Most of these were written by juniors, to advise new juniors. The last two are from sophomores. They are otherwise in no particular order.

 

Ok this is going to be a much shorter version of my previous essay because my computer crashed when I tried to save and I lost the whole 2 page essay. I am going to divide this into school and social sections. This is not to imply that I am an expert in either, quite the opposite actually, but I have to write this essay about something.

School: This is mostly to the unmotivated students, as the over achievers already know a lot more about this than I do.  First of all, if you are an average or poor student take Physics. If you are already in another science and it is still the beginning of the year, change to Physics today.  Mr. Keers has this great policy where you can turn work in late for only a few points off. This is very helpful if you have a Trig portfolio or English journals due the next day and you need to put off that annoying little worksheet. Also, although he tries to make you think otherwise, Mr. Keers is an incredibly nice teacher who will go out of his way to help you (and feed you). Do not get in a lab group with another unmotivated student. Your grade will slowly be sucked away by your complementary incompetence. On the original essay I had advice for every class, but it is getting late. You have probably heard that there is a tot more work this year. That is not really true. It will certainly seem that way though, because you will never really recover from the first all-nighter (most likely from a Trig portfolio). I know it sounds cliché, but don’t procrastinate. Even though I am writing this at 11:30 with notebook checks for two nonexistent notebooks and a whole bunch of Physics work due tomorrow, I still say you shouldn’t procrastinate. Learn to worship your CD player and all things which contain caffeine. Finally, you have to begin to learn and grow on your own. School is important, but that is more important. That means reading things which aren’t assigned to you (and I don’t mean Tom Clancy and Danielle Steel, I mean stuff that matters). I also recommend picking up an instrument, there is nothing better for relieving IB stress than to plug in, turn on the overdrive, and play a medley of power chords. In conclusion, don’t get addicted to AIM, it will cost you a GPA point or two.

Social stuff: You have also probably heard that your social structure will crumble in your Junior year. Right now you are probably saying “Golly-gee-gosh, that would never happen to us!” That is just ignorance. You are going to realize soon, the mature ones among you at least, that most of the friendships are shallow. If you want to make it through the next two years happily you have to identify the people you can really trust, and accept that the others are just going to be acquaintances. Petty disputes are going to spring up all over the place, mostly due to gossip. Try not to take them to seriously, and strive for a peaceful coexistence, my favorite phrase these days.I have a final note to those of you like me who fail to see the point of involving yourselves in the plastic social activities like, say, school dances.  You need to participate. It is good for maintaining your sanity, may find some people to be more respectable than you had thought, and it will give you something to tell about so that they don’t think you were a loser in high school . Ok, I am going to stop, because I am very tired. In closing, Ms. Frisbie is a super lady!

-Wade the Great

(Wade Stidham)

 

Dear recently promoted students,

Recently, it has come to my attention that some of you have not yet experienced the pleasure of an all nighter. Unless you actually keep up with your work you will be enjoying the wonderful experience as of this year. This year you will be comforted on those long nights by trying to finish your trig portfolio that’s due in just a couple of hours. I will take an immense amount of pleasure in laughing at anyone who waits till the last minute and thinks that they will be able to go to bed that night.

As for biology students, I’m laughing already. You think an all nighter is bad, you should try pulling one of those and then try to finish the rest of your biology the next day. Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen all of the time but occasionally it will find a way to sneak up on you. The world would be a terrible place without coffee and chocolate. When you face these long sleepless nights, you will be able to overcome your panic attack by sleeping through history. Goss’ standardized tests seemed to be much harder than the AP test.

When you have TOK during your second semester you will be tempted to sleep throughout the entire class. WARNING: I STRONGLY advise that you reconsider doing this mainly because he waits for that one second that you zone out and then he chooses to call on you. In English, you will literally die of boredom, probably from the conversations between people that seem to go absolutely no where. And for all of the smart art people good job.

Just remember, the nights and the year may be long and hard but you’re almost there. In trig, just ask any questions you may have, it helps. TOK and English are boring but you’ll make it through them. History is also boring but Goss makes it fun. You’ll learn to love him and his numerous jokes. As for biology, if you have a hard time remembering things, I hope you have a god because you will be spending some time praying. (In the end you’ll realize that it wasn’t that bad.)

Sincerely,

I’m finally a senior,

Jamie Waite

 

My Fellow IB Students:

It seems like just yesterday that I was reading the essays that the class of 2003 wrote to us. It’s amazing how fast my junior year has flown by. Just because it was fast doesn’t mean it was easy, however. Personally, this has been the hardest school year (academically) that I have ever had. Take that as an advance warning.

Don’t be scared by what you hear, though. To each his own, and the IB program is what you make of it. There are those of us who probably make it harder than it should be, and those who should work to take it more seriously. You will soon see which group you fall into, and just knowing that is half the battle; you know what to work on.

I’m not going to give you the normal advice other students give, like “don’t procrastinate,” because we all know you will. This is alright if you work well under pressure. Just remember that as soon as you turn something in, something else will be assigned, so you have to find a balance so as not to become overwhelmed. This is true no matter what classes you take. The only assignments I would tell you to start before the night before they’re due are Trig Portfolios. I put the first one off, and I was sorry the next day. Other than that, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to manage your time.

I know you probably hate the thought of this, but you also need to start looking at colleges now. Narrowing down your list is helpful because you can then concentrate on the requirements for the schools you want to apply to. Keeping up your GPA is important, of course, but you also need to keep in mind your standardized test scores and other such vital information. Another area to look at when you research colleges is the AP and IB test requirements … figure out how much American History you’re going to need to read in order to earn college credit.

The junior year of IB is notoriously rigorous, but I made it through even though at first I thought I wouldn’t. Don’t give up …you really can do it, and when you do, you’ll know it paid off.

Have fun!

Katie Rinshed

 

When I read these letters at the beginning of my junior year, not many comforted me. I came to school thinking that this was going to be too tough and that I wasn’t going to make it. Quotes like “You have to do well!” “This is the REAL IB!” and “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life” flashed through my head as I sat through my first class. I’ll let you in on a little secret — it won’t be as bad or as different as you may think. This year will be harder and there will be more work, but if you’ve made it this far, you seriously are not going to have a problem as long as you want to keep working.

However, I think a lot of what makes coming into this year scary is the new vocabulary. If you’re like I was a year ago, you might not have heard any of these new terms until just now when you started reading these letters. Quotes I saw in the letters like “Study for orals!” and “Do well on internal assessments!” told me to study but didn’t explain what those things were. Well, it turns out, a lot of things like projects and speeches that you have been doing since middle school now have big fancy names attached to them. For me, not knowing what these things were made them seem worse than they really are. I’ve decided that I’m going to define some of these new terms rather than tell you to study and so forth, because I think by now you know what you need to do to succeed.

Internal Assessments — These make up a fraction of your IB grade for each particular subject area and are graded internally, by the teacher of each class. Ultimately, they help to determine whether or not you will get the IB diploma. Think of them as big assignments or projects that you want to do well on and turn in on time.

Orals — These are the internal and external assessments for English. They both come after Christmas break, so you have lots of time to prepare. The informal oral is just like a speech that you prepare and give to the class on a book of your choosing. The formal oral is given at the end of the year on a random passage from one of the books you will read. Although you only get 20 minutes to prepare and you don’t know which one you will get, it’s not as bad as it seems. You only have to speak to Ms. Smith and you’ll be really prepared. My only advice here is to just read the books with the class when you are supposed to and do the journal assignments she gives.

Portfolios — These are the internal assessments for math. This is where you explain that you understand a certain concept in math by working a problem, explaining it step by step, and drawing conclusions. There’s no need to worry here, Ms. Frisbie will explain in detail.

ToK — (Theory of Knowledge) you’ll take this class after Christmas with Mr. Keers. Grades in here are not a problem, as long as you turn in worksheets and come to class. But don’t think that means fall asleep — it’s interesting.

*Note: (of course, your teachers will explain all that better than I did, but if you are clueless like I was, any information could help.)

Hopefully that helped clear up some questions. If not, I would suggest taking your junior year day by day because it’s not really as bad as it seems. Get past the big fancies and realize that you can handle everything if want to. Almost every single letter also told me “Don’t procrastinate” and “Don’t fall behind.” Though this advice seems obvious, procrastination can really kill you. If you have an option on when to do a project, when to give an oral, or when to get some CAS hours done, you’ll really thank yourself if you get it over with quickly. Leaving everything to the end of the year only leads to more stress when you’re trying to study for AP tests. (Oh, a note about AP tests: I would suggest buying a study book early so you can review before the test. For some reason, Books-a­-Million doesn’t seem to have a large selection the night before the test.)

Lindsay Jackson

 

My advice to those of you who will be in the third year of the IB program next year is to basically not be like I was in some of my classes. Do not procrastinate on any of your work, saying that you will do it later. Secondly, always be yourself; find something to do that makes you who you are (if you haven’t already done this) and stick with that. Make yourself good at that because that is what defines you as who you are (this was certain sports for me and yes I ended up ruining them for myself by procrastinating on my work).

The practice of procrastination may have worked for the past two years, as it did with me, but this year is different. This year there is much more work and procrastinating doesn’t just keep you up late one night; it keeps you up all night on night and then you realize that you still aren’t finished with your work. This year there is much more work than is humanly possible to do the day before it’s due on every assignment (trust me on this because I pretty much tried to do that).

It’s not exactly what you do in school but what you do out of school that more makes you who you are. Most of you won’t be unique in what you’ve done in your classes but if you excel in both school and whatever it is that you do out of school, this is what makes you unique. Don’t let yourself get dragged into the life of sleeping until you get your next assignment like so many of us do. Live your life the way that you want to live it, these are the years of your youth and you won’t get them back when you are too old to move. I’m not at all telling you to forget about school, I am just saying that many times it is essential to have fun. Just remember to do your work on time, but at the same time be yourself and not some robot living from one project to the next.

Grady Oates

 

It’s not even funny how life gives you a chance to help others who probably don’t even care that you are taking the time to give them advice, but since this has a potential for greatness, at least for someone I will continue. Despite your “busy schedule” always find time for recreation outside of IB and volunteering. Don’t forget that your brain will stop working if you don’t let it have fun sometimes. As soon as you get behind do whatever it takes to catch up within 3 days or else you will never get caught up totally. Always show respect to teachers while in their presence; you can always talk behind their back later. Don’t let yourself get caught in a “poor me” syndrome, it is worse for grades than stupidity.

