<p>^^The solution is to take AP your freshman and sophomore year, and IB your junior and senior year.</p>
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click click..it basically sums up these arguments.. except whatt is this cambridge deal?
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<p>IB though isn't offered at some schools. I've tried to weasel myself into one! It's not working!!!!</p>
<p>my personal beliefs:</p>
<p>AP: old, outdated, 20th century style teaching
IB: updated curriculum and teaching style for a globalized word in the 21st century.</p>
<p>again, just my beliefs. colleges see them the same.</p>
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AP: old, outdated, 20th century style teaching
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<p>Can you justify your reasons? Or are you saying that out of nowhere?</p>
<p>well if i said it then i can justify it. however im too lazy to do so right now. pm or somethin if you wanna have a good debate, maybe ill learn something.</p>
<p>Oh, so you are too lazy to type? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>"The solution is to take AP your freshman and sophomore year, and IB your junior and senior year"--fizix</p>
<p>i can't. my school doesn't allow ppl to take APs or IBs in 9th and 10th grade</p>
<p>AP: more straightforward and flexible. doesn't force you to take certain classes.
IB: internationalist liberal arts, less recognized in US.</p>
<p>I'd prefer AP at my school coz I'd get more college credit</p>
<p>How is AP outdated and for 20th century teaching? How would you know? Did you study in school in the 20th century? Just because you might've taken IB and are biased does not mean that AP is not a good program.</p>
<p>i told you to pm me if you wanted to debate.</p>
<p>and to the guy above me: obviously i'm biased, i didn't say i was trying to be objective. as i said, it's just my personal belief.</p>
<p>Well, then don't post in this thread if you can't justify why IB is better than AP. Right now though, AP is the best choice for U.S. students, and IB for international students.</p>
<p>Honors classes shouldn't even be compared with IB and AP classes because IB and AP are at a much higher (college) level. Honors classes are just regular high school classes with an accelerated curriculum. </p>
<p>At my school, IB and AP classes receive a weighted grading of 1.0, honors classes only 0.5. I'll see for sure next year which one is more challenging when I'm a junior.</p>
<p>AP is much better because you can self study them</p>
<p>This thread died a long time ago. Let's keep it that way....</p>
<p>Seriously, when will this thread come to an end?</p>
<p>^^ you are the one who brought it back up lol.</p>
<p>Here's a Time Magazine article about the lacking school system. Interestingly, it praises IB but does not mention AP at all. </p>
<p>The article is called 'How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century'</p>
<p>I, personally, believe that AP and IB are both extremely good programs, but I think IB is slightly better. It's popularity and prestige are also increasing. And many of the people here should justify their arguments. I agree that some AP classes are harder than their IB counterparts, but you have to consider their levels. AP Psych is equivalent to Standard Level IB Psych, which means that Higher Level Psych is more difficult than the AP class. Also, many people have the impression that AP Calc is harder than IB maths. Once again, consider the IB class' level. IB Maths Studies SL is the weakest math offered in the IB, and is designed for students not wishing to pursue mathematical studies in college. IB Math HL is a little bit tougher than Calc BC, and IB Further Maths would be the equivalent of an AP Calc DE class.</p>
<p>I can't take IB in 9th or 10th grade like I can with AP. I'll have about 9 college credits under my belt before I'm a junior next year; that's impossible with the IB program.</p>
<p>I'm doing IB but still taking a few AP classes as well (Calc BC, Stat, Comp AB, and probably Euro).</p>
<p>The fact that the IB and the AP are constantly being called "similar" or "the same" just goes to show how misunderstood the IB curricular model is. Don't take this as me saying it's better - I'm not necessarily. But it is without a doubt different.</p>
<p>In the AP, you take the classes you want. You take as many or as few as you want, in whatever concentrated areas you want. In a way, the AP is like a university with no core curriculum. Focused, in-depth courses, with no overarching guiding focus - but excellent education in each class.</p>
<p>The IB is completely different. For one thing, the IB is structured into an educational method that relies heavily on a core curriculum composed of not only academic courses, but also extra-curricular activity (CAS) and epistemology (ToK), all designed to produce well-rounded, critical thinkers.</p>
