<p>Hmm,
I’m currently in my first year of IB, and I faced this same question last year. I decided to go with IB, and I’m glad that I did. </p>
<p>IB is alot of extra work- internal assesments, CAS, and the EE take up alot of your own time. Additionally, the IB exams are alot different from the AP exams you’ve probably taken in the past. However, I really like the structure of IB classes, and Theory of Knowledge. In all classes, IB really encourages independent thinking over rote memorization. In AP history classes, there is simply ALOT of information to memorize, and any analysis is usually explained to you by your teacher (in my experience at least). IB history, on the other hand, consists of discussions and your own analysis. I think that independent thinking is important for life after high school, so in this matter, IB wins. Also, Theory of Knowledge is a great class because you learn alot about yourself. I will admit, I originally thought it was a waste of time. However, after a bit, I realized that the class really taught me alot of valuable information, usually not discovered by tough AP classes.</p>
<p>Also, IB emphasizes writing ALOT more. If you prefer essays over multiple choice, IB is for you lol.</p>
<p>However, in terms of college credit, AP wins. It is much easier to get a 5 on an AP exam than a 7 on an IB exam, but colleges don’t really change their criteria to match the difficulty level.</p>
<p>Taking one IB class would be pointless, if you are going to take IB do the whole deal, get the diploma!!! If you are planning on taking a few high rigorous courses take AP.</p>
<p>IB is much more fun.
taking AP now, do not learn as much and I am sure that after the test, I will forget it all.</p>
<p>My school offers both as well, and we take all the corresponding AP/IB classes:</p>
<p>My schedule this year (Junior year):
AP Stats
IB French B2 SL Y1(I’ll take the IB SL exam and the AP exam next year)
IB Bio HL Y1(I’ll take both at the end of senior year)
IB Psych SL (The teacher goes over the AP and IB curricula in one year, so I’ll take both this year)
AP Eng Lit (We also work on our EE and do IB HL Y1 requirements, so I can take the AP this year and the IB next year)
AP Physics EM (I’ll take IB Physics SL this year along with the AP)
APUSH</p>
<p>This is just to give you an idea of what you can do. There is a huge amount of overlap between a lot of AP and IB classes, though APs generally are more specific and IBs involve more breadth. Use this to your advantage and take both!</p>
<p>I’ll have taken 12 APs, 4 HLs, and 2 SLs by the end of my career, without any self studying!</p>
<p>nith901:
I’ve completed the IB Math HL class, but I haven’t taken the official exam because you have to be a senior to take HL exams. I did take last year’s test as a final.</p>
<p>When colleges tell you that IB is equal to AP and they want you to take the most competitive classes available at your school yaddayaddayadda, what they’re comparing is the Diploma program to a rigorous load of APs, not weighing an IB class against an AP class. As a general rule, HL IB exams are harder than APs and SL’s are less difficult than APs. </p>
<p>At my school, they really warn against taking only a few IB classes (called certificate), because colleges know that this allows students to take the easy IB classes (SL) and take APs or honors in place of HL. It also means you don’t have to complete the EE, take TOK, or complete as much CAS (75 hours vs. 150). From experience, no certificate student at my school has ever been accepted to a competitive school, even UNC. Some high schools, however, combine AP/IB prep–for me, it’s French, English, US History, and Calc AB/Methods II (a lot of people take Psych as well, though the curriculum aren’t exactly congruent).</p>
<p>Moral of the story: If you take IB, commit to take IB.</p>
<p>What’s also interesting about IB is that it really gives you a feel of college-level topics. For example, organic chemistry and other advanced topics in chemistry and the HL english oral. The internal assessments really give a unique, but difficult, way of testing abilities. I would say go for IB. I’m glad I did.</p>
<p>Don’t do it. IB is killing me right now. I mean, I owned the crap out of the EE and TOK essay/presentation, finished CAS in a couple of months, and passed the exams I’ve taken so far. But, the actual non-IB coursework is usually enough to make people want to kill themselves (and one person in the class before mine has done so since his parents wouldn’t let him drop out). The teachers want really high pass rates and exam score averages, so they often have you take a BUNCH of practice exams and papers… For example, I wrote 5 TOK essays before we did the “real” one… By then, I was sick of everything and just wanted the minimum passing score. In ITGS, rather than learning about the technology and whatnot, we’ve been doing paper 1s, 2s, and case studies since September while only occasionally looking at something not related to an IB test or portfolio… </p>
