Student Life at International School Bangkok

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Student Life at International School Bangkok

PantherNation

Student Life at International School Bangkok

PantherNation

The Value of Practice

The+Value+of+Practice

The final IB exams are probably the most stressful and time consuming, but also the most important part of the IB diploma.  In the days leading up to the exams, ISB students are provided with time off from school to study, the support of teachers and parents, and as of this year, an organized mock examination session.

This year’s mock exams will begin on the 18th of March, with the last exam taking place on the following Friday.  The mock session is pre-planned and scheduled.  According to Dean of Academics & IB Coordinator Mr. Philip Rogers, this organization will remove the chaos that seniors experienced last year when “teachers were trying to give mock exams in April, leading into the May exams,” and “because there was no schedule to it, students had up to 3 exams in one day that were not even the right length.”

Furthermore, Mr. Rogers pointed out that because there are “multiple sections of say, HL Language and Literature, the integrity of last year’s mocks may have been compromised.”  In order to make the mocks a more formal scenario, the school is “giving students the opportunity to experience what it is like to do an exam with all 172 students in the room together.”

Many students see the importance in the mock exams and the benefits of having an organized mock schedule.  One such student is Calvin Schaunard (12) who believes that mocks are “extremely important” because they “let students know what the IB exams will be like so they are not surprised in the end.”  Kevin Moze (12) agrees with this point and mentioned that it is very beneficial to “get a taste of what the real exams will be like.”

With the organized mock schedule in place, Calvin has “no concerns about mocks other than the fact that they may negatively affect his grade if he does poorly.”  Molly Griffiths (12) appreciates that the mocks are well organised but also added that “some teachers could have been more organised and started reviewing the work earlier so that the students can be more prepared.”  She is worried as “there are only three weeks left until mocks, and some of her teachers have not yet started reviewing.”

Another concern is about how mock exams will work for the couple of eleventh graders that are in second year IB classes.  According to Mr. Rogers, the decision has been made and “those Juniors will be asked to sit the mocks as it is a good practice.”  If they wish, ”they can take one day off to study, this being the day before their exam.”

ISB has worked hard to schedule the mock exams despite there not really being a perfect place in the already busy ISB calendar.  Mr. Rogers explained that they “have modeled what ISM and JIS do so that the timing is similar because we have similar things to work around such as CC and second and third season IASAS.”  Still, the scheduling is not perfect.

The mock exams are obviously not exactly the same as the final exams because ISB “cannot allocate three weeks for mocks as it does with the IB exams.”  However, “[they] can allocate a period of time where students get a similar paper to the one they will see in the final exams.”

In summary, Mr. Rogers stated that the mock exams “provide students with an opportunity to experience what the final IB exam will look like and feel like.”  That way, when they walk into the final IB exams in May they will be able to say “I have been here before.  I know what it feels like.  And yes, I can do this.”

Antonina (Tosia) L and Lily G

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The Value of Practice