<p>I would have taken close to 12 AP Classes before I graduate. I personally know some top notch IB kids who took AP Exams and scored barely 4 and mostly 3. Does this mean AP Exams are superior than IB exams? How does the colleges view this? I have no regret that I am not part of the IB program, however once in a while they keep rubbing us. LOL!</p>
<p>I think AP or IB success is completely dependant on how much effort you put in, as well as the ability of the teacher. Colleges just want to see you challenging yourself… I don’t think AP will put you at a much greater advantage than someone who took IBs.</p>
<p>AP vs. IB English.</p>
<p>My AP teachers guidelines for essays are a lot more consistent with the college than my IB teachers. And my IB teacher uses the IB rubric… so AP English is the way to go.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t have IB but a school that is very close to mine has it. The people in the IB program say that the Ap and IB classes are taught together, for example calc is taught with ap and ib people.</p>
<p>I would actually say IB English is better than AP English exams. AP English needs to add an oral commentary requirement of some sort…which is what IB does. Commentary is really interesting and develops a set of writing skills totally different than that of essay writing.</p>
<p>So obviously the answer is…</p>
<p>It depends.</p>
<p>It depends on where you go to school and what you want to do in the future. Both are rigorous, college-level courses. The main difference is that for the full IB Diploma, all of your classes correlate and cover overlapping material. Also, IB is generally accepted internationally more than AP is.</p>
<p>Lot of schools don’t except IB credit yet.</p>
<p>AP, I’ve determined, is better than IB college credit-wise. Education-wise, it varies.</p>
<p>College credits aren’t given to 1 year IB courses, while they’re relatively handed out to other AP courses with similar requirements… IB courses require 2 years of study to MAYBE get college credit, and those tests tend to be very comprehensive (it’s over 2 years of study ffs!) and difficult; that isn’t to say that AP isn’t hard, but 2 years of memory should be harder than 1, no?</p>
<p>As far as credit-wise, I’d say go with AP. But bear in mind that many people who take IB courses get the equivalent of AP material. I know people who’ve taken IB English and scored 5’s on AP English, I took IB Chem and got a 5 on AP, and if you do a certain optional area on Math HL, you’re bound for a 5 on AP Stat. But like people said numerous times, it depends on the individual school and teachers.</p>
<p>But in terms of quality, I think IB wins hands down. I think of AP as a disjointed set of curricula, whereas IB has central themes and ideas that connect all their classes. At my school, IB teachers and students are a closer knit bunch, which means that teachers try to schedule tests on different dates and know full well that every IB student has a full load of IB classes (as compared to an AP teacher who may have no idea what their students’ workloads are like). </p>
<p>To answer your questions, neither AP nor IB is superior; they’re both different. Take for example computer science. On AP, there is MC and a programming FRQ, and most of the test stresses programming skills, CS theory, and knowledge of Java. For IB, there is no MC and only short answer/long answer type questions, and the IB test covers a much different set of material along with actual programming, for example hardware and networks. It is the same case for other classes, such as IB Math, which is more of a (quite rigorous) survey course that dabbles a bit in all subjects, rather than say, just calculus or statistics. </p>
<p>Of course, both tests and programs have their advantages, and I think colleges know this. The most important thing is to show them you’ve got a tough workload.</p>
<p>Well the thing is that a lot of the IB kids who took the AP exams probably weren’t prepared for it whereas the AP kids specifically study for the AP exam. AP and IB cover different things and the exams are different. A lot of the IB teachers don’t care about the AP test because all they want you to do is get a good score on the IB test because your diploma depends on it. Last year, my bio teacher prepared us for the Bio test but didn’t give us a warning at all for the ap test. A lot of kids got great IB scores but failed the AP test. </p>
<p>The main reason IB kids take the AP exams because its a good way to get college credit because a lot of colleges don’t recognize SL classses. And IB is not easier than AP. In IB you have to take a set of classes and do internal assessments which take a really long time to do.</p>