<p>Take certain IB and AP classes if your school allows you to do so, but don’t go into the diploma program.</p>
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</p>
<p>That’s a lie. AP USH can be taken in your first year of HL History of the Americas, and you can take AP Euro as a pre-IB course (it’s weird, but that’s what the transcript says). Oh and I know a few people who took HL and/or SL chemistry/bio/physics classes and did the AP chem/bio/physics in the same year (sometimes taking the AP tests on makeup days if the original ones were on the same days since IB doesn’t have makeup days).</p>
<p>One question I have is how good an IB diploma is if going into a mathematics, science, or engineering field. While, from what I’ve researched, biology tends to be strong in IB, IB seems to be weak in other areas, such as physics (as IB physics is not calculus-based), as well as math (not as much calculus). Also, colleges seem to prefer the AP math and science credit much more than the IB math and science credit, which leads me to question if IB is beneficial in this case.</p>
<p>^ I don’t think AP Physics was calc based either… </p>
<p>Oh and it depends on what schools you’re applying to. Colleges in Florida LOVE IB diploma students and they understand that a C in there would likely have earned them an A in any other class. You should just check each school’s credit table. </p>
<p>For example, this is the one for Florida State:</p>
<p>@BindersOpen, read the Ask the Dean linked earlier or search for “IB vs. AP”…what you’ll find is that it’s hotly contested as to which colleges like better. Generally, colleges will want you to take the most rigorous curriculum available to you, and both AP and IB can meet that criterion. </p>
<p>Because of that, decisions should be made based on student preferences. The well-rounded student with strong writing abilities will enjoy IB. The student with specific interests, especially in science and math, will probably be more successful in AP (though there is a student at my school in IB with very strong engineering abilities who in all likelihood will be off to MIT next year). If you only take APs in your strongest areas, you’ll have the ability to pursue calculus and calculus-based physics without being stretched over humanities disciplines, which could work to your benefit, especially if you need time to pursue science/math-specific ECs like the olympiads or Siemens.</p>
<p>Oh, and @Dnerd, I suppose different schools have their own ways of merging the two curricula. The OP should look into how their own school operates.</p>
<p>BindersOpen, in my experience with IB, the math and science courses provide absolutely adequate preparation to study math/science/engineering in college.</p>
<p>Of course, to get the most challenging coursework in math/science, you’d have to take them at the Higher Level – HLs are generally considered to be more difficult than their AP equivalents. At my school (which offers a full array of APs along with the IB Diploma Program), IB Math HL is regarded to be the hardest math class. The pre-requisite is AP Calculus BC, which is the harder of the two AP Calculus classes. Also at my school, IB Physics HL goes from introductory physics through quantum. The second year is calculus based. </p>
<p>I have never heard of an American university that doesn’t recognize the IB. I do realize that most universities offer credit only for HL classes, but SL classes are good preparation for the AP exam (so you can take it and get credit if you want to). Because AP is much more prevalent in American high schools, many smaller schools only post their AP credit policies on their websites. For their IB policies (and any college worth its salt knows the IB program), you should contact them directly. Colleges claim look at AP and IB equally and no college I have looked into expresses a preference for one over the other.</p>
<p>Not to bring politics or partisanship into this at all, but I looked at the link you provided – it seems rather politically biased and the author sounds like he has a vendetta against the IB, for whatever reason. You should read a few different sources and look at the syllabi for similar AP/IB courses, as well as talk to people who have done AP and IB before drawing any conclusions. Just by reading the first post, I can tell you that this blogger is posting BS – he gives a list of schools that supposedly prefer AP to IB. I go to a fairly respected school in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC that offers both, and we send about 20-25% of our graduating class to UMD (about half of whom are IB students).</p>
<p>To clear things up, I’m doing the IB diploma as well as taking several AP classes and exams. (Many AP/IB classes at my school, as a matter of fact, are mixed AP/IB anyway). Both offer great courses, and you should do whichever feels like a better fit for you. If you’re into math and science, I know IB has wonderful classes to offer you, and so does AP. Good luck :)</p>