International Baccalaureate [IB] Reality?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I am interested in hearing from STUDENTS [and parents of those students] who have either been in or have completed IB course study or diplomas...did you or do you have a life outside IB? Am hearing that it is next to impossible to be involved in extra-curriculars or varsity sports if you are doing the IB program. Truth or fiction? Does it vary from IB school to IB school?</p>

<p>Please refrain from the "I've heard..." type comments, I have plenty of those that is why I am asking the question. Please please please only those with first-hand personal experience.</p>

<p>Thanks, desperately need to know.</p>

2

<p>Completely fiction. I repeat, FICTION.</p>

<p>I am an IB graduate of 2005. Here was my schedule senior year:</p>

<p>IB Psychology HL (exam, 6)
IB Biology HL (exam, 7)
IB English HL (exam, 6)
IB Chemistry HL (had to take the SL exam, 6)
IB History of the Contemporary World (took SL for this one, 7)
IB Calculus HL (exam, 7)
Newspaper IV
Japanese IV honors</p>

<p>In addition, I was EIC of my school paper (4 years), which, unless you're part of staff which is a no-name paper that puts out an issue maybe every two-months, is a lot of work. I did volleyball for 3 years (although only last year was V) and I had a job. Yes, a job. </p>

<p>On saturdays I would have times where I got to catch a movie or two with a couple of close friends. I even went on family vacations on spring/fall breaks, etc. </p>

<p>IB students are said to be those who are actually more involved than others in the school, because these are high-reaching students. They know what they need for college admissions. They WILL get involved. </p>

<p>Trust me, it's all about time-management. It's such a trite expression, but oh man is it true.</p>

3

<p>I'm currently doing my second year of diploma, and its NOT true that you cannot have extracurriculars outside of IB. infact CAS program force you to have those extracurricular hours. as for a life outside IB, you are going to have people in IB who are book worms and people who are both socicallyactive and get good grades. It's what you make of the program. However it is true that you are going to have stress, and long hours, espcially before external and internal assignment deadlines so part of IB is about time management, how well can you manage the workload.</p>

<p>the difficulty of IB does vary from school to school, but since it is an international program, everyone's final marks are marked pretty uniform since everyone around the world take the same exams and all you assignments that count toward your IB grades goes through many levels of moderation.</p>

<p>as for sports, I personally play one sport competitively (on school team) and 2 other sport for recreation. I also participate in many intermural sports, and I'm not even considered to be atheletic at all.</p>

4

<p>You can definitely balance IB and an active social life. </p>

<p>My schedule senior year:
IB English HL (6)
IB History HL (7)
IB Chemistry HL (6)
IB Biology HL (7)
IB German SL (5)
IB TOK (A)
AP Physics C (5)
AP Calculus BC (5)</p>

<p>In addition, I was in Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout), Sunday school teacher/assistant, president of LEO Club, secretary of Renaissance Committee, a member of the school band, cross country, lots of community service, tutoring, etc. as well as having a social life. Like Tami said, time management is what makes the difference.</p>

<p>BTW, Tami, awesome scores.</p>

5

<p>I have several friends in IB. Most play varsity sports. Two are ranked very high in the state for debate. One is an editor of his school's paper. They're busy, sure, but they all have time for activities after school and at least some semblance of a social life.</p>

6

<p>oh wow... i've never been at a school with IB before, i don't think any school in my entire state (Louisiana) even has the program.. but i've heard of it, can anyone tell me what it entails and why people seem to have sooo much more work than AP, because last year i was in 5 AP classes and i didn't feel much stress at all, i actually spent MORE time on extracurric's... but i'm wondering why is IB so hard, like what's in the curriculum, or what? b/c now we live in Maryland, and my little brother is starting high school in a couple of years, and we have the option of putting him in an IB school or a regular high school with AP courses (which i prefer, but i want to hear the IB side of things...)</p>

