pre-ib s t r e s s

[iwannadie]

so I'm in pre-ib and I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm most probably failing, I also have exams coming up and my teacher isn't really helping with the emotional stress right now. she keeps on telling us that we are the most incompetent and idiotic pre-IB class she has ever seen and refuses to give our class average ???? wtf? My school is known for academic excellence and most of the pre-ib kids are either gifted or really smart and me? I sometimes wonder what school error got me in . so to conclude all my whining id like to ask for some general real advice (not stuff like "don't stress" or some) because I am stressing .that will never s t o p

[Nomenclature]

You will always feel some level of stress, but the good thing is that keeping things in perspective allows us to not let stress to sabotage our happiness or equilibrium. I would suggest disregarding what your teacher says, as it doesn't seem to be very helpful. IB right now probably seems like the most important, meaningful thing in life. After all, it's probably what your spending the most hours of your day on. Two things; one is that your likely overvaluing the importance of Pre-IB/IB/whatever your goal is. Pre-IB really doesn't matter, IB really doesn't matter (literally a sheet of paper), etc. Do your best, and then everything will be okay. Notice how I don't say that it will be how you dreamed it initially, but I promise that it will be okay. Life would be boring if you could just dream it up, the twists and the turns make it interesting. Two, IB is not the most important thing. Far from it.

Just try your best and learn to except the results. You still might feel nervous about assignments, get a bit stressed crunching out a big project that you left late, etc. That's fine. But a constant, high level of stress is what is unhealthy and no way to live. 

Re: failing grades and feeling that you are not as smart as your classmates, first of all IB is already a biased sample. There's no shame with not getting the best grade in the class in IB. Learning to fail and learning to be mediocre are actually important, I would argue, and that happens in IB for all of us. You'll never be the best at something in life and that's okay. Comparing yourself to others is a surefire way to not be happy. Second, you may be suffering from "the imposter syndrome" (happened to me at my job until I had worked there for a while and got the confidence I needed). Third, I'm really skeptical of the "smart/dumb" paradigm (which is why I use big words so people will think I'm smart), but really I just think it just comes into past knowledge + current efforts. If you study computer science in uni and someone aces all the assignments, then you think that person's really smart. But it just turns out that they've been coding since they were 8 because their parents made them. Likewise, the person may be putting in loads of hours.

Don't let intensive school take away from your happiness or you. Just put in a reasonable effort for things an and be content with that regardless of the result. Best of luck and I hope you feel a bit better.

P.s. I know your were just joking but you aren't whining. You're just asking questions to get some help. That's a really good thing to do and we're happy to help, you don't have to apologize for asking questions. Also, I noticed your username and I'd recommend reading this post I wrote recently. 

 

[Jarz]

IB is stressful, the stress will not go away. However, there are ways you can deal with it. Firstly, disregard what your teacher says. If she says stuff like that she isn't a teacher in my eyes. She's someone who is just standing in front of you, someone you got to push out of your way and proove wrong. Just stay organized, DONT procrastinate and try and finish you EE during 11th grade next year and perhaps even an IA or two. You will be fine. You will have stressful days that you won't enjoy and perhaps even become sad about, but it's all ok. I have those myself, I just go talk to my parents about it and maybe a friend or two and I get through it. The key thing is choosing subjects you like, and do your best. If you do your best no one has the right to get mad at you for the end result.

 

Good luck in IB!

[Rroroli]

In fact, this is a common thing, I have repeatedly heard from people I know, and I know from experience that teachers very often humiliate their students and say that this is the worst class.In my experience, I can say that it is just necessary to survive or change the educational institution because the director will not do anything to eliminate this problem.