While general advice is good, specific advice is better. It is only reasonable to assume you have already, and will again think about dropping out of IB. This can be a good thing; however, decide as soon as possible. The quicker you can make up your mind the better. There are always PCC, Traviss, and all the other high schools just waiting to have you join them and excel there. If you know what you want to do with the rest of your life and you want to get on with it that is fine, drop IB and go to PCC/Traviss, but remember, you have to have fun during high school. Balance your academics, extracurricular, volunteering, and especially recreation.

While you may not always agree that spending time on something to memorize it is the best option, it is in fact far better to learn it once and review it later for IB/AP than to have to rememorize it. Never underestimate the power of the Internet. Its resources are endless and its contribution to routine homework priceless. Work part time if you can, it will make you manage your time better. If you don’t, sleep from 3-6 then do homework, I wish I learned that earlier in the year. Always tape shows that you want to watch so you can watch them later and so you can get sleep instead of staying up to watch them. For every 25 songs you download buy a CD. Never forget what you have accomplished in life.

Tom Parrotte

 

Over the past year, my busy schedule has led me to acquire a deep wealth of ideas to make my life simpler. In this advisory document, I will disclose some of my secrets for both Trig/Analyt, and some of my other classes. The first bit of advice I will give is to do your ordinary everyday homework, by the day it is due. This will pay off in the long run. In physics there are some students that turn in their homework perpetually late. This is not advisable. Homework is assigned pretty much every day in physics and the aforementioned students do the late work by the time that the next assignment is due. Even though, 5 points off a day doesn’t sound like a lot, it adds up. Over the past year, in physics we completed 58 labs, and 55 exercises. Suppose that each lab was 2 days late and each exercise 5 days late, 5(2)(58)=580 points, and 5(5)(55)=1375 points. Assuming that all of the answers are correct, Mr. Keers does grade for accuracy, and that all assignments are 100 points, the person’s mean grade on the % is a 83, not including tests and quizzes, which need the exercises to prepare for. If you do your homework, on time, you are ahead of the game.

In Trig./Analyt., there are things that must be done to be successful. Again, it is important to do your homework, and again the homework is graded for accuracy. The test review worksheets are exactly what they are titled. The tests and test review worksheets were made by one person with the idea to make them similar. I suggest you work the problems on the test review worksheet. Another bit of advice is to take ample notes, unless you know everything, there will be a quiz on them every 9 weeks. In U.S. History, follow the advice of your teacher and read what he tells you to. In Psychology, be prepared, she does eventually give work, even though it may be toward the end of the year.

In general, the idea of not having an elective second semester sounds bad, but in my experience, the lack of an elective has been beneficial. Instead of figuring I can do my homework during my elective and rushing through it, my homework gets time and thought at home. The teachers prepare you adequately for the AP tests at the end of the year, so I advise you not to fret. Yet you should still prepare at home in the manner suggested by your teacher. As for the journal assignments in English, they eventually pile up, and she does collect them all, even though it seems as though she forgot that they exist. That’s about all I feel strongly works, and I am sure that some of your currently used techniques work. So stick to what makes this school easiest for you, but still try to do well; just barely passing brings ridicule.

Geoffrey Thomas

 

Here is my own advice class by class to the incoming juniors:

1. Trigonometry – If you are as allergic to math as I am, then you will hate this class. However, you will not hate this class as you have previous math classes because you actually have an incredibly competent teacher who’s patient and willing to work with you. (This is not me sucking up, I swear.) I mean, Ms. Frisbie graduated from PRINCETON for crying out loud, she MUST be smart. Our class has come to the conclusion that she is a genius. So, naturally, take advantage of that. If you need help, STAY AFTER SCHOOL or come early in the morning. If you did crappy on a test, you have the option of retaking it. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TOO, it is like a gift from God himself. (If any of you reading this are atheist, Hindu, etc, etc, my apologies.) Also, Ms. Frisbie’s class is always a good class to throw around your ideas in. She never fails to tell you if your idea is actually viable or you’re full of crap.
2. Theory of Knowledge – By far the easiest class ever created on the face of this planet is Theory of Knowledge. If you fail to make at least an A in this class, you’re either a lazy little *beep* or just don’t care. Either way, you’re hurting yourself because this class is a nice little boost for your GPA (for all you GPA-conscientious sophomores out there.) Anyway, Mr. Keers is a funny and quirky guy, if he looks at you funny, don’t freak out because this is him being weird and messing with your head. He’s an overall pleasant guy, though he is a perfectionist and a bit anal-retentive (I’m not dissing him, he told me so himself). Some of the things he teaches are interesting so tune in to what he has to say every now and then. Actually, this is a very good thing to do because he has this unnerving and highly annoying habit of calling on you when not looking at you, so you never know who he’s going to call on next.
3. Spanish – All you French kids are really missing out, you should’ve taken Spanish because the HISPANICS ARE TAKING OVER! We already outnumber African-Americans and pretty soon Spanish will be the second language in Florida. I mean, I’m already seeing billboards in Spanish! And employers just LOVE people who are bilingual. Anyway, you smart Spanish people, I don’t know which teacher you’ll have (I have Sra. Anderson, she’s a riot, ask her about her family or how she met her husband or something personal like that and she’ll talk for the whole period). Anyway, Spanish gets a crap-load harder this year so you actually have to study a bit. Especially subjunctive and pluperfect, these are spawn of Satan. Study up on those because they’ll be a huge asset when you take the AP Spanish exam (if you are one of the few lucky ones to take it, that is.) Also, in order to become fluent, watch the Spanish channel (I recommend Univision). Though their soap operas are absolutely ridiculous, you get a feel for it and soon you’ll be talking like a native.
4. Art – Oh, you Art students are even luckier than the students who took Spanish. You are the few, the proud. You are part of the… Art Cult. The only two things you have to worry about are 1)finishing your works on time (don’t take two months on one work like I do) and 2)doing your research work books. These will help your grade muchly. Oh, and to all you Psychology students out there, I really feel sorry for you, that’s another AP and IB exam you have to take. Have fun on the AP one, I heard that there was actually MATH on it. Achoo!
5. U.S. History – Don’t procrastinate in this class. You will need to know EVERYTHING you learned all year because I guarantee that there will be something from almost every time period on the AP exam. About Mr. Goss: this guy is one crazy dude and if he threatens to burn your house down, you just return the favor and threaten to burn his. And if he calls you “ardilla” or “chuleta” (if you don’t know what those mean, took them up in a Spanish-English dictionary) call him an old fart in return. Anyway, he is one smart guy too because he watches the History channel all the time and updates his notes and history knowledge all the time too. So listen to him. He actually knows what he’s talking about. (Wow, kids these days are just so critical of their teachers.)
6. English – I have mixed feelings about this class and feel tempted to rant but I shall be as neutral as possible. This is a fairly easy class and there are two things I recommend you to do: 1) actually READ all the books assigned, they’ll help you in the 15 minute orals you have to give towards the end of the year. 2) Make sure Mrs. Smith gets ALL of your work because she can be absent-minded and will sometimes misplace your work. Put it on her desk, get her attention, point to it and say “Look here, I turned in my paper, now I wanna see you file it away.” I’ve actually done this and it works. Just, don’t be rude because then she’ll get mad. And when she gets mad, she actually growls at you like a cat. No joke, and it’s freaky.
7. Chemistry – If you were as disillusioned as I was for taking this class, then I really feel for you. After the first semester, I was practically screaming “Bloody murder” and got myself a wonderful tutor. Anyway, Mrs. Bond is a cool person (and she’s married to James Bond, no joke!) but she refuses to even give an ounce of extra credit. So beware and do ALL of your work, including the labs. Especially the labs. And if you don’t understand something, stay after school with her or come early in the morning as well. Or, if you’d rather just get yourself a tutor, I recommend several of my classmates who are absolute geniuses at Chemistry and will love you forever for asking them because then they get National Honor Society hours for tutoring you: David Melton, Karl Kong, Shivam Joshi, Sean Fahey, or Alex Wales. They are all relatively patient guys and I highly recommend each of them.

Last of all, I wish you good luck because now you are starting the real IB and it will be much harder this year. The last two years have been easy street. The next two will be a serious wake-up call. Just study hard, don’t slack off and you’ll do fine. Oh, and get plenty of sleep, I can’t stand it when people stay up until 5 in the morning doing work. This is just stupid, you need your sleep and unless you want to be a walking zombie, you’ll do as I say. It really helps. (And believe me, being a walking zombie doesn’t feel good and people don’t like you either when you’re in this phase. There’s a reason why they call it beauty sleep.) Oh, and don’t hesitate to ask any of my classmates for help, many of them may seem like jerks but the members of my class are all really great people at heart.

Sabrina Cintron

 

Seems to me that giving any sort of advice to someone behind me would be more a cruel gesture than a charitable one. If you really want to have a good year, take the advice of Brandon Evers, Lindsay Jackson, or David Melton. Still reading? I guess you want my advice then. Well, though I almost pity you for making such a self-destructive decision, I guess I should get this party started. Oh, and just t o make this a six-sentence paragraph, Pearl Jam rules.

It would probably be easiest and least creative to just tell you about the junior atmosphere. I remember my buddy Ian Trulson telling me that things really picked up in the junior year. You’re probably told that quite often also. I disagree, though, for it seems to me that my level of effort and grades have not changed at all this year. And I work more hours per week at my job this year than I did as a sophomore. So if you’re currently a straight-A student, which I’ve never been, maintaining the straight A’s might be a bit tough. If you’re cool with As and Bs, however, the junior year won’t be tough at all. I look around at all of the people so sleep-deprived and complaining of our work load this year, and I can’t help but ask myself: “what are they talking about?” To be honest, I had the most homework, in terms of frequency, in Trigonometry/Analytic Geometry. I’ve heard Biology and Physics students do a lot more work, though, so I, a Chemistry student, can’t really comment on that. So yeah, take Chemistry (oh wait, it’s too late, isn’t it?).

