Our ibdp class of 2021 give us their insights into the programme!

Yara came to Ireland in 2018, after she did TY, she decided to do the IB. Now that her time at Villiers School is behind her, she looks back on a few experiences.

Published  April 23rd 2021

When I came to Ireland in 2018, my English skills were far from what they are now. For me, it was my first time to live in a boarding school and away from home. Now, almost three years later, just before completing the IBDP, I can say that I have had an unforgettable time here. 

Every year, my experience was somehow different. TY or rather ITY helped me to improve my English skills, get used to a different school system and to make friends. Sometimes I yearn to go back to the days when I could binge-watch a whole series at the weekend without being in trouble for not doing my homework on the following Monday... 

With the start of 5th year and the IB, I had to change these habits… I had a lot more work and stress, not comparable to the stress in 6th year, but it helped me to get used to the pressure. In 5th year there were five people in our class and I found it especially interesting because we are all from different nations (Ireland, Germany, Russia, Thailand and France). Before the coronavirus outbreak, we were still able to go on many fun excursions. For example, we visited the Ecovillage in Cloughjordan; we went on a weekend trip to Dublin for a history festival; and we decided to do a teambuilding trip at the local karting park. Sadly, we couldn’t say goodbye in person to two of our students who had to move on. However, our virtual farewell wasn’t too bad… We finished 5th year remotely and luckily 6th year started in person again. 

After living at home for approximately 5 months, I came back to Ireland. The pressure, as well as the number of assignments rose quickly. Fortunately, my Extended Essay was mainly written over the summer break when I also finished some other projects. I would say that the first year of IB prepares you for what’s coming in the second year. When I was in 5th year, I could never understand why the 6th years always looked so tired. After all my 5 AM or night-time working-sessions, I do understand it. Trying to get all of the IA's done, as well as homework and other projects, like TOK or CAS, can be very exhausting, no question.  Nevertheless, I’m confident to say that the IB already taught me so much and hopefully I will never forget the skills I have gained so far! Writing all kinds of texts, working under time pressure and being open-minded are probably the most valuable assets that I bring into each day. 

Valeriia first came to Villiers school for TY in 2018. During TY, she decided to do IBDP. Valeriia graduated and now wants to share her experience of IBDP.

Published  April 30th 2021

Coming to study in Ireland was one of the best and craziest decisions that I made in my life so far. I could write a whole book on everything that has happened during these three years. However, I want to focus on the most difficult time that I went through during my IB “journey”. My main focus will be the Internal Assessments which is a very important part of IBDP.  

Firstly, what is an Internal Assessment (aka IA)? In simple words, it is a project that you have to do in every subject, which is worth about 20% of the final grade and it is graded by your teachers. In IB you have to do 6 subjects, and therefore, 6 of these projects. We were supposed to start on our IAs at the end of the first year of IB, but because of the coronavirus outbreak, we had to start our IAs in the very beginning of our second year of IB, which, to be honest, was quite stressful. 

1. Languages  

For the Languages our IA is an oral examination. These are the projects that I enjoyed the most, and I found them the least difficult (not saying they were not difficult, because they were). For Language A, your first language (I did Russian Literature with an external tutor, but English speakers do Language and Literature, which is a slightly different course), we had to analyze two texts focusing on global issues. My global issue was the role of women in society. I had to talk about it for 15 minutes which I found challenging, but it was manageable. I can say that I enjoyed it because one of the books that I was talking about was one of my favorite books. For Language B (second language), we were given an extract from a book and we had to analyze it. We were then asked questions by our examiner. The analysis of the extract was definitely easier for me than answering the questions, because I like analyzing books and extracts. I actually enjoyed doing this oral because I also like speaking.  

2. History  

My History IA included lots of research. Due to my IB experiences, I learnt that I like researching topics I am interested in. Luckily, the topic I selected was just that, and I produced good work. As a person who speaks English as their second language, I found it difficult to put my thoughts together but my teacher was able to guide me and gave me very good advice on how to formulate my thoughts.  

3. Sciences  

For the past two years, Biology has been my favorite subject. But, the IA for the science subjects were some of the most difficult ones. Writing up the experiments into a document was fine, but the experiments themselves were hard and time-consuming. For all of the science subjects, I had to do my experiment at least twice. I would spend a whole week in the lab after school and once, I gave up my weekend and spent the whole weekend in the lab. It was an interesting but very exhausting experience.  

4. Mathematics  

Not going to lie, the Mathematics IA was the hardest for me. Of course, you have to do some calculations and graphs for the investigation, but you also have to analyze it and show the examiner that you understand why and what you are doing. Math is not my best subject, so I have to admit that sometimes I don’t understand the basics. At times, my brain went into overload. But it taught me one of the most important things: everything is achievable if you really want it and put the effort in.