General Advice

We get it. IB sounds terrifying. If you've known older students in the IB program, you probably heard the rants about how difficult it is. If you've been to IB meetings, Kruger probably emphasized the time and dedication you will have to put into this, and rightly so. You're on the edge... you're a good student, but are you really that good? Can you stay in the program until the end?

My advice to you is this:

1. IB is achievable by anyone that wants to achieve it. The difference between IB and other classes isn't necessarily intelligence; rather, it's the determination to work hard at something, and keep working hard. Sometimes it gets hard, and sometimes you need to put in some extra study time in order to understand IB Biology. As long as you're willing to put in the effort and push through any difficulties, you can do IB.

2. Your teachers are the most understanding people in the world. I'm not kidding. IB teachers are keenly aware of just how difficult IB can be. Because IB has a more structured format of classes, the teachers know that every kid is being affected by ever teacher's homework put together. If the Extended Essay is due on Monday, your teacher will understand if you don't feel able to turn in an English essay that same day. Let your teachers know what's happening in your life-- you aren't machines, and neither are they. But that leads me up to point #3.

3. Don't procrastinate. Common sense, I know. But your teachers can only be lenient up to a point before it's just hurting your progress. Every assignment they give you has a reason of some point or another. I have also found that they are a lot easier to deal with when you aren't doing them at three in the morning.

4. Sleep is SO important. Again, common sense. but getting your eight hours is more important than that assignment you procrastinated for a week. It's so easy to fall down a spiral of sleepless nights and no energy to do work during the day. It builds if you let it. If this is happening to you and everything feels impossible, a good night's rest can lend a lot of perspective. Or even just a good nap.

5. Don't take the summer off. Many IB students take courses online that are graduation requirements with Granite Online. You can take required classes such as Health II, PE for 9th Graders, Fitness for Life, Digital Literacy, and more to get them out of the way. This will free up more room in your schedule for elective classes that you want to take.

6. Take advantage of the help in the IB Office. If you have questions about IB and can't get a straight answer from your peers talk to Ms Rector or Ms Thackeray in the IB office. They are there to help with IB and will most likely be able to answer your questions!

7. If there's room in your schedule consider taking a study period. Study periods are a great way to study and finish work for all of your classes. If you have a lot to do have after school this is a life saver because it's an entire class period devoted to giving you extra time to complete homework.

8. Learn to do YOUR best rather than THE best. Many students in IB tend to enter high school as a perfectionist. However, IB is as rigorous as advertised, and sometimes, perfection isn't always achievable. Learn to be okay with being wrong sometimes, and even learn to be okay with failure. Everything will work out in the end. 

Confused about the program?

Let me break it down for you.

There's a lot of acronyms in IB. Here are the definitions for some commonly used ones:

• IB: International Baccalaureate

• CAS: Creative, Active, Service. This is a necessary part of the IB program that gets students involved in extracurricular activities as well as school. It's quite simple and can lead to immersion in activities that you wouldn't usually participate in. I now volunteer at the Natural History Museum because of CAS.

• EE: Extended Essay. This is an essay that will be written in your senior year. Towards the end of your junior year, you'll start hearing a lot about the EE. If you have any friends that are seniors, they've most likely gone on for hours about this project. The fanfare is worse than the project itself. You have so much time to research and write the paper, and Mr. Krueger is there every step of the way to help you. When the time comes, make sure to choose a topic that interests you. I found myself doing a literature paper with two books that explored the symbolism of the wolf in literature. The research was truly intriguing and the hardest part was staying on track about it. The summer camp Mr. Kruger runs between Junior and Senior year is quite helpful, so take advantage of it.

• IOP: Internal Oral Presentation. This is an oral presentation given to the class on works studied in the class. The rules vary depending on which class requires the IOP.

• IA: Internal Assessment. Depending on the IB class, the IA ranges from being a project, workbook, oral exam, paper, or series of experiments.

• IOC: Individual Oral Commentary. In the IB English class, students will take an oral exam after receiving a passage the students have studied.

• TOK: Theory of Knowledge. This is a necessary class for all IB students. The TOK class challenges students to reflect critically on emotion, reason, language, and perception. Students will also link different areas of knowledge such as ethics and science, math and art, natural sciences and history, etc. It helps with the critical thinking necessary to get a high score on all IB exams.

• SL: Standard Level.

• HL: Higher Level.