IB: The Good, the bad and the ridiculous (+tips!)

There are a few dramatic changes as you reach IB (standing for International Baccalaureate, it is an international education system), both socially and mentally. Being slightly more mentally prepared, I consider the social aspect of bigger impact. One or two of these changes act as a benefactor to those who submit to it, however most of them are pretty much ridiculous and irrational.  

One of the first things I see (the more appropriate word here is 'feel') is the sudden change in the atmosphere during classes. All of a sudden, every teacher gives you pages and pages of work every, giving the famous excuse "it's IB, homework is expected in every lesson". The atmosphere during classes are tense and even the laziest students are at their most attentive, as if the exam was just a day away. Many are what I like to call 'overmotivated'; referring to the students who suddenly spend  more than five times the norm studying over aspects of the subject that they will be covering in the next lesson and completing the workbooks and exercises. This seems rather confusing to me; first of all, what would be the point in covering something that you will be covering over the next lesson? Many think of this as a sign of a good student. I think of this as just ridiculous. I have done this in Singapore for the adverse reason; finish the books, and you will be free to do whatever you want in class. My fellow classmates do the same thing with different intentions, but end up with the same result; they end up with nothing to do. This would be totally irrational behaviour. You would in real terms take two periods to do something that would take only one. Peculiar thing is is that often these students would not continue forward in class, which is completely counterintuitive. Rather, it would be better instead to cover the new aspect of the subject in class, and use your free time and review the work that you have done. That way you would be using your time more efficiently, and often I pick up on things that I did not see before due to my teacher's fast speaking pace. 

Second thing is, often when people who do finish the book before the rest of the class often find that it is wrongly worded due to terminology not learned beforehand. When one does get the right answer, often there would be a shorter method found by the teacher that could have saved much more time beforehand. Therefore it would be better to always do the worksheets and exercises given after given prior knowledge.

One more tip: Do not be like many of my friends and remain at home during the weekends to study ahead of the lesson plan. Besides the reasons for not doing so listed above, there is one more reason: burning out. 

This phrased was coined to me by my mother (I later found out that it was a common phrase) that like a train, you 'run out of steam'. Excuse the cliche but I find that this saying is the best way to express this concept more quickly than any other alternatives. Many are already suffering from the self-made stresses of IB and I would (rather wicked of me) like to be there when they finally give up to gloat about how "I told you so". 

The only time when you are allowed to be a motivated student is when it becomes apparent that the teacher will be unable to finish the syllabus on time. That is when it will be appropraite to study ahead and finish the worksheets and exercises. However, be sure to have a friend study parallel (do not study together) so that you both are able to push each other in the right direction when you find that one or the other has interpreted a certain concept wrongly or used an equation inappropraitely. 

Forget about studying "hard", study "smart"

A rather quick post and quickly written, I must return back to my pile of homework.

Cheers,

Matthew Tan