually are graded based on key words that must be used, not only general ideas.

The key factor here is that you should be the one to do this, don't wait for your teacher to tell you what to study when and how to go about it. The IB prides itself on making the students independent learners and, if nothing else they preach holds true, this does.

So basically, organize yourself well, work in advance (and don't be afraid to work when others aren't), and find a study method you can depend on. 

Thank you so much for this response!! It was really detailed and gave me a lot of insight into IB! I've been in school for about 2-3 weeks now and I am trying to finish my homework ASAP and I'll definitely take your advice on self-studying! Thank you once again! Sorry for the late response (just saw this) :) 

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Greetings, The IB is going to be Hell, and its going to make you want to pull your hair out. the trick is to stay on top of things, done let your laziness get in the way. Once it does it will make your life even more of a hell. I would highly advise you to read the organization thread on this website, it will give you great tips on how to stay with it. Its highly important to keep yourself organized in the IB or the stress will get to you. What i do is this 1) Benders for each class with dividers, a calendar on computer (sense thats where most your work will be at) keep it up to date as much as possible, and reminders on your phone for upcoming homework. This has worked so far for me not to pull all my hair out.

As said above pretty clearly expect a heavy workload with little to no help by your teachers.Depending on your class sourcing your information is Key, you can get in some major trouble if you are not careful. With English, TOK, Business, and Art being the main ones from my experience. Don't let the IB take you down early keep up with the work no matter what, even when it fills lite! If you ever fell overwhelmed take a step back and think as why, most likely it will be with your organization. Then once you figure out what causing it tackle it ASAP and get your work done.

Really all the IB is about is staying on-top of your work and keeping yourself organized. Don't let all the work and stress ruin your IB experience, its a one in the kind program what let's you think, think, think, and think outside the box.    

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1 hour ago, Wyatt Berckenhoff said:

Greetings, The IB is going to be Hell, and its going to make you want to pull your hair out. the trick is to stay on top of things, done let your laziness get in the way. Once it does it will make your life even more of a hell. I would highly advise you to read the organization thread on this website, it will give you great tips on how to stay with it. Its highly important to keep yourself organized in the IB or the stress will get to you. What i do is this 1) Benders for each class with dividers, a calendar on computer (sense thats where most your work will be at) keep it up to date as much as possible, and reminders on your phone for upcoming homework. This has worked so far for me not to pull all my hair out.

As said above pretty clearly expect a heavy workload with little to no help by your teachers.Depending on your class sourcing your information is Key, you can get in some major trouble if you are not careful. With English, TOK, Business, and Art being the main ones from my experience. Don't let the IB take you down early keep up with the work no matter what, even when it fills lite! If you ever fell overwhelmed take a step back and think as why, most likely it will be with your organization. Then once you figure out what causing it tackle it ASAP and get your work done.

Really all the IB is about is staying on-top of your work and keeping yourself organized. Don't let all the work and stress ruin your IB experience, its a one in the kind program what let's you think, think, think, and think outside the box.    

Thank you for your reply. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of my work for the next couple years. Is it true that the teachers won't really help you? Thank you once again! 

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