Hi! I am an international IB student, and I’m a sophomore in high school. My school does not offer AP courses, however, I’ve been looking up for online AP courses and I found a few schools which do offer them... do you think this will be worth it? I mean, taking a few online AP courses plus my school’s IB classes? I’m not even that sure whether online AP courses are a thing haha! I’m really trying to look for opportunities that will challenge me, but I’m getting a bit scared it might be way too much workload...
Ok, so i think i understand the basic concept of the IB and AP systems. I am a sophomore currently. Additionally, all i have seen is that if one takes IB courses, 3 should be HL and 3 SL level and that IB is limited to those 6 courses. But within those categories, are there right and wrong choices of IB courses to take? The following are the courses I am considering, but i am a bit worried how they will be perceived by College admissions. I want to take each one of these and i don't really know what i want to major in, but in reading some of the basic requirements for admission to the University of California schools, for example, they mention physics, bio, chem specifically, and calculus, none of which are listed in this group that I've selected. On the other hand, i might want to go to a liberal arts college and study some social science, but i don't know right now, and i don't know what their required prerequisites might be. So, within these subjects that i am proposing to take, due to their apparent difficulty, will they include those "required" subjects within them, or should i take different IB courses? I am also trying to make sure that whatever i take in IB coursework, i do my best to get the best grades possible, and so i am trying to seek courses that i feel more interested and confident taking. #confused. My proposed list: Language and Literature HL Global Politics HL Psychology HL Mandarin SL Math applications SL Environmental systems and science SL
Hey I’m an upcoming junior in high school and in a position of taking IB or AP. I have 2 really nice schools I can attend for either AP or IB but am stuck in the middle. On the AP side of the school I can take Apush AP capstone and AP comp while on the IB side I have 3 different courses a year but won’t be able to choose my courses because of complications with the school. Could you please help me? Thank tou
@@Niaz_S If something is more challenging it doesn’t necessarily make it better. I’m saying this as someone who got 43/45 in IB, the program does not provide you with any benefits over the AP program. AP is way more flexible and you are not totally screwed if you perform poorly on a single exam (you can fail the whole IB Diploma due to one subject, heck you could even fail due to TOK/CAS etc whereas in AP you can simply take the exam again next year (unless you are currently in your fourth year). AP also offers massive advantages if you are interested in math/physics, you can take both AP Calc & AP Stats, but more importantly AP has two actual college level physics classes which are calculus based unlike the one in IB which is algebra based. In general if you are interested in STEM AP seems like the better option, you can’t even take 3 sciences in the IB. It will of course differ from person to person, but as an IB student I feel like this added difficulty doesn’t provide you with any advantages. Also I want to emphasize, the IB as a whole being more difficult in no way means each individual IB class is more advanced/difficult than an AP one, in fact even when compared to IB HL classes, AP classes (because they are 1 year long) are usually more fast passed.
@@markoveljanovski881 ib classes have more content and definitely harder than AP. IB Math HL is packed with AP Stats and AP calc BC content over the duration of 1.5 years
@@raahimhadi4905 Yes but IB Math HL is also a two year course and nothing is stopping you from taking both AP Calc BC and AP Stats which are 1 year courses
I take both AP and IB classes. I’m not going for the full IB diploma. The way I decide if if I am genuinely interested in the subject. For example I loved honors chem so I took ap chem this year. I’ve always been super good at reading and English so I’m take IB English HL. Don’t stress over which to take! Just evaluate which ones are best for you!
I would highly advise against the IB diploma program courses unless you are wanting to go to college internationally. IB courses are twice as long as AP's and most top colleges don't aware credits for IB SL. This means that if youre in the DP program, you're only going to get credit for your HLs unless you go to a state school. With AP, the classes are only a year and the credits awarded are EXACTLY the same at most universities, meaning that you can rack up double as many credits rather than spending 2 years in the same class. Additionally, College board and overall resources for AP exams are way more plentiful then what you can find for IB if you have a bad teacher or aren't understanding a specific concept.