7

<p>Fiction! You can still have a life and be in IB. </p>

<p>Actually, IB was probably the best thing I could have chosen because the alternative (regular stream) would have had me die of boredom a long time ago. I won't deny that the IB is a lot of work, but it is definetly worth it if you can handle a challenge. </p>

<p>I'm a senior taking a bilingual diploma with the following:
HL: English A1, European History in French, Chemistry
SL: French A2, Biology SL (6 on the May 05 exam), Math Methods SL in French (7 on the May 05 exam)
EC's: Model UN (head delegate), President/Founder of Amnesty Club, Varsity Field Hockey, Choir, Band, Provincial Honor Band, Mayor's Youth Council, school volunteer, other music lessons, etc. </p>

<p>Generally, the IB kids completely run the school. There are about 200 of us (including partial-IB kids, there are probably only about 50 full diploma students, 10 of whom are doing the bilingual) in a 10-12 school of 2000 students. We are in all the clubs, sports teams and music ensembles (even some cheerleaders are in full IB). </p>

<p>Rivetta-
IB is more work than AP because it is a program. AP is just a series of classes. AP is pretty much just internal assessment and exams. For IB, you have to:
a) do internal assessment for each class (labs, tests, etc)
b) do external assessment for each class (math portfolio, group IV, historical inquiry, world lit, oral exams)
c) write an extended essay of 4000 words on any topic
d) complete 150 CAS hours
and e) take a philosophy course that requires a major presentation (my teacher told us that we can use up a whole 80min period for ours), and a 3000 word essay... this is called Theory of Knowledge (TOK)</p>

<p>Of course, the difficulty of both AP and IB depends on the classes you take. Language A2 is much more difficult than Language B or ab initio. HLs are more in-depth than SLs. You could be taking ridiculous classes in either program (Env.Sci or Geo) or you could be doing something meaningful (most HL subjects - History, Math, Chem, etc).</p>

<p>If you have more questions, check out <a href="http://www.ibscrewed.net%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ibscrewed.net&lt;/a>, they all know what IB is like!</p>

8

<p>er.. cowgirl.. ToK essay word limit is 1600 words
Cas hour varies from school to school (my school's 300 hours)
and I agree IB kids runs the school</p>

9

<p>cowgirlatheart, you're a brave soul. Trying to do IB in two languages?
<em>shudders</em></p>

<p>lynda- IB requires 150 hours of CAS, around 50 each for creativity, service, and action.</p>

10

<p>Cool about the TOK essay limit. We seem to be getting mized messages from our IBC... maybe because he's our English teacher as well I'm confusing it with one of those IAs. </p>

<p>However, we also have to do a smaller essay/presentation as prep for the real ones, so if you did total them it would probably be 3000.</p>

11

<p>My daughter is a senior in an IB magnet program. She goes out socially at least once during the week and both weekend nights. She is president of the drama club, on the golf team, NHS, debate, etc., etc. She is also president of the youth group at our synagogue and that takes up a ton of her time. I won't say she never feels stressed, but somehow she is still managing to pull down a 4.0 UW and get a full nights sleep (if she's up late, it's chatting & IMing, rarely studying).</p>

<p>My younger daughter just started as a freshman in the same school pre-IB. She loves it, but is pretty overwhelmed by the difficulty of the work. She spends several hours/night and most of the weekend studying and doing homework.</p>

<p>So it depends on your child. Most of my older daughter's close friends in the program also have a laundry list of ECs and are quite active socially. We will see how younger daughter progresses, but she is toally different from her sister.</p>

12

<p>Okay, let's complicate things with a follow-up question...great helpful answers BTW...</p>

<p>If a student is not a straight A student, not the best time manager or model student[3.6 uw] but has a very active extra-curricular and varsity sports life[plus a job] prior to entering the IB program, do you think IB is a good idea or not?</p>

