At my school, a class like Biology is first taught during Freshman year at the maximum level of Honors.
You can do Biology as AP or IB-SL, (not a merged class,) for junior year.
After you take Biology AP, your done biology with the AP route. You can take HL Biology afterwards, but I don’t know if anyone does this.
After IB-SL Biology, you can take HL Bio your senior year, for a two year course.
What I am wondering is that a lot of colleges I view online give credit for AP Bio with a 4 or 5 on the exam, OR HL Bio with a 5, 6, or 7 on the exam. However, credit is not given for SL Bio.
Is one year of AP Bio the same as the two year Bio SL and Bio HL route?
Thanks!
The IB courses and AP courses do not always line up the same way. And to complicate matters, the progression may differ from school to school. At our school, SL Chem and AP Chem are the same level. For Bio, you can take HL without taking SL. Unfortunately, most colleges give credit only for HL exams. (With that said, many give generous credit for an IBD, which means that in a back-door way, you get the credit for the SL if you’re willing to do the whole diploma.)
From what you’ve described above, if you want credit, AP is the most expedient way to go. And unless you want to take 3 years of Bio (at the expense of what? – Chem, physics, CS???), following through to the HL doesn’t make a lot of sense.
This is one of the reasons why I am concerned, because the IB program sounds fun and all, but when it comes down to my 8 periods in the day, I want to take Chem, Physics, Bio, Computer Science, Stat, and all that good stuff (to find a suitable college major and for fun), and I cannot take it all, if I do the IB program. Sure, I can fit Computer Science AP/SL in but that means that I can’t take chemistry, or I would have to drop Physics or Bio HL. And also, if you don’t do the IB program you don’t have to take HL Euro and I could fit another class that I want in there. I’m starting to fear the IB program’s limitations on me.