Life After the IB

Hey! I’ve been out of the IB for awhile, so while I love to help out, I strongly recommend you keep reaching out to other ib blogs on here. I think setting a goal of a 5 is very reasonable, and I’m super happy that you are aware of some of your weak areas in studying and are taking proactive steps to help yourself reach an attainable goal.That said:

I have a whole page dedicated to previous posts regarding the group 4 classes: http://lifeaftertheib.tumblr.com/tagged/Group+4I also have a whole bunch of chemistry specific posts: http://lifeaftertheib.tumblr.com/search/chemistry

My recommendation with using HL sources is to be careful. There’s no harm in studying more - it can only help your understanding after all. How many times did you maybe not fully understand a maths concept right before the test, but then fully comprehend that concept a few sections later once you’ve seen more how its applied? Same thing applies in chemistry. BUT!!!! You’ve already identified that chemistry might not be your best subject, and I don’t want you to spend too much time studying concepts that are not going to turn up on the exams, if that makes sense. So, if you keep the SL syllabus on hand, and maybe look at how HL teaches stoichiometry (since I know that is on both exams) that’s fine. I wouldn’t recommend just reading straight through an HL textbook in case you get stuck on something that either isn’t covered in SL, or is only going to have one or two multiple choice questions. Be very direct with how you study. Learn the exams, what is going to be on them. You might not know the exact questions, but you can find guidance that there will be a certain percentage of the test dedicated on each section of the syllabus. Spend more time on topics that will carry more weight in the exam. Take any practice tests you can find until you consistently score a 5.

Hello! So sorry it took a little bit to reply. I haven’t been as active on this blog as I used to be. Its been a few years since I was graduated, but I think that can even help me answer this. If you’ve read much of my blog, I love lists (maybe too much). So in that time honored tradition:

Things to do the summer before IBDP:

1) HAVE FUN!  There is a very big reason why I made this #1. You are about to enter two of the most stressful years of your life. You will have plenty of very good reasons to stress and be anxious very soon. There’s no reason to start now. Of course its normal to feel unsure about something new in your life, but do not let overshadow your present. Hang out with friends/family - you’re time is about to be very limited.

2) Read. Lots of schools give summer reading lists. If yours did, actually read those books. I don’t mean this to sound condescending, but I’ve known plenty of students who did not read their school books ahead of time. You will not have the time to read whole books in a week once IBDP gets going (which is often the timeline). If you’re school did not provide a reading list, try asking students in the year above you what books they read. (For clarity this is in reference to your literature class)

3) Look up the syllabus. I’m not suggesting you start some kind of self-study this summer. However, the classes will be a lot less scary if you know what’s coming. Take a couple hours to look over the syllabus for classes you will take. The point of this is to remove stress, not get worked up over how much you are going to have to do. Just wrap your mind around the assignments that are upcoming.

4) Set yourself up for success. This means a lot of different things to different people. I advise creating a study space somewhere at home which fits your style. Organize a desk. Open up space in bookshelves. Buy pens/paper/notebooks/highlighters. 

5) Buy a planner. I’ve talked about these in previous posts. Studyblr goes nuts over planners. There’s a lot of different styles. Some even virtual. All I’ll say is look around. Pick what will work for you.

6) Talk with your family. No one can do the work for you. However, having your family’s support can vastly impact your experience. Set up expectations ahead of time. Make sure they know what to expect in regards to the demands IBDP will have on your time. If you are close with your family, be clear what they expect from you. Maybe you can commit to having family dinner at the same time every night, and they agree not to disturb you otherwise if you are in your study space. I guarantee that at some point you will be waaaay overstressed by IBDP and will take it out on your family. Keeping communication open can help minimize this.

7) Consider your extra-curricular activities. Think about how much time they usually take. Can you reasonably balance this against your homework. Make plans on how you can balance your time.

