How to survive IP(Integrated programme)

 In Singapore, after finishing 6 years of primary school, students will now be able to choose their respective secondary schools based on their PSLE T-score or the new PSLE grading system that makes use of grades(A1, A2..). No matter what, there will be a group of students about 10% of the students taking PSLE will be gifted with the chance to enter an integrated program. The integrated program is a 6-year course leading to the GCE A-Level examination or International Baccalaureate Diploma or NUS High School Diploma. Students in the Integrated Programme do not need to take the GCE O-Level examination in Secondary 4. 

The integrated program differs from the normal ‘O’-level curriculum in Singapore. I am not here to explain the difference but I am here to share my own opinions and pointers on how to survive IP, especially in years 3 and 4. Personally, I believe that finishing 4 years of IP gives me some sort of level of “oh I have been through enough to tell my experience”. Hope this helps future aspirants of IP.

Tip #1:- Need to be able to handle time wisely

Entering into IP would be very different from primary schools as there needs to be a decent amount of pre-planning and preparation work that needs to be done before the actual lesson itself. Initially, Years 1 and 2 would feel like a stroll in the park as the topics are fairly simple and the no. of subjects that one is taking is only 5. 

Meanwhile, in years 3 and 4, students will be subjected to taking subject combinations that are mainly based on triple science or double science and blah blah blah. You get the point, life gets more hectic and unfair and tired and stuff so to prepare yourself for the upcoming mad rush, the habit of creating a simple timetable or my favourite a to-do list. 

Nothing fancy but just noting down your tasks and staring at them is good enough to make you panic and so that you finish your homework before giving excuses to the teacher. But you need to remember that you must not be too ambitious and feel like entering god-mode and try to finish off like 8 or 9 assignments, it is not healthy and often you find yourself only accomplishing about 65% to 75% of the tasks and it is totally normal. 

• Here is an example of the to-do list that I made during my 4th year of IP a to-do list can be as simple as this 

(P.S. i did this during the june holidays, it is holidays that is why i am so ambitious with almost 8 tasks in one day, in a normal school it is just impossible)  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MAO5owsX0IdpQthDWJnryjUE68Tc9WW5hI0spAbjOaU/edit?usp=sharing 

Tip #2:- Sleep is important kiddos 

Yes, sleep. Enjoy that 8 h or 9h sleep you have every day, after entering an IP school, you go from asking your friends “How long did you sleep” to comparing sleep times to “Did you sleep bro”.( Idk why but it is fun to ask and see who slept the shortest and everyone is proud for sleeping for only 2h or 3h on somedays IDK why). So, sleep hours would be greatly reduced for the majority and even shorter for those who have to travel for like 1 hour to school(like me :( sad). 

Hence, try to adopt a proper sleep time and try to get at least 5 to 6 hours of sleep to survive the next day of school you can also try and get short power naps throughout the day of about 10 minutes or even 30 minutes, the main point is to keep your naps short and make sure you feel energized after the nap. 

Tip #3:- pace yourself

Once you come to IP, exams come mostly in the form of weighted assessments, mid-year exams in term 2, and end-of-year examinations in the last term. So every term you will have a small weighted assessment except for terms 2 and 4. Even though the topic tested in the weighted assessment can be counted using one hand, it is important to pace yourself so that if you have 5 main topics that are tested, you roughly know that there are around 6 to 7 weeks to the assessment. You need a plan such that you can cover about 1 topic per week content-wise and in terms of practice questions and solely dedicate 1 to 2 weeks before the exams just to do practice questions and active recall. 

Although this seems all too much for a simple graded assignment, firstly preparing way ahead prepares us for the assessment so that you don't feel that you didn't do enough revision or practice. You enter your exam day feeling prepared and you have won 50% of the battle. Secondly, the weightage of each assessment varies or the contribution of the weighted assessment grades to the overall GPA that you receive at the end of the year varies from 10% to 15%. This 10% to 15% has a greater effect than you think and can be a lifesaver when you just need 1 or 2 marks to get that A or B+ or B grade. Another good thing is that it takes off pressure on major exams such as myas(20% of total) and eoys(40% of total). Performing well for weighted assessments removes much of the pressure to perform extremely well in major exams and hence overall gives you less stress.

Tip #4:- last-minute mugging does not help… at all

If you think you can rush through 8 topics for every 5 subjects, you are dead wrong. Rushing through is the worst thing to do as the day before your exams will be just knowledge overload and the questions will be more of applications and you need to think more for those questions. Moreover, what is expected of you in IP is that you need to be able to understand the syllabus instead of merely memorizing it so that you can apply the knowledge elsewhere, and to fully understand a topic takes more than a few hours surely. 

Tip #5:- Enjoy & learn the process

In IP life, you will be thrown with more projects and opportunities to take part in various olympiads and research programs organized by prestigious organizations. The part where you enjoy IP life is when the different opportunities come around and I have personally taken part in all science olympiads, C.B Paul science quiz, and international biomedical quiz, the main takeaway from these opportunities is the learning process where you get exposed to content beyond your syllabus and get a glance of life ahead. Research Programmes are the best as you get to interact with people from outside your zone for example during the Nanyang Research Programme (junior) I got the opportunity to interact with mentors and professors from Nanyang Technological University and it was an eye-opening experience.

Last short tip:-

Try to make your bus journeys more productive

Some students like me would have to travel about like nearly 1h to come to school and 1h to go back home and one mistake I did in my later years of school is that I just wasted this 2h of journey listening to music but if you can try to pick up handy ways to finish some of the work while during your journey itself which is overall a good thing.

Thank you for taking your time to read a fricking essay by me appreciate it :)