Features
IB program stressful but worth it
Published on Thu, May 27, 2010 by Sara BruestleRead More Features
As a band student in the full IB (High School International Baccalaureate) program, Melanie Llona would go to school from 6:30 to 3 p.m., get home, do homework for 6-8 hours, and then go to bed.
“Free time was the thing of the past,” she said. “I didn’t have any time at all outside of working and doing homework. I couldn’t hang out with friends and do normal teenager things.”
For Llona, a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, six IB courses, plus band, jazz band and practice once a week with the Cascade Youth Symphony was too much. She said she was loving the IB program but stressed to the max.
Because she was studying so much, she got sick often, slept for 4.5 hours a night, needed back and neck therapy from hunching over homework, and got tendonitis in her arms from writing notes.
“It’s a very, very good program, and she chose to be in it for all the right reasons, but it’s painful to watch your child in pain,” said Sherri Llona, Melanie’s mom.
The High School International Baccalaureate program at Edmonds-Woodway offers college-preparation courses that meet worldwide standards to juniors and seniors in the Edmonds School District.
Those worldwide standards are rigorous in comparison to today’s standards in U.S. instruction, said IB coordinator Kathy Ludgate.
“When I look at the expectations for the IB program, I feel they match the expectations that I had in a private Catholic school,” said Ludgate, who also teaches senior IB history. “The program started in Europe, so the expectations are European as opposed to U.S. expectations.”
In the IB program, students choose to either be a full-diploma or a certificate student.
Full-diploma students are required to take six IB courses, an additional Theory of Knowledge course, write a 4,000-word essay and complete 150 hours of creativity, action and service (CAS).
For certificate students, the program functions similar to the Advanced Placement program. Students usually take 2-4 courses and do not fulfill the remaining IB-program requirements.
“It is stressful for some students,” Ludgate said. “It takes an exceptional student, quite truly, to be a full-diploma student and to take six classes, which are in essence equivalent to freshman- and sophomore-level college classes.”
She said it is especially stressful to students who are in the program not because they want to be but because they feel pressured by their family or peers, and for students who lack time-management skills.
“For students without the responsibility or time-management skills, it’s not for them at all,” said senior and IB student Kelly Nichols-Hoppe. “Keeping up on the work every day and making sure you learn from the assignments… is a big part of the stress.”
Probably the most stressful time for IB students is from May 4-24 when Edmonds-Woodway is administering the IB exams, Ludgate said. Each exam tests a student’s knowledge of an IB subject and lasts from 3-6 hours over the course of two days.
“It’s a pretty massive examination period, as you can imagine, when the kids are stressed and exhausted,” she said. “During this month, the kids would be taking one or two of these exams a day, and then they have to go home and make sure they studied for the next day’s exams.”
Why do students sign up for such a rigorous program? A majority of colleges in the United States rate a student’s grades in college-preparation courses, such as the IB and AP programs, as the top factor in admissions. IB and AP students also get college credit and qualify for a long list of scholarships.
At the start of the program at Edmonds-Woodway in 1996, 25 percent of IB students were full-diploma while 75 percent were certificate, Ludgate said. Today, 75 percent of the 250 or so students in the program are full-diploma and only 25 percent are certificate.
Melanie Llona switched from the full-diploma to the certificate program when she was a junior. Instead of six IB courses, she’s now taking four. She said she knows a lot of students who choose to do the same.
“The program itself is fantastic,” she said. “I love my classes, I love my teachers, I love that I work with students who care about school just as much as I do. I just would recommend the partial program and not necessarily the full program.”
Ludgate said students involved in clubs, sports or music at Edmonds-Woodway usually aren’t full-diploma students because of the difficulty of fitting it all into their schedules. However, she said, the required 150 CAS hours is designed to give students a counterbalance to all their studying.
“Sometimes kids look at it as something extra, when in reality it’s to ensure that a student not just become an academic kid in front of a computer, and to get involved in the lives of their school and their community,” she said.
Nichols-Hoppe, who is taking five IB courses, said she cut back on the extracurriculars she did starting in 11th grade, including music and sports. She cut out sports completely in 12th grade.
Melanie Llona admits that she tends to underestimate how busy she’ll be and over does it with school, work and band. But she said her only regret is that she didn’t switch to the certificate program sooner.
“It’s given me a chance to take courses that were more advanced than honors courses, which is great because it challenges me and keeps me really interested in school,” Nichols-Hoppe said. “It’s very stressful, there’s a lot of time-intensive work that goes into it, and the tests are hard … but I think it’s totally worth it.”
Sherri Llona said she wishes Edmonds-Woodway had presented the certificate program as just as viable an option as the full-diploma program. She said Melanie felt pressured to sign up as a full-diploma student.
She recommends that students interested in the IB program – especially those with outside interests – think carefully about signing up and research both the full-diploma and certificate programs so they know what they’re getting into.
“They really have to think about whether they want their child to go through that much stress,” she said. “There are definitely children that flourish in the program, [but] as a parent of a child who wants to do other things outside of school too, I think the partial program is more effective.”
Ludgate agrees that it’s important for students to discuss their capabilities with their families before signing up either as a full-diploma or certificate student, adding that Edmonds-Woodway supports both choices equally.
“I think sometimes students are so excited at grade eight when they’re thinking about [the IB program] that they think it’s a smorgasbord; they think they can eat it all,” she said. “And then they actually begin to get into the school work and they realize ‘My expectations of what I can do are a little higher and I should cut back.’”
If IB students are feeling stressed, Ludgate invites them to contact her at 425-431-6164 or Theory of Knowledge teacher David Quinn at 425-431-6168.
