Well, I don't know how many people actually do read (not glance, but reeeeeaaaad) the stuff that's on this blog, but CSN stores have given me the chance to hold a giveaway on this blog. CSN stores sell all kinds of things (in over 200 online stores), such as cookie trays, tall lamps and leather briefcases (random things, I know!).
WHAT: a $35 CSN stores gift certificate
HOW: leave your name, email address and whether or not you're/have been an IB student (I have no bias) as a comment to this post only.
WHEN: until 1st January
FINEPRINT: international shipping (anywhere outside of US & Canada) of whatever you buy from the CSN store is not covered. One entry per person+email. If you're under 13 years old let a parent know you're entering. If not enough entries are received then the competition period may be extended.
A winner will be chosen at random , notified by email and have their victory proclaimed on this blog.
So, yeah, even if you're just visiting by, enter the competition (by commenting on this post only), because everyone loves to win (well, that is the general idea...)
____________________________________
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
How to write an Extended Essay
Some see this extra (yes necessary) requirement as a time-suck. Laborious research, planning, drafting, writing and rewriting. The endless joy of frying your eyes in front of a computer screen!
Here, I'm going to post a brief guide, since there are several extremely detailed guides available in The Land of the Interwebz.
A) Subject
Decide from which subject your EE will be on. It is most advisable that its from one of the subjects you're studying.
B) Topic
Which area in the subject you've chosen are you interested in?
E.g: History: Cold War
E.g: English: Pride and Prejudice
E.g: Chemistry: Acids and Bases
C) Research
Tres important mes aimies! It's through research you will find out what you do like, and what you don't like.
E.g: I rather like World War Two, but I do not like the involvement of the US. This means I will not focus on US involvement in WWII.
Gather as many resources which are relevant, even if it's just a sentence. You never know when your EE focus point might change.
D) Question
The focus point of your essay. In most cases, it continues to change slightly, until a pinpoint focus in a topic is found and liked by both the supervisor and student.
E) Planning
Decide on the relevant subtopics.
Are diagrams needed?
Gather resources.
A basic dot-pointed list of what will be included in the essay for each sub-topic
F) Drafting
Place butt on suitable surface and type/write. There are two ways to go about this:
i) Set a goal and write an x amount of words every 'session'.
ii) Type/write until you can no more!
At this point it is the introduction, background information abour the topic and the body of the essay which is being written.
G) The First Complete Draft
4000+ words have been put to paper. This is an Accomplishment. Reread it and edit. Then show your supervisor, who will provide you with feedback. Do not ignore the feedback (unless your supervisor is clueless and has no hell of an idea what you're doing- which is very bad). It is not necessary that a conclusion and an abstract are written, since they come at the end.
H) Continual drafting
Edit and rewrite and improve your essay as much as you can. Keep track of ALL sources used. The correct presentation of the essay (formatting, font, etc...) can be implemented at this point.
I) The Final Draft
A viva voce (oh, the IBO and its fancy Latin!) is conducted. This is an interview with your supervisor regarding any more changes which can be made. Your supervisor actually records points they've noticed about your essay and other notes about the interview. The essay is checked for plagiarism.
J) SUBMISSION!
Your EE component is done and dusted. The IB warlocks will give you a mark. This mark, along with your TOK essay will contribute your final IB diploma mark, with a maximum of three.
Links
Here are a few much more thorough guides regarding the Extended Essay (in order of usefulness)
IBO official Extended Essay Guide (click on the other pages listed on the right hand side of the page to view criteria, regulations, presentation guidelines, etc...)
City Honours School EE guide
IB Survival EE for Dummies
Notes
i) To track your process, every time you make changes to your essay, either print it out (but don't bother too much if it's only 150 words or less) or save it as another file (i.e: EE edit 1, EE edit 2). This is to ensure that a Process has occurred. If, in some unfortunate case, you've been found to be the ill-omened Plagiariser, a gradual process of your work will be there to show you are innocent.
ii) My supervisor continually advised his students that one of the best topics should be from the syllabus of a subject you're studying. Why? Because it'll be like revision when writing parts of it and it'll also give in depth knowledge in a certain area of the topic.
Here, I'm going to post a brief guide, since there are several extremely detailed guides available in The Land of the Interwebz.
A) Subject
Decide from which subject your EE will be on. It is most advisable that its from one of the subjects you're studying.
B) Topic
Which area in the subject you've chosen are you interested in?
E.g: History: Cold War
E.g: English: Pride and Prejudice
E.g: Chemistry: Acids and Bases
C) Research
Tres important mes aimies! It's through research you will find out what you do like, and what you don't like.
E.g: I rather like World War Two, but I do not like the involvement of the US. This means I will not focus on US involvement in WWII.
