Anonymous wrote:Do kids feel compelled to start world languages in 7th grade in order to be in line with IB? I saw an older presentation on planning which just got me thinking.

The reality is that 7th grade is too late to be on track to score high on IBD language exams, at least at the Higher Level.

We had our kids in heritage language classes in elementary school on weekends to prepare for IB languages, then in language classes from 6th grade at Thomas Jefferson MS. We also do summer immersion camps.

Level III language classes at W-L are tougher than you might expect, particularly for Chinese and Arabic. The kids need to be in Level III in 9th grade to be on track for HL IBD languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at WL doing partial IB (about half AP classes, half IB classes). They thought the intensified classes in 9th and 10th were a lot of work, but things have really ramped up this year. Looking back they wish they took AP World History instead of just intensified WH. Says if they were going to do all that work, they might as well have gotten the AP GPA boost and exam score/credit.

PP here asking about AP WH. Thanks!!!

My DD took the AP WH and regretted it. It was really challenging to keep up with. But, part of that was likely because she got stuck with it in the every-day class period (W-L is a block schedule but one class is in a shorter daily slot). So she felt like she was ALWAYS doing WH. Her friends that had it in one of the every-other-day blocks found it more manageable.

For full IB you need to start the language in 7th grade as others have said. The other requirement before junior year is that you have to take AP gov in 10th grade. Government is a Virginia requirement to graduate and there's no room to take it in 12th grade if you're doing the full IB. AP world history in 9th grade is optional, but a lot of kids do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do kids feel compelled to start world languages in 7th grade in order to be in line with IB? I saw an older presentation on planning which just got me thinking.

Yes, this is a requirement to participate in IB. They have to start the language in 7th and stay with it.

Thanks, seems like quite the commitment. Hoping my kid doesn't pick the wrong language to study.

Anonymous wrote:If you have kids doing IB at Washington Liberty HS. What’s your experience so far in terms of work load. We understand that they have to take all intensified classes + higher math class.

Also, are there much differences between intensified and AP in terms of contents? Grades? College preferences?

"Intensified" is the "honors" class. IB and AP are more equivalent. My kids went through W-L and took a mix of AP/IB (and regular classes). IB tends to be more writing-intensive and go deep in fewer areas while AP tends to cover a broader range (that's how the teachers explained it to us). The students who are most competitive for highly selective schools will be doing the IB Diploma or the equivalent in number of APs (which would be nearly all classes in 11th-12th).

Anonymous wrote:Do kids feel compelled to start world languages in 7th grade in order to be in line with IB? I saw an older presentation on planning which just got me thinking.

Yes, this is a requirement to participate in IB. They have to start the language in 7th and stay with it.

Do kids feel compelled to start world languages in 7th grade in order to be in line with IB? I saw an older presentation on planning which just got me thinking.

One thing to consider is that if you pursue full IB, it is difficult to also do band or orchestra (last I heard… maybe something has changed).

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at WL doing partial IB (about half AP classes, half IB classes). They thought the intensified classes in 9th and 10th were a lot of work, but things have really ramped up this year. Looking back they wish they took AP World History instead of just intensified WH. Says if they were going to do all that work, they might as well have gotten the AP GPA boost and exam score/credit.

PP here asking about AP WH. Thanks!!!

My kid is a junior at WL doing partial IB (about half AP classes, half IB classes). They thought the intensified classes in 9th and 10th were a lot of work, but things have really ramped up this year. Looking back they wish they took AP World History instead of just intensified WH. Says if they were going to do all that work, they might as well have gotten the AP GPA boost and exam score/credit.

The workload is a lot for full IB, there is a lot of writing. My kid is full IB and also took 6 AP classes. you will find many kids are taking both IB and AP.

on a related note, do kids have to do AP World History if they want to do full IB or to be considered to have taken the AP track (or enough APs to be considered to have taken the most challenging workload). Any other feedback on that class? On some level it seems like an oxymoron to have a college-level history class that covers 800 years of *World* history - how could you possibly really study that huge of a topic in any depth in a year? I took a bunch of history in college and do not recall any classes that tried to cover that much material.

This is hard because you'd need someone who has gone through non-IB at an APS high school and IB at W-L at roughly the same time. I did ask around a bunch about this and now have a high school student doing non-IB at an APS high school.

Junior year is when full IB really kicks in and it's a lot of work and is very intensive in writing. My impression is this is more of a workload than a junior taking AP classes but hard to say. Intensified classes are not that much work than a regular class. APs are a lot more work than a regular class. College admissions not greatly affected by doing full IB. Some impressive admits from both full IB and AP kids though.

Kids not at W-L yet, but neighbors say students get into competitive colleges (UVA, ivies, etc.) on either the IB diploma or AP tracks, including this year. The most challenging course load is generally expected for some colleges like UVA but certainly not others. So I don’t think all IB diploma students take only the highest level math, science etc.

The IB diploma program is well implemented from what we know. Hopefully current parents give you more specific answers.

If you have kids doing IB at Washington Liberty HS. What’s your experience so far in terms of work load. We understand that they have to take all intensified classes + higher math class.

Also, are there much differences between intensified and AP in terms of contents? Grades? College preferences?