<p>I just want to know the differences between the two.</p>
<p>There are many differences, and you probably should google and read up on both of them. Personally the greatest difference I see is the types of tests: AP tests are typically multiple choice heavy tests with some essays/free response, whereas IB tests are nearly entirely free response or essay questions. My school offers both but I selected to go the “all AP” route simply because of the people taking the two types of courses and the variety of classes at my school. If you have any specific questions about the two programs let me know.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>@eharr34 So really both are similar but the differences is really on the test.</p>
<p>@XxSkizzyxX no, they are not very similar. Let me list major differences:</p>
<p>IB</p>
<p>Need to take 6 IB subjects in order to get Diploma(Must get a certain score)
Most prestigious colleges only give credits to High Level IB with score of 5-7
Need to do community services, extended essays, Theory of Knowledge class.
IB students are in a tightpack small group. You will see most of the kids all day.
Unless your school is a big IB school, course options are limited</p>
<p>AP
Widely recognized in America
Most schools have 20+ subjects. More variety.
Most college accept credits at score of 4-5.
You can take what field you are interest in.
No community services or crappy useless craps.</p>
<p>@long2181998 Thanks for the reply, I think I got it now.</p>
<p>@XxSkizzyxX sorry if I made them sound to similar, they’re not! @long2181998 's description is spot on in my opinion. In my original post I was really just trying to ask what specific questions you had.</p>
<p>@eharr34 It’s alright, now I see the differences between AP and IB.</p>
<p>Everyone has given great info, but I’d just like to say AP is taken more frequently/easier to convert in the US whereas outside of the US, IB is easier to convert</p>
<p>I’m an IB diploma candidate and have taken three AP’s (World History, Calculus AB, Psychology), am taking three next year (Statistics, Calculus BC, Environmental Science), and have taken four exams (WH, USH, Calc AB, Eng Lang).</p>
<p>IB classes typically span two years and are a lot more open to the student’s interpretation. The guidelines that IB teachers are required to give students tend to be vague and there are limits on how much they can voice their opinion with regard to our work (ex. my English teacher was only allowed to write on one draft of a major paper). In the AP classes that I’ve taken, it has been the opposite, with the teacher pushing for us to write in a certain way to prep for the exam. Also, you can take an AP exam without taking the class and do relatively well because of the abundance of review materials out there, but I don’t think you could do that with an IB exam. </p>
<p>An IB Diploma takes a lot of time due to a lot of the requirements (CAS hours, Extended Essay, TOK essay, etc) and you can’t pick and choose your classes the way you can with a more relaxed schedule. If you aren’t doing the IB Diploma, then I would probably recommend taking AP classes rather than IB certificate classes if you can. </p>
<p>Is an IB Diploma really hard to get? </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s a lot of work - most of which seems unnecessary - but it’s not hard per se. Case in point, I learned the entire IB Psychology SL curriculum in the 3 days leading up to IB exams, and managed to pull out a 6. All you need are at least 24 total points spread out among your 6 subjects, plus TOK and the 4,000 word extended essay in order to receive the diploma. The subjects themselves aren’t that difficult, at least in comparison to their AP equivalents, but a lot of memorization is required, especially for IB Science and History courses. There are also internal assessments that need to be done for each course (i.e. labs for Sciences, a research paper for Math, Oral Presentations for English and foreign languages, etc.), which are pretty time consuming and count for 20-50% of the overall IB grade for a particular course.</p>
<p>There’s also a 150 hour CAS (creativity + action + service) requirement needed for the diploma. I’m not sure if this is the case everywhere, but at my school, the majority of hours can come from playing a school sport, and participating in ECs. While it is time consuming, it isn’t as daunting as it appears, though there are VERY specific requirements for what can and cannot be considered acceptable activities for CAS. </p>
<p>As someone who has taken both AP (Euro) and IB exams (Psychology SL, Math SL), I can say that I prefer the short answer/essay format of IB exams to that of the mostly multiple choice AP exams. Although, I don’t like how the exams for IB each course are spread out over two days; I’d rather just do all the papers on one day so that I can be done with everything. </p>