Soon-to-be!

[Yasmeen]

Hello all ^^ another future IB student here, for September (after seeing how GCSE's go.. hmm.. O_O). Anyway, really glad to have found this forum! It's fantastic.

There's certainly a feeling of community pervading the place but maybe the excitement overwhelms me

I'm planning on taking:

Physics HL

Chemisty HL

Maths HL

Eng SL

History SL

French SL

SLightly worried I made a wrong choice somewhere.. in the sense that, the idea ingrained in me is that a scientific career would be better when it comes to it - problem is, I enjoy English a lot.

Nevermind..

I'd love to know - how did everyone find the IB when you first started out? Did it live up to your expectations? Any advice?

Nice to meet you all!

Edited May 8, 2009 by Yasmeen

[sweetnsimple786]

I'm still completing my first year, but so far I've gotta say there have been some ups and downs. Overall, I love IB for multiple reasons. The level of education is amazing. I don't live in a second or third world country, but still, I recognize that I'm so fortunate to have access even in the US. IB forces you to take responsibility of your actions. You can say "Oh my teachers don't understand. They give me so much work all at the same time. They expect too much. Blah blah blah" but when it comes down to it, you emerge a stronger person than you started out (By the way, most students who are coerced or forced into the program by parents or teachers soon quit or just don't fully receive the advantages of IB.)

Also, my school's IB program is pretty small, so I have a close bond with all of my peers, and it's only been a year

There are going to be times where your teacher is being slightly (or really) unreasonable, but you learn to overcome stuff like that. Also, IB's pretty fun. Teachers tend to be more liberal in their teaching (I'm not talking about politics here.) They might curse occasionally or make jokes. You may be on a first name basis with them. I've noticed that teachers tend to be a lot less uptight, and you also grow close to your teachers. I've thrown my English teacher a surprise birthday party, and when he went on paternity leave, we made cards for him

Basically, I have none of the same classes as you. haha. My suggestion: whichever exam(s) (if any) that you will be taking in one year, be extremely diligent in those classes.

[Darko]

Hello all ^^ another future IB student here, for September (after seeing how GCSE's go.. hmm.. O_O). Anyway, really glad to have found this forum! It's fantastic.

There's certainly a feeling of community pervading the place but maybe the excitement overwhelms me

I'm planning on taking:

Physics HL

Chemisty HL

Maths HL

Eng SL

History SL

French SL

SLightly worried I made a wrong choice somewhere.. in the sense that, the idea ingrained in me is that a scientific career would be better when it comes to it - problem is, I enjoy English a lot.

Nevermind..

I'd love to know - how did everyone find the IB when you first started out? Did it live up to your expectations? Any advice?

Nice to meet you all!

Your choices are very similar to mine. The same HLs and the I got SL economics instead of History. If you are hardworking then it is a good choice but trust be those HLs will be tough. Chemistry and Physics aren't too bad but maths for me was a real nutter. English is really easy in my opinion and if you enjoy it- you shouldn't have a problem there. If you liked french GCSE and you got an A* then get ready for the largest transition ever because SL french is nothing like GSCE french. 10 times more grammar work and is so boring. History sounds good.

I am not trying to discourage you and if you like those subjects and are hardworking then go for it! Its well worth it! Vas-y like the Belgians say!

[__inthemaking]

I'm a May 2008 IB graduate.

I also took chem HL and French B SL. Both were pretty okay subjects, not exceedingly difficult.

IB was definitely worth it for me, I was able to graduate in 2008 with the highest average in my school district because of it haha . And as a result, I also got into my first choice university and program, and was also offered several full scholarships.

As far as advice goes..try not to procrastinate too much and don't let all your assignments build up. That's pretty much it. CAS and EE are not as daunting as they appear (in fact they were the easiest parts of the diploma to complete), so don't let them scare you!

[Darko]

I'm a May 2008 IB graduate.

I also took chem HL and French B SL. Both were pretty okay subjects, not exceedingly difficult.

IB was definitely worth it for me, I was able to graduate in 2008 with the highest average in my school district because of it haha . And as a result, I also got into my first choice university and program, and was also offered several full scholarships.

As far as advice goes..try not to procrastinate too much and don't let all your assignments build up. That's pretty much it. CAS and EE are not as daunting as they appear (in fact they were the easiest parts of the diploma to complete), so don't let them scare you!

Could you please show me a method that you use for revising for your exams? Just for your Chemistry. My SLs are fine its just my HLs that Im trying to cope with. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out. Thanks in advance!

I'm a May 2008 IB graduate.

I also took chem HL and French B SL. Both were pretty okay subjects, not exceedingly difficult.

IB was definitely worth it for me, I was able to graduate in 2008 with the highest average in my school district because of it haha . And as a result, I also got into my first choice university and program, and was also offered several full scholarships.

As far as advice goes..try not to procrastinate too much and don't let all your assignments build up. That's pretty much it. CAS and EE are not as daunting as they appear (in fact they were the easiest parts of the diploma to complete), so don't let them scare you!

Could you please show me a method that you use for revising for your exams? Just for your Chemistry. My SLs are fine its just my HLs that Im trying to cope with. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out. Thanks in advance!

Don't know why that double-posted.

[__inthemaking]

Could you please show me a method that you use for revising for your exams? Just for your Chemistry. My SLs are fine its just my HLs that Im trying to cope with. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out. Thanks in advance!

