<p>Okay, I'm an international student, and I decided to take a couple of AP courses for poops and giggles along with my normal full IB courseload. For those who don't know, the IB is considered at least the equivalent of the AP in terms of a college preparatory class. Unfortunately, one course is 2 years, and I won't get my results for the IB until July of next year (I will have graduated by then). </p>
<p>So for AP I took the following exams:
AP Calculus BC -5
AP Physics C Mechanics -5
AP Microeconomics -5
AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism -5
AP English Literature -4 </p>
<p>The thing is, I take a lot of courses that are pretty much the same in the IB program.
IB Calculus HL (option in statistics + Abstract Algebra)<br>
IB Physics HL (option in Astrophysics)
IB Chemistry HL (option in medicine)
IB Economics HL
IB English A1 SL
IB Spanish B SL
Theory of Knowledge </p>
<p>I am predicted 7 on all of my IB courses. Would you consider this resume as impressive as that of a national AP scholar?</p>
<p>I say more impressive if you really can score 7s on all the IB subjects. That is IF you scored a 7 on all of those subjects which I highly doubt you will</p>
<p>“That is IF you scored a 7 on all of those subjects which I highly doubt you will.” Sounds like a bitter IB student. I kid, I kid. But yeah, if I’ve already survived 2 years at the top prep school in the world, why can’t I score in the top 10% of a bunch of kids, some of who don’t even speak english well? </p>
<p>In all seriousness, why do you say that I have to score 7’s on all my IB subject exams? I already have 5 out of the 8 AP exams needed for national AP scholar (which btw are some of the hardest you can take- I mean Calculus BC and Physics C is a killer with a capital K). Considering I took those exams while sitting for “mock” final exams for all 6 of my IB exams (Chemistry HL and Spanish SL basically make it 7 AP exams at least) and the SAT and ACT (ACT: 35; SAT: 2320 = pretty good), I would think decent predictions (and not scores) such as 6’s would more than be sufficient to be considered to have a courseload as difficult, or more difficult than that of a national AP scholar. (Yes, I know I sound terribly conceited at the moment, but I’m defending my hurt pride slash trying to persuade people that my situation may be quite different from traditional AP students who sit down for an entire year in an AP-intensive course before taking the exam. I didn’t have the one or two weeks that most AP students had to study, and only study for the exam). </p>
<p>Any more opinions? I’m calling out all IB students- what kind of score did you get for your predictions, and did they help you in getting into the college you wanted? Also, is 2nd year IB more difficult than 1st year IB? I’m considering taking AP Psychology, AP Comparative Governments, AP Chemistry, AP English Language, AP Spanish, AP Euro, and AP Environmental Science next year along with sitting my IB exams just because AP is pretty basic (I just have to know 70% of the material). I know there are time conflicts, but I’ve already arranged to take several exams earlier so that my time schedule doesn’t conflict.</p>
<p>Yeah you do mate I was about to leave this thread but I posted because I feel nobody else will.</p>
<p>Colleges will see your predicted scores when reviewing your application so all 7’s looks terrific. I don’t know about the correlation between predicted/actual scores, but they won’t rescind your admission if you don’t get all 7’s because you’re not admitted based off your actual scores.</p>
<p>Of the 7 exams you mentioned, Chem, Euro, and Spanish are the only ones that are regarded as actually challenging/sorta difficult. English Lang. is another one but you’ve already taken English Lit. so what’s the use? Having national AP scholar is cool but it’s not a huge deal, and self studies aren’t that significant as compared to actually having the class. If you really want to, just study for Chem, Euro, and Spanish so you can get your 8 for national AP scholar, and use the rest of your time for your IB subjects and extracurriculars. That’ll help more for college admission because your academic sector is already covered.</p>
<p>Also, I understand you go to a great prep school or whatever but people on CC know a lot about college admissions so I suggest you scale back a bit. We do realize which of your exams are “some of the hardest you can take” :P</p>
<p>I’m not sure how you have “predicted” scores of all 7’s when you haven’t even started you HL classes yet. It’s great that you have confidence in your academic abilities, but maybe “hoping” you can achieve all 7’s is a better and more humble thing to say. I don’t recall my D being asked for predicted scores at all, and as noted, you won’t have your scores in till next summer, long after acceptances are out.</p>
<p>right right. Well, even if no one else responds, all I needed to know is that AP national scholar isn’t that big of a deal- I just saw people list it up as a “major award” and was wondering if I should take the risk of being one. </p>
