ib at kmb

to my juniors/elys batchmates who are wondering "to kmb or to not kmb" (or mybe u're just curious abt it :P), here's an info dump from a student who's spent 1.5 sems here 😌✨ i'm just gonna spit facts from a pretty objective pov, but check this out if u want a very biased and unobjective review of ib and my subjects lmao. also disclaimer: the content is super unorganised (it's just me rambling) but TAKE WHAT YOU GET. u're welcome <3

(1) basic info abt ib

this section is just abt ib, so this is applicable even outside kmb. so the duration of the program is 2 years and comprises 4 sems. only at the end of the program will u take the final ib exam (either may or november), and at the end u'll receive a grade out of 45, BUT this grade is not just from the final exam so here's what makes up ur grade:

NUMBER 1: grades from each subject (as expected) u'll take 6 subjects from a variety of areas (in ib's effort to produce "holistic" students lol) which includes math, science, languages, humanities (so yes, u sadly cant run away from areas u might not like rip 💔). 3/4 subjects are higher level (HL) which u'll study more in depth (also harder to score), and the remaining 2/3 subjects are standard level (SL) which aren't as in depth as HL. also for math, there are two kinds i.e. (1) analysis and approaches (maa) which is like pure math and more theoretical, and (2) applications and interpretation (mai) which is applied math like statistics. anyway then each subject is graded out of 7, with most of ur grade being from the final exam, and the remaining 20-50% being from the IA/IO (these are graded internally). the internal assessment (IA) is like a 3000 word write-up/rsrch that u hv to do in each subject besides languages, and for languages there's the individual oral (IO). anyway 6 subjects and each is graded out of 7, so this makes up 6x7=42 pts of the 45

NUMBER 2: EE + TOK these come tgt to make up the remaining 3 pts of the 45. the extended essay (EE) is a 4000 word write-up/rsrch paper (similar to IA, only more advanced) in a subject of choice (so only one EE, whereas IA is required for every non-lang subject), while theory of knowledge (TOK) is like lowkey philosophy but more "straightforward" from my pov (u'll have to answer questions like "what counts as good justification for a claim?" "is certainty attainable?" "who owns knowledge?"). for tok u have to do an exhibition + write an essay i think? idk i didnt get to the essay part yet, i only know the exhibition is surely a thing. anyway, each of these two are graded on the usual scale of A/B/C/D/E (these are graded externally, not school teachers), then the combination of both grades will determine what u get out of 3 points (search up EE TOK matrix) e.g. 2As or 1A 1B will give u a 3/3

and finally there's this thing called CAS (creativity, activity, service) which doesnt contribute to ur grade but it's a requirement to get ur diploma. think of it as fulfilling ECs and community service. there are other more minor things within ib too that are required for the diploma (e.g. CSP) but im not gonna get into that :P

(2) ib in kmb

so rn EVERYONE in kmb is a ytp-mara scholar (dulu ada scholars lain cam JPA jugak but not anymore) and i presume in the batches below mine there'll be 200-250 per batch (but i cant say for sure). u're either offered sains courses (pure sciences, cs, etc.) or sains ikhtisas courses (accounts, econs, actuarial sc, etc.). budak sains will be in S classss (e.g. my class is S24H), and budak ikhtisas will be in A classes (e.g. A24B) - classes are determined by the subject combination u're taking (3 HL + 3 SL here, this is tetap). so yes, that means (1) everyone in ur class is taking the same set of subjects as u, and (2) u pick subjects based on the given set of offered combinations (i.e. cant suka2 take physics and bio, u have to choose from the available combinations, and my year takde physics + bio which is what i lowkey wanted rip). for example, my combo is maa + physics + eng for HL, and chem + digital society + malay for SL. OH YES, eng and malay are WAJIB here btw. most classes take eng as HL and malay as SL. our malay is malay literature, which involves studying and analysing cerpen/novel/sajak smua tu, bukan cam spm. english is more like spm, with reading, writing, listening and oral exams. for humanities, ada digital society, business management and econs je. we have experiments for sciences pretty often, and regular quizzes for each subject (depends on the subject how often tho). our jadual is quite packed jugak la sbb class is 0800-1640 (rehat pagi is 1030-1100 and lunch break is 1330-1500), tapi some days petang takde apa2. one more thing, we also have to take pendidikan islam here and u hv to at least pass (tho i think it would be difficult for u to NOT pass lmao 🤡).

