Every junior IB diploma candidate is safe now — they survived October. I understand now why October was a make-it-or-break-it month: the work was piled on and on. There were nights where I needed to remind myself to stop and breathe because I was on the verge of a meltdown. I saw my other fellow IB classmates have those moments, too; but not one of us dropped out of the diploma program.

The horrors of IB that I was told were nothing like what it actually was. There were some who had said, “You are going to be up until three in the morning,” or others who said, “You are going to have a meltdown and cry for hours.” For me neither of those happened. I have yet to stay up until 3 a.m. doing homework. Though I try to do my homework on the weekends, I tackle at least the easy assignments during the weekdays. I have not broken down and cried for hours and hours. There have been times where I have needed a moment, then I think, “I don’t have time to sit here and mope because that’s not going to change anything or get anything done.”

I have realized in IB, time is critical; you never seem to have enough of it. I have learned to split up my time between work, journalism, IB and my family and friends. When the teachers said, “organize your time,” I now realize that is rule No. 1.

The juniors of IB have all in all done well with managing time. Not only have we completed all of our assignments, but we have done CAS (Creativity Action Service) hours as well.

I am not going to lie to future IB sophomores and freshmen that IB is not hard and that it is not stressful, because it is. IB courses have been the first classes where I have tried like crazy just to get a B and where I could get a C on a giant test and be extracted. IB is not the place where you are going to get straight A’s every quarter, but it is the place to truly challenge yourself.

Sophomores thinking about IB: do not listen to the horrors of IB because they are not all true.