These are Kate’s “Goodnotes5” digital notes on B&M

These are Maya’s “Notion” digital notes on CAS

Choosing subjects in DP

There are 6 groups of subjects:

Studies in language and literature

Language Acquisition

Individuals and societies

Mathematics

Arts

Sciences

You can choose one subject from each group.

Choosing the right subject is super important with whatever you want to do in the future.

You need to choose your subjects carefully and with full understanding.

1. Choose your subjects according to your personal interest and have an area or faculties in mind for the university you want to enter.
2. Choose the right combination of subjects and levels that is still manageable for you. The best option is to have 3 HL subjects as well as 3 SL
3. Learn more about subjects that you are unfamiliar with (TOK, ESS, Computer Science f.e.)
4. Understand how subjects are assessed, what criterias they have, how exam papers look, etc
5. Understand the difference between High Level and Standard Level of the subject
6. Try to avoid rumors about the subjects, everyone has their own point of view and the way we understand and release information is different (stay tuned for the new post about this)

But always remember: do not stress, you will figure out everything. We will always support you in any way because this is exactly what we are here for.

Here you can watch and read more about how to choose subjects in DP

Time-management

It's a very important topic for the DP Programme. Without having your own special schedule it would be very hard to organise yourself and work productively. Here are some tips on time-management that we would recommend you to follow:

1. Set goals correctly. Set goals that are achievable and measurable. Use the SMART method when setting goals. In essence, make sure the goals you set are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

2. Prioritize wisely. Prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency.

3. Set a time limit to complete a task. Setting time constraints for completing tasks helps you be more focused and efficient.

4. Take a break between tasks. When doing a lot of tasks without a break, it is harder to stay focused and motivated. Allow some downtime between tasks to clear your head and refresh yourself. Consider grabbing a brief nap, going for a short walk, or meditating.

5. Organize yourself. Utilize your calendar for more long-term time management. Write down the deadlines for projects, or for tasks that are part of completing the overall project. Think about which days might be best to dedicate to specific tasks.

6. Remove non-essential tasks/activities. It is important to remove excess activities or tasks. Determine what is significant and what deserves your time. Removing non-essential tasks/activities frees up more of your time to be spent on genuinely important things.

7. Plan ahead. Make sure you start every day with a clear idea of what you need to do – what needs to get done THAT DAY. Consider making it a habit to, at the end of each workday, go ahead and write out your “to-do” list for the next workday.

And also here are some of our favourite applications for to-do’s:

Todoist

Minimalist

Google calendar

Toggl

Trello

Remember the milk

CAS

CAS is an extremely important IB subject as well as others. You should support your CAS activity for the whole 2 years of DP. CAS is all about providing services to help yourself or others.

CAS stands for:

Creativity – arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.

Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.

Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.

Here are some CAS opportunities for you:
• Try out clay pottery! It's a very relaxing thing to do and it includes creativity.
• Open up your own section at school. For example, the chess club. It will include service (to school) and creativity (in organizing).
• Try yourself in a new activity such as aero yoga. It includes activity of course and it will give you a magical experience.

Anti-Procrastination week!

This week we will post everything we know about procrastination: its definition and how to overcome this huge problem.

Together, we will manage to significantly improve your focus and help you stop putting off tasks, achieve goals while overcoming some challenges.

• We will send you 1 mini task a day to help you along the way.
! The only rule: do not delay the moment of completing these tasks.

Please be aware that in order to successfully defeat this problem, you need a lot more time than just one week, but you already took a big step when you joined our mini-intensive course! Well done!

Day 1


Congratulations on the first day of our Anti-Procrastination week!

Let’s start with a little introduction: what is procrastination?

Procrastination is the habit of delaying important tasks, usually by focusing on less urgent, more enjoyable, and easier activities instead.

If we procrastinate over a long period of time, we can become demotivated and disillusioned with our work, which leads to many mental diseases and other serious consequences.

Procrastination makes you look bad. But without understanding why you procrastinate, it would be difficult to break free.

Today’s mini task:

•Add the 5 most important tasks/goals that you have at this point in time, use this template that we prepared for you:

We are so excited to announce the news for anyone, especially those planning on applying to universities abroad.
On 24th November, our partners and friends from the International School of Kazan will hold an informal online meeting with a student from Stanford as a part of their IBDP Mentorship Program. You are very much welcomed!

