Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 10:10     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think it makes sense. They will be taking the IB exams. Why take both for the same class?


Some schools only accept AP for credit


And some IB HL classes cover the work of 2 AP exams so you can get more credit for taking AP exams. Plus you can take the exams earlier so you could submit scores with applications.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 10:09     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
You can see subject requirements for yourself re the IB diploma. Humanities almost all the way

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/individuals-and-societies/
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 10:03     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think it makes sense. They will be taking the IB exams. Why take both for the same class?


Some schools only accept AP for credit
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 10:02     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Do most IB kids in two-year classes take APs after the first year (junior year) or at the end of the second year (senior year)? Also, which AP Econ exam (macro or micro) lines up better with IB Econ SL?


Depends on the course, but you can usually take the AP exam after the first year. For some courses the spread of content is a little different so review the topics list. IB econ is a general intro to both macro and micro. I don't know if the SL course (esp 1 year) would get you all the way through both AP macro and micro but it might with a little extra studying The nice thing about doing the AP exams as an IB student is that if you don't score well you don't have to report and it doesn't look like you're hiding anything because you didn't take the class. And you get the added advantage of studying/testing yourself which helps you the next year. And if you do score well, you get the credit plus any admissions boost of exam scores.



Adding for IB Econ HL, definitely can take exams for both AP micro and AP macro.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 09:55     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Do most IB kids in two-year classes take APs after the first year (junior year) or at the end of the second year (senior year)? Also, which AP Econ exam (macro or micro) lines up better with IB Econ SL?


Following up on this - For HL Bio, do students take AP Bio exam after year one or year two of the IB course?


My kid took it after year 1. There's not a perfect overlap of content, but they got a 4.
Anonymous
Post 09/29/2023 01:08     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anyone have IB HL English or HOA students sit for an AP exam? If so, which and when? (See also other poster above re HL Bio). Thanks so much - this thread has been refreshingly helpful
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 23:22     Subject: Re:IB Program, taking AP tests
Depends on the colleges you’re looking at. If you’re looking at schools that take credit, investigate. AP credits were usually more straight forward in what classes you could place out of for gen Ed/required courses. AP Calc got better credits than IB HL Math (whatever the highest math was). And if you take AP tests in sophomore or junior year, then you know your scores and how they’ll count at college. IB is all a waiting game.
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 22:53     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Do most IB kids in two-year classes take APs after the first year (junior year) or at the end of the second year (senior year)? Also, which AP Econ exam (macro or micro) lines up better with IB Econ SL?


Depends on the course, but you can usually take the AP exam after the first year. For some courses the spread of content is a little different so review the topics list. IB econ is a general intro to both macro and micro. I don't know if the SL course (esp 1 year) would get you all the way through both AP macro and micro but it might with a little extra studying The nice thing about doing the AP exams as an IB student is that if you don't score well you don't have to report and it doesn't look like you're hiding anything because you didn't take the class. And you get the added advantage of studying/testing yourself which helps you the next year. And if you do score well, you get the credit plus any admissions boost of exam scores.

Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 20:12     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Do most IB kids in two-year classes take APs after the first year (junior year) or at the end of the second year (senior year)? Also, which AP Econ exam (macro or micro) lines up better with IB Econ SL?


Following up on this - For HL Bio, do students take AP Bio exam after year one or year two of the IB course?
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 19:48     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Hi all. Do most IB kids in two-year classes take APs after the first year (junior year) or at the end of the second year (senior year)? Also, which AP Econ exam (macro or micro) lines up better with IB Econ SL?
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 19:28     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.


NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.

well, yea, not all colleges take all the AP or IB exam credits. Most kids aren't 100% sure where they are going to apply to college when they start taking those exams. They are just hedging their bets that some of the colleges will take most of the passing scores.
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 18:54     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think it makes sense. They will be taking the IB exams. Why take both for the same class?


To get college credit. A lot of colleges don’t give credit for many of the IB exams


All the colleges my kid applied to -mainly T30 schools gave credit for their IB exams. But the IB exams are harder, and you can take the AP exam after the first year so it's a good way to ensure you have the credit--plus it's not a bad way to consolidate the knowledge and have AP exam scores to submit with college applications for those who care about those things.
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 18:50     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Given the IB tends to lean more towards the Humanities, I would say plumping out a resume with say AP Physics, or AP Chem is not a bad idea if your student has strengths in those subjects and wants to pursue a pure science or medical degree. That would be my only suggestion. Otherwise I would say stick with the IB as it stands.

The other thing of course is where the IB is being taught. If kid is at RMIB then you know they're getting a good coverage, if at BCC however where you can pick and choose from IB subjects, mix it up and not get a full diploma, I would say it's more likely you'd need to add in APs.


IB doesn't lean towards the humanities. IB Chem HL is significantly harder than AP Chem--my kid passed the AP Chem exam with a 5 after just the first part of IB Chem (it's 2 years).


It does and is long known internationally as such. It's known to lean towards languages and linguistics and history over the sciences. I'm not saying it is deficient in the sciences, not at all - that's just not it's forte.


Well, all I can say is that as a biochemist I am more impressed with the IB curriculum than the AP. Math is a little different--I think the AP fits more with how math is taught in the US--it's hard to assess which is stronger.


Math is very different. If they are taking IB AI SL, there isn’t an AP equivalent.
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 18:18     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think it makes sense. They will be taking the IB exams. Why take both for the same class?


To get college credit. A lot of colleges don’t give credit for many of the IB exams
Anonymous
Post 09/28/2023 18:05     Subject: IB Program, taking AP tests
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is in an IB track but has taken a few AP exams at school.

+1 not all IB exams are given credit for college, either, even with a 7.

Most of the RMIB students I know took AP exams as well as IB exams to get the college credit, including my DC. Between IB/AP exams, DC had 58 credits going into college.


NP. Great for your kid, and I hope those credits really help, but that is not everyone's case. Posts like yours feed a belief on this site, and among parents generally, that there's a simple formula of AP = college credit. Not always true, and parents and their kids should not make assumptions.

Friend's DD got stellar grades in a ton of AP classes and the top score on all her AP exams and her college (a large VA public, not going to name it) still required her to take a couple of own equivalent STEM classes "so you can learn it the way WE teach it here," fundamentally. The DD and her parents (who were 100 percent calculating on the DD graduating from college a year early with AP credits) were totally surprised by this. It was not about the fantastic student or the specific high school etc., it was about the college wanting to ensure all students were learning certain things in certain ways. I'm NOT dissing the quality of AP, just saying that I would not tell any parent that AP scores will translate into automatically skipping certain levels of class at every college.

Same applies to IB; don't assume that having successfully taken a course/passed an exam means automatic credit at the college of your choice.

There's a related myth that IB = U.S. colleges won't give credit at all. This is said a lot by anti-IB bashers, by the way. This too is wrong. Many do give credits, some don't, you have to investigate and not assume.

BTW, IB is also not just about humanities "lean" as one PP keeps saying; it's better on writing skills than AP, I think, but students must learn to write well in all subject areas-- including math and sciences. And my Ph.D. STEM field spouse felt IB physics and chemistry was more rounded and thorough and less "teach to the test" than AP as of four or five years ago when DC was in HS.