<p>So next year, I'm planning on doing the IB Diploma next year as a junior. My projected schedule is:</p>
<p>IB English HL Yr. 1
IB History of the Americas
IB Biology HL Yr. 1
IB Math SL Yr. 2
French 3
Theory of Knowledge/ and maybe one trimester of Band</p>
<p>So I'm thinking of maybe "self-studying" (not completely) some AP Courses that somewhat correspond with my IB classes. I'm thinking of doing AP Lit because it sounds like the IB English class reads a few books and analyze them a lot or something and I know that the AP Lit test makes you write essays analyzing books;I might do AP U.S. History along with IB HoA, but I'm not really sure yet. I'm pretty decent at history, but I think I'll wait on my decision probably until a few months into the year. I know some people that took the APUSH test while taking HoA, but had to do some extra self-studying. I think I'll self-study AP Calculus for sure along with my Math SL class. Math is one of my stronger subjects, and I know a lot of people at my school took the AP Calc AB test. I'm just kind of pondering if I should take the AB test, or maybe self-study a bit to take the BC test.
I honestly don't know about Biology. I took IB Prep Biology last year as a Freshman and I'm pretty good at the subject, but that's besides the point. Ever since we had the IB program at my school, IB Biology has been an SL course spanning only one year. Next year, along with Chem SL/HL, my school is spanning IB Biology over 2 years and at the end of the 2nd year, we decide whether we want to take the SL test or the HL test. So, I honestly doubt I'll self-study AP Biology until the 2nd year if I wanted to.</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>What do you wish to accomplish? If you’re looking for AP credit, self study the SL classes if you have time. Unless you’re looking for super selective schools which don’t give credit at all for AP or IB, you can count on many colleges not giving credit (or very little) for SL classes. Our older S just finished the diploma programme and I don’t know if he had a single moment to add anything else to his already hectic schedule. It was brutal.</p>
<p>@SoWest I hope you do realize that I don’t mean complete “self-studying”. I just mean that my IB classes would give me enough info and then I would just have to study a little extra like the format and stuff for the AP exams.</p>
<p>Oh, didn’t realize that. I know some schools teach classes for the IB and AP, modifying the curriculum so that kids can take both tests if they like. I think that’s a great idea, especially for SL classes, which tend to get the short end of the stick with college credit when compared to AP. Since you are taking HL Bio, why are you considering the AP test?</p>
<p>@SoWest I don’t think I’ll even do the AP Bio test, especially since it’ll span from Junior to Senior year. I honestly don’t know if it’s even worth it to take AP tests senior year since I’d be accepted to college already. </p>
<p>@Animefan1998 What do you mean “accepted to college already”? The point of taking the AP tests is to get college credit. Just because you were accepted does not mean you won’t get credit for taking such tests.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I was just never really clear on that. I’ve seen a good amount of people on here say it’s pointless to take AP tests Senior year because you’d be accepted, so that’s why I was confused and said that.</p>
<p>If you are going to a school that doesn’t give AP credit: yes, taking the AP tests senior year doesn’t do a lot for you. But most schools do give credit, so taking AP tests for your SL IBs can be useful. In some cases the AP and IB curricula match up well, while in others they don’t. It also depends on the way things are taught at your particular school. I would suggest talking to your teachers to see if they think it’s feasible for the ones you’re looking at. FWIW, I took AP Chem and AP Calc AB after my IB SLs in these and got 5s with no additional studying.</p>