I bet I’m not the first person to ask this, but I haven’t found the answers at all, either here or online, and I’ve done a lot of looking. So I’m hoping that someone here can give some feedback on this question, which apparently is one of the mysteries of the known universe
How in the world do you calculate individual IB classes for GPA purposes? Is there a different weight for HL and SL?
We live overseas (but are US citizens) and my son is a senior who is partially homeschooled but also takes IB classes at a local IB World School. He is not doing the full diploma, but has 3 IB courses plus other work (TOK, CAS etc). The school does not calculate a GPA.
I understand that colleges calculate IB weights differently. But knowing that doesn’t help with figuring out a GPA at the moment. (Or on financial aid sites that ask for GPAs.)
He’ll be doing his IB exams and will get those results when they come. But that still won’t produce a GPA or number equivalents for the transcript!
All of his classes are HL. His predicted grades are 6, 5 and 4. Anyone have any feedback on what that means (or might reasonably be construed to mean), GPA-wise?!?
BTW son will take a gap year to do full-time volunteer work here that he’s wanted to do, visit colleges in the US while they’re in session, etc … so we have a bit of leeway in terms of figuring this out. But I’d sure like to find an answer! So thanks for anyone who can give me a sense of it
Most American colleges are familiar with IB scores, and adjust them onto conventional grading scales. Some colleges will award half a point for SL classes, and a full point for HL, but others will weight them all an entire point. That is, a B+ in an IB HL course will be weighted as a 4.3 (or A+); an SL course might or might not: it could be weighted as an A-. My son was in an IB program, and he was never sure how his SL classes would be weighted. The colleges know how to adjust the 7-point IB system, but they won’t all do it identically. Depending on the colleges he’s looking at, you should probably inquire with the individual admission offices.
We had this issue…and to compound it my daughter did 2 years at an IB school and 2 years at a 0-100 school.
Never knew what her GPA was on a 4 point scale. However, it was not an issue except at our State U where they had auto scholarships based on GPA. When she didn’t receive anything we sent an email asking if GPA was the issue? Once a human looked at it she received the scholarship.
I’m not sure if this will help you, but my school weighs both SL and HL classes like AP courses. So, if I receive an A in the class, then it boosts my weighted GPA by 0.43(something like that) and if I receive a B in the class then it boosts it by 0.32(something like that). My school counts them like any other course in determining the unweighted GPA.
Best way to find out would be just asking the IB school he attends how much weight they allot to each course depending on the final grade he recieves.
At my school (I’m also a US citizen living overseas) we calculate our GPAs like this:
6 or 7 = 4.0
5 = 3.0
4 = 2.0
3 = 1.0
1 or 2 = Fail
for both HL and SL classes. The colleges he applies to might recalculate his grades, but I think that my school’s grading system is a fairly straightforward calculation that’s a lot easier to approximate in the meantime. I also think it’s better to calculate his UW GPA instead of weighting his HLs, so that there aren’t any unpleasant surprises in the future (like overestimating his GPA).
Actually they don’t give As, Bs, etc, and won’t be giving any grades at all until after the IB exam, as I understand it! So he won’t really have grades (just “achieved grades” and “predicted grades”) until after the exams. There are no other courses offered at the school … it’s 100 % IB, so there’s nothing else to factor in.
So, by Quirky’s estimate his GPA for his IB courses would be a 3.0, which by woogz’s formula would bump up to a 4.0 since it’s all HL, but in the real world might be treated that way or not, depending on the college … and anyway it’s all theoretical until the final results, since almost nothing is actually graded by the school itself and those might or might not end up being the numbers.
(BTW he hasn’t taken his SATs yet. Nice to know things can work out when actual humans read the applications though! )
Your son’s average GPA is (3.75+3.5+2.75) = 3.33
Although, keep in mind that different colleges might use different conversion scales. I’m not really sure, but the table above is usually used, or at least I’ve heard it is. IB scores are recognized by most colleges anyway, so you don’t need to worry about it.
@darkeclipse is that unweighted? How are HL scores looked at in comparison to SL? I know that only HL scores can get college credit; what I’ve seen is that sometimes it’s granted for a 4 and up, sometimes only 5 and up … not sure what the weighting (if any) for HL would generally be.
Anyway that seems like a reasonable scale. (I wouldn’t think anyone would want to grant credit if they’re looking at a score as a 2.0, so counting an HL 4 as 2.0 wouldn’t seem right; but at the same time, bumping up a whole point and making his GPA a 4.0 seems like wishful thinking LOL!)
Yeah, I know colleges are all familiar with IB, but I like to have a strong sense of how the numbers are looking as we work to figure out appropriate apps and not be flying in the dark
@MomOnALaptop Yes, it’s unweighted. SL scores aren’t considered too impressive, considering the fact the actual ‘course rigor’ comes from the HL courses. However, SL courses do have some value, I’m just not sure what. A minimum of 3 subjects at HL is required for the IB Diploma.
Thanks, @DarkEclipse – Son doesn’t have any SL. He’s also homeschooled and is doing the HL IB courses along with TOK, EE and CAS, so grade-wise, it’ll be the IB plus his SATs when he takes them that will give all of his numbers. He’s got a ton of other academic work, activities and commitments to show, but not graded … hence my need to get a sense of that! This is very helpful. Appreciate it.
My kid’s US public schools with an IB program doesn’t weight at all (nor for AP or honors)., GPA is GPA whether you are a foundation student or full diploma. In this application process I can’t even tell you how it all works with universities either LOL. No one seems to care about predicted score even.
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