Should I do the IB program?

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
1

I am currently a sophomore, and I am currently taking honors and AP courses, and last quarter my unweighted GPA was a 3.85 (don’t know my weighted). I am considering doing the IB program, but I have talked to my friends who did the program, and some told me they loved it while others told me they hated it.

These are the classes I would be taking if I did the program and what year I would be taking them in.

HL:

  1. English (11th and 12th)
  2. European History (12th)
  3. Biology (taking SL in 11th, HL in 12th)

SL:

  1. Chinese (12th)
  2. Music (11th)
  3. Calculus (11th)?- I’m not sure if I should take AB AP Calculus instead because I know most colleges do not accept credit for SL classes, and I want to get college credit for math. I just do not know if I am good enough at math to take AP since I heard it’s harder than SL. This year I was in Honors/IB Pre-Calculus, but I was not doing well in the class, so I had to drop down to Advanced Calculus which is the level in between Regular and Honors. I currently have an A+ in that class which is the only reason why I’m even considering going back up to AP. The only reason why I did so bad in Honors Pre-Calculus was because I had a horrible Algebra 2 teacher, and now that I have a good Pre-Calculus teacher, I think I might have a good foundation to go back up a level. If I take AP Calculus then I would probably take SL Business and Management.

Also, since I would be taking SL Biology junior year then taking HL senior year, would I be able to SL and HL in Biology? If I can that would be great because then I would not have to worry about taking Business and Management in order to have a third SL class.

I know this is very long, but I would love to hear some advice. Am I smart enough to do the IB program, and is it worth it?

2

@lovedance17 I don’t think it’s a question of if your smart enough but more of if you’re willing to put the work in. Now I’m not an expert but I’m currently a junior in the IB program and my schedule is pretty similar to what yours would be next year. Personally, my grades this year are the best they’ve ever been but that comes with a lot of work. I’ve heard a lot of seniors tell me that having the IB diploma on their application helped them a lot as far as getting into colleges so I would say as long as you’re able to do the work you should go for it! I’d be glad to answer any other questions you might have.

3

Thank you! I think I’m going to do the program. My main concern is just getting too stressed out and not sleeping. I don’t want to sacrifice all that and have it not be worth it.

4

I wouldn’t take AP calc if you’re not good at math, but I’m a senior who has been taking IB Mathematics SL for 2 years, and I have found the calculus unit to be much easier than the pre-calc stuff, and I also had very different teachers… so idk! Every situation is different!

5

You are not gonna get enough sleep, that’s a fact for every IB student… but you’re not doing it alone, and that always helps. It also helps if you’re really good at time management bc honestly you can get more sleep than others if you use your time really really wisely.

6

@lovedance17
I’m a senior right now at an IB school and my final course load is:
IB Chemistry HL II
IB Math HL II
IB English HL II
IB Design Technology SL
Advanced Orchestra
IB Latin SL II
IB Geography SL

I will tell you one thing…just like the post above…you…will…not…get…enough…sleep. If you’re the type of person to constantly degrade as you lose more sleep and as you receive more and more stress, you won’t like the IB diploma at all. I have friends who have straight A’s while sleeping 6-7 hours a night…that’s amazing. They use their time very wisely and hardly lose focus when working. I, on the other hand, lose focus and end up sleeping at around 2/3am to ultimately get around 4-5 or sometimes 3 hrs of sleep per night. Thankfully, I managed to finish off 1st semester senior year with 2 B+'s and all A’s for the rest…so ending up with decent grades IS POSSIBLE!!! You just have to be determined and committed with your assignments and course load.

I definitely think the IB Diploma was worth. Although I might have lost LOTS of sleep and gained LOTS of stress, the IB Diploma will definitely prepare you for college and all the difficult classes that will come your way. You’ll learn to think and learn differently in your IB classes, which is definitely a good thing.