AP vs. IB: Is there an AP class that requires a long final paper (eg > 10 pgs) as there is for IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

My kid found it fun. They can write about anything they want as long is there is a math connection. Here are some examples:
https://www.helpforassessment.com/blog/math-extended-essay-topics/#:~:text=The%20following%20are%20examples%20of%20IB%20Math%20Extended,the%20fret%20position%20on%20a%20guitar%20More%20items

My kid did something with matrices and solving recurrence relations. Nothing earth shattering but he learned something new on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

My kid found it fun. They can write about anything they want as long is there is a math connection. Here are some examples:
https://www.helpforassessment.com/blog/math-extended-essay-topics/#:~:text=The%20following%20are%20examples%20of%20IB%20Math%20Extended,the%20fret%20position%20on%20a%20guitar%20More%20items

My kid did something with matrices and solving recurrence relations. Nothing earth shattering but he learned something new on his own.

HS kids don't have many opportunities to practice technical writing. It's quite different from the usual English or History essay. Trying to clearly explain some technical concepts is harder than you think. And they get to learn how to use the math fonts in Word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

Is that time and energy better spent practicing derivatives like a robot for AP Calculus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

It’s personal opinion. Some people find this valuable. Others do not. As I said, it’s one of the reasons I bought a house in a zone for an AP school for my own kids. They have plenty of opportunities to write in other classes besides math. It’s nice that we have options in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the helpful info. Is the math paper done outside of class? If so, does HW get scaled back at all to accommodate the extra time for the paper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:What kind of paper is required for IB math? 3000-5000 words is more than an essay, that's a 14-ish page paper.

It’s on a topic of their choice, related to the course and can be research or an experiment where they analyze the data. I’m an IB math teacher and it’s one of the reasons my own children attend an AP school. It’s good to write long papers but I don’t like how they are required in every IB class. This would have turned me off to math as a kid.

Agree, having a paper for math is odd. What types of things do kids do that utilize precalculus or calculus? Would it be writing up physics experiments describing the motion of balls or pendulums?

Scientists often have to write papers and starting in high school is a great place to begin to learn.

My two kids both wrote papers focusing on statistics and both involved baseball. Older one graduated and he told me his topic was "Is there any correlation between a Minor League team's success and the Major League Team's success four years later?" My younger one, who is currently writing his paper is still asleep but his also has something to do with baseball and statistics.

I’m one of the math teachers. A lot of my students use statistics similar to these examples. It’s common to use their sport - a kick of a soccer ball, basketball shot, something with track or swim times. These either collect their own data or do research like this poster described.

Sounds like a complete waste of time and energy.

It’s personal opinion. Some people find this valuable. Others do not. As I said, it’s one of the reasons I bought a house in a zone for an AP school for my own kids. They have plenty of opportunities to write in other classes besides math. It’s nice that we have options in FCPS.

And this is precisely why we did an AP transfer since we're zoned for an IB school.

[Anonymous]

I had to write a few lengthy papers in HS. This was a Catholic school back in the 90s. We had to do research papers for history (the one I remember was on Cambodia and the killing fields). Everyone had to write them. There were no AP classes back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to write a few lengthy papers in HS. This was a Catholic school back in the 90s. We had to do research papers for history (the one I remember was on Cambodia and the killing fields). Everyone had to write them. There were no AP classes back then.

That’s sounds pretty intense. DC area schools districts starting implementing AP classes in the 60s, so AP was definitely around in the 90s. Many private and independent schools however teach material that’s equivalent to the AP even if it’s not part of an AP class in name. Students can still sit for the exams.