Should I quit the IB?

I'm currently in year 12, doing the IB at my old secondary school. I do:

Higher Level;
English
Business
Theatre arts

Standard level;
Maths
Ecosystems
French (AB)

I pretty much hated my secondary school towards the end of GCSEs as they were pretty unsupportive and very disorganized. This doesn't fair well for a school trying to offer the IB diploma either. So I went to a large local sixth form to do A Levels, which I enjoyed until I switched a subject and had to endure lunch everyday on my own due to the scheduling. I went back to my secondary school to visit some friends and sort of panicked and decided I wanted to come back and do the IB.

Ofcourse this is pretty much the worst decision ive ever made ever. And here we are 7 months later and the IB makes me so miserable I just want to cry everyday. Ive kinda accepted that I'm a lazy and procrastinating person and however much I try to change and motivate myself, it's just not gonna happen. And this really doesn't suit the IB workload.

Ive been debating leaving since Christmas and only really had the balls to try and go through with it. I have been accepted at a place called Birmingham Ormiston Academy, it's like BRIT school, there I would do production arts BTEC. As I want to be a tour manager/venue management and would hopefully study events management at uni after.

Now the problem: my mom doesn't want me to leave the IB (even though my brother had to resit a year of IB at my school to get into uni again and now they are not offering resits so if I fail im

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Reply 1

username941859

You can still resit the IB - utter *******s that you can't.

Honestly, your subject combination is pretty much the easiest one you can do. I'd stick with it. You're a year in, there's only a few months left.

I survived the IB, finished just yesterday. Just make sure you do your EE in summer and make sure it is good. Will save you a lot of unnecessary stress.

Reply 2

helerrrn

(continued ahhh)

.... I will be too old for free sixth form education. I also kind of feel like I'd be giving up doing a BTEC as I have the basic intelligence and memory to sit exams, just cannot deal with workload for 6 (7 including TOK) subjects. And then extended essay and CAS hours.

What if I dont like it at this new college and suddenly decide I want to be something else? Also going to uni a year later than everyone else, being in the year below etc.

Any advice about what to do, or whether a BTEC would be the way to go for that career, or whether I should just 're do a levels, would be greatly appreciated. I realise this post probably doesn't make much sense in hindsight, sorry, haha.

:dontknow:

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Reply 3

helerrrn

Original post by Calllu-m

My school aren't allowing people to come to 're sit the year anymore is what I mean.

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Reply 4

username941859

Original post by helerrrn

My school aren't allowing people to come to 're sit the year anymore is what I mean.

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Then resit at another IB centre? It's what all my friends did. Honestly, you'll be fine. I assume you're doing maths studies? honestly, your subject combo is fairly easy. Drama will be completely done by april next year because it's 100% coursework so you only have to revise for 2 HLs and 3SLs. English is generally easy to get a 6 and I'm sure B&M isn't exactly rocketscience.

Reply 5

helerrrn

Original post by Calllu-m

The only IB centres near me are grammar schools and I doubt they'd want to take me on. This is the trouble. :no:

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Reply 6

silencespeaks

The best thing you can do is to put in as much effort as you can from now. You never know, you might actually pass it without having to re-take next year. You've still got another year to turn things around and the summer to finish your EE to a good standard.
Since you're doing drama, you should still be able to get on your preferred course once you're done.
If the worst comes to worst, there will be lots of centres that will offer re-takes without you having to go to your local grammar school. You can find them online. Best of luck and don't give up!

Reply 7

username941859

Original post by helerrrn

The only IB centres near me are grammar schools and I doubt they'd want to take me on. This is the trouble. :no:

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Honestly, you can just re-sit the actual exam in November. Most schools allow it, mine definitely does.

Reply 8

DerangedPixie

To be honest, I would say it completely depends on what you want to achieve in the future. You obviously have a couple of ambitions and I guess you need to assess which path will make it most likely that you reach your goals; IB or the BTEC course.

If it helps, when I went into year 12 I procrastinated all the time and really didn't get that much work done at all (My mock exam results can attest to that). Tomorrow's my last exam and then I've finished the IB. Obviously procrastination is still an issue for me but however miserable I've felt during the IB I've always managed to pull through. I'm pretty sure I've managed to achieve some good grades on top of finishing CAS, TOK and my EE (Once you get into them they're fine).

I think you just need to find the drive either to finish the IB if you think it's the best way to reach your goals or, alternatively, go on to do the BTEC course. It could be that you are most motivated when doing the BTEC which would help you succeed more.

Anyway, good luck. If you do decide to stay with the IB then remember that there's always support online for when your school doesn't support you enough! :smile:

Reply 9

SonOfJanuary

Dont quit ! I came from like the lowest level of education in Canada, have no work ethic, and i would say as a student im pretty much just like you. Honestly, the only homework you should do is marked stuff, other than that, dont worry too much about it because IB is mostly based on your exam performance. And you will get used to it, i was ready to die after first year but second is year is so chill, and your courses are chill too. Just listen and take notes in class and youll be fine, and do alittle bit of homework a night, not everything, but just enough so you know whats good. And its easy to pass! you only need 24 points, like just do it and dont stress !

Reply 10

girlcalledbecka

Original post by helerrrn

Also going to uni a year later than everyone else, being in the year below etc.

I wouldn't worry about this, I know so many people taking a gap year who will be applying a year later

Reply 11

Mj.1989

I suggest you not to quit it. It is very useful in undergrad or grad applications (in many countries). In addition, you can use the scores "6 or 7" in IB English as a toefl/eilts score.

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Reply 12

helerrrn

Original post by Mj.1989

The course I would be doing is a level 3 equivalent that progresses to University the same way the IB does. Plus I'm a native English speaker.

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Reply 13

Mj.1989

I am a collegr student from Turkey and i dont know the A level education system, so it is hard for me to make a comparison but if you care only entering a university then maybe it does not matter but IB has conferences where you meet other IB students from different countries and i think it is a good experience :smile:

and you have to write an IB essay which prepares you to college life and makes your college courses easier. I have been getting 97+ for my papers whereas others get 70 or 80 because they do not know how to write essays. I do not if it is because of IB but usually IB students graduate with honors from college.

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Reply 14

fairisle13

If you are hating it don't continue, there is a difference between it being tough and being unbearable. The only people I know who really really hated it had basically given up by exam time and didn't get the results they needed to get into the uni they wanted to go to.
My advice, go back to that sixth form where you were doing A-levels, restart as a year 12 student and do A-levels. You will make friends and it sounds like you would be in a better frame of mind that way.
Either that or find a college where you can do a different kind of course.
Don't worry about the age gap thing, you won't even notice that you are a year older (coming from experience), a lot of people will have re-sat or gone on gap years so although a lot of people at uni may be younger than you, it will still be a mixed bag.
Your mum will support you as long as you talk to her so she understands that this is what you need to do for yourself.
Try to remember that although it seems horrific now or like you have wasted a year, in the grand scheme of things an extra year is not going to set you back, if anything it will get you where you want to go and you won't have the regret of wondering 'what if I had changed my mind'.