Reply to Why are we having so many regional magnets when the Watkins Mills and Seneca Valley programs were failures?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Many students don't want IB.[/quote]

This. We are at a non-RM school that offers the IB and my kid much prefers taking AP classes. Zero interest in IB.[/quote]

Why?  What about an IB class makes it less desirable than an AP class?[/quote]

AP you can focus on the disciplines you are interested in. And if you fail one test at the end (a 2), you did not waste your time on all the other AP courses you took.

IB you have to invest in the whole program and be willing/capable of rigorous work across multiple disciplines. Fail one test at the end and you don’t get the diploma. [/quote]

That's not quite right.  You have to get a cumulative number of points, plus I think at least a 3/7 on each of them, plus do your research paper.  Even if you don't get the diploma, it's still worth something to have taken the IB tests for subjects you did well in.  Most colleges give credit for IB test like they do for APs (although some colleges effectively set the bar higher for IB tests, because they don't understand the grading scale well enough).
But they are just different educational systems.  IB focuses more in in-depth analysis of topcis and applied knowledge.  So for instance even in math,you have to write a paper applying the math to a real-world problem.  In history, instead of a survey course, you focus on a number of historical themes or events and go in-depth on them.  Whereas the AP history classes are more like survey classes with a lot of multiple choice, short answer, and focus on using specific terminology/references in your response.  I think there are benefits to each approaches.  Many kids hate the amount of reading and writing involved in IB classes, but other kids really love the opportunity to dig into a topic.

TLDR -- the differences are less in the college application process, and more in what you are learning and how you are learning it.  [/quote]

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