IB Program, taking AP tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.

NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

IB Physics and Math are clearly inferior to the AP counterparts. You’re much better off taking one year of Calculus BC and one year of Statistics instead of the HL Analysis. IB Physics is algebra based, enough said.

What do you mean by “teach to the test”? Often it’s meant to throw some shade at the multiple answer portion of the exam, which in my view is misguided. Multiple chose questions are good at sampling more of the material taught in class and it decreases the test variability. It’s not perfect, but neither is the IB approach.

I find it slightly amusing that you’re the spokesperson for you STEM PhD spouse. Please ask why they thought the IB classes were more thorough.

I find it slightly amusing that you're so defensive about AP. Both programs are rigorous across all subjects. But I suspect you're one of the "IB is for humanities!!" people who frequent the college forum. And nobody said IB was "perfect," yet you feel you must point out that it isn't.

Unless your kid is slated for an IB school and you can't pupil place to an AP school, and are upset about that, there's no need to be so worked up.

[Anonymous]

This is such a stupid debate. There is no clear winner. Either is fine. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Very few students even have a choice. Kids either go to an IB school or an AP school. Some have both but not many are like that. I personally did O and A-levels (British system). I prefer the AP system to A-levels. I like the mix and match approach of APs. The A-Level system is too restrictive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have IB HL English or HOA students sit for an AP exam? If so, which and when? (See also other poster above re HL Bio). Thanks so much - this thread has been refreshingly helpful

My DD who is IB Diploma took English AP (lit?)without studying and got a 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.

NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

IB Physics and Math are clearly inferior to the AP counterparts. You’re much better off taking one year of Calculus BC and one year of Statistics instead of the HL Analysis. IB Physics is algebra based, enough said.

What do you mean by “teach to the test”? Often it’s meant to throw some shade at the multiple answer portion of the exam, which in my view is misguided. Multiple chose questions are good at sampling more of the material taught in class and it decreases the test variability. It’s not perfect, but neither is the IB approach.

I find it slightly amusing that you’re the spokesperson for you STEM PhD spouse. Please ask why they thought the IB classes were more thorough.

I find it slightly amusing that you're so defensive about AP. Both programs are rigorous across all subjects. But I suspect you're one of the "IB is for humanities!!" people who frequent the college forum. And nobody said IB was "perfect," yet you feel you must point out that it isn't.

Unless your kid is slated for an IB school and you can't pupil place to an AP school, and are upset about that, there's no need to be so worked up.

When you can only do only one math class and one science class over two years in the IBD program, it’s not that surprising people say “IB is for humanities”, it’s not a solid preparation for a STEM major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have IB HL English or HOA students sit for an AP exam? If so, which and when? (See also other poster above re HL Bio). Thanks so much - this thread has been refreshingly helpful

My DD who is IB Diploma took English AP (lit?)without studying and got a 5

"without studying" - does that include not reading the required text books? Because that would be impressive and highly unlikely...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.

NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

IB Physics and Math are clearly inferior to the AP counterparts. You’re much better off taking one year of Calculus BC and one year of Statistics instead of the HL Analysis. IB Physics is algebra based, enough said.

What do you mean by “teach to the test”? Often it’s meant to throw some shade at the multiple answer portion of the exam, which in my view is misguided. Multiple chose questions are good at sampling more of the material taught in class and it decreases the test variability. It’s not perfect, but neither is the IB approach.

I find it slightly amusing that you’re the spokesperson for you STEM PhD spouse. Please ask why they thought the IB classes were more thorough.

I find it slightly amusing that you're so defensive about AP. Both programs are rigorous across all subjects. But I suspect you're one of the "IB is for humanities!!" people who frequent the college forum. And nobody said IB was "perfect," yet you feel you must point out that it isn't.

Unless your kid is slated for an IB school and you can't pupil place to an AP school, and are upset about that, there's no need to be so worked up.

When you can only do only one math class and one science class over two years in the IBD program, it’s not that surprising people say “IB is for humanities”, it’s not a solid preparation for a STEM major.

