Reply to Practical differences between AP and IB in FCPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why is IB not offered at any of the top fcps high schools?  [/quote]
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Everyone (besides IB cheerleaders or AP trolls) would agree that in a head to head between most solid/top FCPS high schools and IB schools a kid who is very interested in pre-med/STEM/advanced math or science courses is going to be at a disadvantage or at least have to worker much harder (attributable to inefficiencies due to non-stem/math/science course work) an IB school where they won’t have the ability to select among the range of AP courses focusing solely on those subjects.[/b] Top FCPS have a disproportionate number of passionate parents who are pushing their kids to focus on stem/advanced math & science course. So, it’s no surprise there is no push from parents. And why would school leadership rock the boat with no ground swell of backing?
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As far as earning college credit goes for calculus and calculus-based physics, yes, IB must concede. But if you're really going to dive into such detail as saying a pre-med student is better off at AP, then that needs to be backed up. Arguably IB Chemistry covers a broader set of topics including organic chem and the HL option for medicinal chem or biochem (33% of the year is devoted to those topics), while giving the same credits as AP Chemistry. Kids can take two IB sciences, so doubling that up with IB Bio or IB Physics is entirely possible.

FWIW, IB Physics gives credit for a full year of Principles of Physics for Pre-Health at UVA.[/quote]

The disadvantages of IB compared to AP have been discussed in length on multiple threads, and on the other hand I haven’t heard a good argument on IB advantages over AP. So at some point, why even bother with the IB? If you want to learn how to write take the two AP English classes. Math and Physics, better in AP. I get that you’re an IB supporter but the arguments put forward are not very convincing.

If they are both good programs, fine, but one is clearly better than the other. [/quote]

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