Help with entrance info

[Pleasetellmeigetin]

Hey there! I'm applying for IB this November and am applying to Victoria Park mainly (although i've heard now when you apply to IB you apply for every school in the area) and am wondering how hard the French section is or if there is one (as french is like my worst out the exam subjects).

[Rebecca1223]

Hello there! Don't worry about Vic Park as their acceptances are very generous! As for applying to every IB school, that only applies to YRDSB and not TDSB. From what I recall from when I applied, there is no french section. The test is simply a math section and they require you to write a 500 words essay at home and bring a physical copy of it with you to your exam. All of this information can be found on their website. However, there is an interview conducted in French if you pass round 1. Don't worry though because the IB coordinator is very nice and easy to converse with!

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I'll try my best to answer as many questions as possible although it's been 4 years since I applied. Good luck to your application!

[OneR4nk]

On 8/24/2020 at 3:11 AM, Rebecca1223 said:

Hello there! Don't worry about Vic Park as their acceptances are very generous! As for applying to every IB school, that only applies to YRDSB and not TDSB. From what I recall from when I applied, there is no french section. The test is simply a math section and they require you to write a 500 words essay at home and bring a physical copy of it with you to your exam. All of this information can be found on their website. However, there is an interview conducted in French if you pass round 1. Don't worry though because the IB coordinator is very nice and easy to converse with!

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I'll try my best to answer as many questions as possible although it's been 4 years since I applied. Good luck to your application!

Hey Rebecca1223,

I've been seeing you posting and reply everywhere on this forum, and it's really amazing to see everyones histories and worries when they were about to take the entrance exam. It seems like I'm in the worries stage and I really need some wisdom. It seems like you are an amazing person who can answer lots of people. I have tons of questions, but in order to not bore you and everyone else reading this, I'll just paste a post I sent on discord:

Hey, everyone. So... I just read up on the IB entrance exam information and everything else, its' taking place on November the 23rd, which is like, only a month away. Ngl it's way scarier and nerve wrecking when the date of the test is so close. I heard that a big portion of the admission is your grade 7 report card, but my report card from last year is horrible, 88.8 percent average for all of the subjects combined. I honestly don't know anything about the exam and all of the different subjects. In my class rn, I am probably one of the best students in the class educationally (not bragging or anything). The things I was wondering about (if any St. Robs IB students could answer) were:

1. What level/grade will the test be, like what kind of difficulty are we talking about?

2. If any of you know, what subjects will we be tested on?

3. How should I study? I currently am doing lots of PSAT tests

4. I procrastinate way more than the average gr.8 in my class, what should/can I do to stop this, or is it fine and normal to do this? (We're talking about playing videogames during boring classes and copying off of answer sheets when doing the PSATs)

5. Clearly I'm a noob when it comes to IB, what are the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to IB?

6. What is the passing score for the entrance exam? For instance, imagine if I got 85% on the test, will I pass or fail?

7. Finally, I'm feeling very nervous, my parents are expecting a lot from me since I let them down when it came to the gifted test. If I fail, my parents say I'm not getting a good job and life. I've already told my family about this, and my mom told me that being nervous is a good thing. Is it really a good thing and I don't like it, how do I not be anxious? I need a pep talk lol.

Thanks to all who took their time reading all these words and worries! Any advice would help me a ton. Thanks again for helping me!

Thanks a lot for reading this! (as stated up there)

[Pleasetellmeigetin]

1 hour ago, OneR4nk said:

Hey Rebecca1223,

I've been seeing you posting and reply everywhere on this forum, and it's really amazing to see everyones histories and worries when they were about to take the entrance exam. It seems like I'm in the worries stage and I really need some wisdom. It seems like you are an amazing person who can answer lots of people. I have tons of questions, but in order to not bore you and everyone else reading this, I'll just paste a post I sent on discord:

Hey, everyone. So... I just read up on the IB entrance exam information and everything else, its' taking place on November the 23rd, which is like, only a month away. Ngl it's way scarier and nerve wrecking when the date of the test is so close. I heard that a big portion of the admission is your grade 7 report card, but my report card from last year is horrible, 88.8 percent average for all of the subjects combined. I honestly don't know anything about the exam and all of the different subjects. In my class rn, I am probably one of the best students in the class educationally (not bragging or anything). The things I was wondering about (if any St. Robs IB students could answer) were:

1. What level/grade will the test be, like what kind of difficulty are we talking about?

2. If any of you know, what subjects will we be tested on?

3. How should I study? I currently am doing lots of PSAT tests

4. I procrastinate way more than the average gr.8 in my class, what should/can I do to stop this, or is it fine and normal to do this? (We're talking about playing videogames during boring classes and copying off of answer sheets when doing the PSATs)

5. Clearly I'm a noob when it comes to IB, what are the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to IB?

6. What is the passing score for the entrance exam? For instance, imagine if I got 85% on the test, will I pass or fail?

7. Finally, I'm feeling very nervous, my parents are expecting a lot from me since I let them down when it came to the gifted test. If I fail, my parents say I'm not getting a good job and life. I've already told my family about this, and my mom told me that being nervous is a good thing. Is it really a good thing and I don't like it, how do I not be anxious? I need a pep talk lol.

