Thank you for all the advice. I will note again, I dont have some of the options listed above. There is no partial IB, everyone in IB must take eight IB classes, 3 HL and 5 SL or 4 and 4 if you’re very ambitious. In addition, we are required to take Higher level history (not another Social studies, the rest, such as econ, geography, etc. are considered electives) and HL English is also required (the other HL is our choice).
Eight IB classes? That’s something new to me.
The IB diploma allows only 6 classes and TOK, so far as I know - the other two would be subject certificates.
My school requires it, they are A day B day electives, they are not strictly necessary for the diploma. They are subject certificates I guess.
I’m going to quibble with the notion that IB is filled with busy work, though I’m sure it varies depending on the school.
Watching my kid’s experience as full IB, he reads and writes a lot – the core analytic skills necessary for a non-STEM kid in college. He appreciates that a lot of the work is project-based – in English and History, he has led presentations and class discussions on an area of inquiry he has prepared, and other team members lead other, similar discussions. I see it as a the teachers’ way to reduce the busy work and instead to balance the demands of the program. History and Bio are tough, tough courses, lots of reading in History, and lots of lab and testing in Bio. Also, Math Studies SL is not rounding and telling time for goodness sake, my kid has been doing statistics and data analysis and working on his IA through the fall. It is not the course for serious STEM kids, but it is not a blow off class, at least not the way his teacher is conducting it.
Full IB is not for everyone, and schools implement the curriculum with various degrees of success. But a well-organized IB program can be invaluable preparation. The OP should investigate and compare the experiences and opportunities in her building.
@Midwestmomofboys Interesting. This is just my own school as an example, but in the past a lot of kids have described studies as a class you pass by showing up to the exam.
Nice to know there are teachers making something more of it.
Seems that every IB thread tends to describe IB as a lot of work, although there is disagreement on whether it is busy work or worthwhile work (which probably depends on the school and the student).
I think the extent of the variation is so great - not just by school, but also by class and by teacher - that a catch-all explanation of the IB is difficult to come by.
Just as one example, I have a geography teacher who’s very nearly obsessed with facts and figures. If you explain migration patterns in China without adding that between 2000 and 2010, 2.6 million people - or 8% of the region’s population - left X province, 31% of them moving to Y city, he will not be a happy man. With somewhere between 5 and 10 factoids associated with one lesson’s worth of material, a lot slips the minds of most people in the class. I have the highest average in the class at about 80% (fortunately, grades are on a curve).
Our school’s other geography teacher couldn’t care less about facts and figures beyond one or two basic numbers - say, XYZ million Chinese workers left rural areas for the cities between 2000 and 2010 - as long as students understand the underlying trends.
I think the former approach makes a lot of students’ studying busywork, insofar as many of the statistics in question will be out of date before long - some figures from the resources my teacher uses date back to 2008 - while the latter is quite efficient in terms of focusing on more than rote learning. Whatever your opinions on the matter, this is certainly illustrative of two very different approaches to teaching the IB.
@NotVerySmart True, on Math Studies, so many potential variations in teaching. This teacher is newly certified, has revamped the curriculum and the class is surprisingly demanding. Some kids had “dropped down” to Math Studies instead of taking Math SL this year, to cushion their gpa in senior year, and have found it a rude awakening.
Great advice, thank you for all of the help! Does anyone else have any advice?
I’m an IB senior who, like you, has a school with only full diploma, required English and History HLs, and 8 A/B classes. Though it’s, to be frank, a lot of work, if you manage your time it’s stressful but not hideously difficult. Though att points during the year (let’s be real, most of it) you will regret taking IB, but when you’ll look back at the year’s end you’ll realize how much work you did and feel semi-accomplished. I take Art and Film HL in addition to English and History, and in general enjoy my classes though the IB requirements are a real drag. Also, ignore anyone telling you not to take Math Studies. You get the same GPA weighting as someone in Math SL or HL and while some of the units are pretty easy we still do AP Statistics level work and some pre-calc subjects. Plus, if you’re not going to do well in Math SL/Hl then don’t force yourself to take it! With regards to a science, I’d recommend taking IB Environmental Systems & Societies SL if you’re not into the hard sciences, because it does not require a lot of math-y science and is pretty closely related to the humanities. If you want the college credit for it, then you can always take the AP exam at the end of your senior year. Hope this helps!
For college admissions purposes, do you think it is better to for example do methods with a 50/50 chance of an A or a B or do studies with a likely A? I am doing very well in Honors Algebra 2, but I know IB is a BIG step up in math difficulty.
I think either way it would not make a huge difference unless you are planning on majoring in a math-heavy field. If you’re intending on doing engineering, for example, you might want to think about taking Math SL/HL. But if you’re looking more at the humanities, I don’t think it matters too much.
So before I begin, I want to clear up a few thing about IB. The first is that when people say IB, they usually think of the program that juniors and seniors partake in. IB isn’t limited to just these grades, the International Baccalaureate actually offers a curriculum from K-12. This is broken up into three parts, the PYP (Primary Years Programme), MYP (Middle Years Programme) and DP (Diploma Programme). DP is what people do in 11th and 12th grade.
