What to Do?

I am in my sophomore year of high school. I recently turned 16 years old, and will hopefully get a job soon. I have been torn between selecting the AP Capstone program and the IB program. I ultimately decided IB.

This is a difficult decision because of the position I am in at home and mentally, so to speak.

I am not great with self control and time management, and I feel like I would struggle in the IB program. However, based on other reasons, IB seems better than AP for me. But with the time management and self control issues, I worry about my ability to get a job and succeed in IB. Other friends of mine entering IB with me do not need a full time job, and brush off the issue. They are all known to be more intelligent than I, or at least better under the pressure of tests (testing is very difficult for me regardless of if I understand the information or not, sadly), and will succeed in IB. In my position, I likely will not succeed in my academic portion of my life if I get a job.

Because of the situations at home, it’s almost necessary I get a job as soon as possible. I weighed the options, IB seems difficult to balance with a job based on evidence I’ve witnessed with older students already in the program.

I am doing IB but I really need helps and tips on self control and time management. I really need a job and I understand what I need to do in order to succeed for the next two years, but it’s difficult for me to act upon my goals. Help please!

  1. Write down whatever you need to get done and the due date so you don’t forget. I have the MyHomework app and love it. If you are forgetful you can set alarms to remind you, and if you will put it off, you can set multiple alarms.

  2. It might also help you to plan out your time before hand. You could write down the time you are working, a time to do whatever else needs to get done, and a time to do homework. Also, it might help to plan out what specifically what homework/projects/studying needs to get done during that time. Stick to doing whatever you wrote down.

  3. IB has a lot of long term projects and papers. Break them up into smaller tasks and start working on them immediately so you don’t get stuck doing the whole thing the night before.