Thanks to all who took their time reading all these words and worries! Any advice would help me a ton. Thanks again for helping me!

Thanks a lot for reading this! (as stated up there)

Im doing the test too so I don't know too much but I'm pretty sure the test will be math, french,english

[OneR4nk]

10 hours ago, Pleasetellmeigetin said:

Im doing the test too so I don't know too much but I'm pretty sure the test will be math, french,english

Hey, thanks for informing about the test subjects, good luck on your exam!

[Rebecca1223]

18 hours ago, OneR4nk said:

Hey Rebecca1223,

I've been seeing you posting and reply everywhere on this forum, and it's really amazing to see everyones histories and worries when they were about to take the entrance exam. It seems like I'm in the worries stage and I really need some wisdom. It seems like you are an amazing person who can answer lots of people. I have tons of questions, but in order to not bore you and everyone else reading this, I'll just paste a post I sent on discord:

Hey, everyone. So... I just read up on the IB entrance exam information and everything else, its' taking place on November the 23rd, which is like, only a month away. Ngl it's way scarier and nerve wrecking when the date of the test is so close. I heard that a big portion of the admission is your grade 7 report card, but my report card from last year is horrible, 88.8 percent average for all of the subjects combined. I honestly don't know anything about the exam and all of the different subjects. In my class rn, I am probably one of the best students in the class educationally (not bragging or anything). The things I was wondering about (if any St. Robs IB students could answer) were:

1. What level/grade will the test be, like what kind of difficulty are we talking about?

2. If any of you know, what subjects will we be tested on?

3. How should I study? I currently am doing lots of PSAT tests

4. I procrastinate way more than the average gr.8 in my class, what should/can I do to stop this, or is it fine and normal to do this? (We're talking about playing videogames during boring classes and copying off of answer sheets when doing the PSATs)

5. Clearly I'm a noob when it comes to IB, what are the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to IB?

6. What is the passing score for the entrance exam? For instance, imagine if I got 85% on the test, will I pass or fail?

7. Finally, I'm feeling very nervous, my parents are expecting a lot from me since I let them down when it came to the gifted test. If I fail, my parents say I'm not getting a good job and life. I've already told my family about this, and my mom told me that being nervous is a good thing. Is it really a good thing and I don't like it, how do I not be anxious? I need a pep talk lol.

Thanks to all who took their time reading all these words and worries! Any advice would help me a ton. Thanks again for helping me!

Thanks a lot for reading this! (as stated up there)

Hey, I'd be glad to help! However, it has been 4 years since I wrote the entrance exams (wow I'm graduating this year it's crazy how I made it through haha), so do be careful about things I say regarding the test etc.

If you're only asking about St.Robs, make sure to check their info website or the slides they always publish regarding you year's specific details. They usually publish how many students they are accepting and any additional info. But I will respond to your questions from my experience.

1. The test is technically at the grade 8 level, but I would say it is harder than what you learn from day school. I had friends in gifted who says they did the exact same practices as the test, so I would say it's around the gifted grade 8 level. 
2. The test is only on Math and English. They are all multiple choice.
3. The test for me was entirely taken out of the CAT test books, so if you want actual practice, you can buy some practice books (or if you're able to find any free ones online)
4. Procrastinating during boring classes is normal, but hopefully you will be able to pay attention during classes that are not boring. Every class in Pre-IB that leads up to IB is important. Another thing that's beneficial if you procrastinate a lot (like me!) is to have strong self study abilities. I'm the type of student who can't focus in class, so I end up not listening most of the time and study myself through textbooks at home.
5. TBH, I actually don't see many benefits even when I'm about to graduate. The biggest advantage is only if you plan to go to university abroad (like UK or US). If you're talking about personal advantages it would probably just be the studious environment. You make friends who are just dedicated to learning as you and if you plan to study hard, there are teachers who can support you. The disadvantage if you're a social butterfly is that IB really kills your social life. If you've dreamt about high school parties or going out on friday nights, yeah...that won't happen because you will be loaded with work.
6. There is no passing score on the test as they take the highest scoring people. For my year, it was the top 180 students. I think they accept more now, so it should be around 250, check their website, they should be publishing the exact numbers.
7. The nervousness isn't a bad thing if you can use it as encouragement to take the test seriously and work hard for it, but you shouldn't think you're letting them down. My parents have always been the type to threaten my failures ("if you don't do this, you will fail in life","If you don't get this grade, you won't have a good job", etc). But what I'm saying is that it's extremely toxic to ever threat someone's future, and because of that, I grew up believing I can never accomplish anything (getting accepted into IB was my first breakthrough). There isn't a magical formula to make your anxiousness go away, but doing plenty of practice will help you be prepared and when you're confident, you will be less anxious. 

I hope these responses have helped, if you need me to answer anything else (doesn't have to be only St.Robs if you're applying to other programs too, I did the exam for St.Robs, Bayview, Victoria Park for IB and Marc Garneau for TOPS), feel free to reply here or DM me. If you ever need a pep talk about your parents, you're free to DM me and we can talk here or on any other form of social media because I grew up without parental support and it's been rough, so I want to help you, so you don't have to go through the same things.

