Exploring Academic Pressure Impacts Through Writing

Not everyone has the luxury to access a support system and have the reassurance that I had access to when coping with academic pressure. I know for a fact that my peers also feel pressure to do well in school. According to a survey that I conducted anonymously from a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least and 5 being extreme) of how much pressure they experience from multiple factors such as society, parents, and teachers, the majority answered in the 4-5 scale range. The results of this survey proved that there is a need for a product in our community, and I decided to create something simple; something that students, teachers, and parents could learn from and most importantly something that these students can relate to. With my project, I aim to investigate the academic pressure that students face and explore the impacts. Then create a journal that highlights my experience, people's experience, and advice to spread awareness regarding this issue.

Global Context

I chose to focus on Identities and Relationships since this global context focuses on the relationship between an individual and his/her community. The specific strands that I will be exploring are identities, mental, social health, and human relationships that include families, friends, communities. The issue of academic pressure requires me to understand how an individual is being affected both mentally and emotionally, how both internal and external factors affect this topic. Both the readers, who I hope would benefit from my product, and myself, as I continue to perform research and enhance further understanding this topic.

Product

The final product is a journal that illustrates the struggles that students face, such as the pressure and expectation to perform well academically, as well as the basic understanding regarding the topic while also providing possible solutions. The journal is titled 2020-2021, referencing the academic pressure that students face especially with adapting to this school year. The content varies such as from understanding, fears, consequences, and possible solutions.

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Reflection

During the process of Personal Project, I gained a better understanding of the global context that I chose, which is Identities and Relationships. I learned how relationships affect one's identity and the community. Society will always have expectations that everyone will have to face. However, I learned how valuable it is to have discussions regarding those expectations and the issues people face. Though society expectations will keep changing, the individual will continue to struggle. It is important to create social relations with others. Other people will help you when facing struggles, instead of just facing your problems alone.

Throughout this project, I gained many new skills and enhanced the ones that I already had. I knew that the Personal Project was going to be challenging, but I certainly did not expect the types of challenges that I was going to face. Doing the Personal Project during a pandemic required me to face many unexpected obstacles. My time-management and self-management skills were the skills that I enhanced the most because balancing my regular schoolwork, downtime, and Personal Project was difficult at times.

Overall, the Personal Project has been a rather interesting journey. It has its ups and downs but it did teach and improve many skills that would be beneficial in the future. I am grateful to be given this opportunity to do a Personal Project. It helped me explore my capabilities and personal expression while being able to develop my further understanding of the struggles that I faced and to bring a discussion and awareness that will hopefully guide others who are also struggling with the same problem.

IB Learner Reflection

As IB learners, we are continuously developing our learner's profiles. The IB program is known to help develop students to become all-rounders and the learner profiles display those attributes. Not only to excel in academics but also in other areas such as socially, mentally, and physically. Being an IB student for the past 10 years, I am continuously developing the IB learner profiles. Even though I utilized all of the IB learner profiles when doing this project, there are five that stand out which are inquirer, risk-taker, communicator, thinker and balanced.

Being an inquirer requires me to show my curiosity. The goal statement that I have created stems from the fact that I kept asking myself questions regarding academic pressure. Continuously questioning the issue that I had chosen proved vital when it came to thorough researching. Throughout the process, I have shown an enthusiastic and positive attitude when researching and developing my further inquiry that contributed to in-depth research resulting in the final product having substantial content.

I showed that I was a risk-taker by challenging myself to choose a complex goal that highlights various issues. The product that I chose reflects multiple layers. For some, it is a triggering topic due to the fact it reflects the challenges that students face. Other than that, I chose a product that I was not too familiar with, which was a journal. I was never a prolific writer. However, I ended up doing it anyway because I wanted to challenge myself, improve my writing, and prove that I am a risk-taker.

The goal of my project was to discuss the impacts of academic pressure to raise awareness. Being a communicator means that I would express my ideas to others through verbal and nonverbal ways. Communication is seen in all aspects of the Personal Project, from theprocess to the product. The product being a journal required me to use my communication skills in a nonverbal way such as writing. I also use verbal communication while researching and asking others for feedback, through talking and interviewing other people. For my goal to work, I needed to face many challenges and solve them by being a thinker. Writing a journal about academic pressure required me to talk with others regarding their opinions and sometimes also struggles. Due to the sensitivity of the conversations, I had to be critical in deciding which information should be put in the product. This helped me to further develop regarding my critical thinking skills.

Personal Project wouldn't have been unsuccessful if I did not become a balanced student. An example of this is my time management and self-management skills that I utilized throughout the project processes. During late November, I had to juggle Personal Project as well as my finals. Being balanced is not only limited to academics, as I also utilized this IB learner profile when it comes to taking care of my mental and emotional well-being during the duration of this project. Another aspect that showcases the IB learner profile balance was when I strengthened my relations with my friends and family which displays being socially balanced.