IB Exams for the Win!!!!

Overall my exams went well. I was struggling a bit with the first one as I still felt tired from being sick over the weekend. I spend about half an hour to write an outline because I could concentrate very well and I hoped this would stop my writer's block. It did help and I ended up writing five pages of essay. I found the first to be the more difficult exam as it had only three questions to chose from, and I wasn’t a big fan of any of them. I chose a question that asked to find a scene pivotal to a particular theme. I chose the theme of Tradition vs. Modernity and the school performance talking about how Kahu was acting as a bridge that leads her tribe into a bright future. She is both interested in her culture and modern, shown already by the fact that she is a girl and still a great leader which is not considered to be possible traditionally.

    For the exam on poetry I had memorized “Blood” by Naomi Shihab Nye and “Nature is what we see” and “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson. I found this exam a bit easier. I was also less tired and more concentrated during it. There were six questions to chose from and I chose the first one again. It was referring to the assertion from a famous poet that “Poetry makes nothing happen” asking to what extent the work from the poets I studied had the potential to make anything “happen”. I argued that the all three poems I studied have the potential to make something happen, if presented to an open minded thoughtful reader. “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” teaches about hope being everywhere which can cause people to think more positively.  “Nature is what we see” teaches about the variety of nature which can be found everywhere yet seems incomprehensible for humans. It reaches about not taking things for granted. I ended with “Blood” which I felt had to the most to teach. I talked about how it is effective by ending in the three questions so instead of ending with a conclusion it puts the questions into the reader's head, provoking him to really deeply consider them. This poem teaches about peace, understanding and acceptance. For this exam  I wrote an outline and the poems, before writing a six page essay.

Overall I feel relatively good about my exams and it also feels good to have them behind me as it greatly reduces the pressure on me and now I can relax and enjoy the last five weeks of the class without scary exams waiting.