Ms.

Emily Huntley
1234 This Is My Address Drive
Palm Harbor, FL, 34683
14 May 2015

Mr./Ms. IB Victim
5678 Good Luck Lane
Palm Harbor, Fl, 34683

Dear unnamed and unspecified junior,

I imagine you are probably sitting in Mr. Tharins room right now like a deer in the headlights,
not sure what to do about this whole International Baccalaureate thing. But dont worry, it is
not as bad as it seems. Now that you are a junior, you are in the real IB. This really means
nothing more than the fact that the IBO knows you exist and you get to learn a whole lot of
acronyms (IA, IO, IOP, IOC, etc).
Honestly, one of the best things about this year are your teachers. I did not have a single bad
teacher this year, and I hope you do not either, but the odds are pretty great. As IB kids, we are
lucky because all of our teachers care about us and really try their hardest to give us the best
education possible. I am sad to say that some of our most experienced teachers are retiring in
2015 and 2016, but even when they leave there will still be so many amazing teachers in our
program.
I was my own worst enemy this year, please do not let it happen to you. I did the usual
procrastination, and all it did was stress me out (Although, now I am fully caught up with
Downton Abbey which I started watching a month ago). But the most important thing is to not
let your deadlines stress you out! I think I spent just as much time crying and freaking out over
my homework as I did actually doing it. Do not think about getting it done, just do it. Also, never
ever ever ever sacrifice sleep for school. Nothing is as important as your health (physical and
mental), and skipping sleep will not make you happy.
I dont know about you, (but Im feelin 22) but before junior year I had no idea what an IO or IA or IOP
was. So Im gonna give you the deets (keep it on the DL). The Interactive Orals (IO) are done
near the end of the year and they are short, interesting presentations you have to do about
certain aspects of the books you are reading. Mr. Tharin said that he is going to do them
differently for you guys because he said ours were boring, so good luck. The Internal Assessment
(IA) is something you have to do in every single one of your classes (I know, it sucks) but in
English it is just a paper on one of the works from 2nd semester (which I should be working on
right now). The Independent Oral Presentation (IOP) is at the end of first semester and it is just
what it sounds like; an oral presentation on one of the books from first semester. This one seems
really daunting, but its not! You only have to get super complex with your analysis if you want
to. Pro tip: The most important part of the presentations for the entire year is to be
interesting and interactive. Dont just bribe people with candy, get creative! Faberge an egg,
bring in dry ice, do whatever you think will make the class (and Mr. Tharin) happy.
I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Emily Huntley