IMG Academy (academics)

This blog is about the year I spent in IMG academy. Having transferred from British School in England to American High school, I had to go through a tough dilemma in order to graduate and enroll in College. 

Introduction

Summer of 2013, I finished year 12 in England, and from September I started my last academic year of high school in IMG academy.

IMG academy is one of the most well-known sports academy in the world which also offers an integrated academic and athletic college preparatory program across many sports including tennis.

School 

I studied and played tennis at IMG academy for a year. I played tennis in the morning, and had school in the afternoon. 

Since it was the last year of high school, it was a really important year in terms of college preparation. 

the Two Alternatives

Having studied the past years of high school in England, things were much complicated for me. 

In order to graduate high school and advance to college, I either had to -finish the *A level which is the national qualification in England, or submit the GPA of the american high school -  to college.

Furthermore, I had to take SAT in addition regardless of the above choices if I wanted to go to a college in the United States.

*A level is a two years course and I had already completed the first year (A level) at that moment.

In comparison to the academic level of American High school's education, A level was considered much more difficult and had much more advantage in college acceptance. 

I ended up choosing the more harrowing choice, continuing with the A level. 

A Level, SAT, High school and Tennis - All at once

However, studying for the A level while living in America was a massive adversity. 

First of all, there were no teacher who could teach the A level stuff in my vicinity. Hence I had to self- teach everything only with a help of textbooks.

The A level exams are extremely difficult and it was a immense challenge to pass just by studying alone.

I only needed to submit the result of 3 subjects for the A2 level, In my case they were physics, mathematics and Japanese. 

Another problem was that in order to stay stay at IMG academy, I was obligated to go to school, to have a valid VISA. Therefore in the high school at IMG academy, I had to take classes, tests, and do homework, presentations etc just like the rest of the students.

The reason I chose to go to IMG academy was of course to play tennis in the best environment and improve as much as possible therefore of course I didn't try to to sacrifice the training hours. 

It was extremely difficult and ordeal to have gone through two completely different school system at the same time. 

In fact, it was already overwhelming just to be an american high school student with a lot of homework and SAT revision with scarce time a day to do so.

Given the circumstances, I started studying properly for the A level subjects only 3 months before the actual exams that take place in England in July.

Usually A level course is taught throughout the whole year, not only 3 months! I, however, crammed almost everything in my brain within the last 3 months. 

However you CANNOT take the A level exams for granted. I needed a lot more time revising and go through past papers to be able to score well in the actual exams.

(at this moment I had already finished taking SAT twice. Although the results were above national average, it wasn't as good as I wanted because I didn't have sufficient time to study for it)

A level Exam week in England

July 2014, having finished high school in America without flunking, I flew back to England to my old school to take the A level exams.

There were 3 papers each for Maths and Physics, and one for Japanese. At this moment, I had not even done any past papers, until the day before of each exams. 

The two weeks were extremely tormenting for my mind and body. My anxiety and apprehension severely chafed me, and I couldn't sleep well. I was on the verge of collapse. 

The exams were unexpectedly difficult. There were too many questions I had not revised at all which were not on the textbook either. 

Result 

The following month, I was in Japan and I received the result of my A level exams via email. 

I literally felt I had butterfly in my stomach, as I opened it gingerly. 

The results were disastrous especially in Physics. 

Luckily, the results of the As Level which I took before in England were good enough to neutralize my whole A level grades. (A level is comprised of AS and  A2 Level)  

The average grades were good enough to submit to college, and I finally felt relieved and free with no burden to carry. 

Conclusion

Even though the results of my exams didn't turn out well, the adversity I overcame was a very important experience for me. 

As far as I know, there are no one who has done the same thing as me before. 

The experience certainly enriched my life and strengthened my mentality to face and overcome obstacles. 

Thank you for reading until the end! 

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