<p>On a practical level, this means that IB students have to do a bunch of crap outside of class, but it also means a number of other things. For one, every IB course includes internally assigned, externally assessed work, in order to give assessment that transcends mere examinations. It also means that IB exams are composed largely of writing (I am fairly sure that only the experimental sciences have any MC questions on their exams at all, and even in those cases such questions compose less than a third of the exam). For example, in economics, exams are some 3 hours long, and this time is entirely essay (and analysis/evaluation of given data, normally in the form of economics articles from news sources).</p>
<p>By contrast, in the AP you're not required to do anything outside of the test. Your teachers may assign you work, but none of anything you do other than your final AP test counts in the end. I also believe (though I have never taken an AP test so I can't say for sure) that MC questions play a much larger role on AP tests than they do on IB exams. Also, no internal assessment is required - realistically, a student could screw around all year, self-study for the test and get a 5. Not so much in the IB (though obviously, if you do all the externally assessed work the rest of the time you could definitely be screwing around).</p>
<p>The other main differences between the AP and the IB also fall under the heading of philosophical differences. First is analytical/evaluation skills. In most IB courses, you are required to critically analyze and evaluate things. In experimental sciences, it is lab procedures. In math, it might be the validity of models. In economics, it could be the effectiveness of economic development policy of Taiwan, for example. In the AP, my impression is that there is less of this required - it is more knowledge and skill-based learning, with less evaluation required.</p>
<p>The last difference is internationalism. The IB is soundly internationally focused. The AP is not. For a concrete example of this, the IB Economics courses have a huge unit on economic development - probably the single most important topic in economics today. This topic is not at all covered by the AP. The IB development unit is essentially an exercise in taking the theory of economics, applying it in the real world, watching it fail, and then analyzing why and evaluating other strategies to achieve desired goals,using international examples. To my (admittedly limited) knowledge, no analogous curriculum exists in the official AP syllabi for micro- or macro-econ.</p>
<p>Neither program has any advantage in breadth of course options - your local schools may show differences, but overall the two programs probably have similar course option amounts (the IB might actually have more, as it is possible to take almost any language as either a primary or second language, for example).</p>
<p>Lastly, IB marking is criterion-referenced. Marks aren't assigned on an aggregate right-wrong basis, like they are in a percentage system. Criteria are created for the various achievement levels, and candidates' work is holistically examined by international marking teams to determine what level it achieves. The actual process of marking is extremely complex, so I won't go into detail, but sufficed to say it is done in extreme depth with much nuance.</p>
<p>Finally, the depth in an IB course is provided if you decide to pursue your Extended Essay in that course - a research paper for which the AP has no equivalent.</p>
<p>So to summarize:</p>
<p>AP: Much like college, buffet-style sampling, generally more rote/knowledge based learning at a high level of depth, and potetially (though this depends on the student) high level of focus.</p>
<p>IB: Lots of depth, but also broader; a more cohesive and consistent educational philosophy. More analysis and evaluation required in all facets of the program, as well as a significant amount more writing. A significantly more international focus.</p>
<p>As to which is better, it's open for debate. From the perspective of an American student (who doesn't happen to be in Florida), probably the AP. Why? Ignorance. American universities (outside of Florida) have little to no idea of the nuances of what the IB program is. They look at it as an international AP program, which is what i definitely isn't. So if I were an American student, I would probably be taking the AP. I wouldn't be arguing that it was better though, because:</p>
<p>I think the IB is the better program overall (on a non single-country-based basis of evaluation). I firmly believe that the cohesiveness of educational philosophy that the IB provides cannot be matched by the AP, and while the AP does have the IB beat in flexibility and in depth in some specific areas, I think the benefits of a strong, liberal program outweigh the costs in lost flexibility. The much heavier emphasis on critical analysis, evaluation and writing skills all help as well. I think the IB will end up catching on much more strongly in America, much as it has in the rest of the world, but this may take quite some time.</p>
<p>I'm an IB Diploma candidate, so take my opinion as you will. Do realize though, that for pragmatic reasons, if I were an American student, I'd likely be taking the AP, despite thinking that the IB is a better program overall.</p>