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This is my 1st week on these boards, and since i've been here i've never noticed anyone mention IB; only AP. From what my teachers say, IB is much more challenging than AP. Am I wasting my time? If so, should i just transfer to as many AP classes possible?

Have you ever heard of IB anyways? I have no idea on the IB diploma's reputation, IB might not even be popular in USA. Who knows. BTW, i'm a Canadian; that's why i'm basically clueless on whatever Americans do.

The reasons why i worry so much is because i want to get into an elite American university when i'm done HS. Because i'm Canadian, i heard that most Americans would get in ahead of me, even if they get lower scores. This puts me at a disadvantage, so i should get into the hardest programs out there. From what i heard IB is the toughest out there, but if Universities in USA recognize AP more then i'm just wasting my time.

By ib on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 08:50 pm: Edit

If you are looking for any type of college credit, then AP is the way to go. Colleges recognize IB but I do not think they give IB its due credit. I was talking to one college and they had no idea for the IB Diploma that you need 150 CAS hours, extended essay, TOK class and the internal assessments. I am a Diploma Candidate and if you have any questions let me know

By syzygy on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 10:50 pm: Edit

It's been my experience that colleges realize the IB program is much more rigorous than AP courses. And don't worry about university credits; they usually recognize a grade of 6 (sometimes 5) or above on an IB exam as a credit for that course. The IB web site has credit info for specific colleges.

By Jans on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 12:21 am: Edit

IB is the way to go, definitely. It is much more challenging than APs, and thus put you in a better situation, by showing admissions officials that you undertake serious studies.

By bubbles on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 01:56 am: Edit

If you ask me the amount of money spent on pursuing the diploma is way too absorbedant(sp??) in relation to how much college credit you will truly receive. Since most of the tests will be taken senior year my suggestion is that you take the classes and required for the diploma and not take all the exams. You can take the APs. The colleges wouldnt know at this point since you are already in or out and they theoretically would only see your enrollment in the class. Of course if you are thinking about studying anywhere else in the world esp Europe in the future high scores on the exams will be recognized. Anyway thats just what I think. Btw Im an IB diplomate and all I got from it were 2 college credits (based on my major and the school policy) and oh yes my name engraved on a plaque in my high school. Wow

By Tuan Nguyen on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 09:52 am: Edit

Thanks, i have a lot of stupid friends who like to scare me then... :P

Anyways, thanks...

Where i live, the normal school curriculum is basically THE SAME as the AP program! Most schools, the ones considered elite, are IB not AP, AP is just a name where i live. So i was a bit worried about wasting time. Now that i know that i'm not, i'm happy.

By ABC on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 09:02 pm: Edit

>>Where i live, the normal school curriculum is basically THE SAME as the AP program! <<

Yeah, in my school certain IB classes are ALSO AP classes! For example, all the IB diploma and the AP kids are mixed in one course for certain subjects. My guidance counselor says when there aren't enough kids in the IB program for one class, they combine the AP and IB classes.My English class is called "AP/IB English"! So at the end pretty much everything is the same except which exam you take at the end of the course.

By Bitz on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 09:29 pm: Edit

"Most schools, the ones considered elite, are IB not AP"

Andover, Exeter, GDA, Brooks, Groton, NMH, St. Paul's, Deerfield, Loomis, Choate Rosemary, Taft, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville

All of these schools are elite boarding schools and not a single one offers the IB program. Also, see my post uinder High School Issues - "AP & IB?".

By Tuan Nguyen on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 10:03 pm: Edit

***"All of these schools are elite boarding schools and not a single one offers the IB program. Also, see my post uinder High School Issues - "AP & IB?"."***
-from: Bitz

Thanks for the reply, it makes me feel a bit better. Still, i don't understand why IB is so much more challenging yet it gets ONLY equal recognition.

Just wondering, but how many APs are needed to equal an IB diploma? Through logic, since AP is easier, maybe i can do all the APs possible and take more then the amount of APs needed to surpass the IB diploma (even then i might suffer less stress, which is what i'm going for right now). I hate those stupid 20-60 page papers i have to write once in a while, i just HATE THEM. I ran out of time and actually only wrote 26 pages, all on the last two days, because i had too much going on. Half of my friends got over 50 pages! Seems like i'm working my ass off for nothing...

By sdlfk on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 11:43 pm: Edit

Case and point, IB is NOT much more difficult than AP classes. Hence, they get equal recognition.

By Tuan Nguyen on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 12:09 am: Edit

"Case and point, IB is NOT much more difficult than AP classes. Hence, they get equal recognition."

