IB Diploma Success Stories?
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Anonymous
The science classes that students on an academic path take in MCPS in 9th and 10th grade . |
Anonymous
Math is not everything, but it certainly part of the foundation for any STEM career, plus some in social sciences like Economics, I’d add business as well. I’ve seen estimates that a third of college students need to pass calculus for their major, that’s not insignificant. Math is often the reason students drop out of these majors. Compare the IB math offering with AP. For one AP is better aligned with the typical curriculum, and it follows the sequence Alg1, Geo, Alg2, Precalc, Calculus, Statistics. IB advanced math is a mix of algebra, precalculus, calculus and statistics and often there’s material repeating or not covered in previous classes. A typical strong student that completed geometry before entering high school will have taken AP Calculus and AP statistics by the end of high school. I’d advise anyone considering IB to compare the syllabus of AP Calculus and statistics with IB advanced math. It’s hands down better for AP. Also you’d get 180 hours instruction time in AP Calculus but only 55 hours for the calculus portion of IB. Same story for statistics. IB can be harder because it has less instruction time and it moves faster, and not because it’s more rigorous. |
Anonymous
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“If the student's priority is to take on course work that mimics college in terms of demanding writing, research and expression of thought, than IB is the best as that seems to really prepare students best for the 4-year college expectations, with the bonus of being transferrable especially if the student is interested in international study.”
This is my observation watching my DC’s experience in their AP and IB courses. |
Anonymous
This post is only relevant to you and your DC. |
Anonymous
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It depends on the kid and the amount of preparation the kid had leading up to junior year. IB was not a good fit for my kid who has a generalized anxiety disorder. In addition, his education from seventh through 10th grade did not adequately prepare him for the writing and workload of the IB program. He barely had any writing before junior year. Even though he did pre-IB English in 10th grade. I think they wrote something like two papers that were about 2 to 3 pages long in 10th grade. Nothing before that. Then all of a sudden he’s supposed to be able to handle IB? It was really bad for his anxiety. In addition, his college has not given him credit for any of his IB classes.
He also took AP classes and those were much better for him- he got fives on the exams and got credit for them. |
Anonymous
? did he not do well on the HL exams? Credit is not given for the classes, only for the exams, same as APs. Although, there are some IB exams even with a 7 that are not given any college credit. |
Anonymous
Or they will have taken one of the 2 HL IB math classes by the end of high school. It's true, I think, that lots of APs is a better pathway than the IB Diploma Programme for a student who only wants to focus as much as possible on math and science classes, with a minimum of humanities, reading, writing, or thinking about thinking. Now, if you asked me, I would say that even the most STEM-focused person needs to have good communication skills. And where better to start learning those skills than in high school? But you didn't ask me. |
Anonymous
The point was that at the end of high school both students will have two years of advanced math coursework with AP route being far more rigorous. Your arguments are so disingenuous that they hardly deserve a response. You give an cliche example of the AP student hyper focused on stem that is not interested in reading or writing well (do those students even exist?), that wouldn’t be served well in the IB program, and argue that his interest is misplaced because it wouldn’t serve him well later in life. That’s nowhere near what’s being asked on this thread! The real question is how would AP or IB serve a typical good student, well rounded, having interests and strengths, and taking a rigorous course load that will prepare them for college, math, science, humanities, writing and reading included. If your writing and argumentation is a byproduct of IB, I’m not impressed. |
Anonymous
If that's the question you're asking, then the answer is that either the many-APs route, or the IB Diploma Programme route, has the potential to serve such a student well. So why are you arguing? |
Anonymous
Because they seem to have a vendetta against IB and a personal stake in awarding AP as the be-all, end-all. Does PP work for the College Board? The obsession is a bit odd, tbh. |
Anonymous
He got 5s and 6s on all of his IB exams, but they were four SL exams. They would not have given credit for 7s on those exams either. Equivalent APs, they would have given credit for. He did get credit for five APs he took. We wish he had done all APs. |
Anonymous
For what it's worth, my kid took about a billion APs, got enough credits to graduate from UMD easily in 3 years, and then switched to a different major/career path that will require the full 4 years plus 2 summers. So you never know. |
Anonymous
Or it may be that I actually think the AP is better based on some objective metrics that matter to me. My reasons: - Better alignment with the US curriculum - More rigorous for math and sciences - more flexibility on what classes to take - easier to transfer credit to a US university Your reasoning is that your daughter told you it was a great preparation for UMD, because she wasn’t intimidated by writing a 3000 word assignment. Sorry, but that’s not good enough for me. |
Anonymous
yea, it depends on the college, but some don't give credit for SL. My DC in RMIB and their friends all self studied for AP exams, as well. From a college credit standpoint, AP is better. From a college academic preparation stand point, IB is better. That's why a lot of the RMIB kids take both the IB and AP exams. |
Anonymous
IB kids take AP Calc, and if they like STEM, they also take IB Math, which is a two year math class that delves deeper into math topics. It's true that AP credits are more transferable to college but I would not discount the benefit that IB provides in preparing students for the more rigorous writing in college, especially for non STEM majors. But, even for STEM majors who don't like writing, IB is great because it forces them to write at a higher level. My STEM oriented DC said IB made their writing so much stronger. |