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What schools have the IB program? What exactly is the iB program?
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Anonymous
Then what needs to be clarified is the difference btw. an IB diploma and an IB certificate. If a student goes for the certificate, there's room in his/her schedule for other courses like AP calculus, for example. |
Anonymous
| I'm the "a la carte" poster, and I would say that there are some positive aspects to that apprach -- kids get more options in choosing classes -- but some negative as well -- kids are not as well prepared as the RM IB students who participate in the more extensive 4-year program. |
Anonymous
| I'm getting a vibe from one, maybe more, posters here that the RM IB program has been somewhat disappointing to her (their) kid(s), because of the rigidity in the schedule, or because of the amount of homework including maybe busywork. Maybe I'm reading too much into these posts. But if I'm not, would the poster(s) mind expanding on their kids' experiences? I have a middle-schoolers who will probably be looking at RM (and Blair) soon. Thanks! |
Anonymous
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I realize this is an old thread, but as a graduate of RM's 4-year IB program (from many years ago) and as a sorta new mom, I wanted to share a bit of my experience. Please bear in mind that I'm guessing the readers of this thread have kids that are high achievers and may be interested in how IB/AP/magnet programs can influence future college and grad/professional school experiences for their children. Hope this post is helpful to you.
1) When I was an IB-er, it was leaps and bounds easier to get a 5 (the highest score) on an AP test than a 6 (the second highest score) on an IB test for the same subject. (Most colleges that accept AP/IB for credit will only give credit for AP scores of 4 or 5 and IB scores of 6 or 7. You can find colleges' AP/IB policies on their individual websites.) Unless the AP test standards have become more rigorous of late, any high school student that wants to get college credit should take AP tests instead of IB tests. The IB classes prepared us very well for the AP exams. A 24-year-old med student who also graduated RM's IB program recently told me that she experienced the same thing. That is, the AP tests were easier than the IB tests when she took them 6-7 years ago. 2) During senior year, I switched from the IB Diploma to the IB Certificate program. The only difference between the two tracks back then was the extended essay. Switching to IB Cert from IB Diploma made no difference to my future academic or professional endeavors, but it freed up some time to enjoy my friends, family, dog, and extracurriculars before graduating and leaving for college. It was the best decision I made all senior year. 3) Another thing I want to mention is that if your child completes all the calculus classes available at his/her high school before senior year, don't push him/her to take a college course. This happened for a handful of us at RM. Our school suggested to our parents that they enroll us in a 5-credit upper-level morning calculus course at Montgomery College and then we'd be allowed to start our high school classes later in the morning. None of us were ready to take a college course in terms of maturity or self-discipline, and we all got C's. When I was applying to med school and when my best friend (who also took the college calculus course) was applying to law school, we both watched our college GPAs drop once we added in that calc grade. (Btw, we were both from the Takoma Park math/sci/computers magnet and in the higher level math track.) Med and law school applicants don't get any breaks for taking college courses during high school, and for med school applicants, the science/math GPA is separately calculated from the overall GPA. So that 5-credit C actually made a difference in the strength of my med school application. All of my other sci/math grades were an A or an A-. Of course, some high school students are prepared to ace an upper-level college calculus course, so take my experience as you will...but I certainly wish I had known all of this before I enrolled in that calc course when I was 16. If I am in an area that has an IB program when my kids are entering high school, I will definitely encourage them to test-in or enroll. The psychology, theory of knowledge (philosophy), advanced foreign languages, and art or music electives, and even the accelerated science, English, and history classes made high school truly engaging for me. The workload was doable and the IB community was strong. We all helped each other succeed in our classes. My IB class definitely had the feeling of "all for one, one for all." Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe any rigorous program ends up with a strong sense of "family" among its constituents. After all, you feel like you've been through the trenches together once graduation rolls around. Med school creates the same feeling. Many of my junior high friends continued onto the Blair magnet from Takoma Park and their experience was nothing like mine. I'd say that if your child goes to the Blair magnet, make sure that he/she truly enjoys math/sci/comp enough to stick with it for four years. Several of my friends ended up buckling under the heavy workloads of subjects they had lost interest in and dropped the magnet program after 1-2 years. Everyone is different, of course, and I'm not certain what's changed and what's not over the years. Still, I hope that my experience helps someone out there. |
Anonymous
| PP, thank you. |
Anonymous
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Do I understand correctly, that IB students take the IB exams at the end of the senior year? In that case, a student who does poorly on the exams wouldn't ahve the results factor into college admissions?
Or are there other IB tests in junior year? |
Anonymous
| Some IB courses are one year long, and students would then test at the end of that year - and if the one year they take the class is junior year, that's when they test. Maximum number of IB tests in junior year is 2. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for the answer. So, for the IB programs at BCC or Richard Montgomery, both of which are two-year programs, is it the case that there is no IB test until the end of senior year? |
Anonymous
All IB diploma programs are two years long (though some schools set up "pre-IB" courses in prior grades, they're not officially recognized by IB). Students have to test in 6 different subjects over the course of the two years. A maximum of two of the courses can be done in one year, and if that one year is 11th grade, the student tests in up to two subjects in 11th grade. The rest of the courses test at the end of 12th grade. Many students do all of their IB testing in senior year, but some take one or two of their exams in 11th grade. |
Anonymous
| Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Not the OP, but appreciate the info in this thread. Thanks PPs. |
Anonymous
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Based on these posts, I'm understanding that the RM IB program is the only one in which you have to "test" to get into; and that spaces are limited and it is very competitive.
If RM is your home school, and you do not get selected for the program, are you out of luck? If RM is your home school, and you are not in the competitive IB program, are you not allowed to take IB classes?? If that is the case, are you then allowed to apply out of boundry? |
Anonymous
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There are 100 spaces at RM for the test-in Diploma Programme. Any[u] eighth grader who is a resident of Montgomery County can apply to enter the RM IB program.
If RM is your home school, and your child is not in a middle school magnet (Takoma MS or Eastern MS) or private, he/she attends Julius West MS, which has an IB Middle Years Program (MYP). Julius West feeds into RM. RM also allows a certain number of "regular" program students to enter the Diploma Programme in 11th grade, as the MYP is from grades 6-10. Grades 9 and 10 of the MYP continue at RM. Basically RM has three schools: the "regular" program that includes MYP in grades 9 and 10, the Pre-IB program for ninth and tenth graders who tested-in, and the IB Diploma Programme. It is rare to be able to attend an IBDP school out of your area unless you can provide a compelling reason for such a move. Transportation would also not be provided. The exception to this is that Sherwood cluster students can attend Springbrook starting in ninth grade by simply completing the COSA indicating they want Springbrook for the IB programs (Springbrook has both MYP and DP). The reason for this is that Sherwood was originally supposed to be part of the NEC - but that is another story . . .
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Anonymous
| Doesn't Silver Spring International also have a middle years program? How do those students continue IB -- in the downcounty IB program or can they apply for the RM program? |
Anonymous
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Here's a link to the IB parent organization. Yes schools can apply to offer the IB program for lower school and middle school. I think Deal in the district may have just completed a several year qualification process to have an IB middle program. WIS is one private in this area that has IB all the way through. Have no personal IB experience.
http://www.ibo.org/myp/ |