<p>I really wish my school had an IB program, but we're an honors/AP school.. I didn't get much out of my AP classes (the curriculmn and structure of the classes weren't as college-prep as I though they'd be), and it seems that IB would've been a better option. I think I would've succeeded better in such an enviornment that emphasizes writing and a structured schedule.. but as already said, the preference over AP or IB depends on the individual.</p>
<p>"what topic did you do your extended essay on?"</p>
<p>i wrote mine on the legality of the 1991 invasion into iraq under the UN charter. </p>
<p>yea risky topic cuz it barely made the 10-year buffer guideline for history. but i got a good score ;)</p>
<p>in regards to AP vs. IB diploma comparison, </p>
<p>i think this is kinda obvious:
IB Diploma > AP Scholar with Distinction </p>
<p>but i dont think IB Diploma is more rigorous than state or national AP scholar, even though it's somewhat difficult to compare the two.</p>
<p>i'm an IB diploma candidate who also takes AP classes too. i think IB is definately harder than AP.</p>
<p>As for HL Math for IB, one of the brightest kids i've ever known, he won first place at the Intel Scholor Search (with $100,000 scholarship money) and currently goes to MIT, he got a 4 on the HL Math test...</p>
<p>now no one at our school ever dares taking the IB HL Math test.</p>
<p>If done the right way, IB is more enriching than AP is. However, if you participate in the IB program, TAKE AP EXAMS because otherwise you won't get college credit. Colleges only accept AP credit and IB HL credit, so IB SL credit will not suffice. In my school, AP and IB classes overlapped, so I took IB tests and AP tests.</p>
<p>Where the difference lies is that AP consists of EXAMS, whereas IB is SO MUCH more than EXAMS- 150 CAS hours, Internal Assessments, Extended Essay,TOK, etc. IB is a program, and includes a group of interesting people who are more diverse than AP people. In my IB program, we had athletes, dancers, artists, musicians, volunteers, leaders, etc, and we were a close-knit group. IB is about being well-rounded, whereas AP is about taking tests. IB is also more intensive than AP is, but only recently have colleges been making the distinction between AP and IB.</p>
<p>So while IB is harder than AP is, don't count on IB being a ticket into an ivy league college, and the same goes for AP.</p>
<p>If you do the IB diploma program you can gain many credits...up to a full year depending on the institution. Don't count on credits at "Ivy League" team schools.</p>
<p>IB is awesome, from what I hear. I mean, the way you go about learning. You have to take a Theory of Knowledge class which is like... philosophy, I suppose. You have to do the extended essay, where you do extensive research on the topic of your choice. I am definately doing IB, and I'm sure it will be well worth it. Everyone at my school who has done IB says that they do not regret it in the end (though I'm sure the wondered while they were doing it XD) I am sure you will learn a lot more than if you just did AP. Also, IB requires that you do community service, which can help on your apps.</p>
<p>AP calc isn't harder than HL math. What are you talking about?</p>
<p>IB is NOT for just anyone. Its for students who a) REALLY enjoy enriched learning or b) very hard working and self-motivated. If you're not one of those, please, please DO NOT do the IB. You're just digging a grave for yourself and you probably won't find TOK class interesting. Its not worth it unless you're going to a certain university <em>cough</em>orliveinflorida<em>cough</em> that give you monies and credits for doing IB. Or if you're leaving the USA for your college ducation. AP classes are worth crap out of the US, my dears!</p>
<p>If you're in AP, you cannot take the IB exams. But IB students can take both. Things learned in IB are different that in AP. Its a different curriculumn. </p>
<p>If you're doing IB and want credit, you'll need to take 4 HL courses. If you're not doing HL math, you might as well do math studies and then do AP calc because SL math and math studies are the same thing to adcoms. And if you're scared math studies looks bad on your resume, you have that AP calc to back you up. </p>
<p>I think IB students get the best teachers, as well. Having a good teacher helps 100000000x! </p>
<p>Uhm, to kandy. You can only be in IB if your school provides the program. A levels are things in Europe, I guess. They are supposed to be hard classes. Like IB certificates or something.</p>
<p>first of all what do you mean by "which is better" ? That's such a vague question no offence but is it better for college? better for you? better choice for your work ethics? </p>
<p>Anyway if you really want to know IB classes are much more harder than the AP classes because there no "requirements" in AP. In IB you are supposed to spend a certain amount of time on stuff which the IBO specifies u to do whereas AP doesnt do that. Test wise both are the same ( i have taken 5 ap and 6 Ib tests ) though I would give a slight edge to the AP tests even though curve makes up for it . IB is just rigorous.</p>