Gather as many resources which are relevant, even if it's just a sentence. You never know when your EE focus point might change.
D) Question
The focus point of your essay. In most cases, it continues to change slightly, until a pinpoint focus in a topic is found and liked by both the supervisor and student.
E) Planning
Decide on the relevant subtopics.
Are diagrams needed?
Gather resources.
A basic dot-pointed list of what will be included in the essay for each sub-topic
F) Drafting
Place butt on suitable surface and type/write. There are two ways to go about this:
i) Set a goal and write an x amount of words every 'session'.
ii) Type/write until you can no more!
At this point it is the introduction, background information abour the topic and the body of the essay which is being written.
G) The First Complete Draft
4000+ words have been put to paper. This is an Accomplishment. Reread it and edit. Then show your supervisor, who will provide you with feedback. Do not ignore the feedback (unless your supervisor is clueless and has no hell of an idea what you're doing- which is very bad). It is not necessary that a conclusion and an abstract are written, since they come at the end.
H) Continual drafting
Edit and rewrite and improve your essay as much as you can. Keep track of ALL sources used. The correct presentation of the essay (formatting, font, etc...) can be implemented at this point.
I) The Final Draft
A viva voce (oh, the IBO and its fancy Latin!) is conducted. This is an interview with your supervisor regarding any more changes which can be made. Your supervisor actually records points they've noticed about your essay and other notes about the interview. The essay is checked for plagiarism.
J) SUBMISSION!
Your EE component is done and dusted. The IB warlocks will give you a mark. This mark, along with your TOK essay will contribute your final IB diploma mark, with a maximum of three.
Links
Here are a few much more thorough guides regarding the Extended Essay (in order of usefulness)
IBO official Extended Essay Guide (click on the other pages listed on the right hand side of the page to view criteria, regulations, presentation guidelines, etc...)
City Honours School EE guide
IB Survival EE for Dummies
Notes
i) To track your process, every time you make changes to your essay, either print it out (but don't bother too much if it's only 150 words or less) or save it as another file (i.e: EE edit 1, EE edit 2). This is to ensure that a Process has occurred. If, in some unfortunate case, you've been found to be the ill-omened Plagiariser, a gradual process of your work will be there to show you are innocent.
ii) My supervisor continually advised his students that one of the best topics should be from the syllabus of a subject you're studying. Why? Because it'll be like revision when writing parts of it and it'll also give in depth knowledge in a certain area of the topic.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
How to not fail again or receive low marks
Frankly, some of my marks for some of my subjects have fell after being in the IB program. I know the same has happened to more than a few of my cohorts. The MLIIB posts on My life Is IB is further evidence.
However, this does not mean you should either a) not to IB or b) drop out of IB or c) become a robot and have no fun by working your metallic but off 24/7. Its life, you succeed at some things and can suck (or fail) at others. So the best thing to do is to suck it up and fix up your mistakes.
Here's a very general how-to
Tests
- Get the correct answers for questions you have answered incorrectly. Do this as soon as you receive your test back.
- If you don’t understand your teacher’s method/wording, find a classmate to get the correct answer from.
- Redo the question without looking at the correct answer.
- If possible, redo the test (at least the incorrect questions) at home, either mentally or writing by it all down.
- Read the assessment criteria and see where you have lost marks
- Get feedback from your teacher, even if they have given written feedback.
- When doing the next assignment, read the assessment criteria and know where your weakness is, so you can avoid it.
- If a new assignment is similar to your low marks/failed assignment (i.e: commentary for English, lab practical write-up for Biology), refer back to your low marks/failed task to check you're not repeating the same mistakes (e.g: having a poor intro for a commentary, not providing limitations in discussion for Biology write-up)
- Most likely failed or received a just passing grade due to tests and assignments which have been failed or have received low marks. So do the above do avoid failing them.
- Talk to your teacher about your weaknesses and how to overcome them (either on report collection day or even at recess/lunchtime)
Note: Confidence in yourself is quite important, as well as actually putting in effort. Stressing and being nervous can also be good, since some people work better under these conditions.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Ally!
Ally is an IB student from the other side of the world (me:Australia/Ally:U.S). She will be a contributing blogger on this blog. Ally will cherish upon us her version of the delights of IB and impart some of her wisdom.
You can view her CAS blog here.
From Ally:
Hi there!
My name's Ally and I'm a junior at an IB school in the U.S.!
I'll be posting helpful/random things now and then...
My subjects:
Visual Arts HL
Math Studies SL
English A1 HL
Physics 1
Spanish B SL
History HL
Health
You can view her CAS blog here.
Hi there!
My name's Ally and I'm a junior at an IB school in the U.S.!
I'll be posting helpful/random things now and then...
