IB vs. AP

<p>Thanks for the links to the books. I have seen a book by a different publisher (whose books are used in quite a few different IB schools around the world). Which IB courses are you taking this year?</p>

<p>My HLs are Chemistry, History, English Lit and Math...SLs are Greek lit and Biology....
also, this should debunk the further math predicament forever....
check these out...these are perfect for this debate...
you can also check extended essays and all past papers of past IB exams...also, look at the markschemes, since they show exactly how the IBO judges papers...they could shed some more light</p>

<p>this is a paper 2 further math: <a href="http://papers.lexhq.com/Further%20Mathmatics/Further%20Mathematics%20SL%20P2.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://papers.lexhq.com/Further%20Mathmatics/Further%20Mathematics%20SL%20P2.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>i'll pm you the other ones</p>

<p>Bear in mind that IB paperrs are in order of difficulty, so paper one is easy - in some cases multiple choice (chem, bio and physics-in social sciences and languages the format is different), whereas paper 2 is harder, and more analytical...it is never multiple choice...when there is a paper 3, it's the hardest (in experimental sciences it is the options from which you can choose 2 topics: for chemistry, you can do further organic, in biology for instance neurology and others...look into the past papers for more info)</p>

<p>Skip a grade! No, really. I skipped a grade in elementary school <em>and</em> our program lets us take the IB sophomore/junior year (but I think the latter is very rare...) That way I'll be entering into the right Math and Spanish classes, which I believe are the most 'linear' in advancement... i.e. you have to be in a certain 'grade' level of the subject to fit the IB program. See, there you have it, flexibility. Of course... flexibility only if your Math and Language classes are at the same level... (Precalculus/LanguageYr3,4 I believe.)</p>

<p>I want to know if the IB SL/HL syllabus and IB SL/HL exams are the same through out the world. I have been hearing different things about this. Not sure if the same exam paper is given out to everyone around the world at the same time. In particular, I am not sure if exam papers given in say UK are the same as in USA</p>

<p>Also, are there any past USA exam papers one can look at to take a practice test?</p>

<p>TIA</p>

<p>The IB syllabus for each course, I'm pretty sure, is uniform worldwide, but just like the AP syllabus doesn't specify to the lowest level of detail what each teacher will teach, so there is still variance in how effective each classroom course is.</p>

<p>The syllabus is the same, but there is much flexibility (one of the perks of the program IMO). For instance, in World History, 19th and 20th century are covered, but a teacher can choose what they teach - focusing on what they know best, and thus helping the students excel more. For instance, in my class, we cover WWI and II, Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and the Cold War. It is really wonderful how many things one can do. </p>

<p>But no, not all subjects are taken at the same time worldwide. For some subjects, such as Greek lit, which is only for Greeks, there is only one timezone, but for others, such as history, there are more than one timezone and the topics are different for each timezone.</p>

<p>The main issue is (something that I have repeated and will continue to advocate): a nascent IB school is likely not to be good and its students not to excel so easily at the end, whereas a more experienced one, and one that has gone at least through one exam group period (that is 8 years - the syllabus is updated, refocused and changed - mildly - every 8 years) is going to have the required experience to help its students in the best way.</p>

<p>How about the exams? Are the exam papers the same every where? Are there some past papers to look at?</p>

<p>you can buy past papers online...</p>

<p>I appreciate if you direct me to a URL that has USA exam papers - both HL/SL in various subjects</p>

<p>The IB is a lot harder than the AP program. I know a guy who's now at Oxford and he says that the IB was harder than what he's doing now. Every single person who received an IB diploma from our school has said that they felt way more prepared for college than most of their non-IB peers. I absolutely love the IB because the depth of courses (specifically History) is incredible for a high school curriculum. Of course, the workload is absolutely insane. There's a facebook group with the quote about the IB: "I would kill myself, but I don't have time."</p>

<p>as a fellow IBer, I agree with you completely...i mean, i've been doing IB for...how long? W8, lemme get my calc... (lol, another IB joke :p)</p>

<p>
[quote]
The IB is a lot harder than the AP program.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That depends on local implementation, and "harder" isn't always the same as "better college preparation."</p>

<p>Nobody disagrees on that tokenadult - it is the case with ALL programs (even AP). But I beg to differ on the second part (harder isn't always the same)...a friend of mine said and I quote: "Yale is like an IB2 year - only more fun and less stressful". It has helped him a lot to make the transition from high school to Yale, and if you're aiming at colleges of that magnitude, a harder high school experience prepares you for the demanding years to come. If you are in an easy program, or your school is lenient, then chances are you are going to have a harder time coping with the rigors of college (especially if that is a top-tier school).</p>

<p>Now, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of IB classes is that many of the harder ones are taken over 2 years.</p>

<p>This year I took AP Chemistry at my school, and a friend of mine at another took IB Chemistry. I've looked at IB</a> Chemistry revision notes and syllabus, and haven't found anything under SL that is above and beyond what I learned in my AP Chemistry class, but I did it in one year.</p>

<p>I would assume that next year my friend must be learning above and beyond what I did in 1, but I'll be taking AP Bio, and when we go off to college I'll have two classes complete to her one.</p>

