IB SCORES 2017

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
1

Thought it’d be cool if we shared our IB scores. Whether you’re a junior and an anticipated candidate or a senior and diplcam candidate please post your score and any tips or advice or just overall feelings toward the exam. Also, colleges you got into!
Please put it in the following format [Test SL or HL : SCORE] Junior or Senior

THINGS DONE RIGHT:

THINGS DONE WRONG:

OVERALL FEELING TO EXAM:

COLLEGE YOU WILL ATTEND:

Tips, Advice or comments for future candidates:

I took [History SL: 6] Junior

THINGS DONE RIGHT:
I put in 7 hours to my IA and had my sister who writes for a living read it over and edit it. My teacher was reaaally good and throughout the year every test we would take was an essay format so it was basically like a paper 2 we would take one to two times a month. We also occasionally would practice paper 1 every other month in class. We got readings on the concepts EVERY DAY including the weekends (readings could be as short as a page or as long 35 pages with questions to answer in conjunction with them) which thoroughly covered each topic. Also, we had one HUGE review session a week prior to the exam where we got past paper 1s and 2 prompts. Paper 1 gives you a syllabus so I just REALLY STUDIED THOSE TOPICS TO A T!! The same thing generally for paper 2. I chose about 4 or 5 topics and studied them in depth and hoped for the best. I also searched online the structure for my essay, and also for my paper 1 that could secure at least a 4

THINGS DONE WRONG:
PROCRASTINATION!!! I put in ample time into all the supplementary homework my teacher would give and got generally As on all the tests BUT come the actual important stuff like the IAs, I legit pulled an all nighter to do my IA…I also only spent three days to study in depth with the topics… and scrambled to study everything. I was fortunate enough to have had a REALLY good history teacher who taught the subject for like 17 years. We went in such depth with all the topics with all the readings from books, articles etc that by the time I had to study I was fine.

OVERALL FEELING TO EXAM:
I genuinely thought I failed. I was starving by paper 2. (My school had us do paper 1 and paper 2 the same day grr) I kinda bsed my paper 1 and by paper 2 I was overwhelmed by all the topics and scrambled to write stuff up. It felt like a typical test I would take in my class, just wayyy higher stakes. In retrospect, the exam was pretty easy. I genuinely think if I didn’t procrastinate I could have gotten a 7 hands down :stuck_out_tongue:

COLLEGE YOU WILL ATTEND:
n/a

Tips, Advice, or comments for future candidates:
DON’T PROCRASTINATE!! If you know you’re testing out in an exam dedicate time to understanding and mastering the topic FROM THE BEGINNING. I have always loved history though so for me to say it was easy may not exactly be the most reliable testimony. I also say just take practice exams from the beginning of the school year to the end if you want to ensure a 6 or 7 in your IB history exam. HL is just one more paper and I think it’s definitely not any harder. It’s kinda like paper 2 so I say just PUT IN THE WORK IN TIME and you will see the awesome results. Especially with your IA, ask your teacher for advice and guidance and ask someone else to proofread or edit it. Always go above and beyond to understand the concept for any IB class.

2

[Spanish B SL: 6] Junior
[English A: Literature HL: 6] Senior
[History of the Americas HL: 5] Senior (1 mark away from a 6 btw)
[Social and Cultural Anthropology HL: 5] Senior
[Biology HL: 5] Senior
[Math Studies SL: 5] Senior
Extra: [Film SL: 4] Senior
TOK: C
EE (anthropology): C (1 mark away from a B, grr)

EE/TOK points: 1
Total points: 33
Results: Diploma awarded

THINGS DONE RIGHT
Not giving up! My school’s IB program is honestly not the most fantastic in the world, and a lot of IB kids every year end up giving up on trying to get the diploma because “I already know I won’t get it, and colleges won’t care about it anyway,” or “my college only takes 6s and 7s so I’m not even going to try.” I guess if you truly don’t care about the diploma, then… don’t worry about it… but if you’re reading this thread that’s most likely not the case. Even if you know that your college will only take 6s and 7s, just try!!! You never know - for example, my experience with HL biology was not the best (switched teachers halfway through and teacher #2 had… some issues, nice lady though), and I knew that I needed a 5 to get biology credit at my college. Honestly, I didn’t even think I could manage that, so I seriously considered just giving up on biology and focusing my energy on my other tests. But I didn’t!!! And I got a 5. Overall, I am going into college with 28 credits (13 of them from IB), making me an academic sophomore before even starting my freshman year.

