Hi everyone! My name’s Eshaal Fatima. I’m an IB student based in Lahore, Pakistan, going into my final year of DP in about a month. I’ve been working on Onymous for a few weeks now – it’s what I do to procrastinate on other schoolwork, and it’s been really fun so far.
A bit about me: I’m really interested in neuroscience and behavioral biology – I’m watching a series of Stanford lectures (which I’ve made part of my personality) on the latter. “I like music” is what I say when people ask me what my hobbies are, despite the fact that I’ve lost the ability to sit through a single song (either because they all make me inexplicably sad or because I can’t pay attention). I then proceed to send them links to Spotify playlists that I haven’t listened to in a year. Genuinely one of my favorite things to do is listen to audio dramas, which are exactly what they sound like. I’m looking for another one to get hooked on, but I recommend The Magnus Archives (horror anthology) and Wolf 359 (sci-fi space drama) to anyone who wants to start listening.
I’m also brimming with unused creativity and the desire to read books I’ve been avoiding for months, embroider, practice graphic design, pirate Adobe products for graphic design… My current state of being is an unending battle between my lack of energy and motivation and the dire need to be productive. All things considered, I’m not doing a lot worth mentioning right now. That should probably change seeing as I’ll be applying to college in the end of this year, but that’s a reality that still feels distant enough to comfortably ignore. I’m going to read this sentence a year from now and weep over my willful stupidity.
If you’re a fresh MYP graduate, you may be filled with a deep sense of foreboding when I tell you that DP 1 was partially responsible for the grinding halt that my life has reached. But don’t worry! I’m told one gets used to it :’) I’ll try to keep you updated on whether that’s just a cruel myth.
If you haven’t bid MYP farewell yet though, I might be able to help. I scored a 54 out of 56, which has unfortunately set expectations way too high now, but there’s some wisdom to be shared from my MYP experience. I got 7s in all three sciences, math, IDU, I&S/IH, English, and art; 6s in French and my personal project. Those two 6s were surprising; I honestly thought I’d lose those points in I&S and art. I got my result for the ePortfolios (French, art, personal project) first, which I’d put the most effort into, and I remember sobbing wildly because I thought if I’d gotten a 6 in French, I must have messed the rest up awfully.
There’s a lot more to learn from the things I didn’t do than the things I did; I had zero time management skills, procrastinated too much, took on more than I could handle, etc. The driving force behind most of my academic effort was the prospect of being able to one-up the other really smart kid in my class. I’ll write a separate post discussing everything I know that is worth sharing with the rest of the world soon. For now, I’m just really happy to be here! Onymous is an amazing resource, and I hope my contributions will be helpful. Good luck to everyone about to receive their result – may you exceed expectations and kick MYP ass!
P.S: As is Onymous tradition, here is the obligatory end-of-post random gif. My first piece of advice for your IB journey is to watch Grace & Frankie.
Hi Eshaal I am personally interested in biology I am currently in my final year of MYP I am confused which subjects I should choose in my DP years as they are going to be really important for my future can you please give me an advice.