8) Have fun!!!! Go on a trip with friends/family. Do your favorite activity. Read a book just for fun. Watch movies. Go to the beach/lake. This is summer. Next summer is going to be full of studying and projects. After that is likely going to be Uni, and then adult life. Jobs don’t usually give “summer break”. So use this time to enjoy life.

I don’t know about British universities too much, but across the pond, HL classes aren’t required for med programs. In fact many med schools are still very cautious of IB exams, and prefer students to take the classes at an undergraduate level. All of my friends in medicine took at least chem 2.  I would advise you take classes you are interested in. Med schools (at least here) care more about finding students with passion than ones who took HL Chem because they have to. It’s not the most common, but you will find students in med schools that don’t have big science degrees, but came from arts or humanities. Yes you should cater your class selection towards your future to a degree, but a lot of things could change between now and then. So primarily you should be taking classes that interest you and you either are good in, or really want to improve in.

IMO, business, psych, and bio would be fine options for someone looking at medicine. No one really tells you this, but if you want your own practice or to manage a department in a hospital, some business education is really helpful. Also - on the new MCAT you NEEED psych and sociology training.

HL Chemistry. I have a love-hate relationship with this class. I think the examiners intentionally make the tests harder than any other subject. HL Chem is the easiest and hardest class in the IB program. Let me explain why:

Everyone you talk to who took HL Chem (myself included) will tell you they were lucky to make it out alive. HL Chem requires far more study hours than practically anything else. The labs are longer, the exam questions trickier. It felt like a nobel laureate could take the exam and not get a 7. You will find yourself imagining 3D models of organic molecules by the end of your exams.

HOWEVER - there is no class as easy as chemistry to study for! The syllabus is the most perfect beautiful thing I could ever ask for. They tell you EXACTLY what they want you to learn. If it’s not directly stated in the syllabus, you won’t see it on the exam. There is nothing subjective like history or language. And the syllabus is SOOOO well organized. It’s so beautiful I want to cry. Honestly - you want to do well in HL Chem? memorize as much of the syllabus as you can.

To that end there’s some snazzy stuff online.http://ibchem.com/IB/ibsyllabus.htm - has what looks like the latest syllabus with some nice explanations. very simplistic, but a good place to start.https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/IB_Chemistry - a cool wiki that breaks down the syllabus

Hahaha - anyone who would equate adulthood to Elysium is living in another world entirely. I personally want to go back to coloring, juice boxes and cookies, and naps.

I did not complete a chem EE and as such I am not confident giving specifics. I was told in History, to keep my introduction short. very short. As in, under 500 short. 

But remember, these number ratios are guidelines. The exact word count for any section is not part of the rubric. 

My advice? If you already have 500~ words, leave it as is. Continue writing the draft of your paper. IF at the end you somehow still need more words to get close to 4000 (as in try to aim for 3950-3999), then you could go back and add to the intro. What is more likely is you will get to the end and be over your word count, then I recommend trying to cut down your intro even more than it already is. Concise sentences are very important here - say a lot in as few words as possible.

You have been added!

A lot of my friends were very scientific, so I actually have good advice on this one.

What you need to do is change the way you think of that lit paper. Ok? So when you’re coming up with a scientific research paper you’re going to give a bit of an intro to the general science involved, then you’re going to state the purpose/significance of your experiment/research, followed by what you did, what happened, and thoughts on the future. Right? (basically?) You can put that same kind of method to lit!

1) Start out with an intro paragraph explaining a bit about the work or the author, whatever you know to set the general background. Help the reader gain perspective.2) Explain the topic of your paper. What are you writing about? Is it a theme, motif, character? Tell the reader what the paper is going to be about. Feel free to tell them your conclusion, and what evidence you used (briefly).3) Now comes the “body” of your essay. When you say “xyz literary technique is used in this passage to make the reader feel abc”, that is the main idea for your paragraph. And if you can get it that concise, thats great! You should be aiming for that. But that doesn’t mean your work is done! Explain your assertions. Just because your assertion is clear and concise, doesn’t mean you can’t use the next few sentences to expand. State the significance of your assertion. Tell the reader why it matters, and explain to them how it ties back to your thesis. Don’t assume your reader can make that connection, hold their hand and spoon-feed them!4) In you conclusion, explain how your evidence works together to build into your thesis. Give thoughts on what it might mean for other areas of lit (if applicable)

