If you could do it all over again…IB vs AP High School

[Anonymous]

If you could do it over again…would you choose an AP or IB FCPS high school? If so, why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you could do it over again…would you choose an AP or IB FCPS high school? If so, why?

IB for all the writing skills gained. But would have taken a few other APs as it would have been more straight forward to use those scores at Dcs college.

[Anonymous]

100% IB if your kid has any analytical writing genes at all. They will get better and better with IB. My DC is in a GE required writing class in college and to her, it is downright silly, the level of instruction, the lack of writing ability among her peers. she says she does other homework during the 90 minute class. The IB prepared her well and she is ahead of the game because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you could do it over again…would you choose an AP or IB FCPS high school? If so, why?

IB for all the writing skills gained. But would have taken a few other APs as it would have been more straight forward to use those scores at Dcs college.

Could they just take the AP test in the year they take the associated IB course?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you could do it over again…would you choose an AP or IB FCPS high school? If so, why?

IB for all the writing skills gained. But would have taken a few other APs as it would have been more straight forward to use those scores at Dcs college.

Could they just take the AP test in the year they take the associated IB course?

They can definitely do this if they care about getting the AP credit. It may require some additional study time as the coursework is different between say HL Bio and AP Bio, but if you’re kid is motivated they can definitely do this.

[Anonymous]

We are MCPS but IB English was too much for my son. I wish he had done AP instead. I think it would have been a bit easier.

[Anonymous]

We had experience with both IB and AP high schools in FCPS. No question AP was the better option for our kids - more flexible, less prescriptive, and better college acceptances. The US headquarters of the IBO are based in Bethesda, so there is a lot of IB boosterism on this forum, but we had actual experience as parents and came to the conclusion the IB model in FCPS (where roughly 77-97% of the graduating seniors at the various IB high schools are not on track to get an IB diploma) is deeply flawed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100% IB if your kid has any analytical writing genes at all. They will get better and better with IB. My DC is in a GE required writing class in college and to her, it is downright silly, the level of instruction, the lack of writing ability among her peers. she says she does other homework during the 90 minute class. The IB prepared her well and she is ahead of the game because of it.

+1 Yes, IB for college preparation without a doubt.

[Anonymous]

AP, hands down.

Look at the six top neighborhood high schools in FCPS: Langley, McLean, Oakton, Madison, Woodson, and Chantilly. They are all AP.

If IB provided any advantage, parents at these top schools would be demanding IB at their schools. They aren’t. In fact, when FCPS tried to saddle Woodson with IB, the parents organized to get the decision overturned.,

Conversely, IB is concentrated in the county’s poorest high schools, where parents are less vocal, and less likely to object to a program that infatuated FCPS for a brief period in the late 90s and early 00s, but really hasn’t worked out very well. Schools like Annandale, Justice, Lewis, and Mount Vernon are demonstrably weaker than they were 20 years ago pre-IB.

As for IB’s heavy emphasis on writing, there is also a lot of writing requires in many AP courses, including the AP Capstone courses. However, AP courses generally focus more on the acquisition of substantive knowledge, and there’s less busy work.

[Anonymous]

Depend On the kid, AP is way easier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you could do it over again…would you choose an AP or IB FCPS high school? If so, why?

This thread may be of interest to you regarding pros/cons of IB. My child did IB at a school that has a high IB diploma rate and the IB preparation really made a difference for my child who is attending a T20 school.


https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1068696.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP, hands down.

Look at the six top neighborhood high schools in FCPS: Langley, McLean, Oakton, Madison, Woodson, and Chantilly. They are all AP.

If IB provided any advantage, parents at these top schools would be demanding IB at their schools. They aren’t. In fact, when FCPS tried to saddle Woodson with IB, the parents organized to get the decision overturned.,

Conversely, IB is concentrated in the county’s poorest high schools, where parents are less vocal, and less likely to object to a program that infatuated FCPS for a brief period in the late 90s and early 00s, but really hasn’t worked out very well. Schools like Annandale, Justice, Lewis, and Mount Vernon are demonstrably weaker than they were 20 years ago pre-IB.

As for IB’s heavy emphasis on writing, there is also a lot of writing requires in many AP courses, including the AP Capstone courses. However, AP courses generally focus more on the acquisition of substantive knowledge, and there’s less busy work.

The only way to learn to write is to do it. And then do it again and again until you develop some skill and competence. It is hard. My DC had benefitted greatly from that hard work in HS now that DC is in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP, hands down.

Look at the six top neighborhood high schools in FCPS: Langley, McLean, Oakton, Madison, Woodson, and Chantilly. They are all AP.

If IB provided any advantage, parents at these top schools would be demanding IB at their schools. They aren’t. In fact, when FCPS tried to saddle Woodson with IB, the parents organized to get the decision overturned.,

Conversely, IB is concentrated in the county’s poorest high schools, where parents are less vocal, and less likely to object to a program that infatuated FCPS for a brief period in the late 90s and early 00s, but really hasn’t worked out very well. Schools like Annandale, Justice, Lewis, and Mount Vernon are demonstrably weaker than they were 20 years ago pre-IB.

As for IB’s heavy emphasis on writing, there is also a lot of writing requires in many AP courses, including the AP Capstone courses. However, AP courses generally focus more on the acquisition of substantive knowledge, and there’s less busy work.

The only way to learn to write is to do it. And then do it again and again until you develop some skill and competence. It is hard. My DC had benefitted greatly from that hard work in HS now that DC is in college.

That said. The IB program in our district only attracts a small percentage that actually pursue the full diploma. It is too bad but it does require sacrifices. They were worth it for my DC.

[Anonymous]

I read this post as if it were asking what I would have done, not my DC. Had I been given he option I would have chosen IB.

[Anonymous]

AP, we are a science and math family and it fits us better.