<p>My high school offers both AP and IB, both of which are quite comprehensive/good. However, I am only taking the AP courses as of now.</p>
<p>The question is: should I bother doing both AP and IB, or should I continue to focus on having a good selection of AP courses? Did I go the wrong way by only doing AP instead of full IB?</p>
<p>Are the IB classes by themselves in any way more rigorous than their AP counterparts, or are they about the same? If I take about 15 AP classes (in all sorts of subjects - in a way to be as comprehensive as IB), will is be just as good or better than IB?</p>
<p>Ib classes are way more rigorous and colleges notify that when looking at your GPA. Taking IB would have lowered your GPA a great deal and taken a toll on your strenght ahah. However, counting that you would have take the most rigorous classes in the world at the secondary level and recieved college credit and a GPA push when colleges see it, you should have taken it.</p>
<p>At my school, the AP and IB classes are unified until the senior year. So currently, I share lots of classes with full IB students - it's just that while they do the IB projects and take the IB test, I just simply get a nice grade and take an AP test.</p>
<p>So far, I'm able to keep straight A's with only one or two B's here and there.</p>
<p>You should find out what will get the "most rigorous course load" designation from your school. In schools that have the IB Diploma program, even if they offer AP too, IB Diploma is generally considered the most rigorous because ti has extra requirements outside the classroom. However if there is no Diploma program (unless it's a brand new program I don't think that's really possible), or if you would just take certificates anyway because you don't need the most rigorous designation for the colleges you're looking at, then it probably doesn't matter. In that case you'll want to choose based on which classes you are more interested in taking or relate to your intended major or an area of concentration you prefer.</p>
<p>Edited: are you already a junior? You would have had to have started Diploma already. Maybe not technically but with many school timelines the IAs should be done, etc. If you're already a junior and haven't started Diploma, you should probably stay on the AP track. I don't think there is going to be a lot of difference between IB certificates and AP courses (at least not IB II classes, which would be senior year).</p>
<p>^^^
Hm. my school just began offering IB [Diploma] this year (I'm currently a sophmore), but by the end of this year I will have taken 2 APs, and will probably have taken 10-12ish APs by the end of senior year. I take french, and in my school its basically impossible to take IB Diploma if you take french b/c the only languages they are offering are Spanish HL and French Ab Initio. IDK what my school does, but if they ranked the IB diploma as more rigorous than APs, would I be, in essence, penalized for taking APs? Becuase I personally couldn't have taken the IB Diploma anway!<br>
How do I find out what my school does?</p>
<p>Well, if you're already a junior, I don't think you can switch. If you're a sophomore, you <em>might</em> be able to do a full IB Diploma even if you're not in Pre-IB. </p>
<p>AP courses are good to take in the 10th grade (and maybe 9th??), but for the "most rigorous" take AP courses as electives while you're doing IB in 11th and 12th grade (if you have empty slots in your schedule, that is).</p>
<p>
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At my school, the AP and IB classes are unified until the senior year.
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</p>
<p>Wow, AP and IB unified??? They are separate in my school, but an IB student can easily take an AP test as part of the IB course. This would be especially useful for SL classes as they are AP level (unlike HL classes which go beyond AP/SL content) because not all colleges grant credit for all SL classes.</p>
<p>For example, at my school you can take the AP Biology exam while in IB Biology HL, but it is not necessary for receiving college credit in biology as the IB exam will do. For credit in IB Physics SL, however, many students choose to take the AP Physics B exam in addition to the IB exam as not all colleges grant credit.</p>
<p>I'm a junior - guess like I'm screwed. I'll talk to my IB counselor and see if she can do anything about it. Though, I don't think it's going to work out nicely.</p>
<p>Yeah - at my school, the courses are labeled with both AP and IB. Parts from both curriculums are taught in detail, with some overlap. Just imagine components from both of them concatenated into the course description.</p>
<p>So - the idea is: technically, I'm taking IB classes, but I have not registered for any of the exams. That is because there'd be a conflict with the AP exams (IIRC), and I really dislike the projects.</p>
<p>I wish I had continued Spanish (dropped it after Freshman year, after Spanish 3, as I got bored of it).</p>
<p>So, technically, I'm taking the same classes as the IB students, except I'm not taking the IB exams, my foreign language component is lacking, and I won't have theory of knowledge, the extended essay, nor the CAS.</p>
<p>Don't bother with IB exams if you're not going for the diploma program.</p>
<p>Still, IB curriculum is different from AP. How do they work out Calculus AB and Math Methods II? Seems weird.</p>
<p>Just do your own community service hours for CAS, the EE is just a checkoff anyways. Make sure you take AP Lang and Lit and you'll be fine. The TOK class is pretty funny anyways. Just make sure you take a full AP complement and be happy you get to avoid doing stupid orals.</p>
<p>Calculus AB is not offered as an IB class at my school. While most classes are AP and IB combined, there are definitely a few exceptions. Most people just take the AP Calculus BC / Math Methods SL in order to satisfy the IB requirements.</p>
<p>When I moved and started attending my HS, they didn't offer Calculus AB. Instead, they just decided to put me into BC and gave me a huge challenge while I slipped by with an A- with a 89.501%, whereas I'd get 97%'s in math classes before.</p>
<p>
[quote]
^^^
Hm. my school just began offering IB [Diploma] this year (I'm currently a sophmore), but by the end of this year I will have taken 2 APs, and will probably have taken 10-12ish APs by the end of senior year. I take french, and in my school its basically impossible to take IB Diploma if you take french b/c the only languages they are offering are Spanish HL and French Ab Initio. IDK what my school does, but if they ranked the IB diploma as more rigorous than APs, would I be, in essence, penalized for taking APs? Becuase I personally couldn't have taken the IB Diploma anway!
