<p>Hi.. I just have a question about the # of IBs or APs appropriate for Pton.
I'm applying to Pton ED (int'l applicant) and my school offers mainly
IB-based curriculum with some APs.
I see in this thread that A LOT of ppl admitted to Pton took like
10~15 AP courses during their junior/senior years..
The thing is,, I'm taking 5 IB Highers and 1 AP.
This means only 6 IB/APs but since IB Highers are two-year courses..
I feel like it's not fair to equate 5 IBs + 1 AP to 6 APs...
I mean.. this is my junior/senior year courseload.. do you think
it's competitive enough for Pton ED?</p>
<p>junior
IB H1 Math
IB H1 Physics
IB H1 Chem
IB H1 Econ
IB SL French
AP English Composition 1
School orchestra</p>
<p>senior
IB H2 Math
IB H2 Physics
IB H2 Chem
IB H2 Econ
IB HL French
AP English Composition 2
School orchestra</p>
<p>It really all depends on your school, and from what you've told us about your school, your curriculum seems competitive for Pton admission. You seem to have taken advantage of challenging courses available, and that is really what matters.
My school offers about 15 APs (maybe slightly fewer, I'm not sure) and by graduation I will have taken "only" 7 of them (counting Microecon & Macroecon as 1, since it's given as 1 big AP Econ class). However, in the context of my school this is a very challenging curriculum, since they absolutely do not allow us to take APs until junior year, and since we only have 5 classes a year. My GC will mark "most rigorous" on the school report, and I am sure your GC will do the same--that's what gives AdComs context for your course selection.
Sorry I blabbed on about me--basically, you're fine!</p>
<p>There's no way he could be diploma, not enough SLs and no ToK.</p>
<p>It looks fine to me, honestly.</p>
<p>Personally, I take 6 IB classes (the hardest curriculum at my school) and am a diploma candidate. All that Princeton wants to see is that you did your best with your opportunities (for example, even though the IB curriculum is the hardest at my school, I have taken over 60 credit hours worth of classes at my renowned local community college since sophomore year).</p>
<p>ah yeah that's what i was wondering because they were all HL courses and i'm just like "eh??" I take IB too :D it's nice to see other IBers :D:D everyone's always AP this and AP that, my school doesn't even have AP XD</p>
<p>lol my school only has AP's, though it offers a LOT of them. very competitive. anyone mind telling me the difference? i just hear that IBs are harder, and the tests are out of 7. anyone wanna elaborate?</p>
<p>Well IB classes usually cover a lot more breadth, as opposed to the in-depth nature of AP classes. </p>
<p>However, the biggest difference between IB and AP is the fact that the IB is a program(in most cases, the OP not being one) where one must be enrolled in 6 IB classes, do 150 CAS (standing for Creativity, Action, Service) hours, write a 3500-4000 word research paper called the Extended Essay (and if you're wondering why I've been online so often recently, it's because I'm avoiding this hehe).</p>
<p>Also, the IB tests are based more on recall than recognition, so they are a bit more difficult in my opinion. For my Psychology SL course exam (the only one I've been able to take so far), the entire test was essay-based, zero multiple choice questions.</p>
<p>Another difference is that you can take the AP test without taking the AP class, which is not possible in the IB. To take the IB test, you must be enrolled in that class.</p>
<p>In addition to these, your IB grade is not based solely on the test you take at the end of the year. Each class has specific Internal Assessments (like English Orals and Papers, History Paper, Psychology Experiment, huge Biology lab writeup, etc. etc.)</p>
<p>There are various other differences, but these are the main ones.</p>
<p>Yeah, it's pretty fun actually. I'm doing mine (the Extended Essay) on the radioecological impact of Chernobyl and the methods that the radiation traveled to the surrounding areas. It is a lot of work though, hehe.</p>
<p>It's a Biology EE (radioecological impact) with some sort of geological spin to it. I love my topic too much to change it even though I know I'll lose some points. The main focus is Biology, though.</p>
<p>Sort of going off-topic on the geology aspect. I shouldn't really lose that many if my biological aspect is strong enough (they usually don't take away because you've included wrong stuff, they take away if you're lacking the correct stuff).</p>
<p>The Extended Essay is all extra points anyways.. heh (I guess I'll have to explain this too :P).</p>
<p>For the IB Diploma, the maximum points you can get is 45. You have 6 classes which you can obtain up to a 7 in each class, leaving 3 points extra. These 3 points come from your Extended Essay and your Theory of Knowledge Grade (this class is sort of like a watered down philosophy class for all IB diploma candidates). You can get rewarded a certain number of bonus points depending on what grades you get on your Extended Essay and ToK Grade (i.e. if you get an A on E.E. and B on ToK you get 3 extra bonus points. If you get a B on E.E. and a B on ToK I think you get 2, and so on). However, if you fail BOTH the E.E. and ToK component, you cannot receive your diploma.</p>
<p>So you really just have to do a halfway decent job on your E.E. to get the diploma, so I'm not too worried about the points that much.</p>
<p>I have a source that gives me raw radioactive data from different places around Chernobyl, such as Belarus, Poland, Russia, etc etc (even to France/England) as well as water ways like the Black Sea (south of Ukraine). I can then use this raw data as if I had collected it myself and start making conclusions and hypotheses, etc etc</p>