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Unread 14-07-2010, 18:43
rob_c rob_c is offline
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Re: To go to Championships...or not....

Speaking from my own experience:

I have been in the IB Diploma program for the last two years. At the end of the second year in the program, students are required to test in their six subjects – each subject has a minimum of two “papers” or exams, and can have as many as three papers. These exams take place throughout the entire month of May (I seated 15 papers totaling 24.5 hours of testing/writing).

This last year, my team attended two regionals and CMP. During the entire build and competition seasons I found myself thoroughly involved with FIRST (I was my team’s captain), as well as thoroughly involved studying. Managing my time was a struggle; but in the end I was able to manage it (unfortunately, the combination of the two caused me to lose a LOT of sleep).

I will be the first to admit that IB, FIRST and sleep do not go hand-in-hand as far as time management is concerned. Although I had two weeks in between CMP and my first exam, I was able to prepare myself sufficiently throughout the school year to take my exams and score well on all of my exams. It is a stretch for students to take on higher-level curricula (such as AP and IB) and be heavily involved with FIRST and manage to perform well on their exams. Ultimately, it is the students’ decision to find the time to prepare adequately for their exams – if this means that they can’t attend CMP, so be it. Ultimately, the final answer should come from the students’ parents/legal guardians as to whether they feel comfortable with their child(ren) going off to something such as CMP, or even a regional, knowing that the students also need to be prepared for their exams.

IMHO: although FIRST is a great program, it should not come before a student’s academic achievements; but rather, it should prove to foster their desire to learn and achieve more.

In the end, what your team decides to do is not for us to decide. If students are able to prepare properly for their exams and attend CMP, that’s great; if they can’t, it’s not the end of the world. I will admit, though, that it does not seem wise for any mentors with finals which clash with CMP to attend CMP.

-Rob.
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