How do I find out what my school does?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As long as you take a rigorous course load anyway, comparable to what the IB kids are taking at your school, if you have an excuse then i don't think you will be penalized as long as this situation is communicted to colleges (through the counselor rec. maybe) You can take IB certificate classes in HL subjects probably, look into that. </p>
<p>I know kids who didn't do diploma because of scheduling conflicts but they still took the hardest course load they could, etc and did fine in admissions. It's just bad to have Diploma be offered, and have no excuse for not doing it except that you don't want to complete the extra requirements.</p>
<p>Personally, I think IB is great because it's an automatic "rigorous curriculum," but doesn't have to be given you can take 3 HLs instead of 4, and you can take the lowest level language (ab initio) to satisfy the language B requirement, and you can take Bio instead of Physics (a subject which scares me according to what I've heard from other Physics students), and you can take Psych or Business instead of Econ or History. And for the Group 6 requirement (I think that's the elective? not sure) you can double science, if you're a science person, or double social science or do an actual elective. And TOK, at my school at least, is a bit of a joke. Unless you want to study in Europe, the TOK and Extended Essay requirements are absolutely unimportant, so you can do them without pulling your hair out about them seeing at they only contribute to your IB total, which US colleges don't look at ever. You can really play to your strengths with it. </p>
<p>What sucks about IB is that you have to score higher in a harder curriculum in order to get the same credit you get from an AP course. Generally you have to get a 4 or 5 to get credit on AP exam, whereas you need a 6 or a 7 to get credit with IB. And the AP exam suffices for credit, whereas with IB you need to take HL to get credit. And you're limited to 4 HLs, so that's really great for getting credit (*rolls eyes). </p>
<p>Wow, total tangent there. Well anyway, I think IB helps you out in that less people do it that apply to US colleges. To stand out with the AP program, you have to take like 10 APs at least. If you pursue a rigorous course load, not taking IB won't hurt you. But if it's not too late, doing both IB and AP will definitely make you a standout applicant. Don't make things impossible for yourself though.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with schitz. If you want to have a curriculum similar to that of an IB diploma, take nothing but AP courses your junior and senior year (well, maybe a couple of honors courses). </p>
<p>Be sure to take several AP courses in each subject area, including English, History & Government, Science, and Calculus (Stats a plus). Also be sure to take an AP foreign language and if possible something like AP Music Theory, Studio Art, and/or Computer Science as electives.</p>
<p>As long as you take a bunch of AP and/or IB courses your junior and senior year, you're fine. AP courses in 10th grade are a plus. Try to stay away from honors courses and especially regular courses your last two years.</p>
<p>Oh, and you <em>might</em> be able to take an AP course online if your school doesn't offer it. My school only offers AP Computer Science A, but a few students (which will include me my senior year) take AP Computer Science AB online.</p>
<p>yeah, i MIGHT be able to take AP psych independent study senior year instead of honors sociology</p>
<p>but I really am not a science person and don't want to take AP chem or bio senior year (the only reason I'm taking AP physics is because my school doesn't offer an honors physics course), but I'd rather take some kind of science than just drop it and take an elective, and forensic science sounds interesting, its an honors course, and its part of the Syracuse University college course program, so I figured that was my best bet.</p>
<p>Honestly, no matter how much IB kids like to think otherwise, AP is just about as rigourous. AP is more flexible than IB, but IB is better for a well rounded education without many interests outside the core areas (few opportunities to take classes beyond IB classes). I like AP better, but it's really a matter of personal preference. Colleges in America tend to like AP better for no real reason, but internationally, IB is much more recognised and is more prestigious.</p>
<p>IB is rigorous depending on how it's served. Schools that offer dual AP/IB and squeeze the SL curriculum into a year-long course are very hard, I would imagine. I couldn't stand the thought of doing my SLs in one year, alongside my HL classes as SL in one year, much less. But schools that only do IB - such as mine - make it much easier because they spread out the SL curriculum in two years (when it could comfortably be done in one and a half) and give the right amount of time for HL without appending it to an SL course (as it should be done). So I think my IB curriculum is actually fairly laxed (challenging, but perfectly manageable), and since any full IB curriculum program is prestigious no matter how many easy classes you take, I think it's great for the student.</p>
<p>As for how intense each course is outside the time frame, I hear a lot of different opinions. The general consensus I've picked up on is that an AP course is slightly harder than IB SL (mostly due to time, less so because of the material itself). But they're different in that AP is more memorization-based, whereas IB is more critical thinking. AP courses covers fewer topics in more detail, whereas IB is much broader, with slightly less detail. Anyone care to corrobate/disagree? This is just based on what I've heard. I'm actually interested in how the two compare.</p>
<p>At my high school, IB SL classes are 1 year, IB HL classes are 2 years, and AP classes are, of course, 1 year. Like I said in post #7, IB SL classes and AP classes are equivalent. IB HL classes include IB SL / AP material, plus additional core contents as well as options.</p>