<p>So is this how the program is implemented elsewhere? Or is this just a fluke?</p>

<p>Okay...I went to a IB/AP school last year. It offered both programs. And both my history teacher and my bio teacher would talk about how IB wasn't even nearly on par with AP.
They give you exactly what you need to know for the exams. Like for bio they even specified what graphs and pictures they need to know for IB.
As for history....AP US...is pretty dang notorious for its attention to detail. The IB history classes also specify what the students need to know.
AP is a shot in the dark for teachers and students. Because of that, I think AP is much more difficult</p>

<p>I can second that notion about stabbing in the dark. In fact the college board comes out and says so. For the AP Chemistry exam they state that the multiple choice is engineered in such a fashion that there is no earthly way for any AP Chemistry class to have covered all of the material. Their goal isn't for you to just know the information, they want you to analyze it and apply critical thinking skills. You might not have delved deeply into Organic Chemistry during your class, but if you draw all your knowledge together, you can make educated guesses on questions of that topic, for example.</p>

<p>Same goes for APUSH, the test had several questions (which I obviously can't divulge) which were so specific and seemingly trivial, no class would have taught it. The test-makers want you to use everything you ever learned about the time period in question to figure it out.</p>

<p>Now, I could go on, the AP Computer Science exam, especially with the free response, requires thinking out of the box, but I'm sure I've communicated my point. Of course, I'm certain that the IB program also employs and requires its students to implement what they learn similarly, but most of the people on this forum from the IB camp have suggested that AP classes don't require thinking or higher level analyzation.</p>

<p>The fundamental differences I see between the AP and IB dilemma is that everyone is expecting to be able to see a comparison in a nice little table or summary. But they were made for different purposes, accomplish different goals, and are both fantastic ways to show off for colleges. The AP program is designed to perfectly replicate a given first year college course in the subject, nothing more, nothing less. The AP program allows students to adhere to standards and prove to universities that they know material relating to given college courses. You could walk into Books-A-Million this summer, check out a college text book and maybe an AP review book or two, learn the material, and take the test to earn credit. Meanwhile you could be studying under-water basket weaving at your school, and the college-board couldn't care less. The IB program is designed to be its own diploma, its designed to be an international set of standards that command respect at universities across the globe. However, the system is closed, if you aren't taking an approved IB class you can't have the IB system evaluate your mastery in a given subject, because that isn't what they do.</p>

<p>What we have noticed is that these two goals overlap considerably when it comes to curricula. IB students brag that they can take AP tests without studying. However, I think it would be absurd to suggest that someone who received a 5 in an AP class wouldn't be able to do well on an IB test. (Depending on the situation and class obviously, while I don't think my 1 year of AP chemistry would prepare me for an IB exam covering 2 years of material, I'm sure that I would be able to pass tests and ect. over the first year) Of course, what would be the purpose of taking an IB exam? Their intention is to assess your entire High School education, not deem whether or not you are good to go in college for a given subject. Thats why colleges almost universally hand out credit for good AP grades, and are more reserved when it comes to IB courses.</p>

<p>Most to the point of this thread, which was recently revived after a long hiatus, is that Harvard (the college to which this forum is dedicated) specifically does NOT have a preference for either IB or AP. Challenge yourself appropriately according to what is avaiable to you locally, and always go beyond your school curriculum in what you learn. Prepare as best you can for any external tests you take, but don't worry too much about brand names of high school programs. Both students from AP programs and students from IB programs end up at Harvard (and at other highly sought-after colleges).</p>

<p>mj93: “I heard that IB HL Math is the equivalent to doing AP+BC Calc in one year.” </p>

<p>I am in IB Math SL and was considering taking an AP Calc exam for college credit. In my SL class, we’ve learned more calculus than the AB class and less calculus than the BC class. (Keep in mind that IB Math SL is not just a calculus course, it is integrated mathematics.) Because the SL curriculum covers that much calculus, I assume that any calculus expectations of the HL curriculum are. . . at a higher level. </p>

<p>I have friends who are in IB Math HL, and they say that they basically gave up numbers after the first year. If that gives you any idea of what HL math is like.</p>

<p>I am aware that this thread is INSANELY old but I was thinking of saying something…</p>

<p>It is possible to take IB courses (not full diploma) in 9th/10th grade if your school allows it. In my old school, two 9th grade boys took math HL. They will sit for the exam this year (10th grade). Other cases have been when students have a high standard in a certain language, they take the IB course for that language, even when not in 11th. However, not all schools allow that.</p>

<p>I currently go to an IB school and I would have to say age doesn’t really matter, but schools seem to think so. I am the youngest in my grade (I’m a junior) and the school was talking of putting me back into 10th grade (I just moved) because they felt I had not been prepared for the IB. I told them not to and have done fine, the school does not seem to think so though.</p>

<p>Sorry for posting when this is all old news, but yeah.</p>

<p>i know that this thread is extremely old but as someone is considering IB, may I ask a question:
-in IB program, you only take 6 classes in the course of 2 years?</p>