Now that you know what dirty liars everyone who told you this year is hard are, let’s talk courses. I dug math this year, more so than previous years, and I don’t know anyone in TAG that feels any differently than that. The worst I could say is that when I was lazy and saw that I had 25 problems to do for the class, I’d get a bit upset, but hey, it’s not bad by any stretch. Those of you in art will be rewarded for your creativity and talent by not having the only teacher I know with the initials IB. Psychology wasn’t a bad class. I just wasn’t comfortable with a teacher who felt like the girls that would reject me to prom (but hey, I had that problem in my sophomore year, too, and will have it again in AP Statistics as a senior). Also, Psychology required a fair amount of studying to get an A — conceptual knowledge wasn’t enough. I am not a big fan of memorization, it makes me feel like a robot (or so I claim to justify my laziness), so I often chose not to do it. I can make no comment about Spanish IV as any course in that language is dominated by the teacher, and you will not have the teacher I did. Then there’s that cool American History course. Everybody seemed to love Goss. I didn’t hate him or anything, but he never gave me a chance to talk, even if you’re a liberal Reformist man, just keep it quiet (that is, unless you’re Alex Wales, and can say even more liberal things than I do and have Goss agreeing with you all the way, man I hate teachers sometimes). Moving on, English III was a Kentucky fried bucket of learning. My tone on that one makes it clear how I feel, so let’s move on. Theory of Knowledge was awesome as long as Keersy-boy didn’t lecture. When he does, I think he goes out of his way to make it boring. Also, he’ll stop a discussion dead if it goes anywhere promising that isn’t in his lesson plan, but all teachers have preferences, so I forgive that. For those of you in Chemistry, if you’re not a master of self-discipline, leave the course right now. Bond will teach you nearly nothing. I don’t know why, I stopped asking a long time ago. Now that you’re cool, be sure to keep it real. Peace out.

Sean Fahey

 

You should be proud of yourself. You are now officially ½ through high school, not to mention you are now in the IB program (yippee!).

My first piece of advice is not to listen to what anyone else has to say. Take into consideration what others have to say but do not let it bias your opinion of a teacher, class, or part of high school before you get there. I know that I heard a lot of things from upperclassmen that I have concluded to be untrue. I still can’t tell if they said those things to scare us, sound important, or because they were really true for them. Whatever the reason, make your own opinions on classes and do not go into them with a closed mind. If you do it this way, you can make your own mind up and not have someone else do it for you. With this said, I will give you my own outlooks on my classes, teachers, and life this past year.

Classes to me this year were not any more difficult than the years prior. With age so grows your knowledge so the classes are fitting. If you manage your time you should be able to get everything done in reasonable amounts of time even with after school activities and hanging out with friends. I did all of my homework on Sunday nights so your weekends can be free to do what you want.

American History. I had heard from everyone that Mr. Goss was a nice teacher and that he would be really hard on you at first but then ease up on you. Well, it really was true. He is hard on you at first. I remember going to class the first few months and thinking, “What? I do not think I am going to like him. They have to be crazy when they say they like him.” Now, I really like him as a teacher. He knows what he is talking about and his humor in class makes it much more enjoyable.

Art. Not much to say here, just that the 11th grade art is way better than any of the years before. You really get to explore what you personally want to do. Pie lets you do anything you want to as long as you are using certain mediums. Be thinking about your concentration throughout the year. This will make your decision for your senior year a lot easier.

One last tidbit. Try and get as many CAS hours done as possible this year. That way you will have a less stressful senior year. The less stress the better! With this said… I am off in a cloud of smoke.

Ash Margo

 

A Letter of Advice from an Expert

Dear IB Junior to be,

In your upcoming school year you will experience more than you can imagine. Every year brings you something new, something challenging, and something you will hopefully enjoy. Your junior year will be the true test as to whether you will survive IB. I hope that you will heed the advice which I am about to give. After all, I am now an expert.

My first tip to you is to do your homework. Yes, that’s right. I am telling you to actually do something. Write your homework down in your planner. I have myself experienced forgetting the assignment and have seen others do it and your grade will show it. You need to do your h.w. ahead of time and not at the last minute; especially big projects because we all know h.w. builds up and there’s never enough time. I advise that you read the chapters in your textbooks. I am referring mostly to History and Psychology here. You need to read the books assigned for English too. You will have Formal and Informal Orals on them. Yes, they will be scary and that is why you need to be prepared.

My second advice to you is to study. All of us IB kids think we’re so smart that we don’t have to study and we can do just fine. Well, maybe some of you can, but most of you can’t. Everyone is different. We all learn in different ways. My advice is that you actually put effort into learning throughout the year. That is because you will have to remember it all once the year has ended. You will take AP and IB exams and I doubt most of you can learn a whole year’s worth of History and Psychology in a few days before the exams. Some of you will try no doubt, but I’m telling you to listen and not to put yourself in that situation.

And finally, the most important advice I can give you is to relax and enjoy the year. Junior year has been my hardest year. Maybe for you it won’t be, but for most it is. It is critical that you do your work and study, yes. But throughout you need fun time so that you are not always stressed. The reason you should not procrastinate is so that you won’t be up late nights hurrying to finish your assignments. Sleep is very important. My class has learned to live without it, but I hope you will be spared from giving yours up. Join clubs, sports, drama, anything just as long as you have time to hang out with friends and get away from the demands of IB.

I wish you the best next year. I hope your summer was great and that you are well prepared for what you are about to embark upon. I hope that I have helped you and that you actually take the little piece of wisdom I have handed to you. The advice I gave is what we should all do all the time, but it is especially pivotal to do all of it this coming year so that you will go through all the Orals, projects, and exams while having fun, too.

Your IB Senior to be,

Gina Morelli

 

Kris’ Marvelous Words of Infinite Wisdom

Dear random Junior who decided to waste time by reading this,

First, congratulations on making it this far. Others don’t have the gall to put up with IB and drop out like little pansies. You are of a chosen breed (at least you are if you go all 4 years). To possess both the intelligence to keep the grades up and to realize the great rewards that IB gives you just for completing all 4 years is quite a gift; not necessarily religious, but take it As You Like It (trust me, you’ll HATE that play [if you like it, then do everyone else’s journal questions for them {no wait, that’s malpractice}]).

Anyhoo, as far as classes go, nice choice on taking Mrs. Frisbie’s class (that’s more indication of a higher being). Marnee math, as I’ve heard, isn’t fun as Trig and Calc, but that’s what I’ve heard.

If you chose a science other than Physics, not only have you chosen against the essential science, you’ve made it easier for the more scientifically knowledgeable of your classmates to make fun of you as you sweat over tests and cry over how late you stayed up to finish a lab.

Mr. Goss does not hate you. Sure he’s one of the most crotchety old men you’ll ever come across, but if you pay attention to him, you can get a 5 on the AP Amer. History exam (for which you get called a worse name than scumbucket). Don’t let him talk you into figuring out what era the DBQ will come from, you’ll get it wrong and everyone will hold it against you.

If you’re taking YJP as I was the first semester of this past year (I think I remember what an elective is), volunteer to stay after as much as possible, just don’t get on my computer or ill tip your chair over and you will indeed fall.

In psych, do study. Studying for psychology tests carries a positive correlation with bad grades.

Spanish. Ah dios mio, Spanish. That’s all. (Ask Sra. Salcedo to get copies of “Kris’ Ultimate Chart-o de Verb-os” from Sra. Anderson.)

ONE LAST PIECE OF ADVICE: Both Ms. Frisbie and Mr. Keers (yes, even if you didn’t take physics you will be able to experience his awesomeness in ToK) have late work policies (ask them for full details). DO NOT SLACK OFF AND TAKE TOO MUCH ADVANTAGE OF THESE. Use them sparingly, best to only use them in times of serious need, like a Goss essay or a ToK presentation. And do eventually do that late work and turn it in.

Peace Out,

Kristoffer Smith

 

Oftentimes one is deceived into believing that his junior year in Bartow High School’s International Baccalaureate Program will be his most difficult in which to be successful. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately if one is disgusted with the nature of deception, this rumor is entirely false, lacking any validity whatsoever — as long as one has a schedule identical to the following:

Period Class

1          Trigonometry/Analytic Geometry

2          Theory of Knowledge

3          U.S. History

4          IB Art

5          Physics

6          English

7          Spanish

Yes, it is true. That is my schedule from this year. It has been a tremendous course load, but my grades have been better than in any other year since eighth grade. I have managed to have more A’s than B’s, and have learned more than ever before. One key to this accomplishment was in taking a combination of Art and Physics (no Psychology or Chemistry).

Ms. Frisbie teaches the harder math course during the junior year. She is the most awesome lady ever. Besides having a Bachelors degree from Princeton in Economics, she is (no joke) a freaking genius. Ask her about it. There is a ton of stuff involving numbers and squiggly symbols that she will teach you. Learn these. Realizing, the last week of school, that you lack basic knowledge of every topic you studied in trigonometry is terrible. Your stomach knots up and sinks into your intestines, or at least that is what it feels like.

In Theory of Knowledge, as well as in Physics, Mr. Steven Grant Keers will be the instructor. Stay on his good side. Mr. Keers is a funny man, but his humor is dry. Picking up on this helps to gain favor with him. Acting up in class will rarely be tolerated and Mr. Keers will, no doubt, find a way to make a fool of anyone who is already being foolish.

Gary Goss is the teacher in U.S. History. You may have heard things about him. He is a good guy. Sometimes he may come across as insensitive to Eastern Europeans. He has a serious side and a lighter, punnier side. Work hard in this class and an A is certainly possible. Slack off and you will flunk — big time.

Pie is the Art teacher. If you are taking Art next year then you know Pie. He is very cool, and one of the most interesting people in IB. Sometimes he forgets to take his medicine and may call you names and make you think he hates you — don’t listen to him.

Do your research workbook all the time. Turn it in every week, if not every day. It is much more important in the Junior and Senior Years than ever before.

Ms. Sharon Smith teaches Junior English. I’m not sure that there is any more to say about that.

Finally, Senora Anderson and the wonderful Spanish class: She is my teacher, my class’ teacher, and you cannot take her. This year, I was in 7th period, the class “from the pits of hell.” Try not to be in a class like this, and study verb tenses to pass the AP test so you don’t have to take it again next year like I will.

The Junior year is awesome. Savor it. Make plans for college. Get a good summer job. Eat a lot of food. And if you play a sport, make sure to win a district AND a county title this year, because narrative drawings of championship matches are fun fun fun to do.

Sean Suarez

 

My friends,

When I was in your position a year ago, I read these articles of advice and the big theme then was A. Brush your teeth, B. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, C. Stick together. This year’s themes don’t change that much, except read your chapters. If you have the time, read everyone’s advice. It will help you in more ways than one.

