A few weeks ago, someone wished me luck in my exams but do not really know what the IB is all about. Hence, this post seeks to inform and possibly to clear some misconceptions about the IB.
IB Stands for International Baccalaureate
The IB is not ‘International Business’; it is an acronym for International Baccalaureate offered by IB World Schools around the world. I often get the puzzled look from friends and family who think I am doing business studies. Continuing our discussion, IB World Schools are generally schools around the globe that are deemed to have achieve the guidelines by IBO, and hence are deemed competent enough to offer the IB.
IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) is the governing body of the IB, setting the standards for all IB World Schools in the US, UK, Asia, and everywhere around the globe. It is like the United Nations that sets the resolution for all the schools around the world. (Pun intended: IBO is far more efficient than the actual United Nations. All resolutions and guidelines by IBO are strictly followed.)
The standards set by the IBO are very high and not many schools are able to maintain these high standards. In fact, some schools can be ‘kicked out’, or licences being revoked, if they are not doing a good job. (Again, the IBO is far more powerful than the actual United Nations… another political joke.. )
I am currently in a private school in Damansara in the first batch of International Baccaulaureate students a.k.a the ‘guinea pig’ batch. And yes, this batch of ‘guinea pigs’ are the ones put under tremendous pressure to ensure the experiment is successful. For me, it has to be successful because it determines so many aspects of my future education career.
IB students are required to take six subjects, which are three Standard Level subjects and three Higher Level subjects. What is the difference between Standard Level and Higher Level? Generally, they differ in terms of contact hour. For Higher Level, you spend more time doing your subject while for Standard Level, you spend less time. For example, 250 contact hours are required for Higher Level subjects while 150 contact hours are required for Standard Level subjects. In other words, the amount of workload differ greatly.
If I could use a simpler but not-so-correct analogy, the Higher Level subjects are basically the “3 subjects that you do in A-Levels”, while you have other add-on subjects. Again, this is another reason why the IBO claims that IB is so much harder than the A-Levels.
But, it does not take a maths pro to figure that IB students have no lives of their own because of these massive amount of workload. From my perspective, A-Levels students have easier times because all they need to do is to study and sit for their exams. In IB, it’s not really just exams.
Subject-wise, I am doing Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics at Higher Level; English, Mandarin ab initio, and Business Management at Standard Level. Some of you might be thinking, “Hey, it seems that IB students must take both the science and arts subjects.” Yes, it is true indeed. This is another justification why IBO says the IB is deemed the better pre-university qualification because it offers a more holistic approach to learning and education.
Wait, you are doing Mandarin????
Yes, peng you (Chinese for ‘friend’), I am doing Mandarin ab initio. Some of you may know me as a ‘banana’ (or outside yellow, inside white) from my earlier school days but things have changed! Now, I am considerably less ‘banana’… about 20% lesser… still 80% banana.
I can safely say that my subject combination is among the hardest in my school. Which dude would take two sciences, one mathematics, one native speaker language (English Literature in essence), one absolutely foreign language with 1000 characters to memorize (Mandarin… I was a banana, remember?) and one business subject? Only three crazy dudes (Riza, Jonathan, and I). The Physics and Chemistry drill our brains. Mathematics messes up more of our neurons. Mandarin twists our tongues. English A1 puts in the literature stuff, which is quite the anti-thesis of science students like us. Business is the only fun subject because it is peanuts, and also probably due to fact that I am a bit Chinaman (a colloquil term for stingy businessmen.. but generally Chinese businessmen). My old school friends often called me (pronounce with me…. ) CHEE-NAH MAN. So, I guess they are right.
Back to the IB, IB students are required to complete a 4000-words extended essay, 150 Creativity Action Service hours, and Theory of Knowledge component, ON TOP OF/IN ADDITION to the six subjects taken.
The Extended Essay is basically a mini-thesis on any subject that you are interested in. I did mine on “What is the effect of surface area on the tractive force?” if I got my title right. It is essentially a Physics thesis on the mumbo-jumbo triboelectric effect theory, Newton’s Third Law and all the stuff.