I actually disagree with that point, i've seen what AP kids learn. Most of my friends take AP (around 3/4 of them take AP). Although i don't know exactly what they teach, and what they offer. I know for sure that what they do teach, they teach it slower, much slower. The studies aren't as full. The only course i actually compared was English (i checked my friends course outline, and of course i would know my own), and what my class is going to learn almost doubled that of what the AP kids will learn. I don't know about the other courses though, but if this stands true for the rest of the courses, what my teachers say is TRUE. I don't know how much AP has changed over the years, but one of my teachers taught an AP class 5 years ago, and he himself admits that the course was less packed when compared to the IB class he's teaching now. Also when my AP friends ask me for academic help (they only ask me for help in the sciences, since that's where my strengths are, i suck at english a bit and SS too), they're always a few chapters behind (that's why they ask me because i'm already on the next few chapters. Through that all i can say is that have to be behind, or else the way AP teachers teach are fricken weird (since if they are on par, they should be on the same lesson, yet they're giving out homework that should have been completed WEEKS-MONTHS ago).

By Kate G on Sunday, January 12, 2003 - 11:59 pm: Edit

I am living overseas, but I am American. The IB or AP question came up for me too. In fact, my family almost sent me back to the US so I could take AP. I'm glad that they didn't. My school has been doing the IB for 25 and trust me the IB is MUCH harder and more advanced than AP. You can place out of a year of college if you get good grades in the IB program. But the nice thing about the IB is that you can choose how difficult you want it to be. For example: I take physics, chem., and math in high and never stop studying. My friend takes art, info tech., and english in high and she rarely ever studies. So the bottom line is that the IB is far superior, and most colleges now do recognize it and agree that they would rather have an IB student than an AP student.

By t on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 01:20 am: Edit

I know that IB allows some qualified students to enter college with sophomore standing, but in terms of graduate admissions, does that really help? Would a graduate school look favorably upon a student who only spent three years in an undergrad institution compared with a student who spent four years? Doesn't sophomore standing simply rob you of a year of educational experience at the undergrad level? And I don't think that a graduate school cares about what you did in high school, so wouldn't having two less semesters of courses hurt you? That is like a qualified junior applying for undergrad admission, and that rarely seems to work...

Other than the sophomore standing, I don't see anything favorable about IB. IB is usually much more competitive than AP, so it is harder to maintain a high class rank. Personally, I think that undergrad admissions would choose a #1 ranked AP student over a #5-10 ranked IB student, even if he/she has the diploma (which wouldn't even be determined at the time of admission).

Kate G, what year are you in?

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:06 am: Edit

"And I don't think that a graduate school cares about what you did in high school, so wouldn't having two less semesters of courses hurt you?"

I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt you. If you do worry about it hurting you, you can always decide to refuse the credit and not skip the year. If you decide not to skip the year you can be better prepared (i've known people who slept through first year, NOT GOOD, it becomes a habit, but if you keep up your work you could get a fairly high grade, this is people who go to Ivys, but then again they're already smart).


"I take physics, chem., and math in high and never stop studying. My friend takes art, info tech., and english in high and she rarely ever studies. So the bottom line is that the IB is far superior, and most colleges now do recognize it and agree that they would rather have an IB student than an AP student."

HUH? I think you need English and atleast 2 sciences (or atleast bio) for the diploma. Are you talking about the full diploma?

By t on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:16 am: Edit

Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen):

Are you in IB? What year?

By ? on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:19 am: Edit

Is it possible to take the IB tests without being in the program? I have always wondered, because I am pretty sure that any AP student could ace them easily...

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:35 am: Edit

"Are you in IB? What year?"

Second last, i'm in grade 11. Most likely i'll get the diploma if i survive Italian. If not, well, then i still have all the requirements except for a second language. I don't think universities care too much about that, so i'm fine.

By ?? on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:37 am: Edit

Are you in the US? What schools are you shooting for?

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:53 am: Edit

"Is it possible to take the IB tests without being in the program? I have always wondered, because I am pretty sure that any AP student could ace them easily..."

I'm pretty sure you can't take the IB exams without taking the courses. The IB program is advanced compared to AP, if you take the IB exams you are screwed (unless you study like heck, and actually learn stuff on your own, most people aren't that self-motivated). I'd rather have a 5 out of 5 on the AP then a 5 out of 7 on the IB (if you take both, what if people find out your IB scores? embarassing). I seriously know people dumber than me who are getting perfect scores right now in AP, i was ranked 3rd in my junior high school, my friends who have 4.0 GPA in AP courses (so far,it has been half a year already, so i'm confident they can keep it up) and thus have higher averages then me now, were ranked 15+. They even bregged about beating me (something they've never done since elementary school) so i brought home a test we did and they FAILED IT (the tests changes every year so it didn't matter if i brought it home). Even though my average is lower then them, they still ask me for help (in the sciences). They're mark "seems" higher, because AP is easier, but through content, you better watch out. Even if IBO made an exception, you wouldn't ace them EASILY, it would still be relatively tough.

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:53 am: Edit

"Is it possible to take the IB tests without being in the program? I have always wondered, because I am pretty sure that any AP student could ace them easily..."