Get organized! I am serious! I don’t care if you lose papers faster than your dad loses hair. Whatever works best for you, as long as you get things done. You can have a messy room and backpack, as long as you can find things. Losing things is the worst way to kill your grade. I suggest that you keep a homework folder. They fill up fast, so clean them out regularly. Use the locker. The books, this year, are bigger and increasingly awkward to carry. This is what I did, and it helped a lot. I went to amazon.com and bought the SAME books, USED for like $7 a book. NO JOKE! You can get your textbooks (used of course … but they are in really good condition, sometimes in better condition than the class set) from amazon.com for really cheap. I did that because I didn’t want to carry 4 books to and from school every day and just imagine what a Friday would be with all the classes! It was buy the books for really cheap or have a rolling backpack (no offense to you rollers). Some other random advice:

1. Keep food on you all the time! You are liable to be hungry and will be. It is to your advantage to prepare yourself more than one lunch before you leave house.
2. Take notes! Regardless of the class, take the notes. They will help. I guarantee that they will help you in some way. On the final, homework assignments, or just to help pay attention, take notes. For history, DO NOT take notes on loose-leaf paper. Goss gives you a lot of notes and it becomes a BIG headache to keep track of them using individual papers. I suggest you get a notebook, one of those composition notebooks. He frequently references to notes from days or weeks before, so having all your notes in one small, convenient composition notebook makes life so much easier.
3. Read the chapters. READ READ READ! They will help on the AP tests! Another thing, clean the book store out with AP books. They will help. My junior year is over, and I have a grand total of 17 AP books. For each of the classes I’ll recommend my personal best AP book. You are signing a death warrant if you don’t get an AP book for your classes. Reading the chapters is key to surviving American History, Chemistry, Biology, and Psychology.
4. Brush your teeth. Shower too. In fact, you might want to learn to sleep in the shower. Sometimes it might be the only time you sleep. Not to scare you, but depending on your work ethic, how much stuff you want to do, you will be “surviving” sleepless nights. Caffeine and coffee don’t help. Just drink water. Trust me. It does a kidney good.

Let’s move on to the classes. Here’s the game plan.

Frisbie (Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry) is a great teacher. Her humor will keep you awake and she knows what she is talking about. PLUS SHE IS A GENIUS! Although “Sohcahtoa” doesn’t exist, portfolios do. They are not hard if you pay attention to her and ask questions. She gives you a week to do them. They aren’t hard. Remember you are in class with kids who are equally challenged by them. It is wrong to collude, but it’s okay to hint or explain something to a friend. Try your best to understand the lesson while she teaches it. I had a rough time understanding things with the book. Put it this way, I didn’t get along with the book. ALWAYS do the chapter reviews before the test. Do yourself a favor and invest the time to complete them (even though they aren’t for a grade, they help a lot on the test since they are the same format as on the test).

Goss (AP American History) is tough to nail. He covers chapters a day at times. He prepares his notes after over like 30 years of teaching history. Be forewarned, Goss will burn your house down if you don’t listen to him. He is a fun guy to talk to. You will be surprised that you can relate to him as a friend. He is one of those teachers that you will talk to him about your weekend experience after class. Get a copy, if you can, of ARCO’s AP history. I got mine off Amazon. AP Cliff notes and AP Petersons aren’t effective. I don’t think Barron’s or Princeton Review make any, but I might be wrong. Read the chapters. If you don’t read the chapters, there’s no point in coming to class.

English is an interesting class. Ms. Smith is easy to get along with. She tries her best not to overburden you and will work around your schedules. Get AP Barron’s English. She is your CAS coordinator. Speaking of CAS, I have to fill out forms for the last 6 months. See. That is what you do not want to do. Fill out your forms as you do the activity. More than anything, CAS is the most annoying thing ever! Read the books for her class and do the journal questions. JOURNAL QUESTIONS. I think kids in our class actually shudder when they hear “journal questions.” They are time consuming. The key to success is being organized and doing them as she gives them to you. They may not be due for months, but I will personally thank you if you do yourself the favor of doing them before they are due. Don’t make yourself suffer unnecessary torture. By the way, Brush your teeth.

You won’t have Keers (ToK) until second semester. You probably have a lot of questions about it; feel free to ask any of us about anything. We love to talk about anything. Keers does an excellent job of teaching the material. He explains it clearly and wants you to do well on you Extended Essay. Keers also uses more paper than all the other teachers combined. I suggest getting a larger binder for his class.

You guys have the other señora so I don’t know how that works. But as far as I can say, learn your subjunctive and pluperfect tenses early on. I suggest watching the Spanish channel or reading Spanish vocabulary. It will pay off for the AP test. The AP books are all pretty good, just get one that has an audio CD to practice for listening comprehension.

Psychology, as taught by Barrington, is probably the easiest of all classes. Read the chapter and keep your notebook in order. You will enjoy the things you learn in there. It’s an interesting subject. Princeton Review and Barron’s both have equally good AP books.

Okay, it gets messy here. I never took physics. I did take AP Biology (like Ravi and Vivek did). Ms. Kennon is the most dynamic teacher. You will enjoy her spontaneity, wit, and her humor. The amount of work in her class is simply a lot. You are demanded to learn a lot of material, read a lot of chapters, and just be pushed to the edge. Labs are a killer if you don’t understand them and wait until the last minute to write them up. The key is organization.

Chemistry is hard. The chapters are long and abstruse and you will be sufficiently challenged (if not more so). Sometimes the highest grade on a test would be a 54. Labs may not always work out either. You can survive it if you spend an abnormally large amount of time, effort and energy behind it. If you need help, feel free to ask any of us. I would be more than happy to explain those concepts that are so freaking hard to understand (I have yet to understand some of them though).

Our class was really big on being nice to each other and helping one another. Not by collusion, but by lending books or explaining things. Before tests, some of us would make study guides or send each other sites of great places to reference. Life is a lot easier if you a friend that you can depend on. You will be going through a lot. So will your teeth. So brush them and have a friend who can admire your beautiful white teeth.

You perfectionists are going to have fun, sort of. Have fun never sleeping. Some of us have been balding and others have lost their natural circadian rhythm because of sleep deprivation. Your junior year is hard, but knowing you have rails to hold on to helps. Ask for help when you need it. You’re going to have to put try harder and give it more than ever.

Fun? What’s that? I am kidding. Make your classes fun by enjoying them, join clubs and do extracurricular activities. They are fun and helpful. Our class would get together on Fridays and see a movie or do things together. In retrospect, my junior year was the most fulfilling year of school.

So what have we learned? Well, Ms Frisbie IS a GENIUS. It’s always time to brush your teeth. Finally, the key is organization. Good luck and let the forces be with you.

I would also like to thank my class for everything.

Shivam Joshi

 

Wow, never thought I’d be in the position to give advice to underclassmen. But now that I am, I’m definitely not speechless. Heading into my last year of IB, I guess I can say I have a bit of experience when it comes to living the “IB life.” Yes, I mean the late nights typing away at the computer and the departure from home while the sky is still dark. Eh, those are the things I’m sure you’ve gotten used to. Truthfully, IB isn’t much different from the first two years. It’s not so much that the workload changed, but that our attitudes did. With that said, let me inform you as to what you need to keep in mind upon entrance into IB World.

One of the primary pieces of advice that we hear about IB is “Don’t procrastinate.” I won’t tell you that. Actually, I strongly advocate procrastinating. There is no use in having stress over an assignment spanning weeks when you can just save all the stress for the night before. I, for one, know I work best under pressure. In fact, forget the stress. Live life. Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t concentrate on your studies; that’s why you’re here. All I’m saying is that sometimes sleeping is worth more than working. So don’t ever worry about that assignment that’s due in two days until it’s due in two hours.

What else? Ah, yes, the teachers. Their mission: to educate us, of course. The mission is usually accomplished, but in varied ways. Take that history teacher, for example. He gets his way by threatening us. But don’t worry; despite his devious ways, it is highly unlikely that he will ever burn your house down, you pukin’ scum bucket. And that math teacher… you’ll learn without even realizing it. And believe us, she is a genius, no matter what she tells you. They’ll all make you work and lose precious sleep, but it’ll pay off in the end.

The last thing to remember is that you chose to stay in IB. So don’t let it control your life. Okay, so we didn’t exactly choose the easiest curriculum. But we must keep in mind that this is still high school. We’re obligated to make the most of our years here; they won’t come back and we won’t get a second chance. So keep up with your other life, the one that doesn’t require work and a dependency on caffeine. After all, most of us will be working for the majority of our lives, won’t we?

If you’ve made it this far, chances are you can handle what’s coming. It’s all in your head; if you think the program is too hard, then it is. So don’t. Remember: stress and worry = bad. This is the Law of IB. Remember it; it’s useful on every homework assignment and exam. Welcome …it’ll be fun.

Ruchi Patel

 

Greetings Incoming Juniors!

So, you have completed your sophomore year and are now ready to enter your second phase of the “high-school experience.” Congratulations! To be an upperclassman is pretty darn cool but it also means more responsibility. However you may feel about it, (Psyched or Terrified), it’s time to seriously start thinking about college. Many of you probably have already, but if you haven’t, start. I don’t mean that you need to decide where you’re going or what you want to do, just realize that what you do this year will either reflect positively or negatively on your college applications. So basically, DO YOUR WORK and DO IT ON TIME!

I’m not sure about the general consensus of our class, but this year was particularly tough for me. There seemed to be a whole lot of work and more things to absorb than I was capable of absorbing. Generally I enjoy learning and being at school, but this year I often felt that my head was crammed so full of facts that no more could fit and that some were getting lost in the mix. My biggest mistake was not taking the time to sort all the information out. No matter how much you may want to do other stuff, my biggest advice to you during your Junior year would be to spend a set amount of time each day reviewing what you’ve gone over that day in class and sorting out the things that don’t make sense to you. (I’m sure a lot of you do this already.)

I’ll give you my new favorite quote here, because believe me, it’s true: “Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential” — Liane Cardes

If you want the grades, if you want to do well, you’ve got to work for it. Your Junior grades will be directly proportionate to the amount of effort you put into earning them.

As for individual classes, I give the following advice:

• TRIG: Take notes, review them, don’t be afraid of portfolios, they’re not as scary as they may seem. Frisbie is a genius, bow down where applicable.
• BIO: Read your textbook, get an AP review book, and don’t get behind! Beware the grasshopper.
• HlST: Read your textbook, Read your textbook, Read your textbook. (Did I mention Read your textbook?) Fireproof your house.
• TOK: Don’t circumlocute!
• SPANISH: Learn your verb tenses and all will be well…
• ENGLISH: Do your journals sooner than the night before!
• PSYCH: Read your book and pay homage to Phillip Zimbardo

Lastly, have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. Take your work seriously, just not yourself. If you can’t loosen up and laugh at yourself once in a while (or at others, whichever you prefer) life is a lot harder. Good luck, I know you’ll do great!!!