<p>Anyways, I felt that given that no one really can say they have a complete understanding of all the AP and IB exam I would just expand a little. I think most people would also agree that AP Calculus BC and Physics C are pretty difficult courses, just because they have prerequisites before taking them. You have to take Algebra-> Trig and Honors Physics/ Physics B before taking these exams, as opposed to Euro or Chem (which only has one exam). Please don’t believe I think I’m the shiznit and all because “I go to a fancy prep school or whatever”- I’m a scholarship kid from Iowa and felt I needed to explain a little more. </p>
<p>@GA2012MOM I actually have finished all of the course work for HL Calculus and Physics (senior year level), but wasn’t allowed to anticipate because these are HL courses. In addition, my school has in-house predictions so that is why I am able to anticipate my grades.</p>
<p>AP Calc BC is considered one of the easier APs (sine around 40% who take the test get)</p>
<p>The AP awards don’t really carry much weight. Colleges just like the fact that you did a lot of APs (challenging yourself), which is seen through your transcript.</p>
<p>People put AP awards because it is, technically, an award. And, who isn’t proud of getting a majority of 4’s and 5’s on their AP tests?</p>
<p>hmm… ok. I didn’t realize that, but you’re right about that. I think the reason that the percentage of people who get 5’s is because of how competitive and exceptional the students who are taking the test are. Most of them are seniors and are the best math students, and occasionally, the best students in the school. Besides, if 60% of the students who take the AP calculus BC get a 5 on the AB-subscore, compared to 20% of AB students who receive 5’s, then you can’t just say that BC is an easier AP. </p>
<p>h shucks, I’ve wasted an hour writing page-long responses to one simple question that has been answered already. I hate when that happens.</p>
<p>You are wrong. Very wrong. The BC test taking pool is self selecting so that a majority of the students who elect to take it are very confident in their calculus abilities. Most students stay away from calculus, and the math-averse high achieving students force themselves to take AB. It’s only the math students who really like math that take BC [for the most part], and that’s why it has a higher passing rate.</p>
<p>80%+ of AP Chinese takers get a 5. Are you suggesting that it’s the easiest AP class?</p>
<p>To my knowlege, Calc Bc was the easiest ap, and I’m not even good at math. I probably had the lowest grade in my entire class and even I thought the test was surprisingly easy. Whereas most calc AB students can’t do the rate problems, calc bc-ers had 6 pretty straight forward free response and a easy multiple choice section.</p>
<p>If you want to talk about a hard ap test…music theory.</p>
<p>I have taken both AP and IB courses so I will weigh in my opinion. It is harder to get a max score of 7 on an IB test. Literally between 2 and 6 percent of people make 7’s on IB English A1. A 6 in my opinion is an equal accomplishment to a 5 on an AP test. If the OP pulled 7’s on every IB exam, then I would say he accomplished something far more difficult than any of the AP honor distinctions. If he made perfect scores on all his exams for the IB diploma, then he would be one of 80 (YES I SAID 80!) students in the world each year that pull that off. The statistics for this are online if you wish to look them up. So to the OP: Don’t bother worrying about the National AP Scholar honor. It is an accomplishment, but if you focus on your IB exams you can accomplish something much greater. </p>
<p>However, my opinion after taking both types of classes is that the AP program is superior. I learned so much more in those classes than any of my IB classes.</p>
<p>I agree aggieengineer; I have seen the statistics and very few people have received 7’s on all of their IB exams. </p>
<p>However, since I am a junior, and the only grades I have received are in-house predictions, I do not know how much colleges will consider these grades. I know of one school where there are only 60 students, and 5 were predicted 45 (perfect 45’s!) on the IB during their junior year. None of them even came close. </p>
<p>But I think that since I have my AP scores to validify my abilities in math and physics and english and economics, if I am predicted a 7 or even a 6 on my subjects, colleges will believe that I have the ability to receive those scores.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t spend a single second on this thread to brag. I already know I’m beat- CC was made for kids who spend half of their life in front of a computer frantically worrying/bragging about their scores. </p>
<p>I’m off for a another typical day in Italy. Have a good life.</p>
I was about to leave this thread but I posted because I feel nobody else will.</p>