I’m a senior at an IB for all school (meaning IB curriculum for K-12). And I can definitely recommend IB. Sure, there have been plenty of sleepless nights. The curriculum is definitely intense. But it definitely helps in preparing for college, as I can manage my time and juggle extracurriculars and a job. IB helps a student think critically. Kids who do IB generally are more well-rounded and have skills that some AP kids do not.
I currently am in 4 HL’s (yes, this IS possible, contrary to the common belief that you need 3 SL and 3 HL) which are Math, Biology, Design Tech, and History. My SL classes are English and Spanish. This has ensured that I take the most rigorous workload possible. My hardest class is definitely Math. Do not take Math HL if you are not capable of thinking critically. All of this is not only in preparation for college but for the chance to examine for the IB diploma this coming May. I can’t say how college is like, because I’m not in it yet, but I have heard from many graduates from my high school and staff/guidance counselors that if you can make it through DP, you will be set for college. Overall, IB will prepare you nicely for college. And do not stress about maintaining stellar grades while managing extracurriculars. It is possible! My lowest grade across the board in my Junior Year was an A, and I think I was challenged more then versus now. Also, senioritis is not an option with IB, as even after you get into college, you still need to worry about exams and all the assessments that go with it, such as the IA’s, Extended Essays, and not to mention the dreaded CAS. These are particularly why senior year has been tough as well, because all of these IB assessments are kicking into high gear right about now.
Good luck!
Also consider college credits: For example, at SUNY Binghamton you can get up to 32 credits IF you did the diploma and did well on the tests. My daughter was able to graduate early and get her Master’s & B.A. within 4 years. Even if you don’t want to graduate early you could do interships, study abroad, and get priority in housing/classes.
Binghamton University students may earn credit by exam for coursework completed in high school under the International Baccalaureate Program. Credit is awarded only for Higher Level exams, with exam scores of 4 or 5 receiving 4 credits and exam scores of 6 or 7 receiving 8 credits.
SUNY General Education requirements can be satisfied by completing Higher Level exams in five of the ten areas of competency. In addition, the General Education requirement for foreign language is satisfied by a score of 4-7 on either the Higher Level or Standard Level exams.
Binghamton University requires an official International Baccalaureate transcript in order to evaluate credit. Official scores may be delivered electronically through the International Baccalaureate website (please see below). International Baccalaureate courses and grades listed on a high school transcript are not acceptable for evaluation.
Students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program may receive up to 32 credits. To receive the full 32 credits, the following conditions must be met:
The IB Diploma must be completed with a score of 30 or more points; and
The student must complete at least three Higher Level exams with a score of 5 or higher.
Diploma holders who meet these conditions receive credit for their individual exam scores plus additional liberal arts elective credit to total 32 credits.
Wow, thank you for all of the advice!
Choose the curriculum that interests you most. The IB and APs consist of high school classes. It is true that some colleges provide credit and some will give up to a year. But those colleges are giving college credit for high school classes. neither the APs or IB would be confused with college classes. I question what it means when a college says that their first year is the equivalent to a year of high school classes. Scholarships aside, I think you tend to get what you pay for and calling IBs and APS college classes tells you more about the college than anything else. Just decide which curriculum will challenge you most.
D2 went to a private school from K-10 in the NE and went to an international school from 10-12 where she took the IB. She was a great writer and was accustom to write essays/papers almost every week at her US school. She thought IB writing requirements were very rigid. She literally said no good writer writes like that. She didn’t think the IB curriculum was harder, just more volume without a lot of creativity. She thought her private school honors were harder and interesting. I understand IB can be taught differently by different teacher or school, but at the end of day there are uniformed requirements. At many public schools in the US, due to over taxing of our teachers’ time, students are not given too many writing requirements, and when they are given teachers often do not give feedback until months later. IB is a good curriculum to force students write research papers and teach students to handle large volume of work. Both of kids could write a 5 page paper in matter of hours, whereas their friends who didn’t have as much practice while in high school would take days if not weeks.
D1 went to the same private school as D2. In her senior year, she took many AP exams without taking the AP course and she received most 5s and few 4s.
My recommendation to students in general is if you go to a highly competitive school (public or private) there is no need to take IB, but if your school is average or below then the IB curriculum would be a good option to ensure the quality of education.
While high school courses are not the same as college courses, the material taught in high school courses for advanced high school students may be the same as that taught in frosh-level college courses for less advanced students. Of course, whether the college accepts AP or IB scores for subject credit varies, depending on the specific course and college. But when the material is the same, there is no reason to require an entering college student who (for example) had calculus in high school and did well enough by the college’s satisfaction to have to repeat the same calculus after entering college, rather than moving on to the next more advanced math course.
As a freshman at an IB School in IB HL 1 Mathematics currently, I can vouch that taking IB SL or HL is much more important than taking Math Studies. Especially if you plan to be majoring in any field that has the slightest dealings with math (all sciences, economics, etc.) I have a couple friends taking IB Math Studies and what I learn simply outclasses what they do by a factor of a thousand (they find it incredibly boring).
Well, there certainly seems to be a lot of different experiences of people doing IB and particular IB math classes which is very intersting, thank you for all of the advice!