Regarding IB- Free time/Social life (Question)

[Mathemagician]

Hello,

I'll be starting IB this September and I wanted to know if there is still time for a social life and free time. I am aware that in order to succeed in IB you'll need to dedicate a lot of time to your studies, thus sacrificing time from social life and such, but is there still any room for free time, like on the weekends? I want to succeed in IB, but I still want to have room for a social life and free time for myself. From what I've heard (other people, internet), it seems as if it's always work, work, and more work. If someone can shine some light on this issue that'd be great.

Thanks.

[Award Winning Boss]

People like to exaggerate the amount of work necessary to make themselves feel better about it. If they're seen as having to do loads of work then they're better than the other people who work less.

You'll have to work a lot but there's time to do a lot of other things. You'll have to manage your time well and make sure that your study techniques are efficient though. It's easy to fall into the realm of pseudo work which means you just spend more time working because you're not really doing anything useful.

[Garrett !?]

While IB seems so hard and time consuming, it actually isn't. If you manage your time well, you'll have no problem finding time to hang out with friends and do other activities you enjoy. I have plenty of time each week to either go see a movie, hang out with my friends at the park, etc, and I'm in band which is around 10-15+ hours on top of IB each week, so you should be fine. Make sure not to stress too much about it as there will be times when it seems like everything is due, but 9 weeks out of 10 you'll have time to have fun.

[Guest]

If you're concerned about free time, I'd recommend getting a planner and using it religiously. Mine is always nearby! The people that I know who struggle in IB are the people who put things off until the day before it's due and then freak out because they have three IA's to do before Friday. Keeping track of when things are due lets me spread out the work in such a way that I don't feel overwhelmed.

When you get closer to exams, of course it helps to cut back on social time/relaxing. That said, during the days leading up to exams it helped me to spend time with friends and unwind—you don't want to drive yourself crazy being hunched over a desk for most of the day!

[sharitm2]

The key to doing well in IB is to not procrastinate and manage your time wisely. If you do your work the day you get it, then you shouldn't have a problem and should have sufficient time to do other things as well. A lot of people will tell you that they stay up all night doing work and blah blah, but I really don't think it's neccessary if you plan it all out properly. For me, the first 6 or 7 months of IB year 1 were a breeze (maybe 3 hours of work every day max, but that's because I take three sciences and am always bogged down by lab reports) but now at the end of IB year 1 the work load is starting to pile up what with Extended Essay planning to do and TOK submissions due, not to mention SAT preperation and exam prep. I recommend that if you're planning on taking any of the college entrance tests like the ACT or SAT, get them out of the way in the beginning of IB year 1 so you can focus more on IB later. Again, if you schedual out everything properly and are well organized, you should be just fine. Good luck! (:

[Sandwich]

You have loads of spare time in IB1, in fact I remember going for weeks without doing anything school-work wise outside of school, and then in IB2 the **** hits the fan, as they say in French. Especially if your school haven't spaced out the IAs and left them all for second year! This happened to me, it was not good, if you suspect your school is doing this, ask them about it.

It depends what you do in your spare time as well. If you're planning on doing a lot of hoop jumping for Uni applications and/or have poor organisational skills (me!) you can end up with very little free time. I did Uni-relevant extra-curricular activities after school, for instance, so I'd not be home until 7 or 8pm every night, eat dinner, watch a tiny bit of TV, go for a late night run and then crash. Weekends were spent doing CAS activities, catching up on homework and recovering from sleep deprivation during the week - any spare time I usually wanted to just sog out and be braindead rather than do anything constructive! I didn't use my time that efficiently because I was fed up and tired. So basically my life was mostly consumed by IB and Uni applications, but it depends on you and what else you're up to.

Enjoy IB1 and take things as they come Your experience will depend on you as a person, your ambitions and what you need to achieve during the 2 years (other than just turning up to IB lessons). If I'd only needed to do the IB and not the stuff around the sides, I'm pretty sure I would have had a lot more free time. Getting home by 5.30 instead of 7 or 8 actually makes a big difference! On the other hand, gotta be a competitive candidate if you want to make a competitive application to Uni and I don't regret doing everything I did - everybody has their own version of the IB!

[Phoenix of the IB]

Most of the rumours and things you are hearing about the IB sucking your life out of you are coming from students who are getting close to their exams and are just non stop crunching and revising (you will be at this point as well but that still has a bit of time).

To answer your question:

Yes, the IB will take up a lot of time, but you will still have time for a social life if you play it smart.

Now here is how you play it smart

1. Constantly revise a little bit

What I mean by this is that if you study previous chapters a bit before each of your regular tests you will not just dump the knowledge you gained from your previous tests. (Remember the exam the counts is on everything not just some of the little parts)

2. Incorporate some CAS into your social life

Some people leave CAS behind for a while and then struggle trying to find hours or activities for CAS at a later time when you need the time for other subjects. So find some activities you would consider 'fun' and do them with your friends (hit two birds with one stone)

3. Set your priorities

IB will be the highest priority in your life for the next 2 year, just accept that. If you complete assignments early and do all of your work, you will have enough time to socialize and do other things. DO NOT wait to the very last second to do homework and other things because you will be tired and deliver sloppy work. Your utmost attention is not needed for socializing so when you are tired do that instead. The majority of problems that people have with the IB is controlling what happens outside of school and getting them self in order. So if you get your time management on point it should be a breeze.

Good luck and keep your head up, the two years go by fast

TL;DR

Get your everything sorted out. Time management is the hardest part of IB the earlier you get things sorted, the more time you will have to yourself during the IB.

[h0rr0rsh0w]

IB isn't too hard to balance out as long as you work on everything in a balanced way. My girlfriend and I both went through IB (she graduated last year, and I graduate in 2015), and we never found/find it difficult to spend time together or hang out. My best advice is to finish big projects and IB essays (IAs, IOPs, etc) well before the due date and to balance the work you get assigned by your teacher and not put anything off to the last minute. IB isn't horribly difficult, you just have to have time management skills.