Don't Bother About IB If...

...you ONLY want good grades. Save yourself the time and go do other programmes that focus on grades.

I mean, I can't stress that IB is not for the faint-hearted enough. It's tough. It's challenging. It tests everything about you, your patience, your dedication, your perseverance, your teamwork, your time management. And if you ONLY care about good grades, unfortunately, you won't be able to make it...

even if you DO get good grades.

Why? Because the IB's aim is to shape you to become a better individual. It is never ONLY about academic excellence. Yes, exams still play a huge part in IB. But there are so many extra things, that if you only do them simply to get a 7, it is all pointless stress. Why torture yourself when you can get the equivalent with less work?

Time and time again I see "smart" Malaysian students running after As and A+s without actually loving the subjects they are studying, getting involved in clubs that only serve to boost their potential to get scholarships instead of being passionate about the activities. Their lives are fixed and dead. They have no choice, the path is set for them. Nothing else matters but going, no, racing against each other to get into the best universities. Taking a 2-year programme is considered stupid when you can take a 1-year one. Taking a gap year is a big no-no, it is unheard of in Malaysia, even if it is becoming a norm elsewhere.

As hard as IB sounds is, it offers me (and you, if you're considering it) a chance to get out of this fixed pathway. I don't want to compete against others to rush into a university. I do want to get into my dream university (note it might not be the best university), but I want to do so at my own time, at my own pace, when I'm ready. I didn't take a gap year for many reasons, one of them being that I need motivation and a driving force, and if I stay at home I'll only be wasting time slacking. And I believe that taking IB has allowed me to:

• Be independent. Living 364km (4 hours drive) away from home, in the urban city of Kuala Lumpur means I have to be independent and learn how to take care of myself without parents looking out for me. This ensures I'll be good to go once I'm ready to leave for UK or other countries, depending on which university I'm going later.
• Be independent again. The syllabus is designed such that students make many decisions for themselves. A lot of freedom is given to us: it starts off with picking our subjects, and then going on to forming our own IA topics and essay titles. Teachers are not allowed to guide us too much, all of it should be our own work. This is good as it stops spoon-feeding right there and prepare us for university life.
• Get used to assignments that actually count. University is not all exams. There are stuff like thesis and assignments that you have to do over the years, especially if you're going to universities in the US. So having many assignments that count toward the final grade helps prepare me for a smoother transition into university: I won't have to worry so much!
• Be an active and passionate participant in other stuff! Chances are, if you're in A-Levels and you're studying in Asian countries, you will tend to focus too much on academic stuff. You won't be bothering about other activities because they don't matter. In IB, there are compulsory hours, but it quickly becomes more fun and less work as you can do about anything you like, and you may discover something new that you really enjoy. 
• Choose the subjects that I like. If you're like me, you won't be happy with doing all sciences, or all arts. There will be that one subject that you dislike. Good news is that IB lets you choose one subject from each Group, so you can pick that subject you like best only. This is awesome especially if you have never been given a choice before.
• Be more conscious of the world. I don't know about other programmes, but IB is pretty global. For example, we can't just limit ourselves to UK and US in our Economics commentaries. For English Literature, we study works from all over the world. And where I study, I get to go on a service trip to another country. Does all of this help in opening my mind about the world? You bet. 
• Belong in a close-knit community. In many schools around the world the IB community will always be a small one (unless it is an IB-only school). Where I study, there are 600 students for A-Levels and 60 for IB. A small community means you pretty much get to know everybody, and you'll be close to many of them. 

It's annoying when students who are considering the IB keep worrying about getting horrible grades. Yes, it's tougher than A-Levels and other programmes.  Yes, it is risky that you won't be able to score as well as A-Levels. Yes, it is entirely possible to fail if you don't put in the work required. It is just like any other academic programme. There is just a lot more to it than exams. If you're not prepared, don't screw up yourself by taking IB. That is the truth.

Only take IB if you would like to accept a challenge, enjoy a great experiencce and become a much better person in the end. Don't come if you only care about grades. You'll be sorely disappointed because in IB, the more you worry about grades, the less rewards you'll be able to reap. But if you embrace it with an open heart and an open mind that a perfect 45 is not everything, then you will gain the most benefits yet. :)

The Big Question for MOE Bursary Scholars: IBDP Aye or Nay?

This post is updated! Why "updated"? Because this post is now from an experienced me. Of course I'm not as experienced as my good seniors, but it is definitely an update from THIS one that I wrote a year ago when I got the scholarship and proceeded to mull over the very important matter.

