RMIB-plan for 3 years courses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus lady - your poor kid. Give it a break. LET HER PICK HER CLASSES

What's your problem? Do you have a kid in the program? The requirements are really onerous and it can be helpful for parents to help strategize so that kids are able to fit in the electives they want. I think she's a good parent for trying to seek more information for electives her child is already interested in taking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some students self study for the AP exams but do not take the classes.

+1 It's this.

My DC took maybe 7 AP classes in addition to all the IB classes, but they took like 12 AP tests. Self studied, as did their friends.

What classes did they self study for? If it’s classes like environment sciences or psychology, it’s a waste of time, and frankly it’s not that favorably looked upon. Classes that matter like Calculus, Statistics, physics, chemistry, biology are not easy to self study for, and it probably is a bad idea to even attempt that route.

IB kids self study for the AP equivalent of their IB courses. (It’s an adjustment for style and some mismatch of content.)
IB English HL —> AP Lang, AP Lit
IB Math HL —> AP BC Calculus (with AB subscore)
IB History —> AP Mod World (plus AP Gov, APUSH in 9th and 10th)
IB Spanish/French/Chinese —> AP Sp/Fr/Ch Language (gets bilingual diploma)
IB Physics 1 —> AP Physics C - mechanics
IB Chemistry —> AP Chemistry
IB ESS —> APES
and then there are several IB electives with equivalent AP tests. Most IB students have at least 8 AP test just from their regular IB program. The reason they take the AP tests is that they don’t include the IA score that the IB score does and it’s easier to predict/get a 5 on AP than a 6/7 on IB.

That’s not self studying, that’s taking a comparable class and then taking the AP exam. If you need to take all these AP exams, not sure I understand the point of enrolling in the IB program. It just seems like the student is chasing some validation of rigor of coursework, aiming to check both IB and AP boxes. In my view a waste of time, pick the one that’s the better fit and do something more useful and interesting, like extracurriculars, hobbies, volunteering etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some students self study for the AP exams but do not take the classes.

+1 It's this.

My DC took maybe 7 AP classes in addition to all the IB classes, but they took like 12 AP tests. Self studied, as did their friends.

What classes did they self study for? If it’s classes like environment sciences or psychology, it’s a waste of time, and frankly it’s not that favorably looked upon. Classes that matter like Calculus, Statistics, physics, chemistry, biology are not easy to self study for, and it probably is a bad idea to even attempt that route.

IB kids self study for the AP equivalent of their IB courses. (It’s an adjustment for style and some mismatch of content.)
IB English HL —> AP Lang, AP Lit
IB Math HL —> AP BC Calculus (with AB subscore)
IB History —> AP Mod World (plus AP Gov, APUSH in 9th and 10th)
IB Spanish/French/Chinese —> AP Sp/Fr/Ch Language (gets bilingual diploma)
IB Physics 1 —> AP Physics C - mechanics
IB Chemistry —> AP Chemistry
IB ESS —> APES
and then there are several IB electives with equivalent AP tests. Most IB students have at least 8 AP test just from their regular IB program. The reason they take the AP tests is that they don’t include the IA score that the IB score does and it’s easier to predict/get a 5 on AP than a 6/7 on IB.

That’s not self studying, that’s taking a comparable class and then taking the AP exam. If you need to take all these AP exams, not sure I understand the point of enrolling in the IB program. It just seems like the student is chasing some validation of rigor of coursework, aiming to check both IB and AP boxes. In my view a waste of time, pick the one that’s the better fit and do something more useful and interesting, like extracurriculars, hobbies, volunteering etc.

IB kids who do take the corresponding AP exams usually do it for the college credits.

Many colleges give credit for IB exams, but there are also many that don’t; or do, but for fewer courses, or only for placement into a higher level. Many of the IB courses are better aligned to international university programs, so the content doesn’t match up as neatly to common American college course progressions.

By the second semester of their junior year, the go-getters probably have a sense of whether some of their top college possibilities would prioritize AP scores over IB, so they take both exams whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some students self study for the AP exams but do not take the classes.