The 150 CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) is a pre-requisite to getting my diploma. The CAS is about doing things you have never done before and primarily the fun stuff to compensate the dull mood of academic lectures. If I do not complete my 150 hours of CAS, I will not get my diploma.
Wait, what diploma? IB is a diploma meh?
Yes, the official designation is International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, which makes the IB I am doing right now a diploma programme. Unfortunately, it is only perceived to be slightly better than the other pre-university qualifications i.e A-Levels, STPM.
So, from last tally, I completed about 200 hours of CAS, which I believe would amount to more since I got a really strict IB CAS Coordinator. She is really stingy with the hours, but understandably, this is due to some of us inflating the hours. Apart from this, my IB CAS Coordinator is one of the most exciting personalities I ever met. Do bear in mind that each completed activity requires a set of forms that includes a supervisor’s form, a personal journal, a self-evaluation form, and more forms. The documentation alone had killed, kills, and will kill, many of my coursemates.
Meanwhile, the Theory of Knowledge (or in short, TOK) is in essence a basic philosophy course about knowledge, with respect to my experience with the component. To illustrate, students are bombarded with questions like why the apple is red, can robots think for themselves, is it possible to have objective knowledge and what is true. IB students are required to write a 1500-words essay and to present an oral discussion about a specific topic of choice related to knowledge.
Before I forget, the six subjects I have taken ALL comes with INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS. Mathematics requires 4 separate mathematics portfolios; physics and chemistry require 60 hours of lab hours each; English requires two World Literature essays, one oral commentary component, and one oral presentation component (which makes it 4 internal assessments); Mandarin requires a few oral assessments where the candidates are cassette-taped while they converse about topics of interest IN MANDARIN; Business requires a real case study about a REAL company focusing on any IB Business Module of choice.
So, let us do some arithmetic:
Physics 15 assessments (I’ve done 15 lab reports, good ones )
Chemistry 15 assessments (I’ve done 15 lab reports, good ones )
Mathematics 4 assessments
Business 1 assessment
English 4 assessments
Mandarin 4 oral assessments
TOTAL 43 internal assessments
Please be aware that each internal assessment requires blood, sweat, caffeine, begging for extensions, tears, and eye strain.
FURTHERMORE, IB students are required to complete a Group 4 Project where students from different disciplines come together in groups of 5 to 6 people to produce an environmental report. My group did a report about “Aerosols and Its Effect on Environment” with students from Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The idea is, we are required to analyze the problem from the perspective of a biologist, a physicist, and a chemist. The others examine other issues from the perspective of economists and businessmen.
At the end of the two years, while completing all internal assessments, TOK, 150 CAS hours, Group 4 Project, Extended Essay, IB students are to sit for an external examination for all their six subjects. I have a total of 15 papers to sit for. My exams are exactly three days from now. I am writing this down to recap and to record all my IB experience for the benefit of readers who do not know how rigorous the IB is.
Some would sum the IB as this equation:
Physics + Chemistry + Mathematics + English A1+ Mandarin ab initio + Business + Extended Essays + CAS hours+ TOK + Internal Assessments + Group 4 Project
= 2 years of lifelessness
I sometimes call the IB indescribable bane due to the massive, intense, crazy, insane, and (I am out of adjectives) workload.
The exams are graded based on a 45-point scale. Six subjects each are graded from 0 to 7, which means the maximum academic score possible is 42 points. The balance 3 points are called the bonus points because it is dependent on the quality of your Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge components. The CAS is not taken into account, but it is required to obtain your diploma.
IB is really an achievement by itself. I won a RM50000 scholarship to do the IB in this private school. I have known some many comrades who fought with me till the end. My journey will end on November 13, 2008.
At the end of all these, all I want is a good sleep and loads of rest.
Hope you have learned something about the IB, good bye. If I get some of my facts wrong, please enlighten me and I will happily correct them.
*The author has a disdain for narrow-minded Neandeartals who label IB students as ‘International Bastards’ because they completely have no idea what they are talking about. The author himself is a survivor of IB and was freed from the imprisonment of IBO on the 13th November 2008.
Quote from Brian Keenan’s An Evil Cradling:
“Freedom comes slowly.”