<p>Rivetta-I have some thoughts to share with you but I would be breaking my own request of not sharing "I've heard...", so I'll wait a little while and then will chime in with some different thoughts than those already shared in answer to your question.</p>

13

<p>I wasn't a straight A student to start with, and still isn't. if you are active then IB program is a good choice for you (IB isn't for books worms who study all day and does nothing else) you'll been surrounded my some amazing classmates in the program. I know friends who are in IB and still having jobs (jobs are not part of CAS requirement since you are getting paid for it) and still having to complete the 300 hour requirement in 2 years by our school. since you already have the extracurriculars and sports to start with, CAS'll be a breeze or you. </p>

<p>however do realize the workload in IB will be heavier than regular classes. if you are stuggling to complete homework on time in regular classes because of you extra currculars getting in the way, then IB might be a bit too much. But if you find the regular classes boring and unchallenging (as many IB students do) then go on ahead and join IB.</p>

<p>as for GPA, my GPA after I joined IB has dropped a little, but nothing too significant though.</p>

14

<p>
[Quote]
If a student is not a straight A student, not the best time manager or model student[3.6 uw] but has a very active extra-curricular and varsity sports life[plus a job] prior to entering the IB program, do you think IB is a good idea or not?

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>That type of student would have a difficult time in my daughter's program unless they are content getting B's. The kids are very intense, of the "work hard, play hard" type.</p>

15

<p>I think it might be a good idea. In my experience, people with more ecs and sports as well as homework tend to manage their time much better than those who do less. That's one reason IB kids tend to perform a little better than students in the less-structured AP program.</p>

16

<p>IB is tough, but it has opened me up to new extracurriculars rather than restrained me from them. Besides, IB limits you to 4 HL courses, as not to make you go insane. I'm currently a junior, and I'm planning to take HL French, English, History (currently taking Math HL). IB also offers unique courses, such as Social Anthropology, World Religions, and Theory of Knowledge.</p>

<p>Generally, IB schools are more global. There are so many more initiative-taking activists at this school than there were at my old AP school. I've gotten involved as Under-Secretary-General of Model UN, President and Regional Coordinator of Amnesty, and I'm organizing two regional student conferences at my school: one for the Millennium Development Goals (sponsored by Bread for World and the ONE Campaign) and one for nuclear peace initiatives (sponsored by a $1000 grant from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation). </p>

<p>I love love love IB. The people you meet are so open-minded and dynamic and interesting.</p>

17

<p>I go to an IB-only high school where 95% of people are in the Diploma program and the other 5% in the Certificate program. We have an award-winning newspaper, a variety of varsity and JV sports teams, a debate team, a student government, Model UN, Model OAS, a musical and at least two plays per year, etc, etc... and that's not even mentioning activities outside of school. I have a friend whose choir performs at the Kennedy Center on a regular basis, another who volunteers with an organization that helps prostitutes survive, another who is an amateur filmmaker...</p>

<p>I'd say we're pretty active. ;)</p>

<p>*For the record:</p>

<p>IB Chemistry HL
IB English A1 HL
IB French A1 HL
IB Mathematics SL
IB History SL
IB Biology SL
Journalism
Theory of Knowledge*</p>

18

<p>That is crazy talk. I have time to be in Academic Decathlon, Band, Art club and go out to see a movie with my friends. Whoever told you its impossible to have a life and IB at the same time is wrong. Its just a matter using your time wisely and paying attention in class and not procrastinating.</p>

<p>PHysics SL
English A1 HL
Spanish B SL
Math Studies SL (lol this class is a joke)
History HL
Psychology HL
TOK (next year)</p>

19

<p>Love love loved the <a href="http://www.ibscrewed.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ibscrewed.com&lt;/a> site! What a hoot.</p>

20

<p>One more question. IF you feel comfortable posting this, IF NOT DON'T...</p>

<p>What % are you or your S/D in class rank at their HS?
Top 1%? Top 10% or other???</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>