Seisen Graduate Matilde Piras Provides Advice for HS Students

Seisen is generally an exceptional school when it comes to IB. The students score quite highly on their IB exams, and the score average is higher than the world’s. One student who certainly proved Seisen’s quality right is Matilde Piras, a 2017 graduate. Not only did she score a perfect 42 in her exams, but she also managed to balance the intense high school academic curriculum as an avid tennis player as well. Matilde explained, “I would be lying if I said that it was easy, but it's a challenge that we were all willing to take, and it was really important to learn how to manage my time.”

She elaborated on her success in the IB program by stressing the importance of creating study schedules and routines. “I think dividing up my day really helped: sleep from 11p.m. (no matter what unless there’s an exam) to 6a.m., go to school, have tennis practice right after school, go home, study, eat dinner, study until 11p.m. I would use every study hall and break I had during the day to do schoolwork.” Additionally, she described how great Seisen teachers are at preparing students for the IB exams. Matilde stated, “IB is not a program that can be casually studied for, and looking back, I am so glad to have had giant stacks of past exam papers and guidelines prepared specifically for me by teachers in each of my subjects. I underestimated how important and helpful all that preparation was, and how big of a role my teachers played.”

However, success comes with some failure. Matilde detailed, “I was lucky enough not to have any major problems that impeded me from studying; however, there were times when my Environmental Systems and Societies and Chemistry experiments failed, and these failures seemed so catastrophic to me at the time.” She explains that though we may face minor setbacks from time to time, we should take a look at the big picture to calm ourselves down instead of stressing over small details. What helped Matilde lift up her spirits during such tough times were her fellow classmates who boosted her attitude and instilled a positive mindset. “Just hearing them chat in the hallway and having fun with them helped me put my studies into perspective and reminded me that I'm at school with such diverse people and that I should be enjoying myself too, not only studying the entire time.”

Matilde provided the Seisen Post with the best advice she could give: “Do not be scared of IB. You will have to make sacrifices sometimes (like skipping tennis or staying home on weekends) but that doesn't mean you're doing badly, it just means you want to do well. We all did it, we all graduated, so will you.”