If you have any stories to share about the IB programme let us know in the comments below! Here are the timestamps of the topics covered during the episode: 01:40 Academic Experience 05:10 Interesting Stories 06:20 School Culture 08:47 University Admission 10:09 Advice for IB students
The advice I would give if you want to take IB is that YOU MUST BE GOOD IN LANGUAGE, For O level students like me, Get an A1 or A2 at least. Or else you will struggle like mad as IB requires you to be all rounded in not just science and math, but also in language, that's why Lit is compulsory. For ACSI, if you dont procrastinate, it's pretty manageable and somewhat amusing to see your friends taking A Levels struggle with numerous tests while your graded assignments are for you to do otot so long you don't procrastinate.
I was Clarisse's classmate (and ex roommate HAHA) but ended up graduating from sports school 2 years after her because i did extended IB (total 4 years instead of 2). I think its really important to have a good relationship with your teachers and classmates because it's like a "we're all in this together" vibe and people are really very open and giving when it comes to sharing information and helping each other out. i think that plus very frequent class discussions and groupwork/projects were things i really enjoyed from doing the IBDP and even though i didn't exactly score very well, having sporting commitments and achievements also helped me get into a local uni and a course i wanted
I did the entire IB since secondary school (It's called FYP, MYP, then DP. DP is what you do for high school aka JC/Poly.. people mistkae IB for just 2 years when it's actually all 12 years of school), did it overseas but came back to SG for NS. It's true that SG IB students are damn academically focused, despite what they say in the video. Everyone that I met (both friends from the past and from NS/etc), they only talk about their scores and subjects. No doubt there's people that take CAS more seriously than just a "1-2 a week then ok", but what the girl said about how SG is about "who you are, what your CAS is" is not true. I have an SG friend that wanted to do medicine, she did IB and got high 40 score, did great in CAS and everything, bla bla bla.. but got rejected because her score wasn't a 45. Whereas if you study overseas CAS becomes more important, because most universities abroad want international students, but also they want a diverse student body and not just those that study all day long. The DP/IB program itself, I would say is the best if you want to experience uni before uni itself. Like, A levels teach you a lot of stuff that you'll learn in university, but you end up stressing for 2 years over things you're supposed to learn for 3-4 years. I have friends that did A-levels and in uni they know all their stuff already so their assignments become easier. But they struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle because there's other assignments to do and exams to study for. For IB students, you learn to manage the workload a lot better since there''s IAs and external assessments along with exams and essays. You might think it's like damn easy, but you try to juggle 3 IAs and 1 external within 2 weeks at the age of 16-18, with maybe a couple tests in between. Then final year comes along, all the assessments pile in but you also have to study for exams.. struggle in IB, but easy life in uni The culture in SG is just straight up bad in terms of studying. 10 years ago we look at grades to determine what secondary school you can go. 10 years later we are still doing the same thing. To the girl that said she wanted to go to the UK to study, honestly it's so much better than studying in SG. You get to experience a different culture, meet new people, learn different things. The only reason you would want to study in SG is probably to secure a job when you come out of university straight away (I might be wrong). But I love studying overseas, SG is just so restricting and no freedom whatsoever.
Omg I was from MG and I got 251 for PSLE (a.k.a. not enough to get into MG IB :( the cutoff point was 258) so I decided to go to SJII. Now I'm realising that there's so much more to school than textbook and workbook stuff. I think it's so much healthier for me because SJII really exposes you to so much, like in Sec 1 (we call it Grade 7) you get to go to Bintan twice for service trips to build a water filtration system. And idk lah but now looking back I laugh at myself for putting so much emphasis on PSLE- I legit had tuition 6 days a week for 3 hours! Ik this isn't related to the actual IB but I just want to tell all the current P6s to don't stress one, most of the time the actual PSLE is easier than prelims!! Give yourself a break, don't push yourself until you become like me, crying every single day because of the stress. Grades aren't everything, zoom out of this whole thing. Like where are you going to apply the Gauss' formula in real life?? Okay so make sure you don't make the same mistake, don't let your life revolve around exams and A*s. Also please, don't "try your best" until you kena lose yourself. Remember education is about learning new things to carry you through life. Sure, you can push. But take care of yourself!! Please!! Whichever school you end up going to is amazing. It will teach the same things. You know what? My friend's mother took the O-level route whilst her best friend took the IB route. Both ended up at the same college. So take it easy on yourself, things will work out eventually and you'll do good!! x
Thanks for the candid response. With such a stellar score at 251, why did you not chose the other good local schools like Nanyang Girls, Cedar Girls, NJC etc, I mean the IP stream? Was IB always your option? Why? Can you share more?
During my time ... A Level H3 subjects was known as S paper .. everyone takes O level , no IP . F. maths was still offered (only recently re-introduced). Good video for peeps like us to know what IB is about .
It's honestly interesting seeing how the SG curriculum led to students in the IB because I've done the IB programmes since I was 7 so I was easily transitioned and aware, but yea
dudee idt she remembers me now but I went to SCGS for a camp or something when I was in primary school and Isabel was one of the group ICs. I thought she was so genuine and really positive and it's so exciting to see her here ! If you see this, thanks a bunch for inspiring 11 year old me and all the best for everything !
