I’d like to try to get at least two 7s on my IB Exams. Specifically, I’m aiming for 7s in English and History. 6 years ago

History HL: 7
English HL: 6
Math Studies SL: 6
Theatre HL: 5
Spanish SL: 5
Physics: 4

And my certificate in Psychology SL: 5. I’m really surprised at that one. I must have made a mistake somewhere.

I am very pleased that I got a 7 in History; I was hoping for it. I knew I was on the verge for English. I suppose that day I just didn’t have the last bit of brilliance that could have pushed me over. I am also quite pleased with Math Studies, though I was sure I’d get a 5 at least.

I am rather surprised at Spanish; I thought 4 was more my category, though I’m right on for Theatre. I thought I might get a 5 for Physics, but I’m glad I reached my goal and passed. The Paper 3 questions (other than mechanics) were freaking hard. My surprise about Psychology, though, hasn’t abated. I thought I would get a 6 at least.

For TOK I earned an A, and a B on my EE. Reading over it a few months later, there were some typos that somewhat drastically affected some things that I didn’t catch, but I’d like to know the reasoning. In any case I got three extra points for that, bringing my total up to 36 (24 is passing).

I wish I knew the component scores. Maybe when they send them in the mail I’ll know what I got for my IA’s and so forth.

I am not as disappointed as I thought if I didn’t get 7’s. One is nothing to sneeze at, and I passed everything. Hell, 6’s are hard to get. I’d been having dreams where alternately I didn’t recieve my diploma and then got three sevens. I’m glad for the happy medium. 6 years ago

I’m so excited! 6 years ago

the scores come out! 6 years ago

Rocked the essay, though in retrospect there are some things I could have explained better. I talked about Bandura’s reciprocal determinism and how it can explain the behavior of oppressed people in certain situations. Chechnian separatists vs. U.S. African-Americans until the Civil Rights Movement.

Instant culture points! Just add water!

Short answers…not so good. I did Loftus for the methodology one and talked about independent measures experimentation, and then language for the question of how biology enhances learning perspective, specifically surrounding the case study Genie (where her use of language can only be fully explained using a composite of Skinner’s stimulus-response and Chomsky’s language acquisition device). I have no idea what I wrote for the last one.

Tomorrow is Paper 2. My school studied abnormal psych, so now I’m brushing up on the DSM-IV, anorexia, and depressive disorders. 7 years ago

Oh, my god. Dess.

That was brutal. Also I discussed my answer on the slavery question with my teacher, and he says I won’t get more than a 5 on it because I “didn’t consider all the implications.” Well, the bastards that wrote the question did NOT indicate that they wanted more than one country with slavery to be discussed. So I just wrote on the US, even though I knew Brazil too. Damn it.
The questions I chose were evaluating the successes and failures of Eisenhower’s foreign policy (they definitely wrote that he was president from 1952 to 1960, even though he was in power from 1953 to 1961—my teacher’s going to protest it), the political and economic factors of independence for two countries (the American colonies and Brazil), and then the pro-slavery arguments of the 1800s with respect to economic, religious, and legal arguments. Apparently they also spelled Reagan’s name wrong, but I ran from that question because I don’t know the end of the Cold War very well, though I could have done a decent job on it.

I did much better for Paper 2, yesterday. I answered the question on propaganda in a single party state (for Hitler), and the relationship of Cuba in the Cold War from 1959 onward. Something like that. That one was also vague as to how far they wanted us to discuss Cuba, and I only briefly mentioned its ongoing existence and stopped with the actual events after 1963. 7 years ago

Paper 3 History, but it has not been a full day yet for some of the world, and I really do not want to invalidate my tests by relating what I wrote. Standby.

On Physics, though:
Paper 1: I’ll be surprised if I don’t get a 7 on it. It was easier than the practice test, and I got a 6 on that.
Paper 2: Um…no. I managed to learn everything about atomic physics that the syllabus covered except for remembering what the lambda meant in the decay formulas. IT WAS THE FRICKIN’ DECAY CONSTANT! So I bit it.
Paper 3: Mechanics and Energy Extension, even though we did not cover renewable resources at ALL and the graph could have been charting, I don’t know, something not at all related to Physics. And written in Arabic. (Actually I think the current English alphabet was influenced by Arabic letters…but I digress.) Mechanics was amazingly easy, though. And a 50% (which is what I expect on Paper 3) is a 5 in Physics (roughly). So perhaps I have a chance for a decent score. 7 years ago

...today. Last night I crammed for hours as I waited for my sister to have her hair cut and dyed like Amelie. I know nuclear physics very well, thermodynamics very well, mechanics pretty well…and now I need to review electromagnetism and waves. I suck at waves. I hate waves. Everything is a wave.

