PLANNING.

Each year, the enthusiasms of new IB diploma students burn up the school with excitement. The orange, red and blue flames fueled by their naïve breaths seem so calm and steady, like they are so sure that they can destruct and burn any obstacle which awaits them. Their eyes calmly whisper “I’ll just go with the flow this time. No stress.”

And what do we say to that?

Yea sure, until your flames get way out of control and turn your spirits and hopes into ashes

Go with the flow?! No! Do you know what happens to fish in the sea when they just “go with the flow”? They get LOST or they get EATEN by a shark or some sort. Seriously, what did Finding Nemo ever taught you in your childhood, kid?

The same thing will happen to you if you do that. You will either feel lost, or the flow will take you straight out of the IB.

So SWIM. And, when you swim, you ought to know where you are going to go. So PLANNING is a very important step here if you want to survive your IB. Here are the tips & tricks to do just that:

1.       Choosing subjects.

This is only for prospective IB students. If you already are an IB student and you have already chosen your subjects, skip to number 2.

By now you should have already known that there are 3 subject levels in IB, which are the studies, standard level and higher level. Thanks to the IB Diploma, you need to choose 3 higher level subjects. Now choose wisely! Choose the subjects that you LOVE. Otherwise you will have a hard time following them. Also, choose the ones which you think you can cope with all the work loads and assignments. I know for sure that sciences HL demand lots of lab works and reports.

For the languages, you need to pick 1 language A (your first language) and 1 language B (your second language). Just make sure you pick out the language that you already are used to in the first place because trust me, you have no time learning a new language in the IB.

MOST IMPORTNANTLY: Choose them carefully. Research each subject first, and give yourself time to decide. Remember, this isn’t a shopping spree. You can’t just pick all the clothes and try them one by one. There isn’t any return policy here!

2.       IAs, EE and TOK

It’s extremely important to be unique when setting your IA (Internal assessment, which is an essay you need to do in every subject you take), EE (Your extended essay), and TOK (Theory of Knowledge) topic. The more unique you are in setting your topics, the more the examiners will be interested in reading your essays, and the more marks you are likely to get in the end.

So, look for inspiration. Google news stories or articles relating to your subject that intrigue you and are unique. READ MORE. This is very important.

After that, you need to plan on the content of the essay. This brings us to step 3.

3.       Get your thoughts together

Get this. People think I’m a procrastinator as I sometimes have not done/written my work while my friends have actually written a one-full page essay. But that’s wrong. I actually just did that so that I could think of what I actually wanted to write first before I even wrote it in a piece of paper. Walking around will get you inspiration and you will come up with better ideas when you don’t rush things. I know you may not remember what you think, so you may want to take note of it when you have successfully found your inspiration.

Make a planning document so that you can gather all your written thoughts there. The next thing you know, when you start writing, you won’t have to think of what you want to write anymore.

4.       Approach your teacher.

Super duper important. You need to plan the time when you need to see them too. The truth is, sometimes when we think that our work is good enough, the teacher may not have the same opinion. And who will mark our work in the end? Exactly, our teacher. Don’t be reluctant to ask for their feedback and guidance.

Of course, you need to plan on meeting them first. E-mail them or talk to them when you pass them on the hallway and ask them when they will be free. Better yet, approach them a week before you actually need to see them so that they can make time for meeting you in the next week. IB teachers are busy too, you know.

5.       Set a timetable of doing work in a day

Some people may freak out when seeing this instruction. At least, that’s what I used to do. Setting a timetable seems so organized and so OCD (obsessive, compulsive disorder) and I am really not that type of person. However, as it turns out, setting a timetable does not have to be an appropriate timetable in a piece of paper that you stick on the wall of your bedroom, you know. You can just simply write down what you need to do that day in your notes at your phone like this: “8-10= Do English blog, 11-13=Study math”. Yup, that’s it. It won’t take more than 2 minutes. In fact, setting alarms for the hours when you want to do work also counts as a timetable, you know.

So now, now. What’s next? Actually doing what you planned for?!? YES. There you go. Think about it, guys, no matter what you do or no matter how hard you plan for your IB life, there is no way that you can excel in IB without being strict on yourself and just do what you got to do. So DON’T PROCRASTINATE! However, if you’re lazy like I am, I will share to you some of my shortcuts so that I don’t have to go through so much hassle in doing my work. That’s for my next post, though.

Anyways, you can follow these tips, or you don’t have to. Either way, don’t say I didn’t remind you!

-L