October 2018

FORMER GIS STUDENT STARTS HER
When Yeen first started learning at GIS, she
knew almost no English.
After spending a few months with English
Language Support teachers, she soon improved.
By the time Yeen reached Year 11,
she passed her IGCSEs and was even given
a ‘top in the world’ award.
Yeen has just been awarded a First Class
Honours degree from Durham University in
accounting and finance and is about to start
her post-graduate degree at the worldfamous
University of Cambridge.
Durham is ranked 5th best in the UK, while
the University of Cambridge was recently
ranked the 2nd best university in the world.
Yeen applied to the University of Cambridge
last November and had a long wait before
hearing she had been successful. She has
now just begun studying for her Masters in
Real Estate Finance.
Yeen said her experience at GIS doing the
IB Diploma was excellent preparation for life
at the world’s top universities.
‘When I first came to GIS I was struggling a
bit as I couldn’t understand that much and
English was quite difficult. The English language
support programme, IGCSE and especially
IB was great for university. IB isn’t
just teaching you language, it’s preparing
you for further study.
‘I remember when you do the Extended Essay
for IB it seems like it’s too much to take
but here if you have to write 4,000 words,
maybe that’s not enough; it’s hard to have
such a low boundary.
‘CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) is more
useful than anything else. You can put that
in your CV when you apply to university because
they are not just interested in your
grades but also your extra-curricular experiences.
If you do A levels, they don’t have
that kind of subject. If you have the IB Diploma
it’s really good for you.’
MASTERS AT CAMBRIDGE
While at Durham, Yeen helped run a
Thai society for the 100 Thai students
who study at the university, which involved
special sports events and a Thai
night. Knowing that she wanted to keep
studying in the UK, Yeen started applying
to top universities such as University College
London (UCL), the London School
of Economics (LSE) and Cambridge at
the end of last year.
Yeen submitted a personal statement
and references from two lecturers, but
wasn’t required to attend an interview at
Cambridge. When she discovered Cambridge
had offered her a place, she was
stunned.
‘I kept checking my computer for an
email from them. First I got an offer from
LSE so I thought maybe I missed out
with Cambridge, but then I got an email
from them too. I was shocked to be honest.
I was not expecting that at all. My
family was over the moon.’
Yeen’s progress has been remarkable.
When Yeen joined GIS towards the end
of Year 7, back in 2009, she was in our
English Language Support programme
with Mr Berry. At the start she studied for
the Key English Test (KET), which is for
students with elementary English skills.
After passing her IGCSEs, Yeen then
completed her IB Diploma at GIS in
2015, finishing with a score of 38 – at the
time, the highest-ever score by a Thai
student at GIS.
Yeen said the education she gained from
GIS was a huge help and the perfect
preparation for university. Learning research
and essay-writing skills for IB’s
Extended Essay meant writing essays at
universities was straightforward. And the
opportunities available with Creativity,
Activity, Service (CAS) meant Yeen
could demonstrate many kinds of noncurricular
experiences too when applying
to university.
Yeen praised Mr Berry, one of GIS’s
longest-serving teachers, for helping
to improve her English.
Yeen also had some useful tips for
our current IB students.
‘I think the best thing to do is when
you have some free time it’s better to
spend it in the study room than the
common room, so you can review
what you have been taught. Time
management is quite important, you
have a lot of deadlines in IB.’
Yeen’s sister Khing may be about to
follow a similar path. She is also currently
in the UK, and is in her final
year of her Economics’ degree at the
University of Warwick.
Congratulations to Yeen for gaining a
place at one of the world’s top universities.
It’s a great example of what
GIS can help students achieve.
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