<p>Why does it seem like most people on this website who's doing the IB Diploma lists all 6 of their IB classes for their Junior year? Because recently whenever I've seen people comment on my IB threads for, they're wondering why I only have 4 IB classes listed instead of 6, and then I have to tell them that I'm taking my remaining classes Senior year.
You all are really confusing me. #-o</p>
<p>You live in the US, right? IB is done there differently from what I’ve read around here, it’s really odd. You guys seem to take some of your exams in 11th grade and the rest in 12th grade which is quite confusing as the syllabi are <em>supposed</em> to be taught in 2 years rather than 1. </p>
<p>I know that at British schools (such as mine) you take all 6 subject throughout year 12/13 (11th/12th grade) and we take all our exams in Year 13 - how it’s mean’t to be done. </p>
<p>@pink997 So in other countries such as the UK, all IB classes are 2 years?? Because here in the U.S., all the SL classes (except for Math SL or Math Studies) are only 1 year, while all the HL classes are 2 years, and that’s why some exams are taken Junior year and some are taken Senior year.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure it’s done that way in other countries (I live in the Middle East and our school does it over two years albeit it follows the British curriculum) as well! I mean the classes are taught over the span of two years to meet the requirements of the IBO as they’ve prescribed teaching hours to all HL/SL courses. The teaching hours can only be covered efficiently over the span of two years for HL courses but SL courses require less hours which I guess explain why some SL courses are covered in a year in the US. </p>
<p>But isn’t it better to cover it over two years for SL courses too? You’ll get more time to get familiar with the material and to practice which will inevitably result in higher scores. Or do you think a year is sufficient to get high scores (6’s or 7’s)? </p>
<p>I think it depends which classes/subjects. I’m taking the 2nd year of Math SL this year and I’m pretty good at Math, and Senior year I’m taking French SL and I’m really good at French, too. But Senior year I’m also taking Physics SL and it’s one of the hardest IB classes at my school. I think for some subjects, 1 year is efficient to learn the material, like for language classes if I can compare them to AP language classes. For a class like Physics, it probably would be better if it was spread over 2 years, like how the College Board is splitting AP Physics B into 1 and 2.</p>
<p>IBO intends for the whole program to be 2 years. But they do allow some flexibility. They allow students to take up to 2 SLs in one year and test the junior year. HLs must be taught over 2 years. In the US, because most IB programs are in schools that aren’t just IB schools, getting students who aren’t DP students to also take some IB courses helps boost numbers. The program is expensive and hard to justify for a small number of students, and non-DP students aren’t as likely to sign up for 2 year courses. </p>
<p>Some schools teach certain SL classes in one year because they have small IB programs and it’s a struggle to provide enough IB classes. At my school students were generally advised to finish these classes their junior year to lessen the exams that they’d have to study for senior year, but they could put these classes off until their senior year and thus have four HL subjects their junior year.</p>
<p>At my school some SLs like Spanish and French are two years, but most are one year. @pink997 I think a year is sufficient. I got a 6 on Math SL, 5 on Chem SL. Hardly studied.</p>
<p>My school does all SLs and HLs as two year courses, although there were some issues with IB biology so I and some other students took IB SL biology Junior year and switched to HL senior year (I don’t think most schools allow that though).</p>