By Remy Proeung
STUCO Co-President
Finding between personal life, academics and extracurricular activities is difficult, but it is an essential skill to have throughout the IB Diploma Programme at Northbridge International School Cambodia.
By Remy Proeung
STUCO Co-President
Finding between personal life, academics and extracurricular activities is difficult, but it is an essential skill to have throughout the IB Diploma Programme at Northbridge International School Cambodia.
Focusing solely on school life will only leave you burnt out and stressed throughout your high school life. Everyone needs to find time during school and outside to spend time with friends and family.
An interesting statistic that I came across once was that we spend the vast majority of time with our parents whilst we are below the age of 18. Then life gets in the way and it's important that we can enjoy life and spend time with those we love.
Grades are important but not more important than taking care of yourself. One of my largest regrets during grade 10 before entering DP was simple not spending enough time for myself; joining many clubs did offer me many opportunities but that’s at the cost of feeling burnt out and tired all the time.
During DP especially, having proper ways of de-stressing from school can greatly improve overall mental health and productivity when working on tasks. Sleep makes up a great proportion of that, sleeping for long enough hours each day will make almost anyone feel better almost instantly.
Some ways to destress from school could be watching an episode of a show that is your favorite show, eating a sweet treat, or during desperate times a cold shower really helps.
Another important thing to remember while balancing your life is to know your limits and not do too much work. Pushing yourself to go beyond your limits may be good for you to develop your skills and strengths but again you run the risk of burning yourself out and overworking yourself.
With all these taken into consideration, make sure to have a rough plan of how your week will go, set goals and deadlines for yourself before the actual deadline, and make sure that your mental health is well. Remember to prioritize taking care of yourself first, it's far better and healthier than working.
The readers of this article have all likely experienced a ‘traditional’ exam setting. Rows of desks, pen and paper, and exam papers that are primarily constructed to test knowledge and recall of the course content. There is certainly some value to an exam paper that assesses a student’s knowledge, but ultimately, knowledge and recall represents a very narrow range of the skills actually needed in the modern world. Recognising this, the IB has taken an revolutionary look at assessment in the middle years, with the eAssessment.
Student leadership is a cornerstone of personal and community growth. By developing leadership skills early on, students gain confidence, responsibility, and the ability to inspire others—qualities that will serve them well throughout their lives.