That’s why I encourage my sister to go to ACSI, take IB, then go US for uni. Went through A levels in HCJC as a non-IP/O lvl track student and it was really bad. Bell curve was steep; my tutors weren’t really good at teaching, bc they would say things like this part was taught in NYGH or HCI and I’m like bruh I’m not taught that 👀
I'm one of the many students who graduated in May 2020 taking IB and since our exams were cancelled, the majority of students got lower than their predicted grades so that's a bummer. I don't really know how the IB culture is like here in Singapore because I studied abroad and it's interesting to see how it differs from the rumours that I'm hearing haha. I went to Jakarta Intercultural School and I've competed with Singapore American School before alongside other IASAS schools.
Is it me or is the IB students in this video really well spoken and confident as compared to the chickchats of other school "types". Could be sampling bias but just interesting to observe.
In general when i was in IB i could talk well and confidently. Fast forward to now after graduating from NTU, im the absolute opposite in terms of that.
IB 🤪 I had 2 weeks of exams at the end of senior year. That's on top of Final Exams. It was crazy, lots of work, but I learned a lot and it was so much fun. I guess the IB is different in Singapore. But it's quite rigorous, and in-depth in the USA 🇺🇸. It takes a lot of self-discipline. There are a lot of requirements. And other people in Switzerland are grading your work. Anyway... It's interesting to see how other countries do it.
Ib is the same in every country mate, that's what is special about the *International* Baccalaureate, we too have final exams at the end of the year which constitute ard 70% of your grade for each subject. These guys find the ib relaxed because Singapore's A levels is known to be more rigorous.
the IB is the same in every country but i think the reason why its more commonly perceived as in-depth in the US bc having 6 subject options is relatively small compared to stacking up AP subjects, which defo is makes it more breadth-based than the IB. and as the guy above me said, A-levels are more rigorous in depth of study, whilst IB on the other hand more heavily writing/reflection based
If you have any stories to share about the IB programme let us know in the comments below!
Here are the timestamps of the topics covered during the episode:
01:40 Academic Experience
05:10 Interesting Stories
06:20 School Culture
08:47 University Admission
10:09 Advice for IB students
The advice I would give if you want to take IB is that YOU MUST BE GOOD IN LANGUAGE, For O level students like me, Get an A1 or A2 at least. Or else you will struggle like mad as IB requires you to be all rounded in not just science and math, but also in language, that's why Lit is compulsory. For ACSI, if you dont procrastinate, it's pretty manageable and somewhat amusing to see your friends taking A Levels struggle with numerous tests while your graded assignments are for you to do otot so long you don't procrastinate.
along with the school series of chickchat, ya'll should do one on singapore sports school or SOTA. i think it would be very interesting
yes ikr
Singapore school’s IB culture and International sch’s IB culture is so different tho
I was Clarisse's classmate (and ex roommate HAHA) but ended up graduating from sports school 2 years after her because i did extended IB (total 4 years instead of 2). I think its really important to have a good relationship with your teachers and classmates because it's like a "we're all in this together" vibe and people are really very open and giving when it comes to sharing information and helping each other out. i think that plus very frequent class discussions and groupwork/projects were things i really enjoyed from doing the IBDP and even though i didn't exactly score very well, having sporting commitments and achievements also helped me get into a local uni and a course i wanted
I did the entire IB since secondary school (It's called FYP, MYP, then DP. DP is what you do for high school aka JC/Poly.. people mistkae IB for just 2 years when it's actually all 12 years of school), did it overseas but came back to SG for NS. It's true that SG IB students are damn academically focused, despite what they say in the video. Everyone that I met (both friends from the past and from NS/etc), they only talk about their scores and subjects. No doubt there's people that take CAS more seriously than just a "1-2 a week then ok", but what the girl said about how SG is about "who you are, what your CAS is" is not true. I have an SG friend that wanted to do medicine, she did IB and got high 40 score, did great in CAS and everything, bla bla bla.. but got rejected because her score wasn't a 45. Whereas if you study overseas CAS becomes more important, because most universities abroad want international students, but also they want a diverse student body and not just those that study all day long.
The DP/IB program itself, I would say is the best if you want to experience uni before uni itself. Like, A levels teach you a lot of stuff that you'll learn in university, but you end up stressing for 2 years over things you're supposed to learn for 3-4 years. I have friends that did A-levels and in uni they know all their stuff already so their assignments become easier. But they struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle because there's other assignments to do and exams to study for. For IB students, you learn to manage the workload a lot better since there''s IAs and external assessments along with exams and essays. You might think it's like damn easy, but you try to juggle 3 IAs and 1 external within 2 weeks at the age of 16-18, with maybe a couple tests in between. Then final year comes along, all the assessments pile in but you also have to study for exams.. struggle in IB, but easy life in uni
The culture in SG is just straight up bad in terms of studying. 10 years ago we look at grades to determine what secondary school you can go. 10 years later we are still doing the same thing. To the girl that said she wanted to go to the UK to study, honestly it's so much better than studying in SG. You get to experience a different culture, meet new people, learn different things. The only reason you would want to study in SG is probably to secure a job when you come out of university straight away (I might be wrong). But I love studying overseas, SG is just so restricting and no freedom whatsoever.