<p>my advice to people taking math methods: try taking the calc test the same morning as ur ib exam (that's how it was scheduled this year)... at least if the university refuses to give you math credit for a standard level class- they might for the ap test
and if ur math teacher isn't very good, and you did some option on calculus, u should logically not fail miserably</p>
<p>On the subject of general differences between the AP and IB, I definitely agree with what all of you have said with the exception of IB failing conditions - somethign many people seem to be confused about. The IB program is scored on a point system with the highest possible score being 45. Failing one class (<4) does NOT mean that you will not get the diploma.</p>
<p>IB Failure Codes</p>
<ul>
<li>One or more subjects N (not completed). </li>
<li>Extended essay and/or Theory of Knowledge N. </li>
<li>CAS requirement not completed. </li>
<li>Both extended essay and Theory of Knowledge graded elementary (E) </li>
<li>2 x HL grade 2 </li>
<li>3 x HL grade 3 </li>
<li>2 x HL grade 3, no HL grade 5, 6, or 7 Article 9.11 and 9.11 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, 1 x HL grade 3, not compensated for by a HL grade 5, 6, or 7 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 3, no HL grade 5, 6, or 7, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>2 x HL grade 3, not compensated for by HL grade 5, 6, or 7, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>2 x SL grade 1 </li>
<li>3 x SL grade 2 </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 1, 1 x SL grade 2 </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 1, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>2 x SL grade 2, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, 1 x SL grade 1 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, 2 x SL grade 2 </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 2, 1 x HL grade 2, 1 x grade 3 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 3, no HL grade 5, 6 or 7, 1 x SL grade 1 </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 1, 2 x grade 3 </li>
<li>2 x SL grade 2, 1 x grade 3 </li>
<li>4 x grade 3, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 2, 2 x grade 3, overall score does not reach 28 points </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 2, 3 x grade 3 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, E in both the extended essay and Theory of Knowledge </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 3, not compensated for by HL grade 5, 6 or 7: E in both extended essay and Theory of Knowledge </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 1, E in both extended essay and Theory of Knowledge </li>
<li>2 x SL grade 2, E in both extended essay and Theory of Knowledge </li>
<li>2 x SL grade 3, 1 x SL grade 2, E in both extended essay and Theory of Knowledge </li>
<li>4 x grade 3 including 1 x HL grade 3 not compensated for by a grade 5, 6 or 7 </li>
<li>1 x SL grade 2, 2 x grade 3 including 1 x HL grade 3 not compensated for by a grade 5, 6 or 7 </li>
<li>1 x HL grade 2, 3 x grade 2 </li>
</ul>
<p>The diploma will be awarded if:
- A candidate with 28 points or more has only one failing condition
- A candiate with 24, 25, 26, or 27 points does not have a failing condition </p>
<p>Note: fewer than 24 points always means no diploma.</p>
<hr>
<p>In most cases, the difference between AP and IB exams is this: AP exam test for very specific knowledge whereas IB exams test for BS skills (because it's mostly written responses to relatively general questions)</p>
<p>As for more specific differences between AP Calc BC and IBH Math, what the teachers at my school generally tell the students is this: IBH Math gives a broad but shallow whereas BC is narrow but deep in comparison. No information regarding test difficulty differences was given.</p>
<p>personally, i think IB is a lot harder than AP.</p>
<p>IB may be harder than AP, but to me it seems that more AP students are in the Ivies.</p>
<p>Furthermore and perhaps more importantly, IB consumes all of a student's time. AP, on the other hand, has been said to be for the "naturally smart" (I don't agree fully, since hard work is still required), and so allows for more free time. In this free time, one can pursue other activities, such as scientific research, in my case. I live very close to an IB school, and an easy boundary exception would have let me go there. However, I do not think I would have been either a Siemens Finalist, an ISEF finalist, or an RSI participant, if I had sold my soul to IB.</p>
<p>
[quote]
IB may be harder than AP, but to me it seems that more AP students are in the Ivies.
[/quote]
Perhaps because a larger number of students pursue AP than IB overall?