Basically know the IB syllabus inside out. All the questions will ONLY come from the syllabus, don't study more than you need to, it won't help. I started off by finding all the past papers that I could for chem..I ended up getting every May and November paper from both TZ1 and TZ2 for 2002-2007 haha. Lots of the older papers had questions that were no longer applicable, so if you do use old papers to practice, make sure to double check it with your syllabus to see if it's something you still need to know or not. I read over the syllabus textbook and pretty much memorized it, read over my class notes, looked at my class tests/quizzes and then got to working on the past papers.

After doing 20+ past papers, you really get a hang of what types of problems to expect on the exam and whatnot. That was pretty much how I revised for the chem exam. Hope that helped .

[meh]

Where can you find past IB papers/exams??

[Ruan Chun Xian]

Where can you find past IB papers/exams??

Teachers, IBO online store, , not here.

[Annex]

Where can you find past IB papers/exams??

you can find it on many websites. they have quite a number of past papers for all different subjects.

[y.v]

Your HLs look like a tough combination!

Are you highly inclined towards mathematics/ enjoy mathematics and physics ?

Many people take English as HL.

I understand what you mean by getting into a science based career... & I fully support that choice...

However, if you're set on that then you don't really need history, do you?

Maybe it's just me but I've found that people who like math/physics are not too inclined towards history?

Maybe try Economics SL?

& You can also switch one of your HLs to English HL (Mathematics maybe?)

Ofcourse it's really up to you though

Personally, I love being in IB.

I knew little about it before I joined it... and I do not regret being in IB one tiny bit.

It's helped me meet many intelligent people, have some great teachers & taught me a bunch of stuff that I probably would not have learned elsewhere

P.S.: I find all the freaking out about IB a bit over rated. If you really like what you're studying and stay on top of things, you'll be just fine

Also, if you like English, you'll do well in it. So, don't hesistate to take it HL. I am sure universities wouldn't not accept you if you had SL Math instead of HL (ofcourse, depending on how/where you want to go)

Good Luck!

Edited May 9, 2009 by y.v

[meh]

Thanks - definitely a huge help.

[Mahuta ♥]

HEY!

I love your excitement! But I hope it doesnt fade out by the end of next year.

Anyhow, like someone already mentioned your HLs are such a tough combination, in fact at my school we call it the threat trios, it is the most difficult combination from my point of view. However if you feel confident about it go ahead. Just dont see it as GCSE subjects EXTENDED, they dont compare. I have done cambridge IGCSE so I know the difference.

As for my first year, I was all excited about IB and stuff but then realized the amount of work it requires. The way I see it is that the last thing you should ever think of doing is leaving things to the last minute, let it be exams, test, the TONS of IA you got to do, doesnt matter, all should be started the day you're assigned them. I must say though, a lot of us are guilty of this, lol. Main curse in IB, procrastination.

No trying to scare you away, but I dont want you to be shocked.

So yeah my advices to you are mainly:

1) Do not procrastinate (although it will happen occasionaly).

2)When you're given an IA especially math, start on it that moment, the longer you spend on math IA, the better.

3)Constantly revise your subjects, it will make it MUCH easier when you study for exams and tests.

4)Your EE! Finish it during the summer(next summer obviously), it sucks having EE on the second year of IB.

Thats it for now, when you finish IB1 i'll give you more

Oh, and WELCOME.

We're glad to have you here.

[Sandwich]

All I can say is that, at my school anyway, GCSEs don't mean squat as to how you do in the IB.

I would definitely think again about the subjects you've picked, to be absolutely sure that you want to pursue them! After GCSE English, IB English is easy (it's the same style again), but IB Maths is in a brand new league of its own. If you wouldn't have wanted to do Maths & Further Maths at A Level, I would certainly avoid doing it for the IB-- the only exception is if you want to study Physics at University. That's the only science where they want HL Maths, and HL Maths is, unless you're naturally talented at Maths and sailed through your GCSE with an easy, very high A*, going to be a loss of a 7. If you want to do Biology, Chemistry, Biomedical Science etc. at University in the UK, SL Maths is acceptable.

TBH Chemistry & Physics are the second hardest subjects after Maths. Both of them will give you an examination nightmare if you intend to learn and practice them both for your final exams and do well in both, again, unless you're very talented at them already. If you find them just 'okay' I might think about recombining your options. Biology is much more like GCSE-standard in the IB, whereas Physics and Chemistry are not.

Meaning this in the nicest sense of everything possible, unless you're very good at all three of those Higher Subjects at GCSE and have not struggled to understand a single mathematical concept, you might want to reconsider.

They are the trio of evil doom. I regret doing the IB personally, and my friend who takes those three subjects is seriously suffering with them.

If it helps, I also enjoy English a lot (well, not the boring bits...) and, if you're not 100% about HL Maths and don't NEED it, I would do Physics and Chemistry at HL in combination with HL English, not HL Maths. Those two subjects are leagues apart!!

Obviously it depends where your talents lie, but IMO you need to be significantly more talented in the Mathematics department to do it at HL than you would need to be in the English department.. and unlike Maths GCSE results, English GCSE results don't lie You do well in GCSE, you'll do well if not better in IB for English.

EDIT: Ohyeah, to stop preaching the word of Anti-Impossible-Subjects (for me, anyway ) and move onto the questions you asked, I enjoyed the IB when I started out, but the moment IB2 hit, I wished I'd never picked the stupid thing. It does have many enjoyable and positive elements to it, but, for me at least, these have been overshadowed by the elements which are not well done. Make sure that your school (unlike mine ) is very well organised, and that the coursework will be spread out over the 2 years, with an appropriate deadline before the Christmas, at the very latest, of IB2, for your Extended Essay.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Sandwich