The IB Diploma. The very utterance of the words sends chills down the spines of prospective IB Diploma candidates, and makes others hyperventilate and foam at the mouth. As the highest level of academic excellence offered at Annandale High School, who would put such a difficult task on themself?

The IB Diploma should be sought after by students, especially in a world where admissions to colleges are getting more and more competitive. In comparison to other schools around the nation, Annandale’s IB program is quite small. With only about 60 students, Annandale’s IB program pales in comparison to other similarly sized schools that have a 50% or higher IB Diploma achievement rate.

The IB Diploma generally requires that students take at least 3 IB HL classes and 3 IB SL classes, along with CAS hours and an extended essay. CAS is a online profile that an IB candidate updates to track all of the student’s activities and community service hours, along with evidence that the student actually did all of those activities. The extended essay is a 4000 word essay on a topic of the student’s choice.

With such rigorous requirements, one can see how many students can be reluctant to try to get an IB Diploma. There is much more commitment to the program than the AP program, where students simply take an AP class and then take an AP exam. IB students have to be involved within the school, tackle various supplements of the diploma, and take IB exams at the end of the year. A feat that many students think is too hard for them to handle.

However in actuality the diploma is not that hard to do. The biggest challenge students have in pursuing the IB Diploma is themselves. Time management is the most essential skill to have when tackling the Diploma. There will be nights where you have to stay up, and there will be times where you feel overwhelmed, but you will never break down or find the Diploma impossible to obtain. All you need is determination, tenacity, and hard work ethic.

The mentality that many high school students have is “why do it now if you can do it later.” This proves disastrous, especially for huge projects that teachers give several weeks to do, and students hold it off to the last minute to finish.

There are many other skills that students will find useful to have in pursuing the IB Diploma, but the fact of the matter is that a mindset to finish everything as early as possible is the most important asset you will need to get an IB Diploma. Why procrastinate now when you can do it later?