Reflecting on my IB experience + ADVICE!!!

This past May, I passed the International Baccalaureate Diploma exams, and it has been less than a week since I have received the results. And let me say, the IB is a very stressful 2 years, where you will not get a lot of sleep, and have a lot of deadlines. However, it is manageable, and it is possible to survive.

What is the IB?

For those who do not know or are interested in the IB, it is a rigorous 2 year program where you can more or less choose which subjects you want to take (depending on what is available at your school). Of the 6 subjects you choose, 3 of them have to be taken at a higher level. Then, on top of that you have a Theory of Knowledge class, an Extended Essay to write, and CAS hours to do. If you want to learn more about the IB I highly recommend checking out the IBO website.

What courses did I choose?

When I went in to the IB, I hadn’t been through the IB prep year, nor did I do a lot of research when choosing my classes. That wasn’t the smartest thing I have ever done, and I certainly think that if I had put more time and research into choosing my classes I would’ve been happier at the end of the day. Also, when choosing your subjects and higher levels, keep in mind that some combinations may be easier than others, and that a lot of people choose subjects because they think it will be an easy 7. A lot of people that I knew took B languages as a higher level even though they were perfectly fluent in that language, and because of that they received 7’s without even trying.

For my higher levels I choose Biology, English A Language and Literature, and French A Language and Literature, while as my standard levels where Mathematics, Economics in French, and Spanish B. Finally, I took Theory of Knowledge in French and did my Extended Essay in English Literature.

As you can notice half of my diploma was taken in a foreign language and half of it was indeed languages. If I was a person who was in love with learning foreign languages, I think my combination would be nice, but I would have preferred to have a different combination of subjects. For example, I absolutely disliked Econ and I knew that I didn’t like it before starting the IB, yet I chose it anyway. I would have much rather taken History and to also find a way to drop down to French  SL. So, instead of living in the past and saying I should’ve taken this subject or that one, here is some advice that I have for you.

Start Early

I can be at times a master of the art of procrastination, and frankly I was throughout 99.9% of the time in the IB. However, I found that in the IB there is more long term work that needs to be completed than short-term. Some schools will help you by setting up mini-deadlines so they know you are on the right track for something like Extended Essay or the TOK essay, but you have to keep up with them for your own sake. If your school doesn’t set those mini-deadlines make some yourself. Write in your agenda/calendar that your Written Task is 3 days before it actually is, so then you will have more time to relax, and to check over everything you have written.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Before I get into the specifics for each subject, for any subject you take I highly encourage reading the official guide for each subject before starting, and use them while studying. Each guide will not only give you a breakdown of the subject, but it will also tell you exactly what the IB is looking for. By looking at the subject guides you can determine what is actually important in the subject you are taking and what you can skim through. I stupidly didn’t start looking in depth into the guides until the start of my second IB year, so please learn from my mistakes.

Guides are not the only thing that will be helpful in to knowing what the IB wants, Past Papers are also extremely helpful. One way that I studied for the May 2017 math exam was entirely through past papers, and unsurprisingly many of the questions that I did on past papers that I would have ever thought of studying without it, had many similar type questions that I was able to answer in a fraction in the amount of time than if I hadn’t studied it. So, if you don’t know where to get Past Papers, I highly recommend going on the IBO reddit where they not only share where you can get Past Papers, but also other resources.

On another note, keep in mind when studying or choosing subjects, some will require a lot more studying than others, like Biology HL, or some will require a lot more assignments due like Visual Arts. So, plan out when you need to study and don’t let one subject consume your life. I was constantly studying for Biology and this started to negatively impact the other subjects I took. I barely studied for Econ and if I ever did, it was last minute cramming. In the moment, cramming did work, but I hardly remembered it on the long term or missed some key information.

“IB therefore I B.S.”

One of the single most useful pieces of advice I had ever received in the IB was right before the language orals: “Bullshit well.” And, to be honest most of the IB is just bullshitting your way through, and pretending that you know a subject when maybe you don’t entirely, like the unseen commentaries, language orals, EE, or any kind of extended response. This isn’t to say that you should go through the 2 years of the IB not learning anything and just bullshitting, if anything you should learn as much as you can. However, if you do find yourself in a situation where you barely know anything just “bullshit well” and remember that the show must go on, so never stop talking throughout those 10 minutes of your oral, and never stop writing during the exams.

Final thoughts

I think at the end of the day, your grades reflect the work you put into it most of the time. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule, like the type of teacher you have or examiner when it comes to more subjective subjects. However, if you do put in the time and effort, if you manage your time, be consistent, and study effectively, you will start to see that be reflected in your grades. Even if you don’t get a 45/45, you know that you put your best foot forwards and tried your best.

I hope that any of this helped those who are doing the IB, or are interested in it. Also, if you have any questions, leave it in the comments, or I recommend checking out the IBO Reddit.

Thanks for reading, and see you all soon!