Heather Hart 🙂

 

To Whom It May Concern:

Granted, there are many things about IB that are bad, and they may seem incredibly daunting at this point in your life, as you emerge from “pre-IB” to actual IB curriculum. I know that I went through a period of scrambling and stress, adjusting to the added pressure of all the AP classes and everything else that was happening in your life.

However, to counter all of the bad things that IB does have, there are so many wonderful things about it. Firstly, there are the long-term advantages of college, clepping classes, all of that… but you probably don’t care about that at this point… I’m sure I didn’t. There is also the bond of everyone who is in IB… we all know what each other has to go through, the stress, everything, and we can be there to help each other. Because of my class, I can tell that I’ve matured so much: socially, mentally.

When it comes down to classes: Trig can be very easy as long as you make sure that you can understand the concepts… and Ms. Frisbie is an awesome teacher, and she makes the class a lot more interesting than any other math class I’ve ever been in. And she understands everything, which is more than I can say for other teachers I’ve had. ToK, which I know you don’t start till the second semester, is really easy… but you better plan way ahead for your extended essay because it causes stress overload when you procrastinate. Spanish… well, I had a different teacher, so I can’t really advise you there. Especially if you took French, :)… Spanish doesn’t really help there. History isn’t bad… you can do the workbooks the period before, but don’t procrastinate on the DBQ essays. And be forewarned, even though he spends about twenty of the first class periods telling you how he’ll just tell everything like it is… he doesn’t. He’s got a slant, too, so don’t take everything and every opinion he has as the honest truth. English… well, let’s just say that English, while it’s one of my favorite subjects, it wasn’t this year. The orals are NOT a big deal, as long as you listen in class. Mrs. Smith is… well, a bit disorganized… so be sure you follow her instructions about where you turn in your journals. And she doesn’t remember when she assigned due dates… you can take advantage of that if you’re being bad children, 🙂 Unfortunately, and very stupidly of me, I took Chemistry as my science, so… all I can say is, get a tutor: she will give you no notes, no help, no nada.

Well, that’s my wisdom that I’ve gleaned from this past year… take it and use it well, :). I hope that you won’t stress too much over the details, because if you do, you’ll probably have a nervous breakdown. And if you need anything, seek out a senior you know and trust… hopefully we’ll be able to help. I know I’d be willing to do a lot to help.

Allison Burke

 

Well, it looks like you’ve weathered the turbulent seas of Pre-IB. Kudos. Now get ready for the tsunami.

Is it really that bad? Heh, no, not really. And by no, I mean yes. But hey, 56 of us have survived, so why not you? Of course, you’ll probably need some advice from so-­called experienced upperclassmen. So here goes:

First of all, for all you competitive perfectionists, get ready to watch those grades drop. While a good supply of coffee may make you feel invincible, maintaining high grades in every class is much too demanding (though not entirely impossible). It’s ok. Sleep. Otherwise you will feel the wrath of an abused immune system.

You know what the most desirable trait in an IB student is? Flexibility. Learn to prioritize. Sacrifice. Always look at the big picture. Not all assignments are equally important. Keep that end in sight. Something to master: delayed gratification.

Committed procrastinators beware. As amusing as our unofficial contests of “who’s the laziest” are, there really is no sense in missing precious snooze time if you can do English Journals, Trig portfolios, or Physics labs in class. Seriously. Don’t let deadlines be in command of you. Time is within your control. Just pace yourself. Respect your teachers. Yes, you may periodically feel the need to torch certain unnamed teachers’ homes as you type up barely coherent essays in the middle of the night, but the work will be worth it (almost always) at the end of the year when AP tests and English orals roll around. So suck it up. You might as well embrace the workload. Get involved. A life unfulfilled is no life at all. Channel all that pent up frustration into a club, sport or a volunteer activity. Trust me, it works. Besides, the gods of IBO demand it (through CAS) for you to get that diploma.

Lastly, surround yourself with people who will support you — family, friends, teachers, etc., especially the funny ones. There’s no telling what next year will bring, so it’s nice to know that there’s always someone there to make light of an otherwise unbearable situation. They will also be an endless source of sanity.

Advice is simply a form of nostalgia, a reflection of past mistakes and regrets. Take it for what it’s worth. We are your lighthouses on this monstrous sea called high school. Welcome to IB.

Jenny Lapnawan

 

To My Unfortunate Protégés in the Upcoming Class (and all you other people),

I am writing to admonish you of the tortures that you are about to endure as you enter the eleventh grade as well as your first year of real IB. So now I will bestow upon you the wisdoms that 1 have gained since so innocently entering this grade that one long year ago. OK, really it’s not that bad, but here are just a few things I have learned along the way that may prove helpful to you during the year.

Firstly, if you are reading this, you probably took the right math. I know they say that there is no “better” math, but in my experience (though it is a bit biased), this is the better math. I am qualified to say this because I am absobloodylutely (tmesis! One of the awesome things we learned about.) crap at math, but somehow I have managed to do pretty nicely in this class. I came into the class with the idea that I would leave if it got too difficult, and well I am still here. Ms. Frisbie is a really amazing teacher, the best; she explains concepts in a way that a piece of cardboard can understand. She breaks the impossible into convenient bite size pieces. She is a genius, but just to warn you, she does not look favorably upon suck ups.

My second period of the day is Theory of Knowledge, it’s a really cool class because you get to philosophize (yes that is a word), there’s no right answers, and no tests which makes life a lot easier and Keers is pretty cool too. Advice for this class: if you don’t feel like reading the handouts listen to Radiohead… especially OK Computer. Also, for future reference, according to somewhere on the internet, Alfred Hitchcock did not have a belly button.

Third period is Art, which is pretty self-explanatory, so we’ll move on to my fourth period French. Well what can I say about French? Those of you who took Spanish have probably figured out by now that you should have taken French —  and you will continue to believe this as the onslaught of AP preparation comes your way. French students on the other hand may or may not have second thoughts… wait… you’ll see… just master the art of looking awake.

Fifth is Goss, which again is a pretty awesome class. You probably don’t want to take it fifth period if you can help, and try to get a small class, other than that… study. Also, don’t argue with due dates… he is not a certain World History teacher.

Sixth is English, now some will tell you that they don’t like this class, but you fortunately were afforded Pre-ToK by Graffam… so I don’t know what to say.

Seventh period for most of us was a science class, just make sure you choose the right science for you, because if you don’t it’ll be a looooooooooooooooooooooong two years… Finally some miscellaneous advice, read your books, it can only help you in the end. A lesson you should have already learned, but should pass on, never gripe to an upperclassman about school. If you value your brain try to avoid two AP tests on the same day if you can. Don’t procrastinate too much; it tends to relieve a whole lot of not needed stress. Also, should you not realize it already, you should be going to college the year after next, so try to resolve any problems you may have with parents or siblings, because they will be what link you to your past in the future, and it’s always good to have them on your side (this also relieves a lot of not needed stress). Try to have as much fun as possible (within reasonable limits of course). Listen to a lot of Coldplay, they too are stress relieving, and also, amazing. Lastly, if the load gets too heavy, or if something happens, or if you just want to talk to someone, I am always here (well probably not where you are sitting currently, but somewhere… just find me!)

Sincerely,

Jesica Thavarajah

 

Howdy there incoming Junior who will conveniently have my same schedule,

First of all, to deal with the lesson that most IB students have to learn the hard way: Don’t Procrastinate. With every Goss DBQ, two Trig portfolios, about one hundred Physics labs and exercises, and a myriad of other assignments turned in late, l know that I’m not the best person to be talking about not procrastinating. But seriously, use my mistakes to your advantage. For Trig portfolios, start them the day you get them and work on them a little each day. Although their being given a week or more in advance may tempt you to procrastinate, it’s really hard to figure out mathematical concepts at 4:30 in the morning while you’re chugging coffee in an effort to stay awake. The same rule applies for Goss’ DBQs. If you work on them over time, your analysis will no doubt be better for your efforts. However, a big point should be made regarding any internal assessment assignment (except English orals): if your work will be of less than ideal quality as a result of your procrastinating, turn it in late. Get some sleep and work on it the next day. It is far better to lose a few points for the class than to screw up your chances of getting an IB diploma because you decided to put it off until the last minute. That said, I believe that the above point also applies to most other assignments. A good night’s sleep far outweighs 10 points for an assignment not being late. Not only will your eventual work be better the next day, but your sanity should also remain somewhat intact.

Now for the actual work. In Trig, do your homework and study the review worksheets before the tests and you’ll do fine. Psychology’s only demand is that you read and learn the chapters. Also, the Barron’s AP Psych review book is an excellent review for the exam although I don’t suggest putting off reading until the night before the test. For Goss’ magic history class, READ THE CHAPTERS. Taking notes isn’t worth a (Goss-ism coming up) “flying puke” if you don’t read your books. Other than that the class is fun and Goss is a cool guy until he repeatedly tells you how he made his son dribble a basketball and jump rope for 20 minutes every day when he was little. English is fine if you don’t make Ms. Smith hate you. That said, on to Spanish. You won’t have Sra. Anderson, but the same rules probably apply. Do your homework, projects (easy points), and anything else that is assigned and you’ll be able to slack for the last part of the grading period while you float on your comfy cushioned grade. This late grading period slacking can be extremely therapeutic, especially at the end of the year as AP and IB tests come up. For ToK and Physics, Keers is a nice guy and is lenient with late work. However, don’t abuse his leniency or his candy jar. In spite of his being “independently wealthy,” he’s not required to do this, so be appreciative, especially when a sugar boost is exactly what an IB kid needs to maintain consciousness after a night of heavy procrastination.

Finally, coping with IB without developing a nervous twitch is an acquired skill. With portfolios, oral presentations, and CAS to deal with (or just ignore completely, which is not advised), I’d highly recommend you take up a hobby or other way to get out frustration. Also, in spite of all your gorgeous plans to do all your work on time, most of your planning efforts will go out the window when you actually have to start working. All the planning in the world can’t get a portfolio turned in, so do your work. Though there will be times when you hate IB, stick it out because you get a whole crapload of scholarship money for your efforts, which will be immensely helpful as you won’t be paying off your student loan when you should be retiring. Yeah, I’m gonna stop now because this letter is getting longer and less coherent with the passage of time.

