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<p>It was my kid who could not get a 7 in HL English but did get a 5 on the AP English Language exam. I agree with you completely. You and I both understand (and so did my kid) that an AP 5 is way easier to obtain than an IB 7. So why don’t colleges understand? Why wouldn’t a college that gives credit for an AP 5 also give credit for an IB HL 7 or 6? That’s the question that doesn’t seem to have an answer.</p>
<p>^^^sure it has an answer. For whatever reason (and there is several), Universities really, really, don’t want to give your child college credit. There’s push back now on AP credits…</p>
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<p>and the refusal to give credit for SL classes is ridiculous. SL English is equivalent to AP. So are foreign languages. So is history.</p>
<p>The only credits I got were from the AP Gov test… that I took 2 years after I took pre-IB govt (as a soph).</p>
<p>They give tons of AP credits b/c “all” AP classes are “college level” while the SL label is used as an excuse to tell the IB kids their classes aren’t challenging enough.</p>
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<p>You can take AP tests after SL courses, too. And at some of the more sophisticated U.S. IB schools, they beef up the SL courses a bit to include otherwise missing topics that are in the AP course, which increases the students’ chance of success on the AP test. </p>
<p>My IB kid (the one with the 6 in HL English and the 5 in AP English) didn’t only get credit for that subject by taking an AP test. She also got credit for three SL courses by taking AP tests. However, her school had modified the SL courses to add some AP material, so she didn’t really take pure, unadulterated SL. If your SL course covers only the SL material and nothing more, you might not be as successful on AP tests.</p>
<p>Math is probably the clearest example of what is said in #64. The IB math SL syllabus consists mostly of precalculus topics, with a short introduction to calculus at the end. That short introduction to calculus would not be sufficient for AP calculus AB or for any advanced placement in college math, although a college might consider a high enough score on the IB math SL test as placing out of remedial (in college) math.</p>
<p>A high school with an IB program might choose to accelerate the 11th-12th grade IB math SL courses so that enough calculus is covered to give students a reasonable chance of doing well on the AP calculus AB test. However, preparation for that AP test should be assumed at a high school that just follows the basic IB math SL syllabus.</p>
<p>SL was called “Math for Poets” in our IB program. Those were the kids that had no interest in taking an AP calc test. HL and some independent study did fine.</p>
<p>IB has two SL math courses theoretically available. IB math SL is for students who may take more advanced math like calculus in college; its syllabus looks like that of a precalculus course with a short introduction to calculus at the end. IB math studies SL is for students who will not take more advanced math in college.</p>
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<p>My kids’ IB program had an SL/AB option and an SL/BC option. One or the other served the needs of those students who did not want to take HL math (which was most of them). There was also IB SL Math Studies for those who needed it.</p>
<p>As an IB Diploma candidate, I can say that IB has made for a great high school experience - because I knew from the beginning that I would love what the full diploma has to offer. There’s a lot of essays and external requirements outside coursework, but I think Diploma has made me a better student and person. Seriously. At my school students can choose between the full IB Diploma, more than 20 AP classes, or a mixture of AP and IB. There are 47 IB diploma kids in our class of 550 students. </p>
<p>My Diploma class has been doing very well in colleges admissions this year: we’ve had acceptances to MIT, Johns Hopkins (me), Brown, U Michigan, Mount Holyoke, Villanova, Brandeis, etc. But kids in all AP classes and a mixture have gotten into top schools as well, so I don’t think the courses you take necessarily define your competitiveness in the admissions process. It’s all about what you do within your classes. We will have IB AP and mixture kids who don’t go to “top” schools, but the colleges they attend will be the best for them, and that’s really all that matters. If you like what your particular IB Diploma offers, go for it. If not, take other classes. No matter what you will do great :)</p>
<p>DS was in a very competitive IB program, earned all “A’s,” but chose to transfer to his neighborhood HS, which offers many AP classes, after freshman year. He loved the community of IB students–a school within a school, as others have said, filled with super-motivated bright students. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the volume of schoolwork was crushing and DS always felt like he was struggling to stay afloat. He played a sport but had absolutely no time for anything else, and I really let him slack on his chores because he was so stressed. I was honestly relieved when he said he wanted to transfer to the neighborhood school because I was worried about him. A number of other students in his class also left after freshman or sophomore year for similar reasons.</p>
<p>Our observations based on his experience and those of his classmates:
-The rigor of the IB program seems to vary by school. DS’s IB program had one of the highest IB diploma rates in the country. Probably for this reason, it had a well-deserved reputation for being quite grueling. Other IB programs in our area (with lower IB diploma rates) did not have this work-till-you-drop reputation.
-It’s very much a matter of personal fit, as so often is said on CC. Some kids obviously felt more comfortable with the workload and thrived on the challenge and perhaps were more efficient students. Also, DS had no particular interest in the global aspect of IB, and this IB program had very strong arts and humanities, while DS actively disliked these subjects. This did not become apparent (at least to me) until he was in IB. Thus, many benefits of the IB program were actually negatives for DS. So in answer to the question of whether IB is good, I’d say it all depends on the academic experience the student seeks and what you’re hoping to get out of it, as well as what your other options are. </p>
<p>DS is now a junior at the neighborhood HS and feels he made the right decision as he is much more relaxed and has time to pursue interests outside of school. He has more flexibility with his courses and is able to pursue math further. He’s taking 5 AP classes now, so it’s a challenging year and he is still working very hard. (However, sophomore year was like a vacation after the rigor of IB freshman year.) If his current HS did not offer so many AP classes it would have made the decision to leave IB more difficult. The major negative to leaving IB is that he misses the close group of IB peers, kids who really valued learning and supported one another. On the flip side, my son immediately stood out at the neighborhood HS, winning academic awards and getting a lot of positive attention from his teachers.</p>