What Is An IB Student?

The definition of an IB Student varies depending on different individuals. On a theoretical level, an IB student is someone who has been enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program offered by IBO. 

Essentially, IB Students are the ones who, through their international mindedness and cultural understanding, make the world a better place. At its core, the IB Program, throughout two years, tries to imbibe certain qualities in their students which prepare them to excel in life and have a positive impact on everyone they interact with.

IB has a set of qualities which each of its students develops as they engage in the diploma course. This is known as the IB Learner Profile.

This profile states that every IB student, to some extent, should be:

1. Inquirers

2. Knowledgeable

3. Thinker

4. Communicator

5. Principled

6. Open-Minded

7. Caring

8. Risk Taker

9. Balanced

10. Reflective

However, there are also specific subtle characteristics which define an IB student. Please note that having these characteristics are not a prerequisite for someone to finish the IB Diploma successfully. These characteristics are automatically developed as you go through IB.

A true IB student is:

1. One Who Manages Stress

2. One Who Is Persistent

3. One Who Is Self Aware

4. One Who Can Multitask

5. The One Who Can See The Matrix

Before you go reading, check out this video which shows you a day in the life of IB students

It is not a little known fact that there can be a lot of stress while doing the IBDP program. We dedicated a separate blog in an attempt to quantify the amount of stress that one has to deal with. Stress management is an important aspect to define an IB student. With the multiple assessments and presentations, you need to be calm in your head and work your way through what seems like a never-ending pile of work to graduate IB. Acquiring this quality at such a young age sets you up for a successful life. The stress you experience in IB is nothing compared to what one faces in the real world.

If you are someone who has just graduated from the diploma program, make sure you are well aware of this quality of yours. However, if you are someone who is just about to begin their IB journey, then you should not be intimidated by the amount of coursework that you will be expected to do. All of IB is designed to make you a better individual and get you one step closer to success in life.

If you are starting with your IB journey, then you should be aware that your second year of IB will be more important than the first. Which also means that it is going to be a little more challenging and thus will bring more stress in your life. This is because the first year is more like a rehearsal where you are getting ready for the big show. Second-year of IB will have you submit your Extended Essays, Theory Of Knowledge Presentations and finally your IB exams. Stress management is one of the qualities that you should have  (or if not, should work towards developing). If you wish to enjoy your second year of IBDP and are keen on learning stress management techniques, then it is recommended that you keep a journal and jot down a to-do list regularly. Being organised plays a vital role in managing stress and will pay you well in the long run. Long story short, being an IB student means you are someone who can work in stressful situations or you are at least willing to develop the ability to tolerate stress!

When it comes to successfully graduating your diploma program, perseverance is that one dedicating factor.  Be it in the form of Internal Orals, or submission of your assessments, the journey of IB requires you to tackle academic barriers every week. Needless to say that a lot of time, one is unable to understand what is necessary to do in the first go. Therefore having a persistent mindset and being someone who comes back to difficult topics and situations time and again is essential. To be an IB student, you must have that level of engagement with your subjects that you do not shy away from decoding the difficult subjects regardless of how much time it takes. It is good practice to have a revision plan from the very start to create that kind of quality within you.

Moreover, being persistent pays off in any field of your IB. Once you graduate IB, you will understand the importance of persistence as it will help you curate a work ethic for your college and professional life. Persistency also plays a massive role in helping you write quality essays as you get in a habit of revisiting your drafts and fine-tuning them. Thus, as an IB student, you become eloquent in documenting your thoughts. 

The holistic nature of IBDP makes sure that you get a taste of all the possible academic files available. Since the program offers six subject groups to choose your subjects from, you get a sense of the subject group which resonates with you the most. This not only helps you decide your major for your college but also helps in putting a finger on your interests. IB students are extremely aware of their likes and dislike mainly due to the exposure that they get early on in their lives. Not to mention the extracurricular that one indulges in Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) pushes the students to go out of their comfort zone and explore the kind of person that they want to be. To be an IB student definitely means having a never-ending nag to explore and discover things about the world and also about yourself.

Time management is an essential aspect for graduating the IB program. However, what is even more important than managing your time is the ability to do multiple things at the same time. I am not only talking about doing various IB related things simultaneously. Every student enrolled in the program has a life outside of IB as well. IB at times can be overwhelming and leave you with no time for attending to your duties. However, it is imperative that you are not carried away with this over imposing nature of the diploma and take care of essential matters like finishing up your college application and preparing for extra exams like SAT and TOEFL which will aid you in your college application. Multitasking is a skill which comes in handy a lot of times. To become someone who can multitask gracefully, you should have the ability to prioritise everything you are engaged in. Also, keep in mind that these priorities change over time. For instance, in your first year of IB, your priority should be keeping up with the assignments and your subjects however the second year of your IB must have you focusing on researching about your college and applying for admission. During this time, you would also have to submit the final draft of your Extended Essay and Theory Of Knowledge presentation, along with taking your final exams. It is then you should play your multitasking card and manage all of these critical activities simultaneously. As an IB student, you should always be willing to take more than what you can keep on your plate while being careful not to drop anything!  

One of the less spoken about qualities of IB is that everything seems to connect towards the end. The subjects you study from varies groups suddenly appear to be interdisciplinary and seem to complement each other very well. The activities you did for CAS unexpectedly help you writing your Physics and Maths Internal Assessments. And most importantly, Theory Of Knowledge which seems to make no sense in the starting of the diploma program becomes that thread which connects everything.

Being an IB student makes you understand that the world cannot be segregated into different shades. It is, in fact, multidimensional, and everything is eccentrically connected. Having this kind of mindset makes you more imaginative and helps you find solutions to daunting problems by applying methods that were not the obvious answer. To be an IB student is to have the ability to take up any challenge, regardless of how out of the world it may seem and having the faith within yourself to come up with a best possible solution.

It is essential to know that there are no pre-required characteristics that one should have before enrolling in the IB Diploma. All of the characteristics mentioned above, along with the IB learners profile are attributes that one is encouraged to develop throughout the course. All these qualities are organically promoted within students because of the way IB is structured. All it takes to be an IB student is the willingness to discover who is it that you want to be.

While you are on your journey of going through IB, we at Nail IB want to offer you the best help that we can. We want Nail IB to be your virtual companion to hustle through IB. We have a lot of helpful blogs which will help you navigate your way through IB. Apart from our blogs, we offer "Take A Test" module, which allows IB students to evaluate their level in the IB Program. Make sure to try a test and see your strengths and weaknesses. And finally, to make sure that you have all the resources that you might need to nail IB, we have curated exclusive student bundles for your convenience.