And yes, people, it is VERY important. It is life or death.

You do NOT want to end up in deep shit because you chose the wrong course.
^ This especially applies to people who got into IB and decided that it is Hell's middle name.

This, to me, sums up IB.

Anyway. I don't usually proactively offer help to people, or hang around Facebook answering a million questions. I guess it's good enough on my part to offer a post on how to decide in this 3 months (it took me that long, like seriously, it was a week before the bursary deadline when I applied).

My current batch of IB students has 30+ of us (about 34?) although we started about 38 of us. 3 of us dropped after one semester. So yeah. However according to some of the student ambassadors, many more students applied for IB this year, presumably because of our senior Eleasha's successful offer to study at Harvard (which was a big piece of national news). But before you rush to apply in the hope of getting into the most prominent Ivy League university, do you think IB is for you?

So here's a few facts about me:

• I'm an MOE Bursary Scholar, took SPM in Dec 2012, got 9A+, got the Bursary in 2013
• I'm currently an IB junior at Taylor's College Sri Hartamas, enrolled in July 2013
• My course is for 2 years, will be sitting for finals in May 2015.
• I stay in the hostel accommodation provided.

Why TCSH:

Disclaimer: I am not in any way paid by Taylor's to say all this. I am in all honesty giving my holy opinions, including the goods and the bads. 

It is convenient. My accommodation is just across the road, 1 minute to college if you're lucky, 5 minutes if you're unlucky like me and got Block E, which is the furthest block. Still it was really close and I don't have to face jams every time I want to get to school. This means I can wake up late and still get there in time. Major bonus point right! And we have weekly cleaners. BUT: it's fixed so yeah. 

It is modern. I haven't seen another private college having escalators as staircases (probably because we're in an office/shop building). I love it because this means I can lug my heavy bag up two floors without going crazy. The facilities and furniture and stuff are really new and polished too, since the campus only started since 2009. This means we get to use newer, not-vandalised-yet stuff! BUT: no cafeteria. Food choices limited to outside food which are mostly expensive (but there are cheaper options too!)

Taylor's reputation. As shallow and superficial as you might think it is, it's not. Yes Taylor's is rich, expensive, and spends on advertisements like nobody's business. But it's free for us, so since finance isn't an issue, why not go for the biggest and brightest college there is? They have consistent good results too. Now before you bash me up about how other colleges are good too, I know, I get it, and you will know that I've been to many of them if you read my earlier posts. Hence I'm choosing TCSH based on all criterias, not just the reputation. BUT: Taylor's known for A-Levels, not really IB.

And now, why IB:

1. I have no idea.

2. Repeat 1.

Like seriously. Well I did have valid reasons for choosing IB in my earlier post HERE, but all of that didn't really matter. I might want six different subjects that I could never do with A-Level combos, want a better education, find the idea of 25% coursework grade interesting, think EE is something I would enjoy, give me an edge for US universities, yadda yadda yadda, but at the end of the day when you're faced with shitloads of IB stuff you just want to throw your head in and give up and nothing that I mentioned matters anymore. 

That was the point when everyone regretted their decision and wanted desperately to change to A-Levels.

Don't get me wrong, IBDP is a wonderful course with a great philosophy: a balanced education for a balanced, global student. I love the course, the fact that I can choose all the subjects I love instead of packages that I have to take, which may not be the ones I like or suitable for my future degree.

Goods of IBDP:

• A wonderful, wonderful experience when you don't look at the amount of work you have.
• You get to go to another country for a service programme! Mine's Cambodia. You get to run charity sales, loads of fun activities that you can choose from to complete your CAS hours. 
• Depending on who your coursemates are and how they are like, chances are you will be much more able to form strong relationships with them than in A-Levels. The IB community is the most close-knit among the three programmes offered here.
• Depends on your subjects, sometimes you get experienced teachers who make your subject interesting and easy to learn.
• Again depending on your subjects, you get REALLY small classes, ranging from 2-20 people, so it's much easier to concentrate in class.
• Good edge for applying to universities, especially in the US where they value a well-rounded experience. Not that good for UK cause they don't really recognise IB much as in their offers are known to be unfairly higher than A-Levels, so you'd be better off doing A-Levels (although we might see a little change in the future)

Bads of IBDP:

