How to Write About IB Students

A Literature Speech by X to Y: How to Write about IB students.

First things first...Remember this: IB Students DO NOT have a summer. If you don’t make this point clear, you might as well be talking about human beings, and we wouldn’t want that.

Remember that these are eating, sleeping, breathing success individuals. Who needs sleep? Sleep is for the weak. To highlight this point, your setting will most likely be set in either a classroom, a library, or the positive isolation of the student’s bedroom with a constant flow of hot coffee. Whatever happens, they must never leave their books, laptop, planning itinerary, etc. One night stands are prominent in an IB student’s life; partying it up with their textbooks is the most fun they need and will ever had. Come to think of it, IB students are quite fascinating. Make sure you highlight the fact that your character is basically robot with no emotions. Their family might be human, but it won’t be until their child hits 11th grade that they realize that their bodies run on hot coffee and success.

One of the most important points to emphasize about your character is that they are work driven- and by work driven I mean that the only direction they will be following is...WELL the right direction obviously! It is crucial that you frequently mention how your character is constantly working. They have a non-stop flow of ideas for all the IAs, IOPs, FOAs, EE, and many other acronyms! In order to get the work done, it might be a good idea to have them hooked to an IV of “positive learning” half the time...no wait scratch that...all the time.. And no, they don’t need to move. I know what you’re all thinking, bathroom break? No they will carry a porter potty. As long as your character doesn’t leave the books, their brains will be in tact GUARANTEED.

Now, let’s get to your character’s personality shall we. Very studious, organized (and I mean really organized) and driven by ambition! If success isn’t on their mind, then your readers simply will never know what is. Yes your character CAN have friends, but they will not socialize with them. The relationship is strictly professional and school related. Asking for a pen, or some help on that challenging math problem might be okay...but anything else is strictly forbidden for this type of piece of writing.

Assuming that your character is a teenager in high school, they will live the normal life of any high school IB student. You’re probably thinking, “hmm okay some parties, nice diners, fun in the sun” kind of thing. Let me bring you to an absolute no. SNAP OUT OF IT. Weren’t you listening to anything I just said? Your character basically doesn’t have a social life. The only proper relationship that they will most likely encounter is one with their Math HL textbook or what not. This way, they will not have clean up the mess of their teenage desires. At the end of the day, if you’ve got the brains and the books, they will be fine.

To all the aspiring writers that came today, good luck. The ideal image of an IB student is hard to produce, but I'm sure you can make it work.