As a side note, I could not imagine an easier question on English Paper 2 than 1b. Honestly. Only three people in my class did NOT answer it (a kid took a poll right before we left). I talked about Ibsen’s A Dollhouse and Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, how basically Ibsen and Wilde have the same social goal (to show how traditional ideas about men and women, and specifically romance and marrigae, suck) with their plays, but they go about it in different ways.

But yeah, Physics now. And then tomorrow, Physics Paper 3 (I’m thinking I’ll do mechanics and atomic theory) AND History Papers 1 and 2. My poor history teacher banged his head against the wall when I said I was studying for Physics instead. I hope I will do well. I’m very good at document tests (Paper 1), but I don’t know as much as I should about single party rulers (one of our areas for Paper 2).

Blech. Updates pending. 7 years ago

is an accelerated program originally started as a standardized education for diplomats’ children in the fifties. The headquarters is in Wales, and the emphasis is on international understanding. Thus all of our (external) exams are shipped out of whatever country we reside in to be graded. The program is taught in English, Spanish, and French (or at least that’s the languages the student MUST test in, so the Korean students, for example, may be taught in Korean but still have to write their tests in one of the three languages). Taking a foreign language is mandatory for all students—I’m doing Spanish.

The six areas of testing are: Language A (for me, English), Language B (Spanish), Science (Physics), Math (a special IB course called Math Studies, which is basically super-algebra+pre-calc), Arts (Theatre, for me), and History (for me, History of the Americas and 20th-century History). These count for the IB diploma, which colleges like and will sometimes give credit for.

I am also taking a certificate, a seventh course, in IB Psychology. This means I will take SEVEN tests in May. Since each test covers information from the past two years, this basically means I will die; the only way it could be worse is if I was taking Higher Level math.

The credit for the whole courses are graded on a 1-7 scale. 4 is passing, and 7 ranks about 99.98%. You have to be GOOD to get a 7.

And that’s why I want it. I’m aiming for one in History, but I probably won’t get it. For the final exams, we have three sessions (three “papers”, as they call it) to write six or so essays—a document test, three essays on History of the Americas (which I took last year), and two on 20th Century History, as well as an Internal Assessment paper I wrote last year on Kwame Nkrumah’s single party rule of Ghana. I’m not expecting that great of a score on it because I drew heavily from one source, because no one in the West thinks Africa is actually worth studying in detail. Well, one British guy did.

The other area I’m hoping for, and am pretty sure I’m going to get, is English. Last year’s IA was an extemporaneous poetry explication, and I got Sylvia Plath’s “The Colossus”. I got 25 minutes to take notes beforehand (5 more than allowed, because the kid ahead of me got a nosebleed, but I was good with that because my right thumb was broken at the time and I was writing notes tortuously with my left hand). I will be very surprised if I don’t get a seven on that IA.

My other hoped-for scores: Spanish-4—I should be more committed, but I’m really not
Physics-5 or 6-Physics is scored so that if I get 70% of the test correct, that’s a 7. The highest anyone has ever scored on a Physics IB exam is 83%. Last year only three of the 20 Physics kids at my school got a 6, and no one got a 7. I know those kids. They’re frickin’ amazing. I can barely pull a B in that class (which is 68%-an a is 75% or up).
Psychology-6 or 7—although it is just a certificate, not one of the Big Six. I COULD have used it for my IB science area, but I like Physics way too much. My teacher already told me that one of my practice short answers would have been a 7 (three short answers and an essay for Psych). I know the material. I’m confident, though Psychology has one of the lowest worldwide averages since it is graded harshly.
Math Studies-5, maybe a 6?—despite liking physics, I do NOT like math for math’s sake, and my MS class is at too low of a level to be anything but that.
Theatre-4—Ha! I took HL theatre because I loved working on the shows sophomore year. I have never hated a class more. Theatre, more than any other subject, is about the group dynamic. The class doesn’t give a fuck about me. Therefore I feel unsupported and do not take risks, therefore I suck and don’t try. Therfore I hope to only put in enough effort to pass and nothing more. 7 years ago