IB pros and cons: my thoughts and experiences as someone who just finished IB

 

IB diploma is known for being hard work but preparing you well for university. In this post, I am talking about my experience with IB as someone who just finished their final exams. IB sure is rigorous but surely there is a good side to it?

Pros

1. You will learn A LOT. Not just basics of your subjects but how do conduct research, how to manage your time, how to construct your arguments, when to do bare minimum and when to put effort, CRITICAL THINKING... the list goes on
2. You learn to write. Fast. Ever done two psych erqs in two hours? Although it is annoying to write so much by hand, after IB you will be ready to write about anything at any given time. Even if you don't know anything about the topic...
3. The community. Because IB is so hard and stressful the year groups tend to have strong sense of community.  And it makes high school experience so much better. But even if this is not the case at your school you still have the international community.
4. Makes university easier? I don't know about this yet because I haven't started uni yet but I have heard many teachers say this. 
5. You get to choose what you study. In many high school systems there is more mandatory than elective courses but in IB you can study the subjects you choose. If you are not into art you don't have to take mandatory course in visual arts, if you are not into physics, you don't have to take it. 
6. No P.E. I mean if you have always hated P.E. classes then maybe IB is for you lmao. You still have to do CAS though...
7. You are pushed out of your comfort zone. Whether it is IOs, service hours, analyzing poetry, lab work or something else you will get new experiences that you wouldn't have done without IB. And you'll learn about yourself. 

Cons

1. Getting into university. So this one is both good and bad because IB is accepted quite internationally and in some countries they really value IB diploma. However, often you need to get certain grades to get into university and because the grades are just directly converted, many universities don't take into account that it is harder to get the best grades in IB than it can be in some other school systems.
2. It is hard work. There is no way of going around this. Will it pay off in the future? I will find that out in the next couple of years.
3. Some things just feel unnecessary. Like writing CAS reflections😒 Some feel this way about TOK but I honestly liked it.
4. The final exams. What do you mean I have to write essays and do pages of demanding questions in two hours. Why did I have psych paper two and three and Eng paper one and listening on the same day? IB can be brutal when it comes to the finals schedule.
5. IAs. Do I even have to explain? While they can be rewarding and interesting, when you have redo your experiments and rewrite the whole thing and spend days collecting data, it's just too much. You'll have problems with at least one of your IAs, I promise you. 
6. If your teacher/counselor is not familiar with IB. It is always a bad sign when they tell you it's their first year teaching in IB. Not to say they can't still be great if they know the syllabus. 
7. Did I already mention the workload?

So to conclude, IB is rewarding but if you are now thinking doing IB just know that when people warn you about the workload they mean it. I still think it was definitely worth it.