I.B. Symptoms

in the words of my hl econ teacher... my life is a mess. welcome to my personal hell. 34 points. May 2019. finance and poli sci major. 

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i graduated last year, but let me tell you: I am SO SORRY for the ibdp candidates affected by the coronavirus right now. don’t give up please!! it’ll be worth it to work hard right now, I promise.

also, feel free to rant below about the virus affecting you without feeling bad or having someone be like “but people are dying!!” because it can be healthy to recognize this situation sucks even if you’re physically okay.

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Okay, I am in my first semester of college and took a fairly easy schedule since all of my gen eds have been knocked out due to IB and realized something. 

I don’t feel like I am doing enough unless I am physically exhausted. 

I’m finishing with a 3.7/3.8 depending on finals and literally feel like a failure. On paper, I am doing great and am excelling in college, but I didn’t realize why I didn’t feel like I was doing enough until the other day I had to pull my first all nighter and finally felt successful in a way. Throughout IB, I tied my exhaustion to my work ethic and now I am going to have to work to untrain myself from that thinking pattern and reteach myself that sleep is so so important. 

I’ve talked to a couple of other students from my school and everyone is kind of on the same page and agrees they have weird sleep schedules now that is taking a while to readjust after doing it for four years. 

If you’re reading this, don’t do this to yourself. A lack of sleep is not indicative of working harder. It just tells of how exhausted you are. That’s it. Please try to sleep more. 

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GSKDFKSBDCB MY FRIEND GOT MY SL MATH TEACHER AS HER UBER DRIVER AND HE WAS LIKE “oh you know Nikki? yeah I was shocked she even passed like I was sure she would fail” like FUCK YOU I got a 5 and I graduated MONTHS AGO. please let me be. 

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Essay Writing Advice

Okay, so some of you know I'm no longer in IB and am in college now and let me tell you right now: all of those IAs and EEs and stuff help so much with writing essays and staying up late. AP classes can help a lot, but I’ve found there's a big difference for essays between the 8 AP classes crowd and IBDP crowd. 

Now, give me some leniency cause yesterday I stayed up writing for 14 hours for political theory (7 page paper arguing Burke’s and Rousseau's theories of history - yeah not fun) so I'm still kinda tired and messed up. 

Pick a topic you like

I hate this piece of advice because obviously you would if you could. Moving on. 

Create an Outline

If you’re like me, this helps sooooo much. I know what I want to say, and this helps me dump it out of my brain. Don’t make it difficult for yourself. When I create my outlines, it looks like I decided to throw bullet points and page numbers everywhere like I’ve got a billion dollars to throw at people on the street. Don’t force yourself to follow a format even if you think its more pleasing. Just get it down and then edit it from there. (My outline was 12 pages for a 7 page paper, I had a lot of ideas that I needed to cut but I was also passionate about my topic). 

Write what you want

It'll help you get interested in the topic. Fuck a start, fuck a ending, writing is writing. Two pages of nonsense is better than nothing. You’re more inclined to keep working if you’ve already started.

Write like you’re writing to a friend

Literally, just write how you talk. You can go back and edit it later, but if the ideas are down that's 1) a big weight off of your chest and 2) it'll force you to reread it and find better ideas alone the way. “But I’m short on time” - how short? If you’re writing it at lunch, the class before its due (we’ve all been there) then obviously get off Tumblr and get to writing. But if it’s due in like ten hours, I promise you, you’ll fair better if you split your time into idea time and grammar time. Don’t force yourself to multitask to sound more “academic.” Just go back through and use https://onelook.com/thesaurus/ to carry yourself. WAY better than theasurus.com or whatever it is. 

Do what feels right to you

I’m gonna say this once: I don't give a fuck what your friend did on their essay. Most of the time people talk before turning in the essay and everyone pretty much has similar ideas. If you're COMPLETELY LOST, then yeah, go with the flow and keep yourself save. Teachers and TAs are people too... sometimes they just want originality. Every single time I’ve been writing and been like “damn, I’m really wildin’ out here but lol it’s due in four hours and I don’t give a fuck,” I’ve ALWAYS gotten comments about originality or something and it helps boost my grade. Be creative and “wild” with your essays. You're young and you won’t fail if you follow the rubric or stay moderately on topic - let yourself go on those rants or (RELATED) tangents. Who really cares? 

For the love of God, learn how to cite

You know that you can google it. Don’t be too lazy for a 5 minute search. Know how to do it and do it properly. 

Also, fuck easy bib and all those other sites - just use word’s automatic bibliography. It’s automatically in your document and so much easier. Plus, it automatically excludes any sources that you don’t cite so you don’t lose points if you cite a source that wasn’t in your paper (yes, it happens, and it definitely makes you learn your lesson). 

STEM brain? Have someone good at writing read your paper

I don’t have this problem as much cause writing and arguing and shit is easier for me but try to give yourself time to have someone who is good at it read your paper. 

