The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is one of the academic paths students can choose from, the other being Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The IB program is upon the new juniors and seniors, and students are working to adjust to their rigorous schedules.
Seniors are applying to college as well as managing their workloads and after-school commitments, and juniors are adjusting to their first year of an intensified workload, according to junior Caitlin Lane.
“I feel like I’ve always heard about the intensity of the IB program, but experiencing it firsthand gave me a new perspective for sure,” said Lane. “The first couple days of class were meant to ease into the program, but now that we’re a couple weeks in, it’s getting more serious,”
Time management becomes abundantly important as the year progresses and will seriously impact how the upperclassmen are able to spend their time after school and on the weekends, according to senior Ava-Lucia Barbagelata.
“Obviously, we knew when starting this program that it would be difficult, and having dealt with a year of IB, learning to manage time is ultimately the goal,” said Barbagelata. “But all the elements of IB can sometimes become too much, especially with sports after school,”
Understanding how to balance after-school activities with school, and creating good study habits is essential to succeeding in IB, according to IB Community Blog. Many students feel behind, as some classes move faster than others, and as students get a gist of how the year will progress, some students switch their schedules to fit their priorities and needs.
“I had to switch my standard level analysis class to standard level applications because I was feeling like the class was moving too fast,” said Lane. “It’s all about finding the right fit for you and what that means,”