For more information on the IB program at Edmonds-Woodway, go online to http://staff.edmonds.wednet.edu/ewhs/.
“Free time was the thing of the past,” she said. “I didn’t have any time at all outside of working and doing homework. I couldn’t hang out with friends and do normal teenager things.”
For Llona, a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, six IB courses, plus band, jazz band and practice once a week with the Cascade Youth Symphony was too much. She said she was loving the IB program but stressed to the max.
Because she was studying so much, she got sick often, slept for 4.5 hours a night, needed back and neck therapy from hunching over homework, and got tendonitis in her arms from writing notes.
“It’s a very, very good program, and she chose to be in it for all the right reasons, but it’s painful to watch your child in pain,” said Sherri Llona, Melanie’s mom.
The High School International Baccalaureate program at Edmonds-Woodway offers college-preparation courses that meet worldwide standards to juniors and seniors in the Edmonds School District.
Those worldwide standards are rigorous in comparison to today’s standards in U.S. instruction, said IB coordinator Kathy Ludgate.
“When I look at the expectations for the IB program, I feel they match the expectations that I had in a private Catholic school,” said Ludgate, who also teaches senior IB history. “The program started in Europe, so the expectations are European as opposed to U.S. expectations.”
In the IB program, students choose to either be a full-diploma or a certificate student.
Full-diploma students are required to take six IB courses, an additional Theory of Knowledge course, write a 4,000-word essay and complete 150 hours of creativity, action and service (CAS).
For certificate students, the program functions similar to the Advanced Placement program. Students usually take 2-4 courses and do not fulfill the remaining IB-program requirements.
“It is stressful for some students,” Ludgate said. “It takes an exceptional student, quite truly, to be a full-diploma student and to take six classes, which are in essence equivalent to freshman- and sophomore-level college classes.”
She said it is especially stressful to students who are in the program not because they want to be but because they feel pressured by their family or peers, and for students who lack time-management skills.
“For students without the responsibility or time-management skills, it’s not for them at all,” said senior and IB student Kelly Nichols-Hoppe. “Keeping up on the work every day and making sure you learn from the assignments… is a big part of the stress.”
Probably the most stressful time for IB students is from May 4-24 when Edmonds-Woodway is administering the IB exams, Ludgate said. Each exam tests a student’s knowledge of an IB subject and lasts from 3-6 hours over the course of two days.
“It’s a pretty massive examination period, as you can imagine, when the kids are stressed and exhausted,” she said. “During this month, the kids would be taking one or two of these exams a day, and then they have to go home and make sure they studied for the next day’s exams.”
Why do students sign up for such a rigorous program? A majority of colleges in the United States rate a student’s grades in college-preparation courses, such as the IB and AP programs, as the top factor in admissions. IB and AP students also get college credit and qualify for a long list of scholarships.
At the start of the program at Edmonds-Woodway in 1996, 25 percent of IB students were full-diploma while 75 percent were certificate, Ludgate said. Today, 75 percent of the 250 or so students in the program are full-diploma and only 25 percent are certificate.
Melanie Llona switched from the full-diploma to the certificate program when she was a junior. Instead of six IB courses, she’s now taking four. She said she knows a lot of students who choose to do the same.
“The program itself is fantastic,” she said. “I love my classes, I love my teachers, I love that I work with students who care about school just as much as I do. I just would recommend the partial program and not necessarily the full program.”
Ludgate said students involved in clubs, sports or music at Edmonds-Woodway usually aren’t full-diploma students because of the difficulty of fitting it all into their schedules. However, she said, the required 150 CAS hours is designed to give students a counterbalance to all their studying.
“Sometimes kids look at it as something extra, when in reality it’s to ensure that a student not just become an academic kid in front of a computer, and to get involved in the lives of their school and their community,” she said.
Nichols-Hoppe, who is taking five IB courses, said she cut back on the extracurriculars she did starting in 11th grade, including music and sports. She cut out sports completely in 12th grade.
Melanie Llona admits that she tends to underestimate how busy she’ll be and over does it with school, work and band. But she said her only regret is that she didn’t switch to the certificate program sooner.
“It’s given me a chance to take courses that were more advanced than honors courses, which is great because it challenges me and keeps me really interested in school,” Nichols-Hoppe said. “It’s very stressful, there’s a lot of time-intensive work that goes into it, and the tests are hard … but I think it’s totally worth it.”
Sherri Llona said she wishes Edmonds-Woodway had presented the certificate program as just as viable an option as the full-diploma program. She said Melanie felt pressured to sign up as a full-diploma student.
She recommends that students interested in the IB program – especially those with outside interests – think carefully about signing up and research both the full-diploma and certificate programs so they know what they’re getting into.
“They really have to think about whether they want their child to go through that much stress,” she said. “There are definitely children that flourish in the program, [but] as a parent of a child who wants to do other things outside of school too, I think the partial program is more effective.”
Ludgate agrees that it’s important for students to discuss their capabilities with their families before signing up either as a full-diploma or certificate student, adding that Edmonds-Woodway supports both choices equally.
“I think sometimes students are so excited at grade eight when they’re thinking about [the IB program] that they think it’s a smorgasbord; they think they can eat it all,” she said. “And then they actually begin to get into the school work and they realize ‘My expectations of what I can do are a little higher and I should cut back.’”
If IB students are feeling stressed, Ludgate invites them to contact her at 425-431-6164 or Theory of Knowledge teacher David Quinn at 425-431-6168.
For more information on the IB program at Edmonds-Woodway, go online to http://staff.edmonds.wednet.edu/ewhs/.