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Speaking of IB courses; (which we weren't, but I want to . . . )
Topic Started: Jan 10 2009, 01:41 PM (393 Views)
Dan
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Senior Carp
My 14 year old daughter starts high school next year. We have a highly rated IB program at our school (Niwot High School) and she is planning on applying for the pre-IB program which, assuming she gets in would take her through freshman and sophomore years.

Then the 'real' decision, continue with IB or go with AP classes instead.

I've seen statistics that graduates from high school IB programs have a much higher acceptance rates to the college of their choice (that's good).

I've also heard that IB students are totally stressed and swamped by the level and amount of work they're required to handle (that's bad).

Who out there has IB experience they could share? Have your kids been totally stressed by the whole thing, or have they handled it ok? Any other advice?

Thanks!
Dan

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RosemaryTwo
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HOLY CARP!!!
My kids are in PYP, so I can't help. I have a few years yet to go b/f I cross that bridge.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
What is IB?
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
An investment banking program for 14 year olds?
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Dan
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Senior Carp
Oh sorry.

From their website:

"The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19.

Over the course of the two-year programme, students:

study six subjects chosen from the six subject groups
complete an extended essay
follow a theory of knowledge course (TOK)
participate in creativity, action, service (CAS).
Normally:

three of the six subjects are studied at higher level (courses representing 240 teaching hours)
the remaining three subjects are studied at standard level (courses representing 150 teaching hours).
Subjects, other than languages, may be taught and examined in:

English
French
Spanish.
"

Basically, when I was in high school I could choose to take "college prep" classes, or regular classes in any mix I wanted. Now there's IB programs, advance placement (AP) classes and who knows what else.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
I don't think we have that here. Sounds interesting though.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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TomK
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Mikhailoh
Jan 10 2009, 01:49 PM
What is IB?
Both my daughters are in IB (freshman HS, 6th grade Middle school) and it's a GREAT program. Unlike AP it systomized.

Does it teach them lot's of stuff--yup. Does it teach them to think--yes--unlike all of the other HS courses--some thinking, mostly at the end is involved.

IB

Diploma

Wiki/IB


It's definitely for the best and brightest--but as ALWAYS, school is an adjunct to a child's real education.

Personally, I teach my HS freshman piano and cello and daily go through the Harvard Classics.

Harvard Classics

And then my wife sits her down daily and explains to her our businesses and where our money comes: how it's made and how it's spent.

The last being the most important--you gotta eat!
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Freedom
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DO IB DO IB!
All the international students at my university did IB, and most of the americans as well. Apparently it comes highly recommended, especially if she plans on studying overseas.

I could ask my friends on more info on it if you like. But the general talk about it, is that although its academically more 'difficult', its the way to go! :D

"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."

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JoeB
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My daughter entered the IB midddle school program in 6th grade and went on to IB high school. It was much better than the school she had been attended in fifth grade. She finished the IB program and will graduate from UC Santa Cruz this june. My take on IB is it's great for liberal arts, good for science, but so time demanding it makes other stuff (music, etc.) difficult. It's hard to make a comparison with AP, since AP classes vary so much from school to school.
"There are many ingredients in the stew of annoyance." - Bucky Katt
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Ideally, you would have your kids take high school math and science classes in Singapore or Taiwan; English classes in England or India; and may be leave PE and cultural studies to American high schools.

Since you don't live in an ideal world, yeah, let her do IB (only if you're confident she has the aptitude for it, though, and be honest with your evaluation of your own child, which may be a problem for some parents).
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Freedom
Jan 10 2009, 03:04 PM
DO IB DO IB!
All the international students at my university did IB, and most of the americans as well. Apparently it comes highly recommended, especially if she plans on studying overseas.
That's a good point... as American colleges are getting more and more expensive, I've been telling parents who worry about (future) tuition to send their kids overseas. :D
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Copper
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Shortstop

It really depends on your goal.

If the goal is college admissions, ask the college you're interested in.

At some colleges a B in an IB course = a B in an AP course = a B in a regular course.

I think it's rare that a B in IB course = an A in regular course.

If you are after more difficult courses and maybe "better" education you'll probably get it with IB or AP.

If you want to improve you college selections it could hurt or help.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Dan, I'm kind of late to the game here, but didn't have the time to give you a good response when you first posted this.

My son graduated last year from a high school with an IB program, so I thought I'd give you my impressions.