• Depending on your subjects, sometimes your teachers keep changing. Although this probably just due to the college issues, nothing to do with IB.
• The workload is scary shit. No joke. We all thought we'd be fine and disregard any warnings from our seniors, but now, 3 months to being a senior myself, I'm dying. There's just so much to do that sometimes I don't know where to start. Excellent time management helps a lot. 
• Deadlines are horrible. You get everything thrown onto the same deadline, so knowing what to do when is IMPORTANT.
• CAS paperwork is annoying. Even though I like writing, having to write reflections for every activity I do gets stale.
• Teacher experience. You might find that you will need to rely on yourself for some of the subjects, as some of the teachers have little to no IB background, although they will be eager to help you, I find that being independent is very important as I couldn't feel secure in some of my subjects. 
• Expenses. Bursary might cover all of your tuition fees, but it doesn't cover your textbooks (which can go up to more than RM2000), graphic calculator, travelling expenses and whatnot.

And here's some interesting things you might want to know about:

• You get your allowance every 6-months (meaning they will pay you RM2000+ at once) but it takes forever for them to bank in, so it's like you only get your Jan-June money in March.
• Accommodation is provided but fixed and it depends on which college you go to, some may be walking distance while others require shuttle buses (extremely annoying esp in KL, best to avoid to save your time)
• Extremely expensive to stay in the Sri Hartamas area. The MOE allowance will not be enough, so be prepared to fork out some more money if you're to stay here all the time (if you're from other states especially and can't go home.)

Would I recommend this to anyone? Well, I guess it depends. I know some people who will love this and will be determine enough to persevere through this so they can reap its ultimately better rewards, but I also know some people who just can't do so much at a time and will be easily demotivated if there's too much work. 

My answer would be only you know what you are capable of. If you'd like to come here and be a junior, you're very much welcome. But remember, be fully prepared of the things that you have to do. However if you can go through 2 years of this, you'll definitely be more prepared for university and gain many skills and friends that will last you through life. :)

Would I have reconsidered?

Sometimes when the going gets tough, I have regretted. 

But ultimately I haven't and will not give up as I'm already into this and will do anything to see this through and pass the IB hurdle! :)

And I think it's worth it, though it may be psychologically biased. HAHA.

Feel free to ask me any questions below. :) I might take awhile to get back to you though, all in the name of IB. :3

Semester Number 2 of IB

Felt like I've been hit by a truck. :/

I've only been at school three days, mind you.
Everyone looks apprehensive at the start of college. The past sem hasn't treated us very well, collectively speaking.

I've got 7s in Psych, Bio and French, and 6s in Econs, English and Maths.
So I got relatively fine results based on how little I actually consistently studied (never been one to stick with consistency), but a lot of other people fell short of their ideal results. Two of my classmates dropped IB, a third thought of it but returned to continue.

Some of them look quite depressed. .__.
IB people are an indecisive bunch really. Quite a few of them changed their subjects, and many considered changing. Mar dropped Theatre and changed to Chemistry. B dropped to Math SL and changed Theatre to HL. (yay now we have 3 classes in common!)

I'm still considering whether to take up Bio HL or not. Yes? No? Which is easier, Bio or Econs? I'm not gonna drop Psych since I finished HL IA already, and English is a definite no. 4 HLs right now would be too much to take (considering all forms of IAs coming in at this point), but if I do it in the 3rd sem, would it be too late?

*confused*

Speaking of IAs, I'm already bogged down by them. ._. All of the lecturers (except for French), have already spoken about it. I've completed one and handed in as my first draft, but I'm sure there must be some corrections to make. I've found topics and materials for some, and the rest I'm still in a blur. Doesn't help that some of the lecturers look blurer than me. :(
We have a new Math SL lecturer, who looks enthusiastic and willing to help us out, but he looks as confused as me about IAs. :/ tried googling, limited resources as this "exploration" thingy is a new format with first examinations in 2014. :(

The timetable is still almost the same, with 330pm classes every single day and four 830 classes. :(
No thanks to the subject combo of psych + econs that only applies to me in the whole of IB.
Oh well. Monday is as evil as ever, 7 classes with 5 straight ones. Tuesday isn't very good either, 6 classes with 4 straight. 4 classes on Wednesday, reasonable enough. Thursday is annoying as ever, four hours of break in between. :x And Friday, is reasonably spaced out with 5 classes.

I hate Mondays with legit, starving reasons.

And I'm already confused with the slight changes - I actually missed an Econs HL class because I honestly thought it was Business during that period of time.
And it already looks so busy...so many projects, assignments, homework, activities coming in, not to mention deadly important IAs and EE to think of.

