<p>As somebody who’s been in a school with a competitive integrated AP/IB program (we were ranked third this year), this is what I’ve experienced from it.</p>
<p>To whomever said that Math Studies SL and Math SL are a joke, that is true. There’s no getting around the fact that the math standard level examination is weak. The higher level is somewhat of a different story; Paper 3 (which for us is required to be Ordinary Differential Equations, Sequences, and Series) is notoriously difficult and covers the tail end of Calculus BC (in fact, there was a problem on last year’s IB HL Paper 3 that was a Bernoulli’s Equation problem, which is most definitely not on the BC curriculum). In addition, IB HL also covers elementary statistics, for which it has a slight advantage over BC. Let’s be honest, though- somebody who is competent enough to take Calculus BC generally ends up taking AP Statistics somewhere along the road. HL is two years, BC plus Stats is also two years, with the AP math sequence covering slightly more.</p>
<p>My sixth subject is chemistry and my Group 4 class is physics. There is one enormously important difference between the AP and IB here. The IB equation sheet gives you a LOT more information than the AP equation sheet for either science. Granted, IB Chemistry Higher Level, which I am set to take, demands more knowledge than does the AP curriculum. In what I would call the “memorization sciences” (I’ve heard that IB Biology HL deals with the same issue), the IB does very well because it is a two year program and can assign more homework and information to memorize. But for a quantitative and math-intensive science like physics, I would say that AP has the advantage. In IB Physics HL, which I will also be taking, we get basic Newtonian mechanics, EM, optics, and a choice of two options. That is roughly the equivalent of the AP Physics B. AP Physics C is altogether a much different story- C: Mechanics requires calculus based work and C: EM requires knowledge of “basic” EM equations in calculus- which necessitates knowledge of partial derivatives, integration, and advanced integration techniques in a single variable. AP has a big advantage over IB in physics, IB a modest advantage over AP in chemistry and biology. </p>
<p>For English A1, yes, IB is much more difficult, if only because we have additional papers on the side and an oral. In the foreign languages, from what I’ve experienced and heard from my friends (I took French SL), AP is much, much more difficult than the SL and quite a bit more difficult than the HL because it was really only one more paper. In fact, I’m finding myself longing for the good old days of French SL, because AP French Language requires quite a bit more specialized knowledge than the IB in terms of knowing diction and structure. </p>
<p>And finally, for about the history issue- what is so hard about IB history? Perhaps I’m saying this because I’ve taken AP World, AP Euro, and AP US History, but IB Contemporary History should be a relaxed review for you. Maybe I’m being overly harsh because I’ve thought that all my histories have been quite easy, but there’s no reason to fret over IB History whatsoever. The coverage between AP and IB is roughly the same, but I would argue that the AP sequence is a little tougher because of its wider breadth and nearly equivalent, if not equivalent, depth. </p>
<p>I will say that I really appreciated TOK I and II, not just because it was an easy A, but because of the opportunity to tie together different avenues of learning, culminating in the EE. For example, my extended essay was whether or not the New Deal was Keynesian (a relatively vanilla topic) and to attack my topic, I engaged in mathematical modeling of the 1933-1945 era (and looked at models created by economists), read historical sources, used literary analysis to compare them, and to top it all off, found a good French source that I had to translate and then utilize in my paper. The opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary thinking is a strong point of the IB program and is the hallmark of European education- it is necessary in the 21st century. I will say, however, the 150 hours of CAS plus the 25 hours necessitated to enter the IB program from pre-IB is not much to brag about. 175 hours is hardly enough to achieve any kind of competency in one area, let alone three areas. That should be automatic for any high school student wishing to go on and make a name for him or herself. </p>
<p>It seems like I’m giving a slight edge to the AP program, but in reality, I think that both are equal. To be honest, it all depends on the people who run the program- a good IB program definitely outclasses a bad AP program and vice versa. In an ideal world, we get both (like I do), but if I had to choose one, I might choose the AP program and request that my teachers actively engage in interdisciplinary thinking and writing-intensive exercises.</p>
<p>Just my two cents on the issue. :)</p>