Brandon Evers

 

You might be wondering why you are here at the moment. I did all 3 years of IB, and I can’t say it’s changed at all. Over the last 3 years, however, I have come to realize why I never made myself actually leave. Once you realize this yourself, things will be a lot easier (ok… only slightly) and you will stop thinking of other high schools and their nice easy classes. Or well… that can’t be promised either. But since you are here now, I will tell you a few things to just pay attention to, and maybe you will come to realize it yourself after going through some of the “experience of IB.”

Figure out how much sleep you need to function properly. And by function properly, I mean enough to not crash your car in the morning and not run into too many walls when walking into class. Face it now: that 9 hours of sleep crap, or whatever teenagers are supposed to get, is about as possible in IB as you levitating while you are reading this. You will not get it, so figure out what makes you stay awake, whether its caffeine, jelly beans, or loud music, and figure out when is your best time of the day to do homework. Personally, mine is from about 7-10 pm. Alex Wales’ is like 3-4 pm and then 8-9 pm or something strangely organized like that. Everyone’s is different, and you should do as much of your homework during that time.

Do something other than school. Preferably more than one thing. Playing a sport is a great thing to do, because you meet other people when you don’t know many being a freshman, it keeps you physically doing something other than walking back and forth between your computer and your room all night, and you don’t have to be around your parents all afternoon. Some of my best memories of high school are from during the soccer season. Find something you like and that has nice people in it, and don’t think about how you can be doing homework during it, because that ruins it.

Realize now that your classmates are going to become your best friends and your worst enemies, and some will change from one to the other. No one else understands what you are going through except the upperclassmen, who have more to worry about. Yes, there will be annoying people in your class, like always, but some of them even are better than you think once you talk to them alone. Find out who you get along with and think alike with, and cherish them. They will keep you going through IB, help you when you are panicking from procrastination, quiz you on things, and give you a reason to laugh when you feel yourself starting to fade away. Friends from high school in IB are different than friends from other high schools. You have almost every class with them, and you go through much more — your class will be very close. Some of the friends you make at this school you will keep for life. One of my best friends from 9th grade and I didn’t talk at all in 10th grade, for different reasons, and we are now even closer this year. He has encouraged me through so much.

If you make up your mind to stay in IB, and do the best you can, then don’t kill yourself over comparing your grades to your classmates. Everyone is going through different things. Stick with it and it will be worth it. Maybe the sleep loss and schoolbook learning won’t be worth it, but the lessons about life from teachers and other classmates, and the friends you make, will be worth it. Never tell your parents what you have due. Go out on the weekends as much as you can, and do homework on Sundays, but not just late Sunday night. Good luck… you will need it.

Ashley Miller

P.S. Take advantage of having Ms. Frisbie, Mr. Lenker, and Mr. Keers as teachers, and 2 electives sophomore year. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

 

A LITTLE ADVICE

I probably don’t have to tell you incoming juniors this, but this may be your most important year in regards to college. I want to stress that this is definitely not the year to relax, although don’t wear yourself thin stressing over everything. One of the most important piece of advice that you will ever hear and probably already have heard is DON’T PROCRASTINATE!!!!! These were the disastrous mistakes I made this year that were very damaging to my grades as well as my emotional stability and I regret having slacked off this year, of all years. Seriously, try to finish your work ahead of time and plan work out. Trust me, your nerves as well as your sanity will thank you. Plus, you’ll get a lot more sleep that way.

Ok, now I will give you tidbits of advice for individual classes that I took this year, so sorry to people who are taking physics or biology for their science or are taking art instead of psychology and Spanish instead of French. Maybe those people will have someone who took those courses to give them advice. Anyway, for English, you’ll get journal questions on books you read during the year. Heed my advice about not procrastinating, these are one of the assignments where if you wait until the last minute, you’ll have to spend a LOT of time finishing this and will probably have to experience one of those infamous “all-nighters.” Also, if you still have Mrs. Smith as your English teacher, don’t try to argue with her about interpretations on books or poems, no matter how tempting; just feed her exact words back to her and you’ll get a better grade that way. She’ll also like you better if you agree with her. Arguing gets you nowhere with her, at best she’ll combine both your and her interpretations. For Psychology, buy the AP Barron’s study guide. Although I didn’t buy it, I heard from some of my friends that it helped them a lot on the AP exams. You’ll also get very chummy with Dr. Zimbardo in that class. You’ll understand when you’re in the class. In Trigonometry, take notes, do your homework, and listen during class. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions or stay after for help. If you do these things, you’ll probably be satisfied with the grades you get. Oh, there are these things in Trig called portfolios; don’t procrastinate on those either. DON’T. Other than that, Ms. Frisbie is a really good teacher and she’ll explain things in a very clear and concise way. In French, hmmmmm… do your homework and study for tests. Also, don’t watch the clock; I swear, it goes much slower if you watch it. Also, you have to demand your rights to watch Channel One and YJP (even though teachers aren’t required to let students watch them) or else she turns the TV off, and you have 15 more minutes in that class reviewing grammar rules. In History, you’ll love Mr. Goss unless you’re a passionate liberal. Listen to his lectures in class and take notes. Basically do whatever he advises you to do. He is a really good teacher and teaches you what you need to know for the AP exam. I was never bored in his class even though I’m not that interested in history. In ToK, just do your work, join in discussions, and listen to his lectures. All his work, except for essays, are completion grades so as long as you do them and turn them in on time, you’ll get 100%. In Chemistry, DO THE WORKSHEETS AND LABS!!!!! Take my word on this, do everything. Read the book too. You might want to buy an AP study guide too (the favorites in our class were Barron’s and Princeton Review). They are very helpful.

That’s basically all the advice I have to give for your Junior year. I know it’s a lot but I hope you all do well. I know this year may seem really hard, but don’t give up. Remember, after this year, you’ll only have one year left. Plus, you’ve already gone through two years of IB type work and expectations so why quit now? Also, try to participate in anything that will give you CAS hours. It will take a long time to gather those 150 hours so try to get them from whatever and wherever you can. However, don’t try to join too many clubs or extracurricular activities because that will only add to the stress of schoolwork. I would advise you to get friendly with your class because this year is already emotional enough without the arguing and bickering. The bottom line is know your limits, set priorities, and plan and balance your time so you can have more fun and enjoy your Junior year.

Belinda Chen

(a friendly junior/soon-to-be-senior)

 

1. School

The blight of procrastination will be your chief adversary. It will keep you up late into the night doing work that you should have started weeks ago. There is really no reason to do your work ahead of time though because then the next day you will not be able to relate to your exhausted friends. This leads to another point, sleep. You don’t need it, that’s all in your head. Being well rested and pretty in the morning is totally unnecessary because as you will see in the next paragraph you are a nerd and it doesn’t matter what you look like. Haz tu tarea, as Señora would dice. As far as teachers go Ms. Frisbie is the best, be nice to her or she’ll make fun of you or something like that. Ask Ben, but wear ear plugs, he is loud. Tuck your shirt in for Goss and Frisbie, the rest of the teachers don’t care.

1. Life

Don’t try to be cool, you can’t be. Face it, you’re an IB nerd, accept it and have a fun. Embracing your innate nerdiness allows you to do whatever you want no matter how stupid it may be and then blame it on being a nerd. This comes in handy more times than you can imagine. When you try to be cool and shun your IB classmates you won’t be popular, so conform already. The whole purpose of IB is that if your life doesn’t suck you’re probably not working hard enough, or your first name is David.

III. “Sucking canal water”

This is a metaphor commonly used by Señora Anderson to tell us how poorly we are doing. “Sucking canal water” is unavoidable, but it can be minimized by collusion, oh wait I didn’t mean that, I meant hard work. Anyway once you start the downward spiral it’s hard to get out. If you miss several days of school in a row you might be in this predicament. So my advice is come to school sick and infect your class. They will all hate you but hey, grades are important too.

Andrew Madrid

 

Dear Oh-So-Beloved Underclassmen,

First of all, you’ve made it this far. Congratulations. By now, I’m sure you’ve already experienced the almost incestuous camaraderie that comes along with being in such a small, relatively contained environment. Made lots of funny, great memories, right? Lots of inside jokes? Great, You’ll need that, sometimes you’ll have to use those times to remind you why you’re putting yourself through this. Love them or hate them, these are the people that you’ll be spending the most wonderfulest two years of your school year. They really are your second family, so sometimes you’ll love them and other times… not as much. There will be those other instances where you secretly hope a bus would materialize and hit them a la Final Destination. Don’t let school get in between your friendship, though. Always be willing to help someone else out, because before too long, you’re going to need them, too, and you don’t want too much animosity floating around. Don’t try to be the best at everything. You’re in IB; everyone already knows you’re already the best at what you do. So stop, pull the stick out of your butt, stop trying to impress, and just sit back, relax (heh right…) and learn. Because you can! IB is truly a learning experience… if you let it. You’ll learn about other cultures, other people, and the subject matter, no matter how hard you try not to through that characteristic IB procrastination.

Speaking of friends, don’t get so wrapped up in school that that’s all you do. A wise man once said, “Play!” Remember those things you used to love in your pre-IB and pre-pre-IB era? I know it may be kinda hard, but there was this thing called enjoyment, and it did exist at one point in your life. It’s really easy to stress and panic and be unhappy, but what fun is that? Even if you are more mature than most and smarter than most (well some of you anyway), doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to act like a kid sometimes. Just worked on a paper for an hour and a half? Then go outside and kick a soccer ball around or play videogames. Whatever floats your boat. Weekends are three days long — Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That’s one day for working and two for play. Go to parties. Visit your other friends (remember those kids that were the real smart ones and just said no to IB). Please, please, please — for the love of God — do not perpetuate the nerdy, IB stereotype; I just may have to hunt you down and show you what it’s like to have fun (no minds in gutters, please). Believe it or not, life is more than grades. Sometimes it is hard to balance school with everything else, but it can be done; you aren’t the first class to go through this sh… shtuff.

