<p>My daughter told me similar view point as #3 of jcmarkle post. As IB candidate, she didn’t take advanced level of sciences in physics/chemistry because of busy work of IB curriculum almost predetermined. She recommended her younger brother not to be in IB but to take advanced science classes in AP which could give him a flexibility to take an advanced classes. I’m not sure if she gives good advice to younger brother or not. By the way, she did a great job (GPA/rank) in IB and is proud of IB program, though.</p>
I’m a junior in IB Diploma at my school. Those who are telling you that IB is an easy breeze must be delusional, crazy, or had his/her head dropped on the floor as a kid. IB is the hardest High School program in the world. In terms of classes, it goes SL < AP < HL. My school’s calculus class is structured that you test in AP Calc BC (YES BC NOT AB) Junior year, and do the HL test in Senior year. Also, I’m self-studying for AP Chem while also simultaneously studying for the IB Chemistry SL Exam this year. AP questions are WAYYYY more predictable than IB questions. There’s a certain format that AP just LOVES for all their exams, and will remain fairly consistent with their format as years go by. IB, however, changes CONSTANTLY. AP is like punctuated equilibrium, and IB is like gradualism if you wanna talk evolution. You never usually know what IB will try to throw at you. SL curriculum is much less in-depth than AP or HL curriculum, but trust me, the Internal Assessments you have to do and the unpredictability of the test itself more than makes up for its lack of breadth that AP offers. Plus in IB Diploma, you are bombarded with an Extended Essay (like an elementary college thesis where you actually investigate something which is not done by AP), and you have service requirements (CAS). Theory of Knowledge is also something that takes a breather. Schools like Stanford force you to take courses based on theory of knowledge at their places, but really, TOK is sorta like a new world beyond academics and conventional thought. I’ve taken two AP Exams in the past: US History and Statistics (scored 5’s on both), and I am taking two next month: Calculus BC and Chemistry. I’m taking one IB Exam (Chemistry SL), and will be taking SIX IB EXAMS next year. As I sift through questions, amount expected, etc., IB is harder than AP by a landslide.