<p>so i'm going to take IB next year
i need advice about if, and would this be an okay IB schedule difficulty-wise?</p>
<p>IB HL English I
IB HL Spanish I
IB HL History of the Americas I
IB HL Physics I [should i?]
IB SL Math I
IB SL Economics
Band</p>
<p>next year junior</p>
<p>I'm also going to be in band, and my band takes a LOT of time [ranked number 3 in state, top 20 nation-wide]
i'm also in a lot of extracurricular, meaning i wont have a lot lot lot of time</p>
<p>i just want to know everything about ib
pluses, cons, etc etc etc. EVERYTHING you can think of, please <3</p>
<p>Pluses: Your schedule, and IB in general is rigorous.</p>
<p>You challenged yourself rigorously.</p>
<p>Cons: Sorta restrictive on course selection. Also, you will be crunched for time all the time.</p>
<p>CAS and TOK will be fun. And the Extended Essay.</p>
<p>IB Exams for you next year will be fun. <em>not</em></p>
<p>I just want to warn you that transitioning into this schedule will be tough. If there are a few extracurriculars you aren’t passionate about, drop them.</p>
<p>I’m taking around 6 or 7 IB courses as well, but a few of mine are SL. I’m a senior now so I’ve had some experience with them. First off, your teacher will heavily play a role in your enjoyment of the course. I hated IB Bio during my junior year but my senior year I loved it solely because my teacher was more relaxed and made things more interesting.</p>
<p>With that being said, there are good and bad things with IB. I like the rigor of the course and the main reason I’m thankful for it is because the workload has made me very disciplined. However, I don’t like a lot of its aspects. An example is within biology - they make mark schemes which are basically their answers to short answer and essay questions, and what they say is right is the only thing that can be right. That’s the thing I hate most about IB - they try shoving their own concepts down your throat and preach that those answers are the only right answers. That’s why I feel that the IB Theory of Knowledge course is a paradox - it’s a philosophy class where they try to tell you what to think. But then again, my junior ToK teacher made it interesting and easy while my senior year ToK teacher has given everyone a hard time since he knows close to nothing about ToK.</p>
<p>As far as your schedule goes, IB English is pretty easy imo (at least if you get a good teacher), IB Math isn’t very efficient (I think AP Calc is better so if your school offers that take it instead), and IB History tends to be very memorization and cramming-based, at least my IB SL History course that focused on world history. As far as physics goes, talk to students who’ve already taken it; I’ve had a terrible experience with physics as almost nothing makes sense to me, but then again my teachers weren’t very good. Overall, if you have a good teacher, the class won’t be too difficult and could be enjoyable. But if you have a bad teacher, the class will be a nightmare.</p>
<p>hmm, although I agree with guru’s point that your enjoyment relies heavily on the teacher, the classes at my school are run differently. IB English is one of the most difficult courses while IB history is extremely objective: for each test, we are given three or so IB prompts (e.g. To what extent did traditionalists triumph over modernists during the 1920s?) and are required to write one of them in 45 minutes. It isn’t cramming or memorization; it’s more of understanding the important concepts and applying relevant facts to a certain topic…</p>
<p>Physics is awful for me (and everyone else in my class) because we have an intelligent teacher who rarely understands the questions we’re asking. I’m not sure how IB math at my school works because I’m taking AP Calc and Stats instead, but it’s been challenging to the students taking IB Math, especially because many didn’t take honors math last year.</p>
<p>Ask IB veterans from your school for specifics on the classes! :)</p>