Just wondering, but is anyone here on soompi, part of the IB program. If so what classes are you guys taking, because i know for my junior year, im going to have to take HL English, and HL History. So that leaves room for one more HL, i think im going to take Bio. As for my SL classes, i think im going to drop my group 6 (Drama - Theatre) for another science, Physic SL. I'll probably take Math SL, because well i dont want to deal with 4 HLs.

But what are some of your recommendiations with taking two sciences ? I mean, does it really look good on my college transcript, if i pass the IB exam, or is it just a waste of time, and should i just drop the SL Physics and go with Drama for another 2 years or do the ITCGS thing ?

If you want to stay in the states, dont take IB...thats my advice...your grades wont be the same as before and what they look at in the states is only ur grades. Im taking the IB (HL Econ, HL ITGS, HL Econ, SL Bio, SL French, Math Studies), but im going to the UK where they ONLY look at ur IB grades (so basically u have to do really well on ur final exams).

You could also do IB certificates..but seriously, think about it twice. Most of the ppl in my school going to the states dont take the IB because its totally pointless and make their grades look bad compared to other people.

So yeah, i dont know where you are going...but be wise with your choices

I have a friend who is taking HL Bio, and SL Chemistry (started out with HL Chem but it was too hard to take both)..so, if you love the sciences, go for it....

I'm taking IB Bio 1 and IB Physics 1 next year but only to fill the state requirement of taking 3 different science courses (I take IB Chem right now). But that might not apply to you because I'm not going for the IB diploma. I think the only reason that you should take IB Physics is if it's going to serve as your IB elective. So you should either take 2 years of IB Physics or 2 years of IB Theatre.

And I'm pretty sure the number of HL classes that you have to take is limited to 3 and the number of SL classes is limited to 4. But I don't know if that depends on the state or if it's just a general IB requirement.

well you see at my school the requirement is that we take 3 HL and 3 SL, but you can do 4 HLs and 2 SLs, but thats another story.
well im kinda deciding right now, i really think that i want to take another 2 years of theatre, because i really need that extra period, where i dont have to worry too much, im really good in math, but the problem is i really dont like doing the work, so i dont think ill consider physics now.

the problem with our school standard is that, our gc decided that we NEED HL ENGLISH AND HL HISTORY, so therefore, we only get to acutally choose 1 HL class, and im thinking about taking HL Bio, because i really like Bio, and freshman year, i did really well in it.

My SL courses will be French, Theatre, Pre-Cal. SL. I dont know .. im getting really bothered by this scheduling thing, the deadline is in march, ><

HL SPANISH HL ART&DESIGN

required HL HISTORY, HL ENGLISH

SL MATH

I also thought of doing SL PHYSICS but my grades suck, so its probably SL ENVIRO ;;;

RICHARD MONTGOMERY HIGH, MARYLAND, US

GPA: 3.36 ........ what grades do you have?

I'm just sitting here, trying to study chemistry...and I get distracted because of you IB...people? Hahaha. I passed the IB exams already. Good luck. I hope you guys will be able to pass your exams and get the IB diploma.

Hey guys! as an IB grad, I think it'd be good for you guys to complain about IB together. Nice stress reliever

lol .. thats basically what we do all day, sit around, and complain about how awful ib is, but in the end, hopefully it will be worth it

IB students tend to complain the most about the work that they got themselves into.

oooh a venting section for IB-ers? haha nice.

last year I took IB History, IB Drama, IB English 11, IB Math Studies, IB Theory of Knowledge & IB German [Level 4-Standard Level]. I got the IB Math Studies & IB Drama tests out of the way & passed, so good.

This year I have IB Bio [for 90 minutes EVERY SINGLE DAY], IB History HL, IB English 12, IB Theory of Knowledge & IB German [5-Higher Level].

So yeah, like everyone else, I've got my workload cut out for me.

thank you, whoever started this thread, it's nice to talk to people who are out there suffering through IB classes too :]

yes, actually.

in our school IB Program, we DON'T brag about how high our grades are; quite the opposite. one of us usually initiates...

"I got a 80% on my -X- test/quiz."

"Yeah, well, stop complaining because I got a 76."

"60%. And a C in -X-. I don't think I can go to University of -#-"

"...<no comment>"

im a sophomore so i'll be taking Theory of Knowledge next year.
>_< i'm scared because i heard it was really really hard.

is it really hard?

haha well, at my school it's more boring than hard. our teacher is crazy, and we just go in circles about how we as people really don't know anything, and just analyzing random articles/events. we do more discussion than work actually, so i guess i lucked out in that way, but yeah it's a lot of interpreting things and understanding how we "know" what we know and blah blah blah.

but if you know how to articulate and to present your perspective well, whether speaking or writing, you should be fine :]

Ahhh, my school is all IB and we don't really have that many choices about the classes we take.

