The Blog of an IB Student

Hi there. Graduated in the class of 2014/15. Got cought up with uni life and forgot to maintain the blog. Sorry I didn't respond to your asks! I'll still keep the blog here so we can look back on the horrors. Feel free to browse and check out the FAQ if you have any questions :)

[dyingibstudent]

Hi, I will take IB next year and I wanted to ask when you think is the best time to complete your IAs and Extended Essay. Like, when should i have my ideas ready, when should i have a first draft completed, how manny drafts should i write? I am not the best at time management, and i am really worried that i won't be able to handle the workload. Pls let me know. thx

For IA’s you should talk to your teachers, because they may have a timeline that is best suited for how they plan to teach their subject course.

As for the number of drafts, unfortunately there is no magic number. I do believe (correct me if i am wrong) that there is a limited number of times your teachers can give feed back on drafts. Do try to find out what that limit is, and ensure you did your best when submitting the drafts for feedback.

Do check out my response to time management from my faq: (x)

Further more for management, try to find a method of organizing your work time to meet your dead lines that works well for you. Have a realistic expectation of how long each task will take you, and when would be the best time for you to tackle that task (e.g. early morning, after school, after dinner, weekends, etc…). I find that having a planner/organizer or a phone app is useful in keeping track of your workload and their deadlines so I can plan when I can do them.

Try to find a time management system that works for you. Its a great skill to have and you can take it with you, wherever you go in life, but it does take some time to develop!

I hope this is helpful and good luck! :)

[dyingibstudent]

hey everyone, I am an IB grade 11 student. My friends have a lot of ideas for CAS but I don;t know what to do :( Can someone share some activties please

Check out my How to CAS posts from my FAQ: (x)

[dyingibstudent]

my history teacher is giving us a mock paper 3 on the same day as an English IA, on the same day as my math final. welcome to IB.

[dyingibstudent]

hi! im not too sure if i should ask, but im going to anyways since you probably know more about this anyways. so my school doesnt offer IBDP, but im sort of replicating it by myself? im taking AP classes in each of the 6 subjects + AP Seminar (instead of ToK) and AP Research (instead of the EE) and doing the CAS thing outside of school (150 hours and stuff) but im not sure if it’ll resemble the ib curriculum enough? i mean its not that big of a deal but (1/2)

I’‘m not familiar with AP so please bear that in mind while reading my response.

My best advice I can give you is to make the most of the course you are in, and not worry to much about how exactly it like/or unlike IB. Do the seminars and research that you find interesting, or challenges or motivates you rather than because you feel you need to as a replacement for EE or TOK.

I encourage you to do extracurricular activities as they do have many benefits to you (good stress relief, lets you focus in things outside of study, gain soft skills, and loads more), plus they do look great on university applications as well! Just don’t get too hung up on doing 150 hours because it wont be mandatory for you. Just do as much as you like and can with your AP workload.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if you do IB or not. You can proceed into university with other qualifications. What matters more is your attitude!

Good luck! :)

[dyingibstudent]

hi! I just checked my results & I got a 7 on my chem exam! but my grade was a 76 (the very lowest boundary for a 7) and I'm terrified that even one mark difference would drop it to a 6. once they've released the grades, can IB review the test and change the results if they realize something was mismarked?

I don’t believe they can, unless you specifically ask to get it re-marked.

[untexting]

Basically

[kaiiwooo-deactivated20180323]

right now 😔

[0v9]

someone: hey are u getting enough sleep?

me: *injecting coffee directly into my veins* why do u ask?

[samdreammeerr]

[dyingibstudent]

Hi. I was wondering what an IB is?

It is pain, suffering and stress, embodied into two years :)

[dyingibstudent]

Hi! I need a little help and u seem like the person to ask. We have to write a Spanish paper, but it has to match up with the IB Spanish text options? The project is to make a show, so we obviously figured we would make a script. I think that matches up with the dialogue option but I don't know for sure and my teacher didn't clarify as much as I would hope. Do you know about IB Spanish texts? I hope I'm not bothering you, and thx for reading.

I didn’t do IB spanish, but doing script sound about right, since that was an option for my language B.

Hope this helps :)

[bugsongs]

my aesthetic is students at the library who have all their study materials out but are blatantly Not Studying

[its-kit-i-guess]

When people ask how I manage to survive during exam season

[dyingibstudent]

me: sets a perfectly reasonable deadline for myself to accomplish a task

also me: ignores the task, the deadline, myself,

[adorablehowell]

make sure before any exam you are adequately hydrated!!!!!! so u can CRY when they hand you the test!!!!!

[ibstudyblrgroup]

Quick tips for doing CAS (when you’re 100% over it)

We’re roughly halfway through the autumn term and Christmas couldn’t come sooner. And as us DP2s are drowning in internal assessment work and breaking down one by one, let’s not forget that there is also everybody’s favourite part of the IB (please note the sarcasm) to consider: CAS. I must admit that all my enthusiasm for CAS has gone down the drain but I will hereby offer both you and myself some tips on how to make getting CAS hours less of a struggle.

• Bulk it! And by that I mean: If you cannot be bothered to keep every activity constant throughout a specified amount of time, do it in shorter time - but intensely. I recently obtained 20 service hours in only four days by volunteering at a local event! 

• Make sure that it is easily available! That dance class one hour away from your home that you want to check out for some action in CAS? Let’s face it: You’re likely going to go once and that’s about it. Instead, join an in-school activity that starts right when your last class ends. You’ll be much more likely to show commitment if there is no hassle to get to your activity.

• Make it challenging but not overwhelming! Sure, CAS can be a great opportunity to step out of your comfort zone, to try new things and a motivator to learn something new or to achieve a goal. However, remember that you simply need to hand in reflections and get your hours. Little more is required of you by the IBO. It is therefore not worth stressing out over the one part of IB that is simply a Pass/Fail situation as supposed to a grade. 

Nina

[chizexion]

Why is IB so hard

[declaringwar]

failing an exam you actually studied for