Question about the IB program
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Anonymous
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For the FCPS high schools that offer IB, a couple questions...
- Are all students at that high school required to take IB classes? If not, what do they take? Regular classes? Honors classes? - Approximately, what percentage of kids opt into the IB classes in general at these high schools? - Approximately what percentage of the kids who take IB classes actually pass the final IB exams? - Is there more to it than the essays and passing the exams? Do you have to take a test that is evaluated by some sort of International body? Thank you. |
Anonymous
My kids do IB in another district so can't answer all your Qs but the final IA paper and exam are graded by external IB evaluators. Typically, students not doing the full diploma program can still take some IB classes just as you would take select AP classes at an AP school |
Anonymous
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There is a lot of variation among the IB schools in FCPS but the one constant is that you don’t have to do the full IB program at an IB school. The percentage of graduating seniors getting the full diploma varies from 2% to 20%.
At some IB schools you are expected to take IB English in 11th and 12th grade if you are an English speaker. But in general if you don’t want to take an IB class you can take an Honors or regular class. Overall the IB participation rates and performance on the IB tests vary widely among schools. So at Mount Vernon last year only 13 of 422 Hispanic kids in 11th or 12th grade ended up taking and getting a passing score on a year-end IB exam but at Marshall 298 of the 475 White kids in 11th and 12th grade did. |
Anonymous
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Here are the total IB exam pass rates for FCPS schools in 2022. For reference and comparison I included the exam pass rates of the AP schools as well for 2022.
IB schools: South Lakes 87.4% Robinson 85.7% Marshall 84.9% Edison 79.2% Lewis 76.7% Mount Vernon 70.1% Annandale 69.1% Justice 67.6% AP schools: TJ 99.4% McLean 88.2% Langley 85.1% Chantilly 83.2% Woodson 82.3% Madison 81.4% Herndon 80.5% Oakton 79.3% West Springfield 77.4% Lake Braddock 75.9% Westfield 74.6% Fairfax 69.3% Centreville 68.0% Hayfield 61.6% South County 59.8% West Potomac 58.3% Falls Church 58.0% |
Anonymous
What you posted is not the “total IB (or AP) exam pass rates.” It is the percentage of 11th and 12th grade students last year who took one or more AP or IB tests and who received at least one “passing” score (a 4 or better on an AP exam or a 3 or better on an AP exam). At one point FCAG did compile statistics on the total pass rates and the average number of IB/AP courses taken by kids at different schools, but I don’t have time at the moment to dig it up. Bottom line is this is not quite as much of an apples-to-apples comparison as one might infer absent clarification. |
Anonymous
| ^ sorry - a 4 or better on an IB exam or 3 or better on an AP exam. |
Anonymous
| If you are at an IB school and don’t do the full diploma, you have much less chance of getting into a school like UVA. If you just take some IB classes, and do well overall, you will be a good fit for many schools. It is a rigorous program, and there is a great deal of reading and writing on integrated topics. Your kid has to be very bright and motivated. It’s not for everyone. They do take exams and they are graded externally. I remember my child having to keep track of lots of service hours, on top of the schoolwork. If the child is good writer, the big paper is not a problem. The student has to pick classes to take at a higher level and a standard level. The math and science kids took those subjects as HL. My kid took English, history, and Spanish as HL, as she was never a math kind of kid. I thought it was a very good program and certainly prepare her for a selective college, but I also wondered at times if all the work was really worth it. I don’t know how kids who are athletes make it work. My kid needed downtime too much to have huge outside commitments, although she certainly participated in lots of things. |
Anonymous
| Would it be fair to say that the seniors who graduate with the full IB diploma are the top students at that school? |
Anonymous
In FCPS, generally, since no IB school in FCPS (as opposed to APS or MCPS) also offers a full array of AP courses, although there may be students whose strong interests lead them to favor more courses in a particular subject area rather than meet what are effectively distribution requirements for an IB diploma. |
Anonymous
Not necessarily. They could be. It’s a rigorous program and it shows they checked all of the boxes and took enough IB classes in each area. But what’s your definition of top student? They aren’t necessarily above those who opted to not take all IB courses because they wanted to take every computer science class possible. Or advanced math or literature. There are some schools that’s offer both AP and IB. |
Anonymous
There is no IB school in FCPS that offers more than a few AP courses. IB schools in FCPS revolve almost entirely around making sure the kids who want to do the full IB diploma program can do so, even if it’s just 2% of the students. |
Anonymous
exactly, so if 10% of seniors get the IB diploma, then they are in the top 10% ranking of the class? |
Anonymous
There is no class ranking in FCPS. The only question is whether a school counselor will treat the student as taking a "most rigorous" course load and/or whether college admissions officers will make an independent assessment. |
Anonymous
Yes, largely that would be true. The IB diploma is rigorous enough that only top students who are college-bound end up satisfying all the requirements. Colleges love to see a full IB diploma because that is indicative of having taken the most rigorous course load offered by the school. |
Anonymous
| I appreciate your honest feedback. I've wondered if IB is the right thing for my 7th grader. He cares about school, is willing to work (is compliant), but doesn't love academics and studying, and loves sports and is on a travel team. I've wondered if AP might be a "safer bet." If suddenly he starts loving schools and becomes a great student, then AP can serve him well. If he stays middle of road-ish, AP can still serve him well, with more flexibility - he can choose his AP coures that work for him, and figure out the number of APs he needs to take and score 4/5 for his target schools. I'd appreciate any feedback. Thank you. |