The IB Diploma

[Boris5000]

Hey, I'm just wondering if any of you guys done or heard of the International Bacaleurreat (sp?)...

 

My school is starting up it's own 6th form and are offering the IB, I am considering it... Loads of my friends say its going to be a load of [cabbage]. But I don't mind, they can all take the hour bus ride to the nearest college.

 

 

 

So have you any of you done it and how well did you do?

[DerekZoolandah]

Doing it this year. It's pretty tough, but it's managable (as a freshman in high school). I have 2-4 hours of homework most nights, sometimes more, sometimes less. Depends on your schedule really though.

 

 

 

What grade are you going to be in for it?

[BlueLancer]

It should be a cakewalk if you already know English (which you do), most IB's come from countries where it's not even an official language, and they have to go through all the courses, write all essays, etc. in English.

 

 

 

Personally I only have 1 friend who went through with IB, and he said it's extremely stressful due to the high quality (and quantity) of assignments/homework required. It's definitely worth it though because employees in every country hold the diploma in high esteem.

[Ezz]

I'm attending it right now, second year. It's quite hard and stressy, but very good for applying to universities when you're finished. I'm attending it in Sweden right now, and here it seems like the best thing to do if you want to have the highest chance possible to get into an American/British university, but I don't know about other options over there.

[Sly_Wizard]

Hey, I'm just wondering if any of you guys done or heard of the International Bacaleurreat (sp?)...

 

My school is starting up it's own 6th form and are offering the IB, I am considering it... Loads of my friends say its going to be a load of [cabbage]. But I don't mind, they can all take the hour bus ride to the nearest college.

 

 

 

So have you any of you done it and how well did you do?

 

 

 

All I can say to you is good luck.

[Boris5000]

I'm thinking about doing.

 

English Standard Level

 

Maths Standard Level

 

German Standard Level

 

Chemistry Higher

 

Biology Higher

 

Geography Higher

 

Good choices? I enjoy those subjects :P

 

 

 

I have been told countless times its going to be hardwork but the assistant head teacher is just awesome...Gave me cookies today...

 

 

 

And english probably will be a doddle since english is my first language, And a trip to Cuba aparently... (for the 6th formers)

[Ezz]

I'm thinking about doing.

 

English Standard Level

 

Maths Standard Level

 

German Standard Level

 

Chemistry Higher

 

Biology Higher

 

Geography Higher

 

Good choices? I enjoy those subjects :P

 

 

 

I have been told countless times its going to be hardwork but the assistant head teacher is just awesome...Gave me cookies today...

 

 

 

And english probably will be a doddle since english is my first language, And a trip to Cuba aparently... (for the 6th formers)

 

Those sound like good choices to me :) I almost have those HL subjects actually, Chem, Bio, Philosophy. And the English A1 (since it's your first language) is pretty much a literature course, which gets easy once you get into writing commentaries and such.

[Wongtong]

Could someone please elaborate on what the IB Diploma entails? :]

[Boris5000]

Could someone please elaborate on what the IB Diploma entails? :]

 

 

 

Hard work, 50 hours of creativity action and service (150 hours!)

 

 

 

Uhm... Awesome university prospects if you do well...

[Biabf]

Not really awesome university prospects...

 

Our schools sound like they have the same idea. My school tried to buff up IB to make it sound amazing when really it's no better than A-levels. Although you get more UCAS points with IB, you require more to get in anyway, so really you don't gain from it.

 

 

 

I think I'll go with A-levels because I know what I what to do (IB helps keep your options open) and I hate some the subjects you have to do, especially languages -.-

 

 

 

My brother did IB and he told me it's a piece of crap.

[ElkNight]

I plan on taking all IB classes when I get the chance.

[cheese666me]

I [bleep]ing hate IB Diploma :x It's the source of like half my problems -.-

[Wongtong]

Could someone please elaborate on what the IB Diploma entails? :]

 

 

 

Hard work, 50 hours of creativity action and service (150 hours!)

 

 

 

Uhm... Awesome university prospects if you do well...

 

 

 

Doesn't sound too bad, I wonder if there's a New Zealand equivalent of that/if you can take it in New Zealand.

 

 

 

I plan on taking all IB classes when I get the chance.

 

Maybe you should start studying then.

[ElkNight]

Could someone please elaborate on what the IB Diploma entails? :]

 

 

 

Hard work, 50 hours of creativity action and service (150 hours!)