I am in 7th grade and I am trying to prep pan for the future! Your videos by far were the best and most understanding for someone my age. I liked saved, and subscribed.
This video is a fantastic resource. One hundred percent correct - take the courses that make you feel inspired to learn. There is not a right or wrong choice in AP or IB. In your college applications, show your interest in learning, and why the courses you chose fed the inquirer within you! I am an IB DP Coordinator, and this is really good advice. NO BAD CHOICES - just what is right for you!
There are good and bad choices. Unless you want to study in a country other than your home country or you're good at literally every subject and have no idea what to study at university there really is no point in doing the IB diploma. You'll be voluntarily spoiling your mental health for two years, will likely get a score in the middle thirties which most universities don't consider to be great and if you're a person who's good at certain subjects and bad at others you'll be getting a lower grade than you would have if you had taken some other curriculum. Many students get something like 7,6,6 in the HL subjects and 4,4,3 in the SL subjects and the overall score would be too low to apply to some universities which you could have potentially got.
I actually like to take those classes, ap or ib it's just that my home country philippines particularly in universities at cebu doesn't offer any of those.
Very good video, thank you for uploading. I went to medical school in the US and here are a few comments of my own on this: I had never heard of IB courses in my life until now, I had absolutely no idea what they were until watching this video. I graduated from an academically-intensive high school with a large number of AP credits (I forget how many I had at this point, but it was common in my high school to take "all APs" by one's senior year. Apart from having known nothing about IBs until now, I feel that a lot of what is said in this video is true from my experience. It really is true that universities look for a rigorous experience in terms of which courses you took. However, in terms of my application to medical school which took place while I was in university: many of the AP exams I took, which were math- and science-based, were courses that medical school wants you to take and looks for in your university transcript. For this reason, despite having passed out of them by virtue of my AP scores, I still had to take them in university so that I could fulfill the medical school application requirement. (For example: med schools want a year of math, a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, a year of biology, etc - and yes, even a year of English literature/composition - and if you passed out of general chemistry due to an AP exam for example, well medical school still want to see that you took a year of general chemistry at university). As a consequence of having a lot of AP credits on my university transcript, as well as having taken almost all those classes again at university, I got very close to the upper limit of credits that is permissible at university (if you take too many credits you're not allowed to graduate university... which sounds absurd but this is the case in many if not all universities). Nevertheless, my advice is still for you to take the most rigorous courses that your high school offers, because that is looked on favorably during university application - but do keep all of this in mind.
I am an IB student and as you said, colleges don't consider my SL courses as credits for first year, but I would like to save money, so is it hard to study on my own for AP exams, such as AP Psychology, AP Music, and AP Physics. Note that I am not taking physics nor music in IB.
Thanks for the reply. Have you tried using free online resources to study for AP classes? We've had students not take any AP classes but still take the exams. What do you think?
@@ramiebrahem2008 Nope, if you're genuine about studying for an exam, you can study on your own. It'll take time, but all things are possible through hard work. I've seen plenty of students do it. I strongly recommend getting some workbooks and spending time each day studying.
Unless you are from Europe DO NOT TAKE IB. It is 1000x the work for not even 15% of the benefit. In order to get into a prestigious American University under IB you need: -full IB -5000 word Theory of Knowledge essay -extreme amounts of volunteer work for the community -exemplary SAT/ACT scores For AP: -Any four AP classes of your choice to 30 level and a 4-5 on the AP exams -AP Seminar -AP Research +transfer credits for University meaning you don’t have to take certain classes
You don't need AP Seminar or AP Research to get into a top school in the US. Lots of volunteering and stellar SATs or ACTs helps for any top university, whether you're taking an APs or IBs. :)
one more aspect of the ib diploma that should be a huge decicion factor is the insane amount of extra work you have to do. the extended essays, internal assessments, and theory of knowledge were more stressful to me than my actual classes.
I’m currently a sophomore and have to decide whether or not to do the IB diploma for the next two years but I’m worried about my GPA and how it would affect it. My school offers both AP and IB so my question is, can I take both classes without getting the diploma?