THINGS DONE WRONG:
You can’t spell IB without “procrastination”!
I basically took a mental vacation for the whole month of April and then studied frantically for each test the night before. Luckily, most of my teachers were awesome about getting us to retain the necessary information early on, so the damage of that strategy wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, but… y’know. Just try not to get so burned out that you have to resort to that strategy. There’s a great video for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRoEKHmjyh8

OVERALL FEELING TO EXAM(s):
Uhhh I took a bunch of them but I guess the experience was basically the same across the board. I feel like IB gives you more time on the exams than AP does, which is very very important to me because I am so slow, but I still had to rush a little on my math exam. I guess I just suck at math. Btw, Film has no exam - the externally assessed portion of the “exam” is a movie you have to make and a lil paper to go along with it. I really love that IB does the whole IA thing because honestly, having to prove in 1 morning/afternoon that you paid attention in a class for 1 year really, really sucks, imo. Also, on exams like English and History, pay attention to the instructions so you don’t write too many/not enough/not-eligible-to-be-scored essays. That would also suck.

COLLEGE YOU WILL ATTEND:
the College of William & Mary!!! #GoTribe #finallyfeelingsomeschoolspirityay

My other admissions decisions, for those interested:
-University of Southern California: accepted (spring admission)
-UCLA: accepted
-UVA: accepted
-George Mason University: accepted (Honors College)
-University of Pennsylvania: waitlisted (later rejected)
-UC Berkeley: waitlisted (did not opt in)
-NYU: waitlisted (did not opt in)
-Stanford: rejected

I live in VA btw

Tips, Advice or comments for future candidates:
I basically already said all of them, but I’ll summarize: take it easy on yourself, but also don’t give up. If you’ve made it this far, however far you are, you can get that diploma. Going into college already having college credit feels really, really good, I promise.

Also, I had to find this out from IBSurvival, but you can request re-scores if you want. It costs money, but if you really really want a higher score, there are options for that (though if you’re not within 1 or 2 marks of a higher score, it’s unlikely your score will change, and then you don’t get your money refunded so be careful!)

3

Hey everyone! I’ll add to this!

I took all my IB exams senior year.

[English Lit HL : 7]
[French B HL: 5]
[Psych SL: 7]
[Bio HL: 6]
[Chem SL: 6]
[Math SL: 7]

EE: B
TOK: A
EE/TOK pts: 3
Total = 41

THINGS DONE RIGHT: I started on the IAs and EE early on. I wrote mostly everything during the summer between junior and senior year. IB took a lot of time; many times I was studying/writing IAs while my classmates were hanging out. Make sure to start studying early - don’t get behind. If you don’t understand something, make sure to hurry and ask your teacher/classmates for help. That way, you won’t have to cram in april. Make sure you know the format of the exams and what’s expected before you take the exams. I was really surprised by my score; I was expecting to be in the 30s. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You can do it!

For English, I had a really good teacher and we practiced papers a lot. It was helpful to look up a list of past questions and write outlines (for practice). Also, for paper 2, know the title, author, literary devices, quotes for the works you’re going to write on.

For psych, write outlines for all possible LAQ and memorize those studies (used in the LAQs) really well.

For sciences, I reviewed by looking at each point on the syllabus and writing out the main points for each point. I also found the oxford study guides especially helpful for the sciences (they’re $30 on amazon).

THINGS DONE WRONG: I took IB a little too seriously. And I just learned recently my uni program barely accepts any IB credit so that sucks but I learned a lot in the process.

OVERALL FEELING TO EXAM: I thought I did well, but not in the 40s. I was pretty relaxed because I was not on a conditional offer for college.

COLLEGE YOU WILL ATTEND: UOP

I was accepted to SCU, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Case Western, USF, UC Riverside, LMU

4

Adding for my student.

[Chemistry SL: 5] Junior year
[Spanish SL:7] Junior year

He is headed into senior year - school starts in a week.

Will take the following exams next spring:

English Literature HL
History HL
Physics HL
Math SL
Chem HL (possibly - he is in the course and will decide if he thinks he can raise the grade up past the 5 he got on the SL exam this year).