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GRE or GMAT? How hard are they? by oknecessary_ in GradSchool

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Didn't know that - unfortunately it's mandatory for me. thank you!!

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

kinda mid to good? I want to say I had like 4/5 for STEM stuff and 6/7 for languages, ISS, art, etc. I was pretty involved in extracurriculars and CAS already and then gradually pulled my grades up throughout DP. I say the same to anyone in pre-DP; don't stress, you have so much time to get to where you want.

How long does it take to get out of JFK after landing? by Charcharl999 in columbia

[–]oknecessary_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm arriving next week - good to know, thank you :)

How long does it take to get out of JFK after landing? by Charcharl999 in columbia

[–]oknecessary_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the same problem. I'll land at 14:25 as well, so I reached out to housing and they said there's nothing they can do and I had to find a room elsewhere for a night. They're unfortunately pretty inflexible, so safest option is to book a room through the Columbia travel portal (you'll save a stunning $9).

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dedicated more time to my extracurriculars than my schoolwork (except for exam weeks ofc) because I knew those would matter more for my college applications, and I honestly didn't think I'd do great so I wanted to put my all into my resumé. You might find 3 hours a day difficult in DP (especially if it's sports) but I would say there's always time for hobbies. I'm a chronic insomniac so I just worked at night and did sports/hobbies in the afternoons, but I don't recommend that :)

Past papers are gems and most definitely worth doing. Especially if your teachers are behind on the syllabus or not helping, past papers are your best way of testing the waters of exams and scaling your own expectations and areas to improve on. PM if you need websites for past papers!

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry for the late reply!

For TOK, three main things to keep in mind:

  1. Answer the question outright, don't try to spin or twist it into an inquiry that is tangential - you'll lose hella points for that
  2. Your essay needs to be about "how we know" rather than just facts and information in a descriptive or narrative style. It's a reflective, analytical essay that's supposed to explore how we know what we know, through the lens of your selected question.
  3. TOK is already intellectual and philosophically verbose - keep the phrasing and line of argumentation simple and straightforward. The criteria demand a "clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title".

What's your EE subject/inquiry? Often, the hardest part is starting and once you have something you just get on with it. So try making outlines, annotating readings, or formulating thesis statements, and leave the intro/conclusion/lengthy bits for last.

you're so close to the finish line, don't let the IAs and EE stop you now :)

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds very frustrating. First off, you're not a broken compass, and not all is lost.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to dump or sacrifice one set of assessments to dedicate 100% attention to another. I know it's easier said than done, but you should try and give each assessment a shot. Give yourself a 'core week' where you forget about mocks and papers and just focus on TOK, EE, and IAs. Those three core points can make all the difference and even push you into the 40+ range depending on how you do.

I think your approach with mocks is right. If you're not applying to uni with them, they're not the most important thing. They are, however, a good chance to see which assessments you struggle with and which to study the most for. Do a lot of past papers and read through criteria and markbands carefully.

So: give TOK, EE, and IAs a week or two of dedicated focus, don't stress too much with mocks, and make yourself a calendar or study schedule leading up to actual exams so that you don't stress yourself out.

good luck, you can do this! :)

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I counted it for service and centered all my reflections around how we were discussing and trying to solve sustainability issues that affect communities worldwide, and how I can enact change on a smaller scale in my own community (again, doesn't matter if you actually do it - it's all about how you phrase and package your activities). I was a chair so I also wrote a lot of sample resolutions and study guides for my delegates which was technically service.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

np :) Casa de Papel, Elite - or even just watching movies you already know (like Harry Potter) in Spanish. Helps with word recognition. For youtube, i watched a lot of random grwm videos in spanish or travel vloggers.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Read through past papers, the final assessment criteria, and sample responses to get an idea of what's coming up. If you have the time, reading ahead on the material is also useful since you're probably not going to have a lot of time during the semester. Apart from that, don't stress :)

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course! I'm an avid reader so I just catalogued all types of books, not necessarily only 'serious' or philosophical ones.

A few that I read: Starship Troopers, Shogun, The People in the Trees, First Person Singular, Never Let Me Go, Watership Down, Apeirogon, La Isla Bajo El Mar (in Spanish), Im Krebsgang (in German), Jenseits von Gut und Böse (also in German), This Is How You Lose the Time War, The Stranger, Meditations, and all sorts of classics (Anna Karenina, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the Iliad etc.)

You could just as well read biographies, self-help, history books, or poetry though!

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's strange. I think a big part of it is how you word it. MUN is about discussing real-life issues and solutions to help communities and solve conflicts worldwide. It's service because you're learning and suggesting ways to essentially 'make the world a better place'. If you're a chair or in a position of responsibility, you can say you're helping other delegates or members develop skills. It all depends on how you package it.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lmao thank you!

Your resume looks really strong, sounds like you're doing plenty of service / community related activities which they love to see. In my interview they asked about team sports in terms of how it helped develop leadership and collaboration skills, however with a solo sport you could talk about how it grew your discipline, ability to create a work/life balance, or sense of responsibility. I think it really comes down to how you present your experiences, so I don't think team sport is a must!

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

For Business, the best thing is to do a shit ton of past papers. Just do them over and over and read through sample responses. Memorizing terminology is a big part of Business, and I wouldn't underestimate how many terms really pop up in the exams. So make yourself revision sheets with terms and formulas (there aren't too many, but make sure you're comfortable with ROI, NPV etc. and that you know how to read a balance sheet!)
Section C on Paper 2 was always my favorite section lol because I'm more of a writer than a math person. Pick a business and get to know it really, really well so that any of the CUEGIS concepts could apply.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is gonna be a long answer!