+1 It's this.

My DC took maybe 7 AP classes in addition to all the IB classes, but they took like 12 AP tests. Self studied, as did their friends.

What classes did they self study for? If it’s classes like environment sciences or psychology, it’s a waste of time, and frankly it’s not that favorably looked upon. Classes that matter like Calculus, Statistics, physics, chemistry, biology are not easy to self study for, and it probably is a bad idea to even attempt that route.

IB kids self study for the AP equivalent of their IB courses. (It’s an adjustment for style and some mismatch of content.)
IB English HL —> AP Lang, AP Lit
IB Math HL —> AP BC Calculus (with AB subscore)
IB History —> AP Mod World (plus AP Gov, APUSH in 9th and 10th)
IB Spanish/French/Chinese —> AP Sp/Fr/Ch Language (gets bilingual diploma)
IB Physics 1 —> AP Physics C - mechanics
IB Chemistry —> AP Chemistry
IB ESS —> APES
and then there are several IB electives with equivalent AP tests. Most IB students have at least 8 AP test just from their regular IB program. The reason they take the AP tests is that they don’t include the IA score that the IB score does and it’s easier to predict/get a 5 on AP than a 6/7 on IB.

That’s not self studying, that’s taking a comparable class and then taking the AP exam. If you need to take all these AP exams, not sure I understand the point of enrolling in the IB program. It just seems like the student is chasing some validation of rigor of coursework, aiming to check both IB and AP boxes. In my view a waste of time, pick the one that’s the better fit and do something more useful and interesting, like extracurriculars, hobbies, volunteering etc.

IB kids who do take the corresponding AP exams usually do it for the college credits.

Many colleges give credit for IB exams, but there are also many that don’t; or do, but for fewer courses, or only for placement into a higher level. Many of the IB courses are better aligned to international university programs, so the content doesn’t match up as neatly to common American college course progressions.

By the second semester of their junior year, the go-getters probably have a sense of whether some of their top college possibilities would prioritize AP scores over IB, so they take both exams whenever possible.

Can you give an example of an international program better aligned with IB? Most colleges give more credit to AP coursework. Why even take the IB route and waste so much time on redoing coursework and taking extra exams for credit when you can just do the AP route and be done with it. In my view the rigor of AP courses is superior to the IB, and it’s more uniform across high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, my dd is a freshman at RMIB and now in process for planning the course registration especially for next year, but also trying to figure out for her jr and sr year. Couple of questions here- TIA!!!

1. 10th: AP stat vs AP Pyschology
She has one room to pick next year along with the band class. If she wants to study medicine in college, which one would be better between AP stat and psych? She said she is fine with either one. Is AP stat more a core subject and AP psych closer to an elective?

2. 11th: with TOK, she has one room left again and wants to do band in that period. But not sure if she should take physics c with AP calc BC that year as RM doesn’t offer physics 1 and she doesn’t want to take IB physics HL. She will probably take either IB bio or IB chem.

3. 12th: Finally she has three rooms that can fill in. But two of them have to be PE and IB SL(she is thinking IB Econ). So, yeah, technically one left. She wants to keep the band, but would it look like her course selection isn’t challenging enough in her sr year on the college application? In case of keeping band, she will have PE and band but no AP at all that year. Would it be better to take AP stat if she didn’t in 10th or vice versa?

I heard many IB kids still try to take AP classes as many as they can. Keeping band for 4 years, my dd will probably have much fewer than her peers, only like 5. Realistically, how many AP classes in general do RMIB kids take? I read the posts here and someone mentioned 10-16… is that really common? I think we are worried that her transcript can look too naive with 5 APs compared to 10-16. But even without the band, she will end up with 7 APs, how do others take 10? Are we missing something here?

The Art of Reflection is one of the best electives to take during this period. Unfortunately they don't have the AP version, or at least I'm unaware of it. In terms of rigor, not sure if that might pose a problem for your dd's schedule.