How to not fail again or receive low marks

No one likes to fail or get ‘bad marks’ at school. But since we’re humans and make mistakes and blah blah blah, there might be a time (let’s say in our high schooling career for the sake of this blog) when we fail on a test, assignment or even a subject. Without really meaning to.
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.

Assignments

• 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)

Subject

• 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.

CAS: Creation, Activity and Service

Text: It feels lighter today... Did I forget something?

CAS holds a great deal of importance in the IB Diploma. It is necessary for obtaining the diploma, and can turn 'IBers' into selfsih souls who'd do an activity "just to get the CAS points." However, since we are forced to do CAS, we are pushed out of our comfort zones. We might learn a new skill (which can be used on a resume), get healthier, make new friends and just on a whole... be a much more 'globally minded' (yes, a favourite of the IBO). I know this sounds really cheesy, but so far I guess it's kinda working for me.


Anyhoo, if you're short of ideas, here are some.

Creativity

• Inquire about art workshops in your council/shire/local area or a community centre (in Australia it's usually a Neighbourhood house).
• Take a few art classes (yeah, there's a good chance money is involved)
• Create a 'history of the school' book.
• Organise an activity (the planning/design process is counted as creativity)
• Join a bookclub (the activities you do there are usually counted as creativity.
• Write a story(or use one wirtten already, shhhh) enter it in a competiton (give your CAS supervisor the competiton's deets)

Action

• Participate in school sports competitons (inter/intra school sports).
• Get a gym membership (don't forget to take photos of your sweaty self)
• If going to a gym isn't an option, inquire about yoga/pilates/walking groups at your community centre.

Service

• Organise an activity at school. Or even outside of school if you want to get really picky. It could be a bookclub/artclub (+creativity), ex/incursion, an afterschool event for your class or year level.
• Contribute in school publications (+creativity)
• Represent your school at forums or meetings (let the teachers who usually organise these kinds of activities you're eager and interested).
• Fundraiser
• Volunteering at an event, such as ushering at a lecture, festival or even at a community theatre.

Long-term Project

This should continue over a genereally three month period and has to cover two CAS disciplines (i.e Service and Action). You must be part of a team, however the people don't need to be IB students nor anyones from school. It also has to tick off the eight outcomes.

• Organise an initiative, such as encouraging recycling/composting at school.
• Organise a sports tournament.
• Organise a community project (planting trees, vegetable patch, clay/mosiac workshop)
• Start a new publication (a newsletter targeted for Cooking Mama's/Gamers/Bookworms/etc...).

The word 'organise' is the key word here. It's all about getting the motivation to do something.

TIPS:

1. Remember to always be on the lookout for activities for CAS. Be proactive.


2. The best strategy is to complete CAS by the end of your first year.


3. During your vacations, go out and do some CAS. It's even better with friends because you're motivated (and get to have some fun together).


4. School is the best place to start looking for activities. Walking to the destination where the activity would be is the only transport involved. Afterschool activites are great, especally if you're supervising/leading (Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, art/science club, 'Let's Get Fit and Activated' Health Awareness and Encouragement Circle' -made it up, sounds realistic enough, hmmmm).

EDIT: here is an example of a CAS diary with CAS activities (inspiration perhaps?)

Essay Structure: TEEL

This is a pretty simple essay structure to use for most subjects. I've been taught and using it for about three years now, and it's pretty foolproof and simple. The following structure, however, is for the main body of the essay, not the introductory or concluding paragraph of your essay.

Title
Explanation
Evidence
Link

Title
Usually the introductory/topic sentence of the paragraph explaining to the reader what the paragraph will discuss. Avoid making it too lengthy and detailed.

Explanation
Discuss your ideas/reasons/argument regarding the topic sentence (whatever you had mentioned in your 'title').

Evidence
Give support and proof for your ideas/reasons/argument. If this is an essay for a novel study, give quotes and refer to the novel. If it is for a history essay, again, you can use references to back up your explanation. If it's an argumentative essay, give statistics (if applicable).

Link
A sentence or two which refers back to your essay topic or title.



A good paragraph following TEEL will have an explanation and evidence throughout the paragraph. By this I mean a paragraph will not strictly have the explanation and then the evidence in order. You can have an explanation and evidence and then another explanation or the evidence first and then an explanation. However, a good essay will include the TEEL points.