I'm pretty sure you can't take the IB exams without taking the courses. The IB program is advanced compared to AP, if you take the IB exams you are screwed (unless you study like heck, and actually learn stuff on your own, most people aren't that self-motivated). I'd rather have a 5 out of 5 on the AP then a 5 out of 7 on the IB (if you take both, what if people find out your IB scores? embarassing). I seriously know people dumber than me who are getting perfect scores right now in AP, i was ranked 3rd in my junior high school, my friends who have 4.0 GPA in AP courses (so far,it has been half a year already, so i'm confident they can keep it up) and thus have higher averages then me now, were ranked 15+. They even bregged about beating me (something they've never done since elementary school) so i brought home a test we did and they FAILED IT (the tests changes every year so it didn't matter if i brought it home). Even though my average is lower then them, they still ask me for help (in the sciences). They're mark "seems" higher, because AP is easier, but through content, you better watch out. Even if IBO made an exception, you wouldn't ace them EASILY, it would still be relatively tough.

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 02:59 am: Edit

I kind of posted the above message twice... How that happened i'm not sure, maybe cause i pressed post twice (i didn't know that would happen). So sorry...

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 03:06 am: Edit

"Are you in the US? What schools are you shooting for?"

I'll apply to some of the best schools around, that is i will APPLY. Will i get in? I don't know. I'm Canadian, so that cuts my chances to the Ivies down by a few times (i hear americans like to help americans more then they would like to help Canadians, so that makes my socio-economic situation unfavorable to some of the ivies).

Why all the questions? I'll post my stats next year...

By Raz on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 08:11 pm: Edit

I know for sure that IB is much more challenging then AP for the fact that both is offered at schools near me. I can basically walk to the next school with IB, and to the next that has AP (both probably within 30 minutes of walking). And there are schools that offer both at the same time, if you're not sure yourself, then go to a school with both. You will see that IB is way harder, they are evenly recognized, both are weighted the same, so if your not as smart as you come across to be, you'll just screw yourself over with IB (you'll end up with lower marks, lower rank, and no recognition over AP for taking the harder IB).

If you're going to live in Edmonton, try to get into Old Scona (ranked #1 in Alberta, accepts only students with 85%+ on paper, it's actually just a public school, it's admission process has become almost like a lottery due to the amount of qualified students that want to get in) or Archbishop Macdonald (ranked #6 in Alberta and #2 in Edmonton, because they accept students with 70%+, they're known to be developers of thinkers rather then just accepting smart kids then let them work, they have the best speech and debate team in Alberta, also no fees). Both of these schools only offer IB because it is recognized as more challenging than other programs out there. If you want both you can go to Jasper Place High School, it's not so welly known for academics, but more for sports, but it has decent IB and AP students (http://jp.epsb.ca/academics/academics.htm), just click on one of the subjects and compare if you want.

Private American High Schools students have applied to Scona and failed to enter, so don't get your hopes up. A 90% in an american public school is close to a 60-70% in Canada. A 90% in an elite private school would probably be the same as the public school. FYI, the public schools in Canada have surpassed the private schools in diploma exams, so i'm not comparing unevenly here.

There seems to be a misconception here that AP is better then IB. This could be a result of the fact that there are so few IB schools in America. But that's not a problem in Canada. Like i said, even if you don't want to live in Edmonton, go to that Jasper Place High School Website, it has a few layouts for each subject. You would notice most of the description for AP would be, identical to Pure (which is the normal provincial curriculum, alberta's curriculum is that challenging) if not it would say something pathetic like "goes a bit into depth". The IB goes into depth while travelling broader out into different areas. You learn more in IB.

TuanNguyen, do you go to Jasper Place? One of my friends brother is named Tuan is he's supposedly one of the top at Jasper Place... Tuan is a pretty common name, so it's probably a coincidence. If you are the one, punch George for me (he introduced me to this place, he said it was awesome)...

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 08:24 pm: Edit

Raz,

No, i don't go to JP. JP is a HUGE school, yet it's competitive atmosphere was not intense enough for me. I actually considered to go to Scona, but it was too far, i would have to wake up 2 hours early just to get there! Anyways, thanks for the info about JP and it offering AP and IB, I actually never knew they offered both programs.

After a while of thinking, i don't really like AP. It's a bit too easy for my tastes, so i'm bailing on this convo...

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - 02:11 am: Edit

"Private American High Schools students have applied to Scona and failed to enter, so don't get your hopes up. A 90% in an american public school is close to a 60-70% in Canada. A 90% in an elite private school would probably be the same as the public school. FYI, the public schools in Canada have surpassed the private schools in diploma exams, so i'm not comparing unevenly here."

Don't forget to mention that this problem exists within Canada as well. Your numbers are comparing american students with ALBERTAN students, NOT Canadian students in general. Ontario students come to alberta with the same deflations, same with Quebec and the rest of the provinces (with BC being the smallest deflation).

If that's not clear you might create a misconception...

By IB ALL THE WAY on Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - 05:34 am: Edit

If your aiming for elites, then they sure know what IB is, and how it is A LOT better than AP.

I live way out here in Singapore, and we had reps from Harvard, Yale, Chicago and Welsley come out here telling us how great the IB was and how much they appreciate it.

By Born2bwild (Born2bwild) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 10:32 pm: Edit

2003 IB results are arriving today! Post your subjects, scores & universities!