 

 

 

Uhm... Awesome university prospects if you do well...

 

 

 

Doesn't sound too bad, I wonder if there's a New Zealand equivalent of that/if you can take it in New Zealand.

 

 

 

I plan on taking all IB classes when I get the chance.

 

Maybe you should start studying then.

 

Never.

[aquariusman]

I'm in a prep course for IB, which isn't anything special or challenging to me. In fact, for me the transition from regular school to the Grade 9 prep was flawless. Found nothing out of the ordinary, at best I hate it because I was stuck with the same group of kids, instead of being able to be with the majority of my friends. However, now I've found out what the program truly entails, and this is something that should we should have been told before applying. I have almost absolutely no options for my courses. I must take ToK, Extended Essay, Math, French, English, Economics, a Science, and then either an Arts or extra Science. My only problem with this is that I want to be able to take all 3 Sciences, plus a Design and Drafting course. In total, for Grades 11 & 12, I have ONE option in Grade 12. This year I had none. So basically it's the choice that I hate, because there isn't much. Another thing I don't like is that I'm essentially giving up a major part of high school in my eyes, the social. I might as well be segregated from all the other students in the school since I only have one class this semester that is with students not enrolled in this IB prep course.

 

 

 

Now, this limit of choice is because I am the second "Generation" of IB prep students, the program started three years ago. The problem is that there are only a total of 60 students in my grade, which at best makes 3 classes.

 

 

 

 

 

If it wasn't for this, I would be continuing on to the actual program, I wouldn't mind being able to have one or more transferable credits granted to me for First year university.

[superson]

I live in the U.S. and my school offers it, but I won't be doing it. People who do it have 6+ hours of homework per night, and (in the U.S.) most colleges don't consider it higher then taking a lot of AP classes.

[db300]

I'm an IB Diploma candidate, but in all honesty I don't care much for the diploma, I just want to do well on my exams and get more college credit.

 

 

 

My exams:

 

Math HL

 

English HL

 

History HL

 

Chemistry HL

 

Physics SL

 

Spanish SL

 

 

 

On another note, it doesn't require even close to 6 hours of daily time for homework. I've only had more than one hour of homework three or four times this year, and that was because of procrastination. It's a lot easier than everyone makes it out to be.

[Sly_Wizard]

I live in the U.S. and my school offers it, but I won't be doing it. People who do it have 6+ hours of homework per night, and (in the U.S.) most colleges don't consider it higher then taking a lot of AP classes.

 

 

 

I'm not so sure about that. In Florida, at least, if you do the IB program in high school and pass the test at the end, you are GUARANTEED admission into any, non-private state university.

[l0l0lpur32]

From what I understand the workload is much higher than A-levels, don't really know that much about it though.

[Echofish]

I'm looking into doing the IB. My teacher put it this way: For A-levels, there is a tiny leap between GCSEs and A-level and a massive one between Uni. For IB, huge leap from GCSE then a tiny one when going into Uni. Our school is starting the IB next year and if I apply for it, I'll be in the 'guinea pig' year. Unless of course, my application to Welbeck is a succes.

[Boris5000]

I'm looking into doing the IB. My teacher put it this way: For A-levels, there is a tiny leap between GCSEs and A-level and a massive one between Uni. For IB, huge leap from GCSE then a tiny one when going into Uni. Our school is starting the IB next year and if I apply for it, I'll be in the 'guinea pig' year. Unless of course, my application to Welbeck is a succes.

 

 

 

I hate the words guinea pig year...

[Hedgehog]

Ib tends to be very hard. I'm one of the few people that can get A's and B's. My advice to you would be to study a lot and don't procrastinate.

[db300]

That seems kind of odd. There's about 50 IB diploma candidates in my school, and everyone is pulling at least a 3.5 (B+) GPA.

[Saru Inc]

What exactly is an ' IB Diploma '? Is it like the UK form of AP (college level classes in high school)

 

 

 

And good luck to all who are taking it.

[l0l0lpur32]

What exactly is an ' IB Diploma '? Is it like the UK form of AP (college level classes in high school)

 

 

 

And good luck to all who are taking it.

 

This pretty much explains it:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IB_Diploma_Programme

 

 

 

If I got the chance to do it I'd still do A-levels simply because I wouldn't be able to stand having to do subjects I didn't like (especially having to do a language)