I absolutely agree with what you are saying
Omg I was from MG and I got 251 for PSLE (a.k.a. not enough to get into MG IB :( the cutoff point was 258) so I decided to go to SJII. Now I'm realising that there's so much more to school than textbook and workbook stuff. I think it's so much healthier for me because SJII really exposes you to so much, like in Sec 1 (we call it Grade 7) you get to go to Bintan twice for service trips to build a water filtration system.
And idk lah but now looking back I laugh at myself for putting so much emphasis on PSLE- I legit had tuition 6 days a week for 3 hours! Ik this isn't related to the actual IB but I just want to tell all the current P6s to don't stress one, most of the time the actual PSLE is easier than prelims!! Give yourself a break, don't push yourself until you become like me, crying every single day because of the stress. Grades aren't everything, zoom out of this whole thing. Like where are you going to apply the Gauss' formula in real life?? Okay so make sure you don't make the same mistake, don't let your life revolve around exams and A*s.
Also please, don't "try your best" until you kena lose yourself. Remember education is about learning new things to carry you through life. Sure, you can push. But take care of yourself!! Please!! Whichever school you end up going to is amazing. It will teach the same things. You know what? My friend's mother took the O-level route whilst her best friend took the IB route. Both ended up at the same college. So take it easy on yourself, things will work out eventually and you'll do good!! x
all the best!
Thanks for the candid response. With such a stellar score at 251, why did you not chose the other good local schools like Nanyang Girls, Cedar Girls, NJC etc, I mean the IP stream? Was IB always your option? Why? Can you share more?
During my time ... A Level H3 subjects was known as S paper .. everyone takes O level , no IP .
F. maths was still offered (only recently re-introduced).
Good video for peeps like us to know what IB is about .
It's honestly interesting seeing how the SG curriculum led to students in the IB because I've done the IB programmes since I was 7 so I was easily transitioned and aware, but yea
dudee idt she remembers me now but I went to SCGS for a camp or something when I was in primary school and Isabel was one of the group ICs. I thought she was so genuine and really positive and it's so exciting to see her here ! If you see this, thanks a bunch for inspiring 11 year old me and all the best for everything !
That’s why I encourage my sister to go to ACSI, take IB, then go US for uni. Went through A levels in HCJC as a non-IP/O lvl track student and it was really bad. Bell curve was steep; my tutors weren’t really good at teaching, bc they would say things like this part was taught in NYGH or HCI and I’m like bruh I’m not taught that 👀
IB!!!!! here to support you isabel
I'm one of the many students who graduated in May 2020 taking IB and since our exams were cancelled, the majority of students got lower than their predicted grades so that's a bummer. I don't really know how the IB culture is like here in Singapore because I studied abroad and it's interesting to see how it differs from the rumours that I'm hearing haha. I went to Jakarta Intercultural School and I've competed with Singapore American School before alongside other IASAS schools.
Is it me or is the IB students in this video really well spoken and confident as compared to the chickchats of other school "types". Could be sampling bias but just interesting to observe.
In general when i was in IB i could talk well and confidently. Fast forward to now after graduating from NTU, im the absolute opposite in terms of that.
Do a video about international schools students in SG
why did the vid suddenly disappear just now?
btw IB is canelled this year.
joyce just the may 2020 papers lol
IB 🤪 I had 2 weeks of exams at the end of senior year. That's on top of Final Exams. It was crazy, lots of work, but I learned a lot and it was so much fun.
I guess the IB is different in Singapore. But it's quite rigorous, and in-depth in the USA 🇺🇸. It takes a lot of self-discipline. There are a lot of requirements. And other people in Switzerland are grading your work. Anyway... It's interesting to see how other countries do it.
Ib is the same in every country mate, that's what is special about the *International* Baccalaureate, we too have final exams at the end of the year which constitute ard 70% of your grade for each subject. These guys find the ib relaxed because Singapore's A levels is known to be more rigorous.
the IB is the same in every country but i think the reason why its more commonly perceived as in-depth in the US bc having 6 subject options is relatively small compared to stacking up AP subjects, which defo is makes it more breadth-based than the IB.
and as the guy above me said, A-levels are more rigorous in depth of study, whilst IB on the other hand more heavily writing/reflection based
CONGRATS ISABEL BEST FRAT CAP
Would you rather go to an IB school, A levels or Poly?
my fav subject, TOK. because can TOK kok all day in class.
7:25 what did she end up getting for her TOK essay?
YESSSS ISABEL
IB is goated
My seniors!
The video suddenly became private??
OMG WA CAITLINNG😍🤩🔥💯
Oof isn't that basically jc? ikr!!!
im doin IB and its hard bruh
omg 7:52 made me laugh so much
"OMG I got a 3~".
Me: Is there a video I missed out? 🤣