Lastly, I have some comments on the classes in general that you will be taking this year. First, you will have Mr. Goss for AP American History. Last year’s class kind of scared me about his class, but he’s really just a big, OLD, SENILE teddy bear. Gk, so maybe not senile… yet… give him a few years. But he is old. Really, really old. Like, his schooling was interrupted when the Civil War broke out. He’s a really good teacher though (it’s because he lived through it all! Ha!); he’ll really prepare you for the AP test. Pay attention to his lectures. Revere the holy amsco book; it will become your second bible. Biology is kinda hard. You actually have to work hard and think and stuff. I know we aren’t used to that, but don’t go in and expect to pass her 200 points test by not cracking open that 153456 lb book first. You will have to read it, and you will have to pay attention. And do your worksheets even if they are impossible because they can really drag your grade down. She’s an interesting woman. She’s tough but giving at the same time. She will sing and rant, which always proves interesting. Trig with Ms. Frisbie will probably be one of your best classes. If Ms. Frisbie were our age, she’d be that really funny kid everyone wanted to hang out with and cool but not stupid cool; she’d be insanely great at EVERYTHING. Believe it or not, she’ll make math interesting, and she’ll actually explain WHY stuff happens; it helps to learn it that way and not that it just happens just because. Oh and she likes good music — always a plus. I’m not even going to begin to talk about English for various reasons… just do your journals. TOK will expand your mind and deliver that evil extended essay. It’s one of those classes that make IB a little more worthwhile. Keers is definitely an interesting man; you can’t help but crack a smile at times at his dry humor. Don’t fret about psychology. The AP test isn’t bad; you’ll learn a lot more than you think. I don’t know how Spanish will be for y’aIl because we have Señora Anderson. Ha. We got the cooler señora. Nanny. Work hard though; we need more people to go to state. Oh, and for those of you who took French, I’m sorry that you picked the wrong language. French just sucks (AND it sucked before this whole Iraq thing — I don’t care that they didn’t help us. Please don’t lump me with THOSE people). Anyways, good luck and God speed.

Racheal Cobb

 

Generally: life sucks, I’m sorry. This year is hard, no bones (or otherwise) about it. Mr. Goss has notes and lectures every day, most classes will impress upon you the Bull inherent in this world… much of what this world is about. This year is all about learning, become familiar with yourself, be sure you are motivated, without motivation the trouble is not worth your time. Once you become accustomed to the work load, it’s no big deal, so just keep knocking your head against that wall.

Class Specific Advice: learn to take good notes for Goss, he gives you everything, it’s up to you to write the right things down. For Trig/Analyt, keep your uh… “stuff” together; she’ll give you the reviews at the end of each chapter, they have the important stuff. Know that, write all the little stuff down for the notebook quizzes. English, Psych, ToK keep your head up, a lot of it’s crap, stay awake for the moments of reality: They’re amusing. If you are just plain Goofy and chose Chemistry, I hope you like S&M, if you do… Heeeeheeeeeeeh; if you don’t, good God above: you will soon.

About the Motivation; words from the Asylum: There is no Wall, Music is your friend, with Pink Floyd you can do anything. Find an outlet, whatever, we’re crazy teens with too many hormones, they occasionally get the better of you, you need someplace to let it out. Music has always been good for me; your spill gate may lie somewhere else. The Wall: a fictional boundary of human limitations. There is no such thing, it’s an excuse, we ain’t human: sorry! You can do anything, It is truly as simple as that. Friends are there when you need them, that’s why they’re friends, take what they offer, offer more in return. Friendship is a beautiful thing, treasure your friends, they take care of you the best anyone can. Take this to Heart, You can do Anything.

Gus O’Leary

 

To the Rising Little Sophomore,

Thinking back on this year, I cannot say that I have any profound words of wisdom or advice that will significantly alter your approach to IB this coming fall. However, I do have a few tidbits that serve simply as food for thought. Take heed if you will, I doubt anything will become of it either way.

First of all, if you’re going to take biology that’s perfectly fine, no big deal. But no one wants to hear you complain about it. Yes, you will have to do labs. Yes, you will have to write them up. Guess what? So do the other sciences — Labs? Science? Who would have thought? So instead of wasting your classmates’ time by complaining about it and griping that you are losing your precious sleep, just do the thing. It can’t be that hard; everyone else has somehow made it through. But they don’t want to hear about it either.

Next, do your work for Mr. Keers on time, and for Ms. Frisbie for that matter. Better yet, do all your work on time. You’d be surprised at how fast it accumulates. And over the course of a few weeks, losing five points a day will eventually render your ToK work worthless as far as a grade is concerned. But then again, you wind up with a seemingly endless amount of points anyway, so how could a few hundred here and there hurt, right? More so, Ms. Frisbie’s late passes only last for so long, and won’t always work. After a while, even those can’t save you. Too bad you didn’t just do it in the beginning. Of course, I didn’t say you had to do it at home. YJP is a great time to get enough math homework done so that you can do the rest while you review them in class. Oops, my secret is out — don’t tell anyone.

Finally, get a life. And I mean that in the most kind and compassionate way possible. Granted, school is a lot of… fun… and you see everyone here, but there is a world outside it. Hopefully this is not new information. Otherwise, sucks to be you. Go to the movies, each other’s houses, and your teachers’ houses when they’re not there. Do something.

Therefore, I have passed along nothing substantial and nothing too deep. As my penultimate charge to leave you, I tell you to come up with a better essay than this one. It can’t really be all that hard. But lastly, live happy, joke much, write small, procrastinate everything, eat plenty, befriend many, and keep the Faith— then you’ll be one cool kid yourself.

Out of things to say,

1. David Melton, IV

 

Advice to the new (and maybe improved) junior class,

To start off, you should know that this year really is as hard as everyone says it will be. Maybe if you know that going in to the year, it will make it easier to deal with when it actually happens. It was at least twice as hard as the last two years combined. All of your teachers know there is an AP test at the end of the year, so none of them slack off. There will be less free days and such, but it may make it easier to finish your mountains of assignments if you just think about how you are actually learning stuff in all your classes. You would not get that satisfaction of knowing that you are not wasting your time in pointless classes if you dropped out and went to a regular school, so hang in there.

In terms of specific advice, there are several aspects of Mr. Goss’s class that you should know ahead of time. It would be to your extreme advantage to do everything that he tells you. such as use sticky notes in your book, read Pageant and Amsco, and take notes in class. If you do these things this year will be much easier for you. Mr. Goss has been teaching a long time, and he knows what he is talking about, so listen!

In Trig, you should take very good notes. Even if you never read them again, they will help you to understand what Ms. Frisbie is talking about. In addition, you should be sure to right down every single thing that Ms. Frisbie puts on the board, no matter how obscure or simple, because you never know what will turn up on a notebook test. These are easy grades and will bring up your average if you just bother to take good notes. Also, study the review worksheets and the answers before every test as this is an excellent time learn or relearn difficult concepts. If you can, save your late passes to turn in for extra credit at the end of the grading period. Those extra points can be very useful.

As far as your other subjects go, such as English or Psychology, my advice is to not worry about it. They are essentially easy classes and you will not need words of wisdom (such as they are) to pass them. If you were unlucky enough or masochistic enough to have to misfortune for signing up for Chemistry, I again have no advice. You will either fail (if you are normal) or you will ace everything (if you are a Chemistry god). I have not noticed anything that can change this balance, so if you are a normal person in Chemistry, I’m very sorry. Anyway, just try hard, and do your work, and this year should be alright.

Lee Dykxhoorn

 

To the upcoming IB student

Wow. Sounds creepy, doesn’t it? After two years of Pre-IB, you’re finally ready to join the group of big, bad lBers. I know you’ve heard lots about junior year; how its grueling pace and sleepless nights can cause even the most poised to have a total breakdown Well, although this can be true at times, remember to have heart. You’ll soon figure out that when everyone (including the teachers) is suffering with you, you develop new and unusual traits, including a really cool and cynical sense of humor.

What’s that you say? You won’t be able to take it? Well, don’t run off shrieking just yet. Your junior year will bring you just as many good experiences as bad ones. Through all of the hard times, you’ll see yourself getting close to your classmates. Really close. I mean, some of this stuff you really don’t want to know. But still, try to know your class, because it helps. You truly won’t have time to be hating people with all of the work you’ll going to have.

Aside from the help of your classmates, you are also fortunate enough to have advice from me, everybody’s favorite junior! (joke) Remember to always take some time to sit and relax for a minute, no matter how much you have to do. Do anything to get away from it for a bit, but REMEMBER to come back. Otherwise what happens is something called procrastination. It’s not fun; and you get very let down when you remember your work is still sitting there.

Your teachers will be a blast; no matter how boring the subject may be. Goss scared me to death for the first week or so, but then l got used to him. He’s the teacher that will give you both the most happiness and agony of your junior year. He’s neat. Ms. Frisbie is also a lot of fun, and you’ll learn a lot in her class besides trigonometry. Remember to ALWAYS ask her before you use her phone (it was almost a year and a half ago when I made this mistake, and I’m STILL feeling the effects). You’ll have Mr. Keers for ToK and maybe physics. He has a dry sense of humor that makes class interesting. Feel free to take all of the candy you want. If you’re going to have Mrs. Bond this year, work hard. Do your labs and worksheets on time and you’ll be fine. She teaches chemistry well, but only if you’re willing to learn it.

Ms. Barrington’s class is fun, and you get to see all these cool psychology movies about people with multiple personality disorders and antisocial personalities and other morbidly neat stuff. If you will be taking French, remember to be nice to Mrs. Dietert and engage her in conversation. She’s a really cool person to talk to and you get easy homework. lust don’t throw things or sleep in her class, or you’ll get scolded in French, which isn’t fun. Ms. Smith is the English teacher, and you’ll often find that she can tell when you’re having a bad day. She always gives you a five-minute break in the middle of class which proves extremely helpful with undone homework (DON’T procrastinate. You could be socializing during this time).

Well, I guess that’s it. It must feel intimidating that everyone’s telling you not to lose hope and stuff, but don’t think you can’t do it. You won’t realize the huge amount of work you’ll do until you see your junior year in retrospect. It will be over too soon, and before you know it, you’ll be seniors… but don’t think about that just yet. This year is your time to show IB what you’ve got, and you have to concentrate! Good luck!

Lori Shah

 

Math child,

You have a long and difficult journey ahead of you, yet you already know that. This is why you are here. It is a road full of choices, and it is my tasking to see to it that you know what lies ahead. You may believe me, or you may not, you already know which you will do. It is not my place to tell you what to do; I am here only to tell you what lies ahead. That is how it was meant to be, and it would not be any other way. First ponder fate and causality, it will perplex you. If I am here to tell you what lies ahead, would you be here if I was not? Is it because of me that you are in IB Trig and Analytic Geometry, yet this was decided before you met me? Now on to the questions you wanted to know the answers to, and you already knew that I would answer.