My subjects:
Visual Arts HL
Math Studies SL
English A1 HL
Physics 1
Spanish B SL
History HL
Health
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Maths SL
Many of the link I've provided also have Maths studies and HL notes available. I'm only providing the links of the subjects which I've undertaken (in this case Maths SL).
Mathimatikos revision/reference notes for SL(?) topics in pdf format
IB Maths powerpoints for SL topics
IB Maths worksheets, notes and practice papers (GDC/GDC free)
MM II (IB Calculus) Mrs. Shim's IB Calculus notes and worksheets
IB Maths SL Wikibook notes and formulae for SL topics
Haese and Harris IB SL textbook pdf document, useful for extra practice questions
Maths SL syllabus excellent to use as a guide of learnt concepts and for exam/test preparation
IB Maths IA guide hints, tips and general information for writing Maths IA
Friday, September 24, 2010
Lingo yo!
So, I figured since I'm doing IB, therefore using IB terms, and some people might not know what IB is, I've compiled a list of words which you might see on this blog.
In no alphabetical order.HL: higher level
Three out of the total six subjects undertaken by an IB student must be HL. Higher Level subjects included more content and depth than a Standard Level subject, and also involve more hours, assessments and and extra exam paper. They also have more credit (eg: if a student takes Maths HL, a 4 or 5 is equal to a Maths SL 6 or 7). Mark boundaries are also lower.SL: standard level
Out of six subjects, three must be SL. SL subjects require less hours and assessments than HL subjects. The course doesn't have as much depth as a HL subject and there are two exam papers to be done. Mark boundaries are higher than its HL counterpart.
Out of six subjects, three must be SL. SL subjects require less hours and assessments than HL subjects. The course doesn't have as much depth as a HL subject and there are two exam papers to be done. Mark boundaries are higher than its HL counterpart.
EE: extended essay
Generally a 3500-4000 word essay (for science subject this varies) on a very specific topic of the student's choice. The student completes this essay over the time period of their diploma.
Successful completion of the EE component adds one point to the maximum of 45 points. Failure to do so results in failing to receive the full IB diploma.
Generally a 3500-4000 word essay (for science subject this varies) on a very specific topic of the student's choice. The student completes this essay over the time period of their diploma.
Successful completion of the EE component adds one point to the maximum of 45 points. Failure to do so results in failing to receive the full IB diploma.
TOK: theory of knowledge
A philosophical class, similar to epistemology. How do we know? Can we trust the things we know? The roles of perception, language, reason and emotion effecting what we know and how we know. Know, know, know...
A maximum of 2000 word essay on a question (provided by the IBO) is to be completed by the second year of IB in order to gain one point out of the total of 45.
A philosophical class, similar to epistemology. How do we know? Can we trust the things we know? The roles of perception, language, reason and emotion effecting what we know and how we know. Know, know, know...
A maximum of 2000 word essay on a question (provided by the IBO) is to be completed by the second year of IB in order to gain one point out of the total of 45.
CAS: creativity, action and service
150 hours must be divided equally between creative, physical and service activities. Journal entries/logs must be made for each activity and outcomes must be achieved. Completing the CAS requirement gives one point out of the maximum of 45 possible points.
Some see this as a forceful way of going out into the community to learn about others and yourself. Others see this as a great opportunity to do schoolwork but having fun too.
150 hours must be divided equally between creative, physical and service activities. Journal entries/logs must be made for each activity and outcomes must be achieved. Completing the CAS requirement gives one point out of the maximum of 45 possible points.
Some see this as a forceful way of going out into the community to learn about others and yourself. Others see this as a great opportunity to do schoolwork but having fun too.
IA: internal assessment
Assignments and pieces of work which contribute to the final subject grade. These are marked by the teacher who teaches you that subject. A random sample of selected students work (names chosen by the IBO) are then sent to the IBO for moderation (to ensure teachers are marking fairly).
Commentary
A hideous requirement of IB English. It is a time-suck and requires the student to analyse literary devices and techniques and provide their own response to an excerpt or poem. Most students like to practise BS skills whilst completing a commentary.
Assignments and pieces of work which contribute to the final subject grade. These are marked by the teacher who teaches you that subject. A random sample of selected students work (names chosen by the IBO) are then sent to the IBO for moderation (to ensure teachers are marking fairly).
Commentary
A hideous requirement of IB English. It is a time-suck and requires the student to analyse literary devices and techniques and provide their own response to an excerpt or poem. Most students like to practise BS skills whilst completing a commentary.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
My Life is IB
In the IB and don't know about this site yet? Where have you been?
Click here.
Warning: procrastination begins at the click of the link.
Click here.
Warning: procrastination begins at the click of the link.