I will gladly do it for a couple bucks over Venmo if any of y'all want. This isn't a business or anything I do but I would be down to help people out. Y’all can message me for info about why I think im good at English if you want since I know this post looks like a hot mess (I woke up in a dead heat at 4am and started writing this okay give me a break). 

Uhh I think that’s it

There’s no secret to writing. It just takes practice. Plus, I can’t give more specific advice without knowing what types of papers you’re writing. You can always message me for advice. One last note: if you’re doing a math paper, I am SO sorry, and I KNOW it’s a waste of time but chug your Red Bull, remember you’re a bad bitch, and keep going.

- Nikki 

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yo how on earth did you manage a 6 in econ hl?!

ahh thank you! i am majoring in finance so I am naturally interested in econ. just pay attention throughout the course and aim high and make it a priority!

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ok I logged back on and realized this was kind of a shitty answer to give so if you’re really interested in getting a high score on Econ, I can make a master post or just quickly message some of the stuff that helped save my life (because this sounds like it was a “lol I didn't study and got a six!!!!” when in reality it was more like “lol I haven't slept in three days and am reciting monopolies in my sleep but its okay cause ive scheduled my panic attacks to save time!!!”)

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yo how on earth did you manage a 6 in econ hl?!

ahh thank you! i am majoring in finance so I am naturally interested in econ. just pay attention throughout the course and aim high and make it a priority!

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in honor of my pain, what the FUCK was that sl math paper 1

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hey, past me, we still passed so calm the fuck down and stop crying

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they finally fixed my spanish score so i am FINALLY an IB graduate :)

thank you to all of you for every last bit of support you gave me! i am so happy!!!

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also, don’t be discouraged if you’re seeing scores online and think it’ll be impossible. what the above post doesn’t tell you is that multiple people (including myself) thought i would NEVER pass Spanish (tested around 2/3s the entire year and no one read my written assessment), was a solid 3 in chem two months out from exams, a low 4 in math (and i need a 5 for college), and my history teacher predicted me a low 5 telling me a 6 would never happen.

if you GRIND those final weeks, you can do anything. i promise. best of luck to those finishing the program in the future, you can do it!!

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they finally fixed my spanish score so i am FINALLY an IB graduate :)

thank you to all of you for every last bit of support you gave me! i am so happy!!!

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im two points away from getting a 7 in SL spanish im gonna lose my mind >:-(

BITCH U STILL GOT A 6 LIKE HELL YEAH!!! ik it sucks but you’re still amazing lol. Idk what I got in Spanish cause IB LOST OUR PAPERS and we have to wait till Monday for a final score

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I just finished my first year of IB and took one exam( Math SL). I got a 4. I'm suprr worried that it is not good enough and ugh. I wish I did better. Proud of you though. Your results really did that

awwwww thank you!! trust me, a 4 is amazing!! I was like one mark away from a 4, which is literally like writing a formula down or something. You should still be proud 💛💛

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Bro I looked at my scores and I was literally one point away from a 5 in math hl 😩

damn that sucks but you still passed HL MATH like I could never. if you really need a 5 you can get it remarked

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AHHH IM SO MAD I WAS JUST 2 PONTS AWAY FROM GETTING A 6 IN ECON SL

AHH U STILL GOT A 5!! i honestly was barely on the grad boundaries for all my classes (like exactly the minimum or one or two marks higher than the lower boundary for ALL of my classes except chem)

I heard Econ was harder this year from my Econ teacher so that may also play a role but regardless CONGRATS BB IM SO HAPPT FOR YOU!!

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I GOT MY 30 POINTS!! DIPLOMA CITY BOIS!!!!!

AHHH CONGRATS!!! IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!

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THE TIME HAS COME

I got my scores!!

HL English A Lit: 6

SL Spanish B: PENDING BECAUSE IB LOST MY PAPER ONE AND WE HAVE TO WAIT TILL MONDAY

HL Economics: 6

HL History of the Americas: 6

SL Chemistry: 5

SL Math: 5

TOK: B

EE: B

so technically I don’t get my diploma until I have my Spanish score but unless I get a 1, I should be good. and I got the grades I needed for college credit so it’s a good day right now :)) i busted my ass for chemistry and math and im so happy it paid off because I really needed those 5s

IB THEREFORE I BS THEREFORE I B DONE :))

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SCORES COME OUT IN 12 HOURS AND I AM SCARED

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6 MORE HOURS I AM GOING TO DIE

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It's just so nerve wracking because I think it's gonna be fine, but then go "what if you accidentally plagiarized your EE" which is entirely irrational but, ahh, what if I fail, what if I'm a mark below the grade boundary for every subject!??? I can't afford that remark, so yeah, freak out time it is wohoo 🤙 But I hope yours turn out alright and all that stuff

trust me, im SO paranoid about plagiarism in my IAs and EE. i think a lot of people are because of how intense IB is with it. but we’ll find out in like an hour and a half whether the fear was justified or not. im sure we’ll all do well (unless you actually intentionally cheated, then, yikes good luck) and im sending good vibes to everyone panicking with me right now 💛💛