The first question is where we will start, as it is the most basic. Yet by virtue of being basic, it lies at the root of other questions, making it intricate and critical. Through the basic question “What is IB?” all other questions arise, and it is no longer basic. This is why the most simple is the most complex. IB is a battle which we fight, a war against ignorance in which you are a pawn. However you have the potential to become much more. Yet I will warn you now that this will not be an easy battle. This ignorance pervades society, and is ingrained into our own minds. What does IB ask of you? Free your mind. Through this you can free others. Yet it could be that your mind is not ready to be freed. Only you know, and if this is how you exist, you have two choices. You can jump out now and return to the life of easy grades and bliss because you know yourself to be a genius. If this is what you want, leave now. Once you follow the path before you, it is not worth it to turn back. If, however, freeing your mind and becoming the best you can are what you want, follow us before you; see how deep the rabbit hole is.

Once you follow this path, struggles await you. Many you have seen in your dreams, many others you have heard of from your predecessors. It is my tasking to be honest; it will not be easy for you. You have two paths you may choose from. This choice is not made, but if you feel you must change from your path, you must do so now while you can. You see before you that procrastination will be your bane. You will not sleep; you will lose sight of the end if you are thrown by this demon. However it is not a must to be this way, you have a choice before you which must be made. You will suffer a blistering attack from the English Journals. You will feel yourself to be at breaking point, yet you are not. If all seems hopeless, you must know that in the sum of all, vocabulary sentences are worth more to your grade than these devils. However, your response, though I see it now, must be played out. You have a path ahead of you, yet it is not set in stone. Follow and be like those ahead, or step out, into your own path. You know what is right.

What you will find difficult, above all else, is to stay the course. Often you will find yourself lost in the dense matting of History, or slipped on the slick Freudian floor of Psychology. Yet you know, as I know, that you can survive. Others will give up, but do not be brought down. Those you most love will wonder why you do not sleep; yet they realize the importance of this battle. As do you. The choice is yours, math child, do as you please. It is only time before next year you become the oracle and write this. In that time there will be a new Matrix, released since the date this was written, May 15th 2003, when I saw Reloaded (as if my writing doesn’t tell you). Do you hear that, little math child? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your stress. Goodbye, little math child.

Always more prophetic than pathetic,

Ben Grossman

 

To the students who will soon be taking Ms. Frisbie’s trigonometry class:

Good luck.

No, seriously, you will probably learn more in her class than you have learned in any one other teacher’s class if you only apply yourself a little. Come to class with an attitude of respect and respect will be shown to you in return; trigonometry was a subject in which I was actually taught the material, rather than merely presented with it and expected to memorize it. That happens as a result of good teaching; the same thing will happen to you in Mr. Goss’ AP American History class. You have a lot of good things to look forward to.

However, you have a lot of challenges that are waiting for you, too. For many of you, eleventh grade will be very difficult. For others of you, it will be extremely difficult. I say this not to scare you, or even really to warn you. I say this because I want you to know that you are up for the challenge and you can achieve everything you want to achieve in the upcoming school year. Whenever you feel like the pressure is on… don’t do anything like quitting your sports team. Don’t hesitate to join clubs that you feel you should join. And, above all, don’t forget about your friends. I used to think that being at the top of my class meant cutting of social ties. Because I believed it, it happened. All it takes is one phone call a day to let someone know you still think about him (or her).

The last subject you need to be aware of is the ease by which you can change who you are without even trying to. You must be intentional every day to be who you want to be. Take time every now and then for a little self-evaluation. It’s called ideals — that which you glorify in your mind and will eventually become.

I’ll close with a quote that I heard on a weekend church retreat that really changed me for the better. Good luck next year, juniors — enjoy it all while keeping the end in mind.

“The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart, this you will live your life by. This you will become.”

 David Bentley

 

Dear incoming juniors,

Over the past school year Bartow High, I have learned many valuable lessons. The classes where I probably made the most mistakes and were English, trigonometry, and biology. Heed my advice or you will probably suffer the same fate as I did during my junior year.

In English, make sure you get on Ms. Smith’s good side or she will probably dislike you the rest of the year and it will show on your grades. Second thing, when she gives you journal questions actually do them when she gives them to you and do not wait until the night before they are due. If you wait you will rush the answers and will get terrible grades like 0/50 or 25/50. Also read the book she gives you. This will help you on the journals, tests, and pop quizzes she likes to give to her classes.

In trig, do all of your homework and do it correctly! I lost count of the amount of points I lost because I did the homework really fast, especially the homework about vectors. Vectors were the toughest section to me in the whole year. So make sure you pay extra attention during those class periods. Also another piece of advice is to take very good notes in order to do well on the notebook quizzes that she gives every nine weeks. Last but not least, study the guide she posts on the website for each of the tests. The study guide will ensure you of getting an A if you practice the problems and see what you are doing wrong.

The last subject I have had trouble in all year was biology. The tests are extremely difficult. Start studying a week in advance in hopes of making a B on the tests. When you reach the human structure section, I wish you good luck on all of the worksheets and invest in many different biology and anatomy books so you can answer all the questions that are not answered in the nose order book. Also anytime Mrs. Kennon mentions extra credit, jump on it and do it right away. This is the only thing that will keep your grade afloat and keep you out of the C range for your nine weeks and semester grades.

Overall have fun. Don’t stress out over anything and just go with the flow. In all of the rest of the class is procrastinating is fine, actually I feel that it’s better since you won’t have stress over the weeks you were doing in it but instead just that day, night, lunch period, etc. History tests are simple and need no studying, the same goes for any other class you have. The time you slack off in other classes should be used for the three classes that I have mentioned above. Have fun being juniors!

Your older classmate,

Matt Schichtel

 

The (however many I can talk about in 20 minutes) pillars of ib (yes “ib” not “IB”) I know, I know you’re just getting over the shack and sheer “amusement” of Dr. Vetter knowing everything about everything, but well face — the pillars are what keep us together, and it’s about time you sorry slackers (sad… but that’s more of a compliment than an insult) learned about the heritage of Bah-TOE eye bee.

Most likely the first thing you’re going to hear the upcoming year is Dr. Vetter’s voice. Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection to that. However the second, or next to second if you have some people with annoyingly loud voices in your class, thing you will hear concerns some archaic word, buried under layers of misuse — “procrastination.” What’s this word mean? Hmm. All I have to say is that procrastination and the necessary slacking connoted and required by the word is a godsend. However I warn you, only attempt to harness the antediluvian powers of procrastination. if you’re sure you can handle it, far grave things have happened to those who irreverently took up the “powers” as their own — they have suffered strange dreams, and even stranger growths. Yeah… why do you think Dr. Vetter always wears a suit…?

The second pillar: “All who enter the sacrosanct (yet unbelievably filthy) halls of this here bah-toe high school, I beee, must make or at least attempt to make a hajj, to Mr. Rhoden’s room. Yes, Mr. Rhoden, one of the prime keepers of the faith, the one whose shirt is always much too tight and whose incessant jokes make people fall, again and again and again out of their chairs.” St. J. Rhoden — the floor is quite hard.

The third pillar: “All who be coming to I-be must look in the general direction of Dr. Katz’s office (and math department and, yep, the science dept. too) five times a day, in order to honor the few geniuses that consecrate and simultaneously teach (wow… crazy skills) within the United Classrooms of ib.”

In closing, the people do and ordain that the pillars will be adhered to… (hah… just have fun). Good luck.

Vivek Gowda

 

To any upcoming sophomore, who may just be a little ahead in math and science, I wish to impart some advice to you for a successful year. I am sure that you are intelligent and motivated, in some cases unhealthily, but nevertheless, you will find challenges in classes, experience problems that may fluster you, and receive test grades that may anger you to the point of wanting to just give up. But seriously, if you didn’t expect this stuff, then why did you come to IB? Just take it all in stride and don’t stress yourself out.

In Ms. Frisbie’s (aka the Friz) Trig/Analyt, you will definitely learn a great deal about math, but at the same time, you’ll learn about non-math stuff, some of which is informative, and some which of which is just funny. Of course you’ll find that she is real smart, but nevertheless, she is NOT a genius (just an inside joke in our class). There are two big mistakes that you can make in this class. Firstly, don’t just take notes, take good notes. This is essential because it makes you pay attention, helps you with your homework, and most importantly — allows you to pass the quarterly notebook tests. Trust me; you won’t remember everything on those tests. Secondly, you have to do your homework because just doing well on tests won’t get you a good grade. Plus, when you do your homework, you are preparing yourself for the tests, and you can spend time doing something other than trying to learn formulas the night before.

And then there is Mr. Rhoden for World History. He’s a great guy and is full of random information about wars and politics. Read the chapters in the book. His notes don’t cover all the material he will put on the tests, and the quizzes will be only from book material. Take your time on the tests because there is always a question that is oddly worded, and if you find a question that is ambiguous, tell him about it and more than likely he will consider throwing it out. If your class is anything like ours, you will spend half the class period arguing with him about the integrity of the questions.

Your class won’t have Senora Salcedo, so it wouldn’t be helpful if I told you about her teaching style. It is imperative beyond other things to review vocabulary and grammar as it is when learning any other language. Language is cumulative, and it is not worth the stress to miss points on tests for simple vocabulary words or for forgetting what at all the subjunctive pertains to.

If you happen to take Physics as your Higher Level Science, by the end of the year, you will probably be laughing at your friends who decided to take Biology. Physics is probably the science at IB that entails the least amount of work, but still, you definitely can’t slack off in the class. If you do, you may find yourself eternally behind and with numerous exercises and labs to turn in late at the end of the year (if you wish to follow this route, ask Chuck and Wade for advice). The multiple choice portions of the tests are difficult because Mr. Keers throws old IB and AP questions in there, but they will prepare you for later. And of course, as everyone knows, if you do find yourself on the borderline of the grade you want, there will always be enough extra credit to carry you over.

And I’ll finish with Mrs. Hardee. Well, English this year wasn’t quite what I expected as every sophomore class before ours had Mr. Graffam as their teacher. But in her class, the papers you will write count more than you can imagine. One bad grade on a paper can shoot your A down easily. And besides these analytical papers and creative writing, you will have an occasional quiz, an occasional test, and occasional worksheet. Just be prepared for anything. One last thing, STUDY for the Literary Vocab. Tests. These tests are unannounced, and they can make or break your grade just as easily as a paper you write for her.

Good Luck. It’s hard now, but later on, the effort will be worth it.

Stephen Smith