So this year, I'm taking IB1 English, Spanish, History, Chem, Bio, Math HL, and IB2 Physics...I'm taking my Physics exam in May (It's the first exam! *faints*) and I'm so terrified...

As for TOK, I took it over the summer, so it was a lot easier than taking it during the year and I loved the people in my class and my teacher, so it wasn't that bad.

- Clara

Tok is not hard. In fact it's my best class in all my years in IB because my teacher (the IB coordinator) is so awesome in teaching that the class is apprendable and easy to adapt so don't worry about it.




hahaha so true!

But just to let everyone know that at the end of the road, you're going to miss IB because it taught you good. ANd you will regret all the things you didn't do...like me!

I totally miss being in IB, actually. It was such a fun time for me.. I guess it really depends on the teachers/coordinators you have/had?

XD I can't believe there's an IB thread!
My classes this year
SL Physics
SL French
HL Math
TOK
SL English
HL Bio
HL Psych

about TOK = It's an easy class if you know how to BS a LOT XD The class itself for me is reallllyy boring since we have a weird old guy. But all we do in there is read Man is the Measure, Story of Philosophy, watch weird/boring vids and do presentations.

And just wondering cuz my Group 4 research question is due Mon., what did you guys do for your group 4's? >0<

and personally, i don't think IB it worth it O__O i think it would be easier to do heavy AP load cuz colleges put that on the same level as IB, and then you don't have to worry about G4, Extended Essays, IA's..Ect. That and because many of our classes are IB/AP (we take both exams-> safety net for colleges that don't count IB credits) we end up taking a LOT of exams at the end of the year O__O especially senior year.

omgg our external assessments are being sent out next week! and most of them are due this week, WEDNESDAY. ) =
ahh damn it. as of right now, Im finishing my World Lit 2 Assignment cus im an ENG HL. ) =
Tommorow, Im taking on my EE
Day After, Taking on my Ib History Report.
LOOL.
HELL ) =

OH IB ..... I am sleep deprived because of IB

My classes:

HL Math
HL Biology
SL French
HL English
HL Topics
TOK

I'm counting down to the end of my senior year, or other wise the end of being an IB candidate

I got my interim today...and I have a D in Chem right now. T___T

You guys are from the states??? i'm from Canada, and i did my high school at IB program and one of my friends is going to the cegep ( pre-university) in Ib in hope to get a challenge ( she's crazy) anyway did u guys have to do criterians and personal project and the rest of the crap projects??? I find that it's totally useless since i will get my diploma a year after i graduate cuz they are sending it to Cardiff and all to get a proper correction. If you are hard working, you should go Ib, if you're not it'll be a lot of work.

our school is making us take TOK, but thats a good thing, since it happens like every wednesday and we basically miss part of our classes once a week for it.

so i decided to fill out my schedule .. and i decided to go with

HL History
HL Bio
HL English

SL Drama
SL French
SL Math

and of course the glorious TOK

but hmm im getting really excited and cant wait to start working on those CAS hours

You mean you're going to get the Ib Diploma no matter what? Or did you mean the high school dicploma. Because for my school, if I pass the IB exam and did all those stuff that you said above than I would recieve two diploma. One high school and one IB. Pretty sweet eh?

ok , this is what i want to ask, sorry if this doesn't belong here...
What is the difference between AP and IB? If you're planning to study in teh states, like applying for UCLA/UCBerkeley, will the IB program get you accepted slightly easier? Does it even matter if you took AP or IB?

EHEHe that's all...omg...after reading this...i have second thoughts on entering the IB program...
Do IB students have sooo much work that you won't have any time left for hanging out iwth your friends and like join clubs at the high school? Cause that is what has been entered in my mind by my friend...don't know if it's true...

sorry for soo many questions...

I'm going to answer the "extra curricular" part of your question. Yes, being an IB student is very demanding. However, it is still important to be a well-rounded student, therefore, there is CAS, COMMUNITY/ ACTION/SERVICE HOURS where you are expected to get involved. I have to say that at my school, the IB students, regardless of their workload are way more invovled than the regular students are. I am in Student Council, yearbook editor, sports, presidents of a few clubs and doing a whole bunch of community work because IB inspires you to do these things.

It's true that sometimes you feel liek you dont have a social life, like me right now, I pull at least 1 all nighter a week, the earliest I get to sleep nowadys is 1..2AM (since im Year II, my EAS, IAS and mock exams are like every day).. It's been hell for me since January. (Actually right now, Im ediitng my extended essay to be handed in tommorow) However, it's still important to make that time for friends, there are times when they aint that much on your plate, and other times when there's just too much. It's all about finding a balance as a student, as in any program.