Ask questions. Ask parents who's kids have gone through it, ask teachers. Ask any university professors you know. I get the sense that the IB program is only as good as the person who runs the program, and that can vary from school to school. And ask how much you'll be paying. What courses are available. Not all schools offer all IB courses; check it out.

Taking a year of pre-IB is a great way to check things out. I assume it's the same where you are, here it was grade 10; not for every course, but enough to get a sense of what it was like. I'd highly recommend that.

The good? Being in a class of like-minded, motivated students, where not so much time is wasted, is brilliant for the student who is eager to learn and wants a challenge.

The bad? Being locked into certain courses, having some choices of courses out of the question because it doesn't fit in with the IB schedule. I think that's a real shame, high school should be a time of trying things out, keeping lots of doors open. Lack of time for fun things, sports, music, family, down time. I think those things are important.

Some of the kids in the program probably shouldn't be there, some get very stressed, some drop out. Some of the kids took the 'easiest' options, i.e. Geography instead of History, Spanish instead of French. Not because those interested them more, just because they have a reputation of being easy courses to do well in. That's a shame, imo.
I was shocked to find out that a large number of teh IB diploma students went regularly to tutors; often for several subjects. Seems to me that if you need a tutor to get through IB Physics 12 you really shouldn't be in IB Physics 12.
One of the reasons for doing IB that I heard a lot about, was the possibility of skipping 1st year university classes. How in tarnation do you think you're going to handle going straight to 2nd year, if you needed tutors to get you through high school? More tutors, I guess.

I know one kid who is currently in grade 12, doing the full diploma, uses tutors, but has no illusion about skipping 1st year classes. She's doing the IB material to make her 1st year not so hard; to develop good learning skills. That's a theory that makes some sense to me. She's taking a year off first though. Not saying that's a bad thing (far from it, actually), but I heard that a lot from the IB students at the grad last June. They were tired.

My son was in some IB classes, and some regular, and had friends in both, and they compared notes a lot. His impression is that the IB classes didn't really do much more than the regular stream, except for the math. His IB English 12 class was actually doing less than some regular classes, because there were several ESL students who required a fair bit of the teacher's time. So again, depends on the school, the teachers. Lots of time was spent preparing for the exam.

As for university acceptance, what I was told, and what we saw, is that it's all about the numbers. You do well in regular stream classes, you have a good percentage, you get to go where you want. Lots of kids (mine included, he didn't use his IB mark) made good grades, got themselves healthy scholarships, and are thriving in university right now.

The university he is at (UBC) actually discouraged skipping the first year english class (critical essay writing) for IB students in the stream he is in. I guess they were finding that kids didn't have the skills they thought they did. Some of the first year sciences 'strongly suggest' not being skipped as well.

When my son was in the grade 10 pre-IB, I talked to all his teachers at the parent-teacher conferences; asked them their thoughts on the IB program. It was very clear they could only say so much, but the one thing that I really got, loud and clear, was to LET THE KID DECIDE. No matter how brilliant the kid, how they handle things has to be taken into account. I got the impression they had seen many kids getting really stressed, and it was upsetting.



Lastly, money. Seems to be very different from school to school, but HL IB English 12 cost us about $400. In hindsight, money that would have been much better put aside for university.
This is in a very wealthy district, and there is lots of money to be made. They recruit students from other districts, that are willing to sign up for the program, while there is a waiting list for others to get into the school. Money talks. There are also a lot of international students here, who bring much needed $$ to the school, and the IB program is a good draw.

All that being said, one of Colin's best buds, whom he's been in assorted math challenge programs with since grade 2, went the whole IB route and absolutely loved it. Loved the idea of being part of the small group, (there are a lot of social activities) managed his time, kept up with sports and piano. He's also at UBC, hoping to get into a special physics engineering program. He probably will. He doesn't do stress. :)

Wow, sorry, way too long! :tongue:
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Dan
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Thanks so much Sue. Great info that will be of use to us as we move forward.

Right now, Margaret is pretty pumped up about the program. We have 2 years of pre-IB here, so we'll get a good look (and so will Margaret) before its time for committing.

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apple
one of the angels
thank you for the endorsement Freedom. means alot coming from you.

my son is in the IB program. I love it.
it behooves me to behold
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
That's great Dan, 2 years of pre-IB. Such a good idea, and as I tell everyone, doing the pre-IB can only be good. If you decide not to commit, you know you'll be ahead of the game as far as regular classes go. It's a win-win.

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Right now, Margaret is pretty pumped up about the program.
:thumb: That's what counts!
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TomK
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That was a really good answer Sue.

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