Yes @jeneric You are not “allowed” to take more than four HL exams. Just got confirmed by DS, he is doing five HL + one SL but taking four HL exams.
I don’t know about grade inflation/deflation, DS’ teachers have to send their grades to the IB to be “calibrated” somehow.
I thought that only a few things are sent off to the IB. The exit exams and a couple of assessments- I think 2 for English- one from Junior and one from Senior. I also thought all of the IAs were sent in as well (those were calibrated). Our teachers would grade many assignments, test and quizzes, plus projects and homework- so if a teacher wanted to inflate or give extra points they could.
D18 just told me that her AP classes were less inflated- she says it just depends on the teacher. She says because of the multiple choice of AP unless your teacher allowed for corrections, it’s far less subjective.
Well, she could go back to the AP track, but when you pick IB you agree to that grading system.
My daughter looked at an IB program, and we didn’t like the IB rules or how the program was run so picked a different school. We see students ask all the time “Should I go to the school where I’ll be valedictorian or where I’ll be more challenged?”
If the program is new, you could ask the administration how they will deal with this issue and it may be they haven’t thought of it or they might have an answer for you.
At my kids’ IB school, the teacher would assign a letter grade on homework, projects, and tests even those submitted to IB
Some work is then sent to IB and is scored separately, but those individual scores were not shared with students.
After the handful of assignments were submitted and the final IB exam, students received their final score in May. For HL, the final exam would be end of year two. SL would be the end of year one.
@Techno13 I assume the weighting for AP and IB are the same? If the school actually wants to grow the IB programme it will be difficult if these kid’s GPAs suffer.
D18 did IB and her GPA was also overinflated 2 quality points for AP/IB and 1 for honors- now it’s 1 for AP/IB and .5 for honors- honestly I have no idea why any kid would do IB- all that work and if you make a few Bs your GPA could be lower than the kids who sit in honors. My D18 didn’t apply anywhere that needed a GC recommendation. Our transcripts only list math rigor- yes or no. I would ask the GC whether the IB get most rigor vs. AP.
D21 said no thank you to IB and this year’s junior IB class is small.
Colleges evaluate the IB on the agregate number of points. It’s very hard to get 6 or 7 in HLs so 3+3 is easier to get a high total in.
However stem kids whose schools require them to take HL English and history often take HL math and science to highlight preparation for college.
1HL = 2 regular APs (except for the full year APs like Physics C).
Thanks for all this info everyone. I am raising the issue with the IB Director at our school. We are definitely seeing harder grading crtieria used in the IB even compared to AP. If that continues their new IB Program will remain very small. My D absolutely loves learnindg and would prefer to not focus on grades and GPAs but as long as college admissions are what they are she doesn’t have much of an option. Nonetheless she will continue with the Program b/c it’s already too late to turn back. My younger D will think twice!
Our S graduated from an international school that offers only IB classes, so we didn’t have to deal with the kind of mixed situations described in this thread - it sounds very complicated! He took three HL and three SL classes. I think maybe some kids are permitted to take two science HLs, which brings them up to four HL, but we never considered that. His school awarded only point grades. What went to the colleges he applied to were the internal semester grades, the predicted scores and, ultimately, the final point grades confirmed by the IBO. The IBD program was tough, but it clearly prepared him very well for college based on what we are seeing now, and I think we are all very glad he decided to do it rather than pursue an AP program at a different school. I agree with those who said above that many schools will take note of the IB program and not focus only on GPA and class rank. There is some evidence that IB students are admitted at a higher rate than others. This is an oldish IBO study from 2011 that includes some of these numbers: https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/12ca22e438df4a65b4c92e42b70b10ea/globaldpdestinationsurveyus.pdf
IB programs or schools in the US tend to be optional, often with selective admission (and with self-selection by students in any case). Since it is explicitly a college-prep program that is typically seen as harder than typical US high school courses, it is likely that students who are selected for or who self-select into IB programs or schools in the US are stronger than the general pool of college-aspiring students, so it should be no surprise that their college admission rates are higher.