How productive should I be to prepare for real IB and university?

[Royster Zhang]

It was exams a few weeks ago, and on Facebook all I could see was grade 12 IBers posting rage posts saying "Still not finished studying" at 2, 3 am in the morning...I also have read some blogs of students in Ivy League schools who claim that "it's prevalent to see people literate in five or six languages" at their schools. At the position of being in grade 9, I know this is all very far away from me, but I want to prepare for grade 11&12 and later on as best as I could. I maintain a schedule of reading French (Currently the original version of The Three Musketeers) and English literature two hours everyday, memorizing famous speeches and SAT vocab, and watch open Yale&Stanford courses on subjects like Game Theory and Computer Programming. I would love to enrich my schedule and prepare better for the years to come, having SO much free time to kill, but there seems to be very little I could do - at least from my view - right now. What else should I be doing?

[by.andrew]

Err... I think it might be way too early to get worked up on IB right now. If you're in grade 9, I suggest you take some nice ECs right now so you can boost your chances at the top schools. Find some hobbies (reading, chess, sports, volunteering, math contests, etc.), try to develop your interests and broaden your horizons. Personally, I don't think you should view free-time as wasted time; success in life is not attained by knowing five or six languages or being able to recite famous speeches. Just try to find enriching activities that correspond with your genuine interests.

[Babydolleyes]

It's really cool that you are passionate about wanting to improve and not be in that horrible position during revision where you are pulling all nighters before an IB exam... A lot of kids in my class came to multiple examinations not having slept for 1-2 days which is of course ridiculous.

By getting your priorities straight ahead of time, you can make sure that, that won't happen to you. (I personally got 8-9 hours of sleep before each final exam last May- I was super prepared).

However right now there isn't much you can do, other than practising consistency and maintaining a good routine. I think joining some kind of sport always looks good, plus you can use it for CAS in IB. You can join a debate team (like MUN or do you have to be in IB already to do that?), or become affiliated with organizations like Amnesty International, etc..

And like Andrew says, volunteering, chess... find out what you like. I also think one of the best things you can do in preparation for IB and Uni is to have a lot of fun now, socialize a lot and enjoy yourself so you have infinite fond memories to look back on because life is only going to get more and more serious, you will have more responsibilities and less free time. Enjoy it while you can, and pace yourself.

A friend of mine was really super motivated for years before IB started, he was so motivated and wanted to get into Harvard so much! He memorized all sorts of relatively trivial things like the entire periodic table, speeches etc. He had such high expectations of himself, and the prospect of failing was terrifying to him.. He ended up having a very real, very scary nervous breakdown in the second semester of IB and it continued throughout the rest of IB. He lowered his standards and his goals but the breakdown screwed everything up.. He managed to get the diploma in the end with 33 points, but the overall experience was traumatizing for him, and his full potential was definitely not realized.

Just please be realistic about your goals, and remember that SO MANY highly intelligent, brilliant and qualified people get rejected from ivy league universities every year. Don't let it get you down.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Babydolleyes

[twilight]

It sounds like you're aiming for top US universities. Are you well versed with the application and admission process of US universities? If you aren't, spend your free time researching on their admission process.

If you're doing whatever you're doing right now out of passion, fine. If you're doing them just so you can be up there with students already in Ivy League, cut it. I'm quite sure students in Ivy League were not admitted based solely on the fact that they are literate in 5 or 6 languages, or that they took part in MOOCs.

And I would be careful about burnout. Doing something regularly not out of passion but to satisfy what you believe is a requirement to get to your destination sounds like a recipe for burnout.

Edited February 11, 2014 by twilight

[Fiz]

It is nice to see a person is already enthusiastic about becoming an IBer, but i really think that you are rushing.

You are still in grade 9, enjoy being in grade 9. You are probably around 14 years old depending on the place you live in, and i highly suggest to stop worrying or even thinking about IB. Heck, when i was in grade 9 i didn't know that the term "ivy league" even existed!

But, what i encourage you to do (since you sound like a high achieving student) is to start building your EC's. American universities LOVE EC's! Especially if you are considering applying to ivy leagues, you should treat EC's very, very seriously.

Another thing, try PSAT. They are very good training for the SAT. If you are considering applying to the US you have to realize that standardized testing is very crucial in the admissions process.

Ending my post, i highly suggest you build an action plan. Enrich your EC's. Ace your 9th and 10th grade scores(they are taken into consideration), and most importantly enjoy being in grade 9!

Kindest Regards,

-Fiz

Edited February 11, 2014 by Fiz