<p>Hello, Im not sure where to post this question, since theres no highschool forum. But hopefully I could still receive some advice :D. I've been having trouble in choosing between the IB and AP programs. I'm currently a sophmore in highschool. The school I attend offers both IB and AP programs. </p>
<p>What im most concerned about is that I feel like I am not the type of student that can sit in a classroom and take tests all year long for 2 years. I mostly(about 80%) homeschooled from 3rd grade to 7th grade, so im much more geared towards self studying. I feel like i don't retain much of the material the teacher teaches during class time(i lose focus sometimes), and i tend to find myself relearning the material by my self with a much higher degree of success.</p>
<p>From what i heard from my friends in school and speeches by IB students in their junior and senior years is that if you take a full IB course, you would not have much time left for extracurriculars. Whereas taking AP courses allows for a much higher degree of freedom and room for extraccuriculars. I feel like extracurriculars is what keeps me alive in school. I joined as many clubs as my schedule allows, and working on publishing a research paper at a nearby university.</p>
<p>On the otherhand, I'm afraid that if i were to take AP, I would be missing out on all the in depth material IB covers. I read several articles/discussions online about AP vs IB and most of them (if not all) said that IB is much more in depth than AP and requires a much high mastery over the subject.</p>
<p>Also, an extremely attactive feature about the IB program for me is the emphasis they put on writing. I find that writing essays requires much more focus and effort that answering a bunch of multiple choice questions while being much more enjoyable and rewarding. My favourite class right now is probably english class. Even though english isn't my strong suite, i find it to be the only class that i can fully excersise my knowledge, and my analytical skills through writing essay's/short answer questions. And im not sure if AP lang will expose students to the same level of materials and concepts as IB english. Yet again, I only seem to do good on non-timed essays/questions where i have time to think and organize my ideas(i am horrible at organizing my ideas to the point where it becomes nearly incomprehensbible). Everytime i face a test i tend to perform much lower than i would otherwise.</p>
<p>The primary reason i want to choose AP is that i can spend more time on extracurricular stuff (such as my research). Right now im spending almost all of my spare time at the lab im studying at, and while i might have failed quite badly over the past few months i feel like i learned more than i learned in school (maybe except for english class :p).</p>
<p>Another + for AP is that I might return to my old school in the states ( which offers AP but not IB ) since they have a amazing band program, and i love music. I could also take college courses at the nearby community colleges at my old school, and maybe even apply for a internship at a research labatory at stanford or something.</p>
<p>Sorry about the bad organization of this wall of text :), But i hope that someone can help me decide which program would be more suited for me and for colleges. Thanks!
P.S. Just in case, I am planning to attend universities in the U.S. and might stear towards the bio or medical direction (or maybe physics...).</p>