Students will have the opportunity to ask any questions related to his path and application process. If you are interested, we will share a link for a meeting with you below!

Topic: IBDP Mentorship Online Meeting Zoom Meeting
Time: Nov 24, 2021 08:00 PM Moscow

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79579966146?pwd=ZjJpZUN5SDNySXRoV0FnL2J0K3BpZz09

Meeting ID: 795 7996 6146
Passcode: dXLX3m

Day 2

First steps to overcome procrastination:

Step 1: Recognize That You're Procrastinating
Step 2: Work Out WHY You're Procrastinating
Step 3: Adopt Anti-Procrastination Strategies

Here are our tips for adopting strategies
Tip 1:
Take a self-test quiz to identify how much you procrastinate and what kind of a procrastinator you are.
Tip 2:
Commit to the task. Focus on doing, not avoiding. Write down the tasks that you need to complete, and specify a time for doing them. This will help you to proactively tackle your work.
Tip 3:
Ask someone to check up on you.
Tip 4:
Act as you go. Tackle tasks as soon as they arise, rather than letting them build up over another day.
Tip 5:
Minimize distractions. Turn off your email and social media, and avoid sitting anywhere near a television while you work!
Tip 6:
Identify the unpleasant consequences of avoiding it. For instance, what will happen if you don't complete the work? How might it affect your personal, team or organizational goals?

• Today’s mini-task:

Listen to yourself and hear the inside critic, the hater! This task will help you be less harsh on yourself and thus help you reduce your procrastination levels even more!

Fill in this “self-talk”:

Guys! We are waiting for you to join the meeting! https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79579966146?pwd=ZjJpZUN5SDNySXRoV0FnL2J0K3BpZz09

Day 3

If you procrastinate because you're disorganized, here are 4 strategies to help you get organized:

Keep a To-Do List. This will prevent you from "conveniently" forgetting about those unpleasant or overwhelming tasks.

Prioritize your To-Do List using Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle. This will enable you to quickly identify the activities that you should focus on, as well as the ones you can ignore.

Tackle the hardest tasks at your peak times. Do you work better in the morning or the afternoon? Identify when you're most effective, and do the tasks that you find most difficult at these times.

Set yourself time-bound goals. Setting yourself specific deadlines to complete tasks will keep you on track to achieve your goals, and will mean that you have no time for procrastination!

Day 4

Sources and applications for organizing yourself

Staying organized and on-task can help boost productivity, no matter how busy your week may seem. However, increased productivity certainly isn’t the only benefit that comes with organization.
Between work, activities, appointments, and ever-growing to-do lists, many of us constantly feel rushed and anxious. And, all too often, the distractions of our smartphones only make this busy pace more hectic. But phones can also simplify your life—it all depends on how you use them.

Here are some apps for organising your days:
1. Google keep
2. Smarter Time
3. Todoist
4. Minimalist
5. Trello
6. Remember the milk

Today’s mini-task:
Download one of the apps that we recommended and share what you accomplished!

Day 5

Project organization

Become a master of scheduling and project planning. If you have a big project or multiple projects on the go and you don't know where to start, these tools can help you to plan your time effectively, and reduce your stress levels.

Organize your projects into smaller tasks and focus on starting them, rather than on finishing them.
In his 2011 book, "The Procrastination Cure" Jeffery Combs suggests tackling tasks in 15-minute bursts of activity.

Alternatively, you can create an
Action Plan to organize your project. Start with quick and small tasks first. These "small wins" will give you a sense of achievement, and will make you feel more positive and less overwhelmed by the larger project or goal that you are working towards.

Today’s mini-task:
Read at least 5 pages of the "The Procrastination Cure” book

Day 6

Techniques

To set goals use SMART technique. SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals that we use in IB programme. While there are a number of interpretations of the acronym's meaning, the most common one is that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

When you use SMART, you can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them.
Read more: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

Try using pomodoro technique to work better. The secret to effective time management is...thinking in tomatoes rather than hours? It may seem silly at first, but millions of people swear by the life-changing power of the Pomodoro Technique.
Read more: https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/pomodoro-technique

Today’s mini task:
Stick to one goal or task you really need to do and give the Pomodoro technique a try! Here are the exact steps of the Pomodoro Method:

Here is a free app you can use to make this exercise even more simple:
https://www.focusboosterapp.com/