IF, you still need to fluff up your work, I advise the following:a) Provide more examples for each assertion. Drown your reader with every possible example that that motif comes up in the work. You can’t go wrong with more examples.b) Question yourself. This is actually really important to do, but challenging for some people. If done well, it always bumps you up a grade level.  You have to hold to your original thesis, present possible arguments which a critic could raise against your thesis, and defend it from those points. Sometimes its ok to point out that there is a valid argument against your thesis. A lot in lit is open to interpretation, so showing you understand that other people might view it differently, but you still can defend your viewpoint, shows sophisticated understanding of the work. (and should give you more words to beef up that word count!)

The IB family here on tumblr is very supportive of others who are facing the same struggles they have experienced/are experiencing.  

It might sound harsh - but the only solution to your problem is to buckle down and focus. Of course, you could always start a blog. Spend all your time focused on the blog. Fail your classes. Live in the woods as a hermit, separate from the society which rejected you. Train a hawk to hunt for you. Sustain yourself on mushrooms and the meager fruits you scavenge, constantly storing away as much food as you can for the harsh winter. 

I’m so glad it helps! And like I’ve told countless others, I don’t know how your listening/speaking in English sounds, but your writing is near perfect! I think you’re going to get by just fine. :D

You might have seen in my FAQ that I did the same HLs. Its a really, really hard load. But entirely doable. Best advice: prioritize. Make friends in those classes, work together to make/share notes on all the reading. Trust me the time will come when you won’t be able to do all your HL History reading. Its ok to skim as long as you know how to do it well (read first and last sentence of every paragraph and any bolded/underlined key terms)

ATTENTION EVERYONE

This is a very common response to going from summer break to IB course loads. Do not fret. You will catch up, you will get the hang of it. You are not going to die.

Hey anon!

So don’t freak out. You were clearly picked for your class because someone saw potential in you. IB is all about learning how to be a better student, a global citizen, and to pursue your passion.

Personally, your english looks better than some people in the US. ok? feel free to write to me whenever you want to practice! But everything is going to be ok!

Ok, so I’ve talked to a number of other appblr/studyblrs/ibers on this site, and the number one thing I always tell them is to never feed the trolls. However, I don’t see this as a troll. I see this as shameful and disrespectful - not to me, but to you anon.

I happened to be on when I saw your first ask come in. I was busy, both with my own schoolwork - because I’ve been taking a full load of summer classes at the graduate level - and with answering old asks that I’ve unfortunately not had the time to get to recently.  So when your ask came in I didn’t respond to it immediately.  Now, I understand you might be stressed about your situation, and I am always very honored that so many people have come to value my advice. But I have never indicated nor promised that I respond to asks within a certain amount of time. In fact, some asks sit in my inbox for quite awhile, and less than a day of my non-answering is not “ignoring”.

But this ask, this indicates an unwarranted sense of entitlement.  While I am always happy to answer whatever questions anyone may have, and give what advice/opinions I can, this is not my primary source of employment. I run this blog in my free time, and hold myself to a very high standard. I do not just respond to asks to get them out of my inbox. I always figure that my followers prefer I spend an adequate amount of time to fully respond rather than just answer something quickly with a few sentences. I put time and thought into every ask I answer. 

I did double HL science.

You’re going to be just fine. Keep really good notes right from the beginning and stay organized. You’re probably going to find quickly that one is easier than the other - learn how to manage your time! One of the classes (likely Chem) is going to take more time, and you need to prioritize what’s going to take you longer to do over what your want to do.

Really the sciences have a similar testing style so I thought it was actually a benefit to always being thinking in that way.