IB Stressin’

For some, it starts in middle school when we are finally independent from our cute little “Friday Folders” and put the pedal to the medal from day one of our sovereignty. For others, high school and particularly the IB courses offered here at AHS, really kick the stress level into high gear. But because of how personalized our education is here, the stress level of the student depends entirely on them.

Luckily for us, AHS is one of the few schools in the world who offers the chance to be an IB certificate student, which means any student is able to take however many IB classes they desire. Each man to his own. However, whether you end up taking a single IB class, the full diploma, or even exceed the amount of IB classes needed, as has been done before, the work level no doubt adds up junior year. As the workload adds up, the motivation for completion tends to go down.

It cannot be argued that it is all the teachers’ fault, all IB’s fault or even all school’s fault in general, but the students themselves, by the choices they make to take rigorous classes. Granted, in order to attend the college of the your choice, effort is crucial, starting in high school. This goes to show that if you have high hopes for the college of your dreams, and that college happens to be an Ivy League, you better be setting yourself up for greatness starting with the first homework assignment that Kirk Gregory assigns you on day one of World Geography.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a college that you strongly desire to go to and a less competitive school sounds like the fit for you, then you could say that high school might not be such a big weight that you carry around on your back.

Because of the workload building up- depending on the diligence of the student- sleepless nights are inevitable for those who are not yet ready to accept defeat. No matter how hard we try, there is no arguing against the fact that the more stressed and sleep deprived we are, the lesser the quality of the work you produce. Take this article for example.

Whether you begin your high school career in advanced placement classes, or stay right on track with your expected grade level courses, there is no doubt that schoolwork picks up its game when you make the transition to high school; you better too if you are looking into attending colleges that you wish to be admitted to.

No doubt the world we are being brought up in today makes it very hard on us as adolescents, college and high school are no exception. It is very hard to be as successful as you wish to be in this day and age, and it has never been a harder competition to be admitted to the school of your choice than it is now. Schools are getting more and more selective and it makes it even more stressful on the students. Ivy League schools are looking for those students who have maintained about 4.0 GPS’s throughout high school, while being class president and captain of all three varsity sports, and don’t forget the countless hours of community service. If you are that student who has the drive and the passion for school and learning, then by all means start yourself on the road to success now while you have the chance.

“I have no free periods this year, and I am an IB diploma candidate so needless to say I have never been as stressed and busy as I am this year. I want to attend Princeton so I have made sure to manage my time in order to do well in everything that I can. Hopefully the time management skills I get from doing all of this will come in handy later on in life and the rigorous classes, when it comes time to apply for colleges.” Junior Jessica Tyler said.

Our school has just about anything a diligent student could ask for. AHS offers the IB diploma and even the IB certificate, making it very easy to personalize each student’s education. Stress levels tend to run high no matter how many IB classes any student in question is taking, but it is also entirely up to them. The students attending AHS have the opportunity to decide the amount of difficult classes they take, deciding at almost the same time by the same decision, how much stress they will be under.