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My future son-in-law took 12 AP courses and scored '5's" on all of them.
That's fantastic. I'm sure he would have been just as happy and successful (and gotten equal amounts of college credit and advance placement) doing IB and then 7 or 8 AP exams.
That's fantastic. I'm sure he would have been just as happy and successful (and gotten equal amounts of college credit and advance placement) doing IB and then 7 or 8 AP exams.
The choices are:
1) Take desired AP classes and exams
2) Take the IB Diploma program, but then have to supplement the IB program with additional AP classes and exams
That's fantastic. I'm sure he would have been just as happy and successful (and gotten equal amounts of college credit and advance placement) doing IB and then 7 or 8 AP exams.
He was admitted early decision to Columbia University. He graduated in 2011 as a chemical engineer. His AP credits were basically applied to electives. The Ivies, as a rule, do not apply AP or IB credit to a student's major. Individual university departments sometimes offer "placement exams" which allow a student to skip certain 101 and 201 courses.
But you think IB would have made him "happy"? Really? Why, so he could go support OWS instead of landing a job as a research engineer with a top hospital?
IBO has had over 42 years to do some legwork. I wouldn't care if IBO had bothered to vet its courses and exams with Oxford, the University of Zurich or Cornell. Anyone! But they are entirely unvetted and sold on hearsay.
They wouldn't have done that though since US college freshman classes are not their benchmark. They were trying to emulate high performing high schools across the world.
The confusion may come in because there is some overlap in what is learned at the high school level in some places abroad and what is learned at the college level here.
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Originally Posted by ObserverNY
Why should our students serve as vetting guinea pigs for a Swiss NGO of UNESCO that is too full of itself to do its own legwork?
Students woudn't have to be guinea pigs, a researcher could just compare scores and college grades of groups of students that have already graudated. It would just be hard to indentify a proper test group with so much variance in AP programs.
Anyway, I can see why there would be a push to bring IB to lower income schools, it is likely part of the "higher standards" mantra lately, the belief that we don't expect enough of all students across the board. But that is a different discussion.
1) Take desired AP classes and fill the rest of the required schedule with easy fluff classes and be bored to tears.
There's no need to have room for easy fluff classes. AP doesn't limit the amount of college-level courses one can take. Only IB limits the amount of college-level IB courses one can take. The limit is 4 HL IB classes in 2 years.
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2) Take the IB Diploma Program then make the decision of whether or not you want to make even more difficult.
But then STILL have to SUPPLEMENT it with additionalAP classes/exams.
Yes, IB students have to SUPPLEMENT their IB program. That's my point.
They don't have to, but they can. And so what? How is that in anyway bad or speak ill of IB?
IB is not, for the 14th million time, a collection of exams designed to test college level proficiency like the AP series is. IB is not a 4+ year (AP exams can be taken in middle school too) program designed to maximize the number of college credits children can knock out of the way before age 19 (which is what it seems to me you think it is, but is failing to do).
It's a rigorous, cohesive, 2 year college prep program that provides in-depth studies of 6 subjects, epistemology, writing, and requires community service. The rigor of its HL components (and some SL components) is recognized by US Colleges and Universities as being equal to college leave work, so as a bonus, most institutions grant credit for them. Again, that's a bonus - IB wasn't designed to replace college work.
That said, many IB students have already taken and passed several AP exams before they even enroll in IB, and they will take several more concurrent with IB. That's not a bad thing - that's a good thing. It highlights the strength of IB and the students it attracts. IB is a great program for capable, motivated students.
There's no need to have room for easy fluff classes. AP doesn't limit the amount of college-level courses one can take. Only IB limits the amount of college-level IB courses one can take. The limit is 4 HL IB classes in 2 years.
Ah, but not every single requirement for a high school diploma can be an AP class because not every school offers access to every single possible AP class. Ergo, any class that that you are required to have for graduation but can't have as an AP would be pretty much fluff to your average IB student.
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Originally Posted by InformedConsent
But then STILL have to SUPPLEMENT it with additionalAP classes/exams.
Nobody has to supplement IB with additional AP classes.
Which you keep (conveniently) forgetting.
It's a choice. Do I want Hard Mode or EXTREME Mode?
Easy Mode: All Standard Classes Normal Mode: Standard Classes mixed with AP Hard Mode: IB Dante Must Die Mode: IB plus AP
Now, opponents of IB switch Normal and Hard Mode yet have not provided me (an IB and AP student) one iota of evidence to show that a schedule with some AP classes is inherently more difficult than a full IB schedule.
They don't have to, but they can. And so what? How is that in anyway bad or speak ill of IB?
IB limits students and is less rigorous than AP.
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It's a rigorous, cohesive, 2 year college prep program
Yes. It's a college prep program, NOT a college-level program. AP is a college-level program.
You really can't understand why students and their parents are dissatisfied that access to a college-level program (AP) is removed from their public schools in favor of a college prep program (IB)? Really?
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