The disorganised, couldn't-be-bothered me is trying to avoid as many distractions as possible. No to leading annoying assignments that I wouldn't even care about as an ordinary team member. No to heading dead clubs and be expected to come up with "fresh" activities when I'm wading through tons of work. My time is limited - I need to be smart and choose the right stuffs to concentrate on. If I heap too much on my plate, I'll just collapse and die at some point.

To-Do this sem:
1. Organised work into edible chunks and work on them properly.
2. Arrange study time (as in studying syllabus/doing IAs) every day.
3. Complete daily work on a daily basis
4. Be independent and proactive on own work, especially IA/EE.
5. Be smart when choosing what to take up and what not to.
6. Remember about CAS and monitor long-term activities.
7. Keep goals and university requirements in sight - I will get me there!
8. Spend time with friends worthy of your limited time, don't neglect social circle, however small.
9. Turn all this into good food for relationship: multitask and don't neglect B.
10. Stop procrastinating and start surviving.

*barely surviving*

Love,

Stress Gonna Hit Hard In A Week

I'm a happy-go-lucky person.

I don't stress out until the day stress hits.
As in I am not a chronic stressor. I am an acute stressor.
(psychology much. :x)

Anyways. People have been stressing out a lot these days while preparing for the start of the new semester. IB holidays are cool, they gave us a month in December and school starts in January, which is great 'cause it makes me feel like high school all over again and it feels kinda proper.

I have not been stressing out. In fact, I'm still having fun being addicted to Temple Run 2, lazing around in bed and not getting up before 2pm, so on and so forth.
I haven't done much of homework, for example psych essays, english commentary, econs IA and IOP are all waiting for me, not to mention research and reading of Woman At Point Zero.
(according to friends, it's graphic and very ew. I wonder how ew. Maus wasn't ew at all and people say it's graphically violent. I'm like, you disappoint me, Maus. .________.)

That said, I have finished my Psych IA entirely 101%. As in including the cover page and everything. I swear I spent more time cutting out stuff from it to fit the word count than writing and conducting it combined. :x
However, I'm still a bit unsure whether all the bits are proper or not though. I'll have to look around for someone to help me check it through.

And I've updated my CAS wiki, plus edited all the newsletter articles and written mine, and also attended 3 days of Myvillage camp. And I attended a high school class gathering. So I did do quite some stuff. :)
And I'm planning for the 4 days I'm gonna bring Nic, LeE and B around Penang. I'm stressed out over that because they're coming like tomorrow and I'm worried shitless that they might be bored or things might go wrong or something. :x
Mar and Laj gonna come too but Laj had dengue at the last minute so they're not coming anymore. Sads. Get well soon though :)

So we were trying to find people to come but all of them so very stressed out and doing their homework and stuff so they can't. Haih. Whys all kiasu people you tell me. :/
I would've asked my friends along if they didn't happen to be Penangites. :x
Oh well.
Oh yeah, I could've asked Myvillage peeps like the four-blooded guy and Nabil. Buts then it's soooo late already now. Bus leaving 9.30am tomorrow.
Never mind lahs. Double date it is.

Stress coming in a week when semester 2 starts again, so I might as well make full use of the next few days and enjoy moreeeees. :D

Okays now back to memorising all the bus routes................................................
Love,

And This Is How Semester 1 Ends

Semester 1 has officially ended with the conclusion of final exams. I am in shock at the rate time has passed so fast. OMG. How long ago was it that I came to TCSH for the very first day, attending my first IB class for the very first time?

Now prom is over, exams are over, and semester 1 is over.

I can't believe it.

And next month I'll be actually starting Sem 2. And in a little over a year, I'll be taking IB finals. OMG. *panics*

I'm really really sorry that I haven't been updating my blog since last month. I've been really really busy since I'm in numerous committees (prom being the largest and busiest among all), juggling academic, extra activities, social life and everything else. Prom this year is so awesome. I'm gonna blog about it in another post because I've got SO MUCH to mush about, but only when I get the pictures from B. Lighting was pretty dim so he has to edit all the photos.

