Brief Foreword
As the Year 13 SSA1 predicted grades are finalised, one could find themselves feeling like the journey is mostly over. For those applying to the UK and US, the window of improving our applications has closed - there are no opportunities to bolster chances. With this window closed, we all breathe a sigh of relief as senioritis begins to set in after a year filled with deadlines and burnout.
But before some of us succumb to this basically-end-of-the-road-so-I-can’t-be-asked mentality, I want to take a step back and reflect on my personal experiences: the mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped my journey. I hope that my reflections help the Year 13s with college acceptances, incoming Year 12s and anyone considering the IB diploma flourish. These reflections were lessons that I can only learn in hindsight and never discussed in PSHE or the year 12 assemblies.
Initial Reflections
Back in GCSE, I often immersed myself completely in my work. My approach to studying was simple: spend as much time as possible, whenever possible. With the steady flow of good results, I didn’t feel the need to change this approach. Afterall, this “grind mindset” was working for me, so why should I change it going into the IB? But what I didn’t realise was that this relentless mindset would eventually hold me back. My mind’s feeling of confidence could only be realised from a complete thorough coverage which was occasionally unrealistic with my heavy investment of time in my extracurriculars and the multiple deadlines that were sent one after another; I never realised it then but I was unfocused on how I revised — driven by a fear that I might not be as prepared as I thought. So, don’t always assume that your errors are from a lack of practice, the IB also demands a “work smart” ethic, you might need to be more focused and strategic, trust your brain to remember the things you listen to in class.
My time in GCSE built hubris and overconfidence with the amount of cramming I got away with for small tasks and papers. This only worsened after a good performance in term 1 of year 12 with the same habits. Now that I think of it, I seemed to have suffered from a dissonance in my thinking at the time - I both wanted to cover everything but wanted to leave away the material to the last moment just because I could.
Reflections on Ambition
To the ambitious students, be prepared for reality checks, and manage your expectations. When you pour everything into a pursuit, you have to be prepared for the harsh reality that your efforts might lead to nothing (you are human, you could choke and lose it all). The greater the investment, the greater the risk, and if things don’t work out, you’ll need to be mentally prepared to cope with the full weight of that failure. If you aren’t mentally ready to face that possibility, don’t pursue it.
Rather than betting “all-in” with your efforts to succeed, I urge you to reframe your mindset: play your hand wisely. Be rational about how you spend your time—whether it’s on applications, extracurriculars, or academics. Communicate openly with your parents and counsellors about your priorities, especially if you’re unsure what to pursue. It is extremely difficult to give 120% to everything all the same time. There are seasons when exams require your focus, and seasons when you can dedicate more energy to other passions. Sometimes these coincide and you have to make a choice on what the priority is. Failing to decide results in unfocused expenditure of energy and spreading yourself thin. Speaking from my own experience, I would recommend having as much information on the opportunity costs before making a decision.
Remember, chasing big dreams is admirable, but it’s important not to let those dreams completely define your vision of success. If your entire sense of self-worth is tied to achieving one specific vision that you have in mind, setbacks feel like personal failures, and major disappointments feel like you have no future. As a close mentor once told me, you may need to redefine your definition of success: success should come from playing the best with the hands you’re dealt - sometimes you are blessed with pocket aces, sometimes you get seven-deuce. And to play the best you need to adapt based on information - being able to adjust your focus when necessary is just as important as ambition.
Reflections on Stress
In the beginning of Year 12 Mr Jones had gathered us in an assembly regarding stress; he described it as a response that arises when something you care about is at stake. While I partly agree with this statement of stress being a bodily reaction to face a challenge, I feel this point that was emphasised falls short in addressing an important reality — how much of stress is actually within our control and due to our inaction.
Jeff Bezos captures this idea well with his statement, “Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over.” Simply acknowledging that the source of your stress is important doesn’t help in resolving it. Like pressure in physics, stress can be decreased by distributing the "force" that weighs on you. This could mean staying organised, or communicating effectively with your teachers, please do not underestimate the power of telling your teachers personal circumstances and deadlines (if you are really having difficulty coping with stress levels, or having personal challenges and know you won’t perform well, tell them and be honest, it goes a long way). If you allow stress to build up and end up feeling overwhelmed, it’s often a result of inaction on your part. It’s within your capacity to relieve that pressure. Procrastination and crumbling from stress is mostly your fault.
Some may argue with me saying that there are external sources of stress that you have no control over. However, even with external factors, such as familial expectations, seem to be the cause of stress, there’s often an element of control you can exert. You have control on how you communicate with your family rather than passively accepting pressure, communicate boundaries on what is realistic for you. It is up to you on how much attention you give this external pressure, I suggest you focus on a meaning of success I mentioned earlier - it is a good outcome given your limited resources and circumstances.
Recognizing how much control we have in overcoming a stress-induced rut is crucial to pulling ourselves out of it. I wish I knew this sooner.
Reflections on Competition
I’ve sometimes found the idea of gatekeeping resources, like past papers, interesting questions, materials or tutors, to be counterproductive. School is about growing and learning together—it’s not a zero-sum competition between peers, especially since speech day awards are already decided after Christmas break. If you’re still focused on rankings afterwards, it might be worth reassessing what you value. Healthy competition can drive improvement, but when it becomes about ego and a fear of losing a competitive advantage over your peers, it becomes toxic; there’s a bigger picture.
You aren't against a curve, you are against percentage grade boundaries. Comparison or leveraging asymmetric information to gain an edge is selfish and doesn't help anyone in the long run. Rather than seeing them as competitors, see them as allies where you can work together and collectively succeed. Since your SSAs aren’t curved for y12 and y13, it’s best to collaborate with your peers to maximise everyone’s results for applications. You lose nothing by sharing.
Conclusion
As I reflect on my journey from year 10 to year 13, I’ve realised it’s been more than just academics. I started out focused on grades, but only now have I come to understand the deeper value of the connections I’ve built with my peers. I’m learning to value the moments we have left as Batch 2025 - the fooling around and losing focus in class over funny anecdotes, the trivial conversations in Coffee Bean, ranting about our frustrations with each other, eating out in UpTown, among other things. I’ll miss you guys man :)
Jeremy Aidan Yu
Heads of Academics
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