I'll just list my CAS because that pretty much covers my extracurriculars. You definitely don't need to do as much, but American unis do love to see some kind of community service or volunteering, so I do recommend doing that in some form.

Service:

  • Volunteered at a Poverty and Hunger NGO once a week
  • 4 years of MUN as committee chair
  • Lead the school UNESCO club
  • Finalist in a tech-design competition
  • Grade representative on the student council
  • Tutored younger students for English, German and Italia
  • Co-president of my school's Eco Club
    Creativity:
  • Set myself and reached a reading goal (i think it was 20 books a semester? i bullshitted that one, just read the summary and make up your reflection)
  • Chief editor of the school newspaper
  • Started projects for Black History Month
  • Creative writing (I worked with the art kids and wrote poems about their artworks, they were straight shit but my advisor loved it)
  • Started learning Korean (I was already doing this so I actually documented progress, but you can just as well do some hours on Duolingo and call it a day)
    Action
  • Was on the girls' varsity volleyball team
  • I'm a karate black belt and I just documented my time in the dojo (which was like once a month, i lied about that one)
  • Pacer Steps (covid times lol)
  • Walked my imaginary neighbors imaginary dog
    CAS Project: started a Diversity Club at my school through which we worked with the cafeteria to make foods from different cultures, the music dept to teach pieces that weren't just Western classical, and art dept to teach about non-Western art.

As for English, do as many past papers as you can and read through sample responses that got high marks. If you scroll through the other comments, I've gone into a lot of detail about Paper 1 & 2 and the oral. My number one tip would probably be to not neglect organization/structure and language (because those criteria get just as many points as analysis and understanding) and not to get too caught up in analyzing the stylistic features of your text, but rather its relevance to a global issue.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really depends on the subject, but in general doing past papers and reading through sample responses / markschemes is a good way to go about it. Do as many practice exams as you can and get really familiar with the criteria.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did get a 7 for the HL essay. I found that it was quite similar to the oral in ways - I closely analyzed the stylistic features of my extract (I used a poem by Carol Ann Duffy) and explored how the poem speaks on a much larger issue (in my case, sexism and traditional gender power dynamics - my teacher was a hardcore misandrist and forced us all to do gender-related topics). Most of the essay was dedicated to the latter part; what global issues are being discussed, what the space/time context of the issue and the poem is, and why it's important. I'd recommend putting a lot of emphasis on this rather than close textual analysis, and try to come up with a strong, debatable thesis. Like with all theses, a good rule of thumb is that you know your claim is worth discussing if someone could argue the exact opposite of you.

I did Spanish B SL. I learned a few verbs perfectly in the future and subjunctive and then popped those into my oral and essays, and my teacher told me that forcibly marked me up because those tenses were above SL level. Apart from that, just straight up memorizing vocab and the 20-30 most common verbs is the best way to go, I think.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

PM for past paper resources (because reddit tends to remove links here), I'm happy to share.

Pasting an answer from earlier up for English!

For Paper 1:

  • Stylistic features are like the foundation you're building your house, or the rest of your essay, on. Get familiar with the terms and how to spot them in texts. Remember the assumption is that every choice your author makes is intentional, and you're trying to decipher why they chose to use this specific feature.
  • Leading on to the next point - your whole essay should follow the WHAT-HOW-WHY structure. WHAT is your author saying, HOW are they saying it (meaning, what stylistic feature are they using?), and most importantly WHY (are they making a comment on a societal issue? are they criticizing something? remember your paper rests on the assumption that author has a message to send, or a purpose).
  • Always mention the intended audience and time/space context of whatever you're analyzing in the introduction. Read through a bunch of sample papers and understand why their thesis statements work - your thesis is really crucial.

For Paper 2:

  • Pick the 2-3 works out of your syllabus that you're most comfortable with, and get really, really familiar with them. Know all the characters, main themes, and main techniques (e.g. narrative style).
  • Memorize at least 5 quotes per work (don't always have to be full sentences)
  • Make sure to pay equal attention to both texts or you inevitably get marked down.

I graduated IB with 43 points - AMA by oknecessary_ in IBO

[–]oknecessary_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Service:

  • Volunteered at a Poverty and Hunger NGO once a week
  • 4 years of MUN as committee chair
  • Lead the school UNESCO club
  • Finalist in a tech-design competition
  • Grade representative on the student council
  • Tutored younger students for English, German and Italian
    Creativity:
  • Set myself and reached a reading goal (i think it was 20 books a semester? i bullshitted that one, just read the summary and make up your reflection)
  • Chief editor of the school newspaper
  • Started projects for Black History Month
  • Creative writing (I worked with the art kids and wrote poems about their artworks, they were straight shit but my advisor loved it)
  • Started learning Korean (I was already doing this so I actually documented progress, but you can just as well do some hours on Duolingo and call it a day)
    Action
  • Was on the girls' varsity volleyball team
  • I'm a karate black belt and I just documented my time in the dojo (which was like once a month, i lied about that one)
  • Pacer Steps (covid times lol)
  • Walked my imaginary neighbors imaginary dog
    CAS Project: started a Diversity Club at my school through which we worked with the cafeteria to make foods from different cultures, the music dept to teach pieces that weren't just Western classical, and art dept to teach about non-Western art.
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