[quote]
Furthermore and perhaps more importantly, IB consumes all of a student's time. AP, on the other hand, has been said to be for the "naturally smart" (I don't agree fully, since hard work is still required), and so allows for more free time. In this free time, one can pursue other activities, such as scientific research, in my case. I live very close to an IB school, and an easy boundary exception would have let me go there. However, I do not think I would have been either a Siemens Finalist, an ISEF finalist, or an RSI participant, if I had sold my soul to IB.
[/quote]
I think that's a generalization. One of our recent graduates single-handedly directed a play in his spare time (that's hours of rehearsal every day for several months) and will attend Brown in the fall. Last year's valedictorian participated in extensive research at the National Institute of Health, and is now at MIT. Those are just two examples. IB does not require you to "sell your soul"--if you are "naturally smart" you will know how to work around it.</p>
<p>I agree with that; IB does not "require" anything, it is going to be about how one chooses to balance one's schedule.</p>
<p>IB classes may be harder, but you can only take 3 per year. I personally think AP is better because of the flexibility it gives you - you can take any number of exams you want with or without formal preperation.</p>
<p>
[quote]
IB classes may be harder, but you can only take 3 per year.
[/quote]
Normally, IB courses are two-year courses of which you take 6 at a time (but keep the same courses for two years). In addition, you would take Theory of Knowledge and a creative elective. I suppose it would be possible to condense the classes into more intense one-year courses and take three at a time, but most schools (in my knowledge) choose the two-year route, since that is how the program was originally designed.</p>
<p>most IB classes are two years, and you take all 6 of them for 2 years jr and sr year (usually, sometimes soph and jr... sometimes the first year is "preIB", depending on the subject).</p>
<p>there are way more AP students than IB students. There were only 12,061 IB Diploma Candidates in North America in 2004. There were like 20,600ish world wide I believe. And only like 52 perfect scores (45/45).</p>
<p>If you are "naturally smart", you can still be lazy and get an IB Diploma. I did it. Well, I worked really hard right before everything was due.</p>
<p>"Students seeking the finest preparation for American colleges should consider the IB... I do not know of a more comprehensive learning model."
- Director of Admissions, Macalester</p>
<p>"Send us prepared students a la IB... it is the 'best' high school prep curriculum an American school can offer."
- Director of Undergrad Admissions, MIT</p>
<p>"We know the quality of IB courses, and we think the IB curriculum is terrific"
- Director of Undergrad Admissions, Duke</p>
<p>"Success in the IB programme correlates well with success at Harvard. We are always pleased to see the credentials of the IB Diploma programme on the transcript."
- Dean of Undergrad Admissions, Harvard</p>
<p>"There is no other cirriculum anywhere that does a superior job of both educating students and inspiring a true and broad-based love of learning."
- Dean of Undergrad Admissions, Vanderbilt</p>
<p>The strength of IB lies in the total package. If you just want to take the advanced classes where your strengths are, then AP is the way to go.</p>
<p>i don't think ap or ib students are smarter. what program you take has nothing to do with how smart you are. personally, i think ib prepares you for college better. everyone that has gone to the ib program at my school thinks their college is really easy, no matter where they go. this includes the ivy leagues. i'm sure that a lot of kids that took ap classes feel the same thing, but i just feel like a larger portion of ib kids have that feeling. maybe i'm bias because i'm in ib and i know how much work it is.</p>
<p>My brother did the IB program at a school which used it as its magnet. He is incredibly smart, and he would have been had he attended the school which i attened, which hosts no IB classes. He did sacrifice a lot for the program, and it caused him incredible stress. He was successful at certain things, but they were all school related. It seems like getting ones IB Diploma really requires "selling one's soul." He even sacrificed summers for it, whereas I only had summer work for my AP and Honors classes, he fulfilled about 150? hours of community service in the Dominican Republic. Is there some sort of community service requirement in the program? Also, I think that the more people know about the IB program, the more they respect it. However, it isn't that well known.</p>
<p>All in all, however, I think it is safe to say that an intelligent student will make it no matter where they are. Out of all the applicants that get into any Ivy, say, per year, I bet more than 80% would have made it if they had gone to another school.</p>
<p>DRab: There is a 60-hour community service requirement, but it certainly doesn't require you to spend a summer in the Dominican Republic. One hour of tutoring at your inner city public school every week would have been enough. Surely that's not too much to ask?</p>