Stick to one course and do it well. If you do IB, then get the diploma. If you do AP, take a good number of classes and challenge yourself. If you’re going to do something, commit fully!
@@sxylena581 I know this was to the original commenter, but I chose to take AP courses just because IB is more international based and forces you to take certain classes. For example, my school only offers Math sl, which colleges don’t see as rigorous as AP Calc. So if I were you, I would choose based on what classes interest you and (as much as I hate to say it) interest the college that you hope to apply to. Hope this helped!
I'm an international student and I have a question about the American admission process. If you don't have the opportunity or the money to course the IB program due to geographical or financial problems, can this factor affect negatively your chance to enter to the University? Is the IB program a huge factor that can take a lot of importance when looking your admission, or it's just something that may help your application but not define it?
I know it’s been a year but just for anyone else who has this question: Definitely does not define it. You can get into university without taking honours as long as you get good grades.
wondering if you have any thoughts about College Credit programs during middle school & high school... our district offers all 3 options (IB, AP & CCP) ... i'm struggling to figure out how to help my kids be in the best position academically (currently 7th & 8th grades) when they have no idea what they want academically
I wouldn't go to IB if they don't quite know what they want to do, only because the program is so structured. AP is a good middle ground, because the kids and pick and choose classes as they like, depending on what their interests are. It's still early - I would have them aim high academically and try to explore their interests between now and sophomore year of HS.
Next year I'll be an IB student. Honestly, I'm doing my best to be a good student for Ivy schools so, if I take 4-5 AP with a whole IB program, will it be better for me?
@@aysemelekustun8133 A türk :D. Ben de IB okumak istiyorum ve Ivy üniversitelerine taktım, özellikle Harvard'a. Hazırlık okudum ve bu sene 9.sınıfta pre-IB okuyacağım. İyi şanslar :D
So I am planning on taking AP classes, but my school offers AP and IB. So would colleges ask me why I didn’t choose to do IB? Or would they not think about it?
Hey Heet, what matters is challenging yourself. If you take a challenging course load with classes related to your prospective major, that's what really matters to colleges. Are you trying to apply to top schools? If so, be sure to take challenging classes.
@Transizion I live in Texas, so I am planning on going to an instate school that offers an 8 year medical program, but I will also apply to some top schools as well. I am planning to major in biochemistry. Here is what my junior year schedule might look like: AP English, AP US History, AP biology, AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, Pre-Calculus, AP Statistics, and AP French 3. Would colleges consider these courses challenging?
My 7th grader has made straight A's his whole life. He is in advanced gifted classes at a middle school with an integrated curriculum. He is currently taking a high school credit math class. He has no idea where he wants to go to college. His favorite classes are math and science. He is self-motivated and disciplined. He will likely end up with a career that is science related. I'm trying to gather info for him to make a decision about where he wants to go for high school. Based on that info does one or the other sound more compatible?
I’m at the point in my sophomore year where i choose my class abs and i’m currently on the IBDP track, but i think i want to drop out. i am looking to pursue soccer at a top level, have a job, and work on my project car. therefore i don’t think IB is right for me as it is way too much homework. soccer/sport med, auto mechanics, or similar is what i am thinking about doing in the future. what would you do in my situation?
I need help… I’m almost done with 10th grade and I’ve been doing igcse, i heard that IB is better for getting scholarships, should i switch to IB or complete my APs.
AP. Don't even think twice. IB requires plenty of work. You might be a really intelligent person but if your time management is poor your score will be low. That's not the case in AP. If you're smart enough you can get the grades you want
My kid's school district provides IB option(in different school) but his school provides only AP courses on campus .Does this mean he should take IB or will college ask why he did not opt for IB even when provided by his ISD .
Doing AP and IB is really difficult! I don't recommend it for most students. If you need to talk to someone, feel free to reach out to me on our website: www.transizion.com . However, I'm not a professional therapist. If you want to talk to a professional, I recommend calling 1-800-273-8255.