There are a lot of RMIB kids going into STEM programs. I do think it's a bit different and requires a different mindset. But many of them end up doubling up on IB science programs, or add in AP to the IB mix (like take the 2 year IB Chem HL program, and then add AP Physics as your elective, or vice versa). There are some one-year SL IB science classes too, like Enviro. I think some schools have SL in Physics or Chem, which would be more like the standard AP track. I do find it all confusing as a parent, but the outcomes for IB kids in STEM still seem quite good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.

NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

IB Physics and Math are clearly inferior to the AP counterparts. You’re much better off taking one year of Calculus BC and one year of Statistics instead of the HL Analysis. IB Physics is algebra based, enough said.

What do you mean by “teach to the test”? Often it’s meant to throw some shade at the multiple answer portion of the exam, which in my view is misguided. Multiple chose questions are good at sampling more of the material taught in class and it decreases the test variability. It’s not perfect, but neither is the IB approach.

I find it slightly amusing that you’re the spokesperson for you STEM PhD spouse. Please ask why they thought the IB classes were more thorough.

I find it slightly amusing that you're so defensive about AP. Both programs are rigorous across all subjects. But I suspect you're one of the "IB is for humanities!!" people who frequent the college forum. And nobody said IB was "perfect," yet you feel you must point out that it isn't.

Unless your kid is slated for an IB school and you can't pupil place to an AP school, and are upset about that, there's no need to be so worked up.

When you can only do only one math class and one science class over two years in the IBD program, it’s not that surprising people say “IB is for humanities”, it’s not a solid preparation for a STEM major.

There are a lot of RMIB kids going into STEM programs. I do think it's a bit different and requires a different mindset. But many of them end up doubling up on IB science programs, or add in AP to the IB mix (like take the 2 year IB Chem HL program, and then add AP Physics as your elective, or vice versa). There are some one-year SL IB science classes too, like Enviro. I think some schools have SL in Physics or Chem, which would be more like the standard AP track. I do find it all confusing as a parent, but the outcomes for IB kids in STEM still seem quite good.

This is true. Some IB kids also take AP Comp Sci A (Java), AP Statistics, and multi-variable calculus. I have a STEM oriented kid in an IB program, and the education has been good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.

NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

IB Physics and Math are clearly inferior to the AP counterparts. You’re much better off taking one year of Calculus BC and one year of Statistics instead of the HL Analysis. IB Physics is algebra based, enough said.

What do you mean by “teach to the test”? Often it’s meant to throw some shade at the multiple answer portion of the exam, which in my view is misguided. Multiple chose questions are good at sampling more of the material taught in class and it decreases the test variability. It’s not perfect, but neither is the IB approach.

I find it slightly amusing that you’re the spokesperson for you STEM PhD spouse. Please ask why they thought the IB classes were more thorough.

I find it slightly amusing that you're so defensive about AP. Both programs are rigorous across all subjects. But I suspect you're one of the "IB is for humanities!!" people who frequent the college forum. And nobody said IB was "perfect," yet you feel you must point out that it isn't.

Unless your kid is slated for an IB school and you can't pupil place to an AP school, and are upset about that, there's no need to be so worked up.

When you can only do only one math class and one science class over two years in the IBD program, it’s not that surprising people say “IB is for humanities”, it’s not a solid preparation for a STEM major.

There are a lot of RMIB kids going into STEM programs. I do think it's a bit different and requires a different mindset. But many of them end up doubling up on IB science programs, or add in AP to the IB mix (like take the 2 year IB Chem HL program, and then add AP Physics as your elective, or vice versa). There are some one-year SL IB science classes too, like Enviro. I think some schools have SL in Physics or Chem, which would be more like the standard AP track. I do find it all confusing as a parent, but the outcomes for IB kids in STEM still seem quite good.

You’re sort of proving the point that an IB student needs to take AP classes to have a strong coursework in STEM.

You can mix and match, whatever fits the student goal, but at that point why bother with IBD, it’s not like TOK and CAS are that worthwhile.