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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t know of anyone who thinks IB is half as rigorous as AP. Most people think they are the similar or if anything that IB is more rigorous. [/quote]

They are similar, IB Math AA HL is comparable to AP calculus BC, but the IB class takes two years, while the AP only one and arguably goes in more depth.

It varies from course to course, but typically AP gets more credit. For the example above at UMD, IB math gets credit for Math 140 (Calculus 1) and Stat 100, while AP Calculus BC gets credit for Math 140 and 141 (Calculus 1 and Calculus 2).[/quote]
"AP only one and arguably goes in more depth." -- no, it doesn't.  AP is breadth, not depth.  IB is depth.

I have kids who went through both.[/quote]

Yes it does, look at the syllabus for both. IB math HL has 55 hours of calculus over two years, AP has 180 hours over one year.

AP Calculus BC specific topics like series and parametric functions are barely touched upon or missing completely. The rest are treated very superficially because there’s no time to go in depth. The remainder of the IB curriculum is statistics and a review of high school math (algebra, geometry and trigonometry).

That’s why AP usually gets credit for the second semester of calculus, but IB almost never does. At least for calculus, IB doesn’t go neither in depth nor in breadth.[/quote]
Yes, which is why the RMIB students who take IB math HL also take AP BC Calc and MVC, and take the AP Calc and UMD MVC exams in HS.[/quote]

This supports what the other poster was saying, if you take HL class you also need to take the AP counterpart or at least the AP exam to be competitive. A lot of wasted effort when you could go the AP route directly.

[/quote]
"wasted effort" is a loaded word.  It depends on your goals.  Lots of very high achieving kids who are STEM majors go the RMIBD route because it's challenging, especially for writing.  If your goal is purely to get college credit, then yea, IBD is not worth it. [b]If your goal is to take the most challenging programs, then IBD + AP classes is what you want[/b].   There aren't enough IB classes to fill 7 periods, so most kids take AP classes, too.

The very high achieving kids self study and do well on AP exams. If you are not that type of person, then you probably don't want to go the IBD route; just go the AP route.[/quote]

Is it though? There are better options out there than [b]taking AP calculus BC then two years of HL Analysis.[/b] Like taking Statistics, sciences, putting more time in extracurriculars, take extra writing if that’s what you’re into, take some interesting classes through dual enrollment that aren’t offered at high school etc.

Theres the risk that a big chunk of high school is duplicate courses, eg 6 semesters of math (four in HLAA,  two in BC) and 6 in physics (four in HL and 2 in Physics C), when you could do that in 4 semesters in AP and still have plenty of bandwidth to take up more. Not necessarily for college credit (although why not, I’d take it) but because you want to broaden your knowledge base.[/quote]

AP Calc BC is the first year of the IB Math HL track. You only take one year of math after that.[/quote]

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