General IB questions for a potential IB student?

[Drake]

1. Do I have to take another Spanish class as a Junior to get the IB diploma (I'm finishing Spanish 4 as a Soph.)?

2. Is it worth it?

3. How much is having an IB diploma considered for colleges?

4. So is the difference between the SL and HL is just that with HL, you also take it as a senior as well as a junior?

5. Is it better to take honors classes and get straight A's and a few B's, or do IB and get a few A's, mostly B's, and occasional C's and D's? (in a "getting into college" sense)

6. Is it OK to procrastinate?

7. For the CAS, what types of things could I do for each of these three aspects?

8. How intense is it and how much homework would I get?

9. Any other tips/advice for me?

[sameera95]

1. You have to take a foreign language as part of the IB Diploma. You have the choice of doing it as HL, SL or ab initio. Since you do Spanish already, I don't recommend doing it as ab initio because that class is designed for beginners. If you want to carry on in Spanish I'd suggest you do it at HL or SL (your choice), but if you'd rather start a new foreign language then by all means go for it

2. Yes! No matter what you hear about how hard the IB is and everything, it is a great accomplishment in the end.

3. The IB Diploma is considered enough for entry into Universities (along with SATs for US), so I'm pretty sure you'll be fine for college. You will also probably get an exemption from some courses depending on the grades you get in your HL subjects. I spoke to a University once and they told me I'd get exemptions from courses if I get a 5 or more in my HL subjects.

4. The difference between SL and HL is that you both learn the same content, but in HL you expand on it even more. For example, SL biology students take 6 topics and 2 options whereas HL biology students take an additional 5 topics (11 total) and 2 options.

5. IB isn't graded in letters, the grades range from 1 - 7. I'm sure you'll be capable doing the IB, everybody is and some more than others. That doesn't mean you can't achieve 6s and 7s in your subjects. If you work hard, you'll achieve your best, if you slack you'll regret it later.

6. Procrastination is OK, but only in moderation. You are not a working machine, you need a break every now and then - everyone does. However, that does not mean if you have heaps of work to just leave it to one side and forget about it. Your work is more important than your break, you need to find an appropriate balance for yourself.

7. CAS = Creativity, Action, Service. For Creativity anything can count: joining or creating school clubs, learning a new language, making things (DIY projects), creating a sketchbook, photography. Action means sport, so go join the school team or join the local gym, participate in group sport activities - basically anything sporty. Service is volunteering so volunteer at a local charity shop, youth service or anything that you want. You can also participate in projects that join 2 or all 3 aspects of CAS (one project is a requirement for CAS anyway) for example teaching dance would count as Creativity Action and Service, making things and donating them to charity would count as Creativity and Service, starting a club at school can count as Creativity and Service (and Action if it's sport related) - just do anything that you like Keep in mind that your CAS activities fulfil the 8 learning outcomes so that when you write your CAS portfolio you can show how you've met them http://fhsib.org/bvsd/CAS/CAS_Learning_Outcomes.pdf

8. The first few weeks of IB are easy, your work will become more intense at the end of IB1 and in IB2. Once you finish you EE and ToK essay in IB2, your workload will become more bearable, but you will need to start revising for your exams. The workload can become intense at times, but you can and will pull through it like everyone else. The important thing is to stick to deadlines or you'll fall behind.

9. - Don't procrastinate and leave your work until the last minute - do your work first.

- Have breaks, doing work doesn't mean you can't take a break. But in moderation of course

- Stick to deadlines always, keeping to deadlines helps keep your workload under control

- Do your CAS in IB1, finish it all before it starts building up at the time of your EE and ToK deadlines (personal experience )

- Plan ideas for your EE in advance

Good Luck!

[Drake]

Thank you so much, this really helped!

[sameera95]

No problem

[Amor Al-Ayta]

Do you think that it would be ok for me to switch into HL Business if i take HL psychology. its been one semester since i started IB so idk if that would be a smart choice. like content wise is Business hard? would i be able to catch up?

[sameera95]

Yep that should be fine I changed from art HL to chemistry HL at half term (6 weeks in), but my school made it a bit of a difficult transition for me as they thought I was a bit late changing subjects so I had to do a sort of chemistry entry test to see if I was allowed to change at that point in time. Of course, each school is different so yours might not be as strict as mine about changing subjects. Catching up might be a bit hard, what I did was I took one student's chemistry folder and I photocopied all the notes that I missed at home.

Edited January 27, 2014 by sameera95