And I damn hope it's worth it. Good luck. I don;t know much about AP so I can't help you there.

Yeah, so I'm pretty much screwed for the Chemistry part of my Ib diploma. Because I'm the only Ib student in an Ap chem class, so he hasn't set any time aside for me to do labs. Plus the Ap students don't even do labs (no wonder the passing rate on the AP test is so low at my school). So I'm really pissed at my teacher, and everytime I ask he says I should do assignments instead. BS. So my not gonna really have a freaking internal assessment.

Unless, I know this is an odd request, but does anyone have any labs that they can give me, like send the lab and data, and I'll do a write-up.

I'm not a IB diploma canidate but I take IB classes:
IB Art HL
IB Math Studies
IB History Of the Americas
IB English HL

Theory of Knowledge is not that bad. You just have to open minded about that class, seriously. It goes around in a huge circle and at times, it is difficult to understand the philosophy of it though. =) I complained so much about TOK, so much about it. But now, I think about and I really love that class because it was challenging.



But what are some of your recommendiations with taking two sciences ? I mean, does it really look good on my college transcript, if i pass the IB exam, or is it just a waste of time, and should i just drop the SL Physics and go with Drama for another 2 years or do the ITCGS thing ?

Taking two sciences isn't really that bad. I didn't trust myself to take SL physics at all because at that time, we just had a new teacher coming in with no experience with the IB program? You know, first year teaching IB. I didn't trust myself with that and I didn't want to take Biology because of a teacher. Taking two sciences isn't a bad idea at all. It would look good on your transcript because 1, you're challenging yourself with those courses. It isn't a waste of time. You'll get credit for it only if you pass the IB exams. Depending on your University, you need to get a 4 or higher in order to get credit. IB is just like AP. Except AP is facts and IB is well, you analyze more deeply and you write more papers than AP test.
The classes you're taking and if you pass the IB exams, you'll get credit for your general education during your undergrad years and you could straight to your major. But, only if you pass. According to my university, you need to get a 4 or higher [and thankfully I did, and now I'm taking the upper division classes].

But, it's really up to you. Do you enjoy drama? Most of my friends loved math and drama. And decided to do drama instead of physics. Drama, I think you're not tested on but you have an oral report that's like 30 minutes long? =) I'm not sure. Just ask your coordinator about it.

Now the question was

Was it worth going through all the pain/stress/non-social life of IB?

Yes, an infinite time of yes. If I could go back in time, I would do it all over again. It's the experience of it. You get credit if you pass the IB exams. Even if you don't [like some of buddies who didn't get the IB diploma still got accepted to the universities] who didn't get the IB diploma, they are sitting through the classes being bored to tears. It's worth it for all the experience and something you might later use in college

Do IB students have sooo much work that you won't have any time left for hanging out iwth your friends and like join clubs at the high school? Cause that is what has been entered in my mind by my friend...don't know if it's true...

Depends on what you're going to do. If you're going to procrastinate [which you might], you'll have tons of work. Yes, there is a lot of work involve in it because you have to determined. BUT, you're still able to hang out with friends and join clubs in high schools. It's not impossible to hang out with your friends.

Has anyone here taken the IB Psych exam yet? If so, how would you rate the difficulty level? I don't know if I should take it next year :| I wish I could slack off senior year, like the non-IB seniors

I want to take full IB next year in high school for grade 10, and I was wondering if it's true that you get $40,000 after you complete all three years of high school in full IB. I know some of you might have like 4 year high school, but do they have it too?

Because one high school came to my school to do a presentation at lunchtime, and they said that's true.

Can anybody confirm this? lol

Umm, I successfully completed IB and I have a nice shiny diploma... but not $40,000.

Well, let me change that.

USC gave me approximately $40,000 for each year. So I guess IB sort of gave me it indirectly? o_O

What? What is this $40G talk? If it's true, I'm still waiting for mine 4 years after the fact

IB exam???? nop we don't have that.... we do the criterians, the pp, the pc and the regular ministy exam but i do have to pass the above wif like minimum 3 and i will get both diplomas, last year, only one person failed but u gotta be crappy and do no work to achieve that. Yah and i get another diploma which is langue francaise cuz our project report is in french (mine) .. dunno about the people who chose english as their language but anyways i'll probably end up wif 2 diplomas since the third one is really hard to get (langue francaise) cuz u gotta make less that 25 errors on like 3500 words approxiamatly or even less so i'm not sure about that one.




LOL that's BS cuz i never