Next biggest thing is my exams, which is actually pret-ty easy...but I'm not ve-ry sure about it. Lasted for only four days but was enough to kill me. I am so slacked until I didn't even study until like two days before exams. :(
And prom was like on the Saturday right before exams on Monday. :O

I had an unseen text for English HL, where I had to choose a prose/poem to do a commentary on. Previously I actually had a 20/20 for my poem comm (which was a hugeeee surprise! Cause I did it in 2 hours and didn't really aim for anything) which caused quite a lot of hype among the juniors, because people especially SLs are failing to write good comms (and a lot of them are kiasu, so.) I get frustrated when people ask how you get 20/20 though, cause you don't get it, you do your best to analyse and that's it. There's no fixed answer or formula like math or something. And then they go "oh I hate Lit because I can't get 20/20 for it". Sorry but I have no comment. =.=

I got 17 for prose comm though, which is really quite high but since I spent like 5 hours doing it, I figured I'll die in exams, so I went for the poem during exams (didn't even look at the prose), and it was quite interesting to analyse, but today Ms N just went like "I AM SO DEVASTATED" so I'm actually worried now, haha.

French was good, I got 136/140. However Ms MM tipped us off on a lot of the questions so I don't really think I'm very good lah, but I'm doing okay in the French basics. I can form simple present tense sentences now! Yay :D

Econs was worrying because I'm not sure if I got the concepts right, but should be all right I guess? Mr L always takes his time to mark though, so I'm like 200% sure he's giving the papers back next year, and I'm really jumpy about it because I love Econs and I'm taking it at HL and I'll be sad if I got low marks for it. I rewrote like 20pages of notes the night before and in the morning. :x

Maths was much easier than expected, the pre-exams practice questions Ms J gave us were much harder and scared the shit out of me the night before, cause I couldn't answer many of them and I needed to prepare Bio as well and I was freaking out big time. But the actual exam was really easy, I was really confident except for one question. I might be careless though (I always am).

On another note, Maths HL people were all dying and stuff because apparently Mr T set the questions like Level 11 difficulty and no one could finish all the questions. Some of them are considering to come SL LOL. Seeing them "OMG Math killed me!" made me feel so grateful and fortunate. :P

Bio was okay, I did okay. We had a class test the week before so I actually studied the difficult parts, and the easier parts were the ones already studied in SPM. I find SPM a really good foundation for science and maths. I breeze through the easy parts, although the subjective questions were really quite subjective and so my score is unpredictable.

Psychology was today. I'm most worried about Psych because it has the most stuffs to memorise (even though the tips gave by Ms P decreases the amount of content drastically), and I haven't actually studied in detail. And I was SO sleepy that I slept through the whole night and morning and only spent 2 hours cramming. Thank God B actually accompany me to study lah. I regurgitate stuff out and he actually remembered the stuff I was talking about LOL. But thanks to him I actually remember many stuff just before exams and I get to write like 10 pages in 2 hours. *fingers cramp* However Ms P is really strict about exams so I'm worried she might cut lots of marks for some reason. :(

ENGINEERS PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS Preparation Before Exams

After the exam today I had two meetings, newsletter and prom post-mortem (which was really very sweet and much much love in the air!). Then Nic and B and I hang around, played pool and had dinner together. Was fun and happy because the stress aura is cleared and Nic is very much happier now. :D
(I get worried when my best friends are stressed/emo/sad/upset)

So yeah, today was a happy ending to Semester 1 and here comes my winter holidays!
It's for a month so expect more posts during December. :P
Yay to me!
Love,

MIAR Shelter- Saviour of Dogs

Hi again!

I am back with more updates on my life. :D

So I've been to this dog shelter in Kajang twice now, and what sets it really apart from the other shelters is that it not only caters to neglected, accident and abused dogs, it also spread word about the cruelty of the people assigned to catch strays. MIAR (Malaysian Independent Animal Rescue) took videos of these people while they abused the strays until they bled and choked on their own blood. :(
It is SO SAD!

Anyway, they are worth us helping out since they do not receive any funds from government or banks for what they are doing. :)
During our second visit, we bought rice, soap powder and bleach. :)

The dogs are really frisky but some of them are paralysed or are in some way handicapped. Some of them were abused by their owners with hot oil, large knives, ropes etc. One was even on his way to the restaurant when he was rescued. Most had maggots but were treated and removed.
In short, every dog there has a sad story to tell. :(

We played with the dogs and washed their food bowls. During our second visit, we made bows and ribbons for a few dogs who were going to attend a dog awareness dogathon.

Showing us how to wash

Took many many photos. All of them are so cute. Especially the puppies.
However I can't adopt any of them so I will resort to helping them at the shelter. :)

I love animals. Dogs, and especially cats.
We shouldn't be so cruel to man's best friend. :(

We should love them like our best friends! :)