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What is IB? and how does it compare to AP? Is there a big test at the end of the year too?

By Paulhomework (Paulhomework) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 01:46 am: Edit

IB is the International Baccalaurette (spell?) program that is administered from Switzerland. It's similar to AP in that both have rigorous courseloads, but there the similarity ends. First of all, in IB you HAVE to do at least 6 IB classes, whereas in AP you can take as few as you want. In IB, you have to do 150 of comm. hours, and do an extended research paper, as well as two shorter literature essays. Also, in IB you have to take the end of year test, whereas in AP you don't have to.

I'm in IB, and overall, I think it is a more time consuming, more well-rounded course than AP; however, most colleges don't know/care about it, and if they do, they usually don't give you as much credit as they do for APs. Also, i think most colleges prefer AP over IB, or at most hold them equal.

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 01:44 pm: Edit

Go for AP over IB. It goes farther in the US

By Ibkid (Ibkid) on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 05:39 pm: Edit

IB SUX!

By Yujin (Yujin) on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 09:00 pm: Edit

AP BIATCH!

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 09:23 pm: Edit

"Also, in IB you have to take the end of year test, whereas in AP you don't have to."

This varies from school to school. In my H.S., if you don't take the exam, you don't pass the class.

By Belle28 (Belle28) on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 10:51 pm: Edit

im surprised no one mentioned that it's internationally recognized. for example, if u want to apply to oxford or cambridge, it may be better to be in ib. not like u had much choice by then anyway.