as for grades/exams and all that, students masuk kmb in around august and will take the may ib exam. the first 3 sems (there are internal exams at the end of these sems) are graded out of 42 je (bcs no EE or TOK, and PAI is not included in the 42) and there's no IA yet as well so ur teacher will basically decide the coursework accordingly that accounts for the IA portion. sem 2 results are used to apply for uni. in sem 4, EE and IA are due, and then few weeks before the IB exam starts (the actual external one), intensive revision will start. honor roll for each semester is 35+ points (u also require 35+ in final ib exam to fly) and also ada award for best student in each subject. also siapa yg 27 and below in both sem 1 sem 2 will kena exit policy (kena keluar kmb). oh ye and since we're talking abt the fly requirement + exit policy, lemme just briefly mention some stuff abt the ytp scholarship itself. okay so first of all no changing course and country. also, if u dont meet the fly requirement, MARA will still sponsor to sambung local. MARA will sponsor uni app fees but for US its like 3-4 unis je i think. theyll also sponsor testing like SAT and TOEFL.

(3) the school (non-acad side)

campus/facilities: fyi the school started out as mrsm banting so that's why ppl say the campus is more like a school than a college. field, gym, swimming pool, music room, gaming room, library ada, track takde tho. there's a block just for labs, and few smart classrooms pun ada (like those smart tv whiteboards, idk wat u call it). uhh yea i'd say the facilities r pretty good ig, but the girls block (specifically mine, block F) is JAUH GILA from everything lmao. oh and there's wifi everywhere but some places it's impossible to connect (like at the labs block, and for some reason many times in the library too bruh)
asrama: stay asrama is WAJIB for all students, but can balik/outing on weekends/cuti la (hv to be back by 8pm, but ramadhan my year extended to 10pm). 2 ppl per room and u'll room with ur classmates (except few cases je la bila there's an odd number of ppl), and the rest of ur classmates akan bilik sebelah2 je (they'll cluster u guys basically). bilik is quite kecik and meja dia lagi la kecik weh (for reference, if u bukak laptop there's basically no space for anything else 💀💀). almari size is not bad tapi takde shelves so most ppl get those hanging shelves. washing machine and ampaian ada, dryer takde - tapi ada laundry service la (biweekly, jadual ikut blok).
food: got dewan selera serving meals 5 times a day and the menu is EXACTLY SAMA as menu mrsm. if u want smth else, there's cafe and koop, and usually ada gerai/food trucks, or u can also order food. 🔥
attire: in class smart casual, any other time just wear anything respectful basically. pretty chil tbh. wednesdays je yg kena pkai formal sikit (baju kurung for girls, kemeja + tie for guys)
extracurriculars: LOTS of opportunities. there r many organisations including student council (majlis perwakilan pelajar), interactive peers (like PRS), persatuan siswa niaga, etc., got clubs oso including music, coding, photography, roastmasters, etc., and got sports oso including taekwondo, chess, ultimate frisbee, the usuals bolas, etc. but we dont hv sports houses here tho (there's kasukma tho which is interschool sports comp among mara schools) and there r frequently volunteering opportunities as well. bnyk actually, u just need to sign up for them (and be prepared for the extra commitment) ~~p.s. my entire time here i didn't join a single in-school EC lmao~~ competitions also the teachers will always share opportunities, and if u go under the school mmg selalunya akan sponsored :)
religious activities: solat jemaah is never wajib (except for like waktu puasa where it's required for pai marks, but that could just be for my year) so ppl usually solat sendiri kat bilik je la. tapi ada la surau kat asrama + surau an-nur if rajin. yang wajib is usrah for year 1s on wednesday, and ceramah on thursday (both after maghrib kat surau an-nur). pagi2 also ada bacaan mathurat kat surau/live dekat tlgrm channel tapi tak wajib. for non-muslims, i believe on some weekends they sama2 go to church etc, but not too sure how often.

