IB Programs

[Anonymous]

I was pretty skeptical about IB but it won me over. Basically, if you are looking to maximize college credits, go with AP, if you are looking to maximize analytical writing pick IB. My kid got into his top choice and said that his FCPS IB years were much more rigorous than he is seeing in college.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the IB and AP classes are mixed anyway. What school are you at? I think it is for kids who have strong writing skills and like to write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the IB and AP classes are mixed anyway. What school are you at? I think it is for kids who have strong writing skills and like to write.

Are the English classes mixed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Yeah, not being able to offer specific “pre-IB” classes to freshmen and sophomores anymore has really hampered their ability to prepare kids for the work required for IB—now they have to do it on the fly in 11th and 12.

My Einstein IB student says you can really tell which kids were in the Eastern magnet program, because they’ve at least been exposed to that kind of extensive academic research and writing, and deep analysis. They’re less lost on the research side of things, and more prepared to discuss in class and defend their arguments. They may not remember everything from MS, but it generally comes back when they need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Writing at Einstein is a huge disappointment. They read 2-3 books a year and only write short paragraph responses. No long papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The IB world history HL was more in-depth reading and writing than AP courses. Less memorizing although there is that, but more analysis and depth to writing requirements. Not teaching to the test so much. My kid loved it.

Both IB History and English are a lot more like the courses they’ll experience in college than their AP counterparts are.

And the writing for AP classes is much more circumscribed: IB teaches you how to write research papers for several different academic disciplines (using each field’s standard style guide), while AP teaches you to write an essay for an AP exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the IB and AP classes are mixed anyway. What school are you at? I think it is for kids who have strong writing skills and like to write.

The above makes no sense. Complete different curriculum than APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bit of a crapshoot how colleges view the IB. That said, I think it is generally a much better foundation for studying once you are at college than AP. Less memorization, more writing/analysis. My kid is very glad she did it now. Something to consider if you are one of the rare people that cares about education vs gaming the college application system.

Frankly it is what you do outside of class rather than the differences between IB or AP that will affect college outcomes. Assuming that they are doing well in either. And a little luck sometimes, depending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Writing at Einstein is a huge disappointment. They read 2-3 books a year and only write short paragraph responses. No long papers.

In IB English? Not sure how that’s possible, if they’re following the IB curriculum.

The HL IB curriculum (which Einstein makes all diploma candidates take) requires about a dozen novels over the a years, a bunch of poetry and some short stories, as well as a long paper for the IA. My kid’s teacher has had them—from the start—writing increasingly longer essays in preparation for the IA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Writing at Einstein is a huge disappointment. They read 2-3 books a year and only write short paragraph responses. No long papers.

In IB English? Not sure how that’s possible, if they’re following the IB curriculum.

The HL IB curriculum (which Einstein makes all diploma candidates take) requires about a dozen novels over the a years, a bunch of poetry and some short stories, as well as a long paper for the IA. My kid’s teacher has had them—from the start—writing increasingly longer essays in preparation for the IA.

Sorry, that should read “over the two years.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the IB and AP classes are mixed anyway. What school are you at? I think it is for kids who have strong writing skills and like to write.

The above makes no sense. Complete different curriculum than APs.

I think at BCC it was only the high level foreign language that was cross-coded at both AP and IB (but even then I think there were some adjustments for each?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the IB and AP classes are mixed anyway. What school are you at? I think it is for kids who have strong writing skills and like to write.

We have that and advanced foriegn language which is annoying as it becomes to advanced for the lower level. We have Spanish 5, ib and ap al in one class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Writing at Einstein is a huge disappointment. They read 2-3 books a year and only write short paragraph responses. No long papers.

In IB English? Not sure how that’s possible, if they’re following the IB curriculum.

The HL IB curriculum (which Einstein makes all diploma candidates take) requires about a dozen novels over the a years, a bunch of poetry and some short stories, as well as a long paper for the IA. My kid’s teacher has had them—from the start—writing increasingly longer essays in preparation for the IA.

Honors English. We are on our second book of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The IB program at Einstein was a disaster for my kid. His English and History classes leading up to it didn't have hardly any writing, so he was not prepared for the level of writing required by the IB classes. And his college did not give him any credit for his IB scores (5 to 7). I wish we had gone all AP.

Writing at Einstein is a huge disappointment. They read 2-3 books a year and only write short paragraph responses. No long papers.

In IB English? Not sure how that’s possible, if they’re following the IB curriculum.

The HL IB curriculum (which Einstein makes all diploma candidates take) requires about a dozen novels over the a years, a bunch of poetry and some short stories, as well as a long paper for the IA. My kid’s teacher has had them—from the start—writing increasingly longer essays in preparation for the IA.

Honors English. We are on our second book of the year.

Well that is in target. MCPS’s English class (honors for all) only requires 1 novel per MP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bit of a crapshoot how colleges view the IB. That said, I think it is generally a much better foundation for studying once you are at college than AP. Less memorization, more writing/analysis. My kid is very glad she did it now. Something to consider if you are one of the rare people that cares about education vs gaming the college application system.

Both of these are education. AP classes are meant to act as substitutes for Intro level survey courses. If your child wants a deep dive in eight topics in world history, that is great, but it also means that they have substantive gaps in the breadth of their knowledge. I would argue breadth before depth is appropriate for high school.