Hello, I’ve been seeing IB schools popping up. What exactly is it?
IB is international baccalaureate. Its basically like AP but if you are in the IB program for the diploma, you have certain classes you must take, like theory of knowledge. IB is a lot of work and more critical thinking. For example:
In writing class, AP would tell you:
Write a 1500 word essay about the different types of poverty in America and how we can help fix it.
IB on the other hand would say:
Write about inequality.
IB allows you to express creative flow, but it is difficult because you have no idea what they want from you.
At my school, all the students who get into Ivy leagues are all in IB. Many people chose IB but can’t do well because they aren’t willing to put in the time. I’m planning on doing IB next year.
BTW IB is really English and history based, but even students at our school in STEM take it and get into MIT
^Above is a more emotional based description rather than an analytical one.
IB classes are divide into Standard Level and Higher Level classes. You MUST take the class in order to take the test, and you can only take SL tests junior and senior year and HL test senior year. In AP, you can take As many as you can want without being in the class in any year, depending on your school. You can only take 6 IB tests on your IB diploma, which is the best thing IB offers. Due to accessibility and amount, I would side with AP, although both are solid.
Whereas AP scores are based off of just the test (which is often heavily multiple choice), IB scores include an internal assessment (some sort of paper or project completed during the year) and the exams are more focused on writing. It’s possible to take individual courses ala carte, like the AP model, but also to do the full diploma program. The diploma requires you to do courses from a variety of subject areas (English, foreign language, math, science, social science), so you have to be somewhat academically well-rounded to succeed at it.
In some cases it’s possible to take the AP test after taking the IB course (I did this for chem and calc with little additional studying). The big advantage to IB I think is in preparation for college. It doesn’t have as much recognition from US colleges, and they don’t tend to give as much credit as for AP tests (like usually not giving credit for SL exams), but it’s much more writing-intensive than AP, and I found that it did a really great job of preparing me for college.
Parent here. A lot of reading and writing are involved in the IB diploma program. Self motivation and time management is the key to success in IB curriculum. For the extended essays, you need to research on an original topic and write a paper on it. There is a lot of writing and presentation in TOK. A few IAs are required in various subjects throughout the course. The average time to write up a good IA is 12 hours. The course focuses on critical thinking, reading, writing and presentation skills. The assessment is very different from AP test, SAT subject tests. Not everyone is able to survive the IB diploma course which prepared you very well in college. It is just the same as not everyone survives college.
Be careful - not all IB schools are created equal; they can range from a joke to comparable to elite private schools.
I was fortunate to go to a very, very good IB school, and I think the most important things that I took out from it were:
- A very significant jump in my writing abilities.
- The community. This is going to sound elitist, but the crowd of people you get in a general HS population really isn't that desirable. IB admissions doesn't weed out all of the bullies and idiots, but it does drive them underground. And you'll probably feel a better sense of comradeship with them.