[OneR4nk]

On 10/16/2020 at 2:12 PM, Rebecca1223 said:

Hey, I'd be glad to help! However, it has been 4 years since I wrote the entrance exams (wow I'm graduating this year it's crazy how I made it through haha), so do be careful about things I say regarding the test etc.

If you're only asking about St.Robs, make sure to check their info website or the slides they always publish regarding you year's specific details. They usually publish how many students they are accepting and any additional info. But I will respond to your questions from my experience.

1. The test is technically at the grade 8 level, but I would say it is harder than what you learn from day school. I had friends in gifted who says they did the exact same practices as the test, so I would say it's around the gifted grade 8 level. 
2. The test is only on Math and English. They are all multiple choice.
3. The test for me was entirely taken out of the CAT test books, so if you want actual practice, you can buy some practice books (or if you're able to find any free ones online)
4. Procrastinating during boring classes is normal, but hopefully you will be able to pay attention during classes that are not boring. Every class in Pre-IB that leads up to IB is important. Another thing that's beneficial if you procrastinate a lot (like me!) is to have strong self study abilities. I'm the type of student who can't focus in class, so I end up not listening most of the time and study myself through textbooks at home.
5. TBH, I actually don't see many benefits even when I'm about to graduate. The biggest advantage is only if you plan to go to university abroad (like UK or US). If you're talking about personal advantages it would probably just be the studious environment. You make friends who are just dedicated to learning as you and if you plan to study hard, there are teachers who can support you. The disadvantage if you're a social butterfly is that IB really kills your social life. If you've dreamt about high school parties or going out on friday nights, yeah...that won't happen because you will be loaded with work.
6. There is no passing score on the test as they take the highest scoring people. For my year, it was the top 180 students. I think they accept more now, so it should be around 250, check their website, they should be publishing the exact numbers.
7. The nervousness isn't a bad thing if you can use it as encouragement to take the test seriously and work hard for it, but you shouldn't think you're letting them down. My parents have always been the type to threaten my failures ("if you don't do this, you will fail in life","If you don't get this grade, you won't have a good job", etc). But what I'm saying is that it's extremely toxic to ever threat someone's future, and because of that, I grew up believing I can never accomplish anything (getting accepted into IB was my first breakthrough). There isn't a magical formula to make your anxiousness go away, but doing plenty of practice will help you be prepared and when you're confident, you will be less anxious. 

I hope these responses have helped, if you need me to answer anything else (doesn't have to be only St.Robs if you're applying to other programs too, I did the exam for St.Robs, Bayview, Victoria Park for IB and Marc Garneau for TOPS), feel free to reply here or DM me. If you ever need a pep talk about your parents, you're free to DM me and we can talk here or on any other form of social media because I grew up without parental support and it's been rough, so I want to help you, so you don't have to go through the same things.

Hey!

Much thanks to your amazing insight! Really appreciate it. As for the questions, I love how you answered them. Do you think that I'm good or I will pass the IB exam? I really hope i do as this is very important when it comes to life. I have a few old friends at the gifted school and I've seen their grade 8 work and it seems very hard. About how hard is gifted grade 8? Feel free to give me a question or something.

Again, thanks very much for responding and helping me out. Good luck on your future exams as well as your graduation!

[Pleasetellmeigetin]

2 hours ago, OneR4nk said:

Hey!

Much thanks to your amazing insight! Really appreciate it. As for the questions, I love how you answered them. Do you think that I'm good or I will pass the IB exam? I really hope i do as this is very important when it comes to life. I have a few old friends at the gifted school and I've seen their grade 8 work and it seems very hard. About how hard is gifted grade 8? Feel free to give me a question or something.

Again, thanks very much for responding and helping me out. Good luck on your future exams as well as your graduation!

hey! just a question, what school do ur friends go to? I might go to the same school as them!

[Amatol]

On 8/23/2020 at 4:27 PM, Pleasetellmeigetin said:

Hey there! I'm applying for IB this November and am applying to Victoria Park mainly (although i've heard now when you apply to IB you apply for every school in the area) and am wondering how hard the French section is or if there is one (as french is like my worst out the exam subjects).

Haha I'm also applying this November (tdsb schools) and I'm worried to no end. 

[OneR4nk]

On 10/17/2020 at 7:18 PM, Pleasetellmeigetin said:

hey! just a question, what school do ur friends go to? I might go to the same school as them!

Hello!

My gifted friends go to Henderson. Good luck!

[OneR4nk]

On 10/28/2020 at 5:50 PM, Amatol said:

Haha I'm also applying this November (tdsb schools) and I'm worried to no end. 

Hey!

The test is only 2 weeks away, and Im worried too. Being worried is a good thing, keeping myself on my toes and making sure I don't mess up or anything. Good luck on the test!

[Pleasetellmeigetin]

I believe everything has came out now

[OneR4nk]

On 11/2/2020 at 7:14 PM, Pleasetellmeigetin said:

I believe everything has came out now

Yes, I have watched each and every video, exceapt, I am still strugling on the preparation part. Anyways, glhf on your tests!