OYIS’s Class of 2024: Senior Struggles

A full four weeks have passed since the recommence of the school year, and this year’s graduates-to-be have found themselves faced with the part of the DP that teachers have warned us of since before we even started grade 11—deadlines.

The first deadline hit the English A HL students, and then the Japanese A HL students the next day, as the Higher Level Essays were due for submission on the 28 and 29 of August. While SL students were exempt from this, a new deadline approached: the Mathematics Internal Assessment first draft, due just this Tuesday the 19 of September. I’ll stop here, because if I tried to write out all of the deadlines for every class in grade 12, this would begin to look a little too much like my Google Calendar.

Needless to say, the new seniors are feeling the pressure of the DP as exams fast approach, not to mention the impending question of university, career, and life paths. “This year is already so much more stressful than last year,” says one student. “And we’ve just started.”

These past few weeks have especially been a great adjustment period as the students get used to the new teaching staff in Biology, Business Management, Chemistry, English B, Mathematics Analysis & Approaches, Psychology, and Theory of Knowledge, as well as a new DP Coordinator and subsequent Extended Essay Coordinator. While this is undoubtedly a challenge—particularly for students whose EEs were focused on one of the aforementioned subjects—students are working hard to acquaint themselves with the new staff members and teaching styles, as are the staff members themselves with the students and their needs.

As the window for learning new content slowly but surely closes and the window for review before exams begins to open, grade 12 students will have to stay disciplined and diligent in their self-management. I wish the best of luck to all of my classmates in the coming year.