IB: Kolej MARA Banting.

Image source: Google

Let’s continue on our IB discussion. (suka betul cakap pasal IB, I pun taktau kenapa)

What IB is like at Kolej MARA Banting (KMB)?

First, I think KMB is more like a school rather than a college.

Korang ada lecturer, kitorang ada cikgu.

Korang ada assignments, kitorang ada homework.

Korang ada coursemate, kitorang ada classmate.

Korang ada baju cantik pakai pergi kelas, kitorang ada baju kurung kasut hitam T_T

Korang ada cafeteria, kitorang ada DS (Dewan Selera).

Korang ada hari yang takde class, kitorang hari3 pergi kelas 8am-2pm 5 hari seminggu tak miss T_T

Korang ada gap between classes, kitorang ada waktu rehat fixed 9.40am atau 10.30am.

Korang ada lecture hall, kitorang ada classroom.

Dan lain3. Pendek kata, memang sekolah habis lah. But that’s the beauty of KMB. Touching :')

Daily routine

Class starts at 8am, ends between 12pm-2.20pm. Biasanya kalau hari yang balik pukul 2.20pm tu hari horror. Dah la balik lambat, lunch lambat, kalau makan ayam kat DS sure tinggal yang taksedap je. Lagi tragis kalau lauk habis wuwuwu. Petang, usually free je, unless nak jadi kiasu datang class/libary (it’s called Learning Resource Centre, LRC), boleh jugak. Kalau ikut Bella, memang biasanya stay lah. Solat Zuhur kat surau lepas lunch, then balik class semula. Sebab dah tau kalau balik bilik sure tido. zzz. Stay sampai Asar, then solat kat surau and terus dinner. Nerd, I tau. Tapi kalau balik bilik memang confirm tak jadi keje weh. Malam plak, kalau rajin atau ada group discussion, pergi lah LRC. Kalau rasa nak menggedik, pergi KFC (KMB Food Court) lol. Itu je kot. 5 kali sehari, tak pernah miss. Ceh dah macam solat fardhu pulaknye. Khamis malam Jumaat pulak ada ceramah, wajib. Walaupun selalu je ponteng huhu tak berkat der. Weekends, kalau tak swimming atas katil, outing, tak pun balik umah. Tapi nak outing/balik rumah kena book, bagitau warden siap3. See, sangat sekolah kan? :’)

CAS

CAS stands for Creativity Action Service. It’s one of the vital elements in IB that you must do in order to obtain a Diploma (other than TOK huhu trauma der). Biasanya kalau cakap pasal CAS, memang sangat sinonim dengan volunteering charity work walhal benda lain pun boleh claim CAS hour. Trend kat KMB ialah bila Year 1 memang gila CAS hour, sikit3 ajak member buat service rumah anak yatim ke apa ke, tak pun hospital attachments, dapat jugak CAS hour. Tapi bila dah besar sikit aka Year 2, tak pandang dah semua tu huh. CAS ada banyak, External CAS, class-based CAS, entah apa3 lagi CAS lah. External CAS is what you do fortnightly at the assigned centre (mine was PDK Kajang) while class-based CAS is your class project.

Hospital Attachments

At first I was told that it is compulsory to do at least one hospital attachment while you’re at KMB. This applies to Medic student. But me, being a so-so premedical students, I had my attachment at Ampang Puteri Hospital. Amik kau, private siap. Memang takleh buat apa lah. Tengok je dokter, lepas tu bosan, mengantuk, tunggu pukul 6, blah. Wahahah sekadar ada record attachment sudah. But if you ask my friends who did it at government hospitals, especially teaching hospitals, memang terbaik cakap lu. Ada yang siap boleh masuk labour room. Kagum weh. Walaupun kalau diberi peluang I taknak pun huhu.

Co-curriculum

Tak cukup dengan CAS segala bagai, we also have extra curricular activities like JPAM where we had to kawad3 kaki tapi disebabkan sambutan kurang menggalakkan daripada student, program ini dibubarkan sebab kena boikot. Hahah hebat gila batch kitorang boikot JPAM wak lu. Then there were clubs and societies – tapi kena pandai pilih. Sebab tak semua pun cam jalan. And kat KMB clubs/societies bersepah. Pilih je mana nak. Memang sesuai untuk memantapkan masa anda.

International Programs

Dah nama lagi world school an, so apa lagi, jalan lah. I had the privilege to be in Fish for Life (a humanitarian project we did in Jogjakarta) and to Borneo Global International Conference held at Brunei. Other projects would be Cambodia project, so far that I can remember. Tapi kalau untuk yang kiasu dan manusia3 hebat, boleh la masuk Olympiad, boleh pergi Jepun free. Huuuu. Basically if it doesn’t involve academic much, then the ground rule is simple – you have the money, you go. Sebab tu kalau tengok kat KMB, sikit3 fund-raising. Semua pun cari duit nak sponsor trip pergi mana3lah.

 Some have relationship problem. If you're an IB student, then IB is your problem. source

I had a freaking tough time doing IB. Away from family, poor time management plus kemalasan berganda, tambah lagi minat macam nak tak nak je. Honestly, kalau bukan sebab scholarship, I’m not even sure if I would stay, doing IB at KMB. But irony, because if you ask me whether to do IB or not, I would give you a BIG FAT YES. Yes, it’s tough, like really make you go crazy, gasping for air, trying to do three four things at one time, but really, bila lagi you nak test yourself? Takkan forever nak senang je? (gelabah gila walhal belajar lain pun susah jugak). You’ve heard it – IB is one of the toughest pre-university programs in the world, so don’t you want to have a taste of it? See if you can make it. Like I said to someone, let yourself SOAR doing IB. Yes, soar, bukan sore. T_T Despite all the emotional junks and craps I’ve been writing when I was doing IB (referring to the 2009-2010 entries), I would still say YES. Dengar cakap akak. Buat lah IB.

An IB student doing assignment. source

Edited in May 2013 --- I've posted another entry on IB in general, and the subjects offered at KMB. You can read it HERE. Alternatively you can click on the label IB and search for relevant/useful information - if there's any, good luck. However the latter has its own risk where you might find totally unnecessary pieces of junks I wrote during my IB years. Oh well you've been warned.

Also, I did IB 2008-2010, so yes, that's a million years ago. Things change (I know it sucks isn't it),  hence you might want to find more recent information on the glory of KMB and IB. Bahahah.