(4) pros and cons

👍🏻 pros:

teachers are rlly good, many are super experienced (like ajar kat kmb for 30+ years), having a class cancelled is rare
ib is very recognised (basically everywhere) and highly highly regarded (bcs of its academic rigor) which can increase ur chances of admission into a good uni (provided u score decently enough la obvsly)
MARA can sponsor many of ur ECs yay (they even sponsored my flight to math camp despite it being an out-of-school EC)

🤷🏻‍♀️ neutral:

u hv to take a variety of subjects. if u like the variety then good la, but like personally for me i feel like theres some stuff im learning that i hv no interest in and hv no relevance to me anyway (AHEM AHEM malay) so a program like a-levels would be better if u want smth more concentrated. but ik some STEM ppl here who still appreciate their humanities so yea it's up to personal preference rlly
ask anyone and they'll say ib susah. i can't say much bcs i only went thru sem 1 and sem 1 is known for being very chill, but yea i do think ib is harder than other pre-u programs. like for one, u hv to take so many subjects and they're like legitimately hard to score (for reference, for sem 1-3, usually only less than 30 science students get 35+. my class 2 out of 21 je yg 35+ in sem 1 when sem 1 is literally the CHILL semester, but then again my subject combo is notoriosuly hard). the material is known to be challenging and also high workload cuz we hv to do EE IA all dat. personally i think it's fine tho (like i think if u survived permata u'll fr be fine in ib). and also yea it's hard but i think ib will prep u well for uni
u can get very busy with school stuff - which is good if that's what u like, but it means little time for out-of-school ECs (my math oly performance significantly declined since starting ib)
very malay-cultured cuz like pretty much everyone here is malay so mhmm self-explanatory. u can probably think of it as mrsm vibes but dont ask me cuz idk. we also get less cuti for cny/deepavali/etc. LOL
they love love having RANDOM events here (that are "compulsory" for year 1s) that they'll only inform a day or two before HDJSHDAJ. like honestly many free petangs tak free pun bcs of random events including briefings, ceramah, etc.
i feel like stuff is very spoon-fed but not at the same time. spoon-fed bcs teachers ajar cam sekolah (not uni-style), but at the same time not bcs a lot of things are still self-initiative (u're the one yg kena set consultation with teacher) like for EE IA all dat

👎🏻 cons:

if u like out-of-school ECs then kinda susah bcs they hv this 14-day of absence limit for 2 years (i cant say for sure how strict this is) and if u leave school for any EC that's not bawah sekolah u'll be dikira absent e.g. even when i wakil negara for math camps, kira absent. if u go under the school e.g. innovation comp under kmb, u won't be dikira absent tho. kinda funny if u ask me but yea. this is mara policy btw so i heard it holds in other mara institutions like kms too
mm like i mentioned, wifi sucks in some places and is sometimes down (it's generally good tho, kadang2 je) but then again, most campuses might hv a similar issue ig
meja in room so kecik for wat HDASJDHSAJDHASJHDSJDHSAJ 😭😭😭
not a con to most but MATH SCENE IS NON-EXISTENT HERE AHAHAHSJDHASJDHASJ. so like fun fact: during my year kmb sponsored students for like literally every ISO selection (ofm, k3m, myclo, mypo, etc.) EXCEPT FOR IMONSTTT DHJSDHASJ. kmc ada la but omg still HAHAHAH yea math culture takde ah kat sini (talked to my math teachers and they acknowledge it too)
there's no comfy space to study alone. meja bilik too small and it gets hot btw (unless u bring fan la). and on weekends library tak bukak so most ppl go to concourse, lc, ds, etc. but all these spaces are either panas or too public idk. ngl i think im just being petty tho cuz im used to getting a whole classroom to myself in permata HAHAHA ok fine this is totally a me-problem 😐

ummmm idk wat else to mention but yea leave any questions below and i can respond to them, or just pm me la. gl making a decision if u are 🤟🏻⚡