As freshmen, us IB students are told horror stories about junior year, our first actual year of the program. I vividly remember sitting in my 9th grade English class receiving advice from juniors that had come to speak to us about their experiences and dreading my junior year by the end of that class period. Now that I am halfway through my junior year in Reef IB, I feel as though I have enough credibility to answer the long-awaited question: is junior year as bad as everyone makes it out to be? The answer to this, I’ve learned, varies by person.
I have found that the reason junior year is so infamous is because it is the first year you begin to realize how quickly everything piles up: not only are you taking all AP or IB classes, but you also are introduced to your extended essay, IAs, CAS each month, and SAT or ACT studies to top it all off. As I approach April of 2022, I am preparing to take my first IB exam of my highschool career. While at a glance this may seem overwhelming, I have found this work to be truly manageable on top of my extracurriculars. However, it does require effort on your part to manage your time effectively. Here are some of my habits that have helped me to do so and can make all the difference in your IB experience…
Extended Essay
The outline for my extended essay was due the first weekend of school and was assigned at the end of my sophomore year. Working on it little by little over the course of the summer made it seem like less work. Through this method, I was also able to work more meticulously and produce the most detailed outline I possibly could, which comes in handy when writing your AA’s later throughout the school year- I could practically copy and paste elements of my outline into my essay!
Contact your supervisor regularly. Thanks to the organization of my EE supervisor and my tendency to schedule meetings at least once a month, I am a little more than a month ahead of the due dates for my essay! For example, today I have a meeting scheduled with my supervisor about a component of the essay that is not due until February! It truly is so rewarding to not have to worry about those deadlines the night of.
CAS
CAS has multiple components that make it very risky to do it all on the last day of the month. Make sure you get your CAS proposals done at the beginning of the month, followed by doing the actual activity and reflection, and make sure you keep in contact with the supervisor for your review sheet!
Make a list of possible CAS activities that occur consistently over the span of the year in case you have trouble finding an activity for one month.
IA
If you are a junior, it is likely that the only IA’s you will have to worry about are for your elective (Psych, Anthro, etc.) and math if it is your second year. While some teachers space out their due dates for parts of the IA to avoid procrastination, others will assign the entire paper at the beginning of the year to be due months later. Do. Not. Procrastinate. I found the IA to be so much more work than I anticipated and I regretted leaving it to the weekend before it was due. Ask some upperclassmen for advice or even some samples you could refer to if you are stuck. It is never too early to get started!
As I mentioned earlier, IB Junior year is challenging if you do not know how to manage your time. However, with these tips, it will be much easier to appreciate the program and how rewarding it is to succeed as an IB student. I truly have no regrets about doing this program because I have opportunities to learn in a way that cannot be found in any other academy. Underclassmen, you have so much potential to have an amazing two years as IB upperclassmen, don’t let it scare you!