DP curriculum tips for MYP's

IB is by far the most challenging and time-consuming curriculum in the world, as it requires a series of projects, assessments, and courses, such as IA's, Extended Essay, CAS, TOK, plus all the courses. Being an extremely demanding curriculum with multiple tasks to complete, it can be easy to fall behind, but rest assured that these tips will help you stay on top of all your IB classes.

Organization and preparation before:

In the Diploma program, it is essential that since the start, you have knowledge of what is expected of you and how to organize yourself in order to achieve those expectations. The Middle Years Program should be a building up preparation for what you will experience in DP, especially in MYP5, when academic responsibilities start to increase, such as, having more assignments, assessments, projects etc. But nothing comes close to the demands in DP. By the end of MYP5, you should have in mind what courses you will choose, and with the guidance of your teachers, select the right classes. Have a plan with your interests, the teachers you enjoy the most. Keep in mind that some universities require certain classes, these can include them being HL for some courses. It is important that you understand how demanding this curriculum is so you can prepare and keep yourself organized in order for you to keep on track, which is not easy with the amount of work.

How to start:

I'm still in the beginning of DP1, so there is still a long way to go, and certainly many things to learn, but what I have picked up so far is, updating your teachers is essential. If you will miss school, you are expected to contact all your teachers letting them know, and to ask for asynchronous work for you to be able to catch up at home. You are expected to hand in your work in time, so if you don't, there will be consequences, and if you do need an extension, ask for it prior the due date.

Choosing your courses will be a quick process but a complex one. When choosing your subjects, you need to be certain that you are choosing the subject for the right reasons and that it is the correct course to choose. Even though you can change it at the start of the DP program, it is an annoying and huge bureaucracy that requires a more complex reason than "I prefer this subject than the other" or "I would rather have this teacher than the other.". Why is it so important that you choose the correct courses? Not only will you have to dedicate yourself and learn that for two years, but also, if you choose all the easiest ones, no university will be interested. At the same time, if you choose all the most challenging courses, you could not get the best IB score, so it is important that you prepare and organize yourself for your choices. Before you choose, have a look at what you would like to study, where, select universities, and research about them, that way you know their requirements, and it will be a more clear path for you in what subject to choose.

Some general tips are, do not, in any circumstances, start piling up work and leave everything at the last minute, complete your work with the time you have, because it becomes an excessive amount of work as it progresses throughout the program. An example would be, get started with your CAS in DP1, because if you don’t pass CAS, you fail IB and won't get your diploma, so it is important that you have it, as you won't have time to in DP2 because of the overload of work. This recently happened in DP2, where DP1's had to hear experiences and advice from them, in getting on with CAS and Extended Essay in DP1 because they didn't and now are in trouble and emails were being sent home due to the lack of organization and time management.

Part of the DP is being creative and demonstrating your skills, which you will develop and explore throughout the program. Becoming more independent and figuring out things with time is also part of the process, because you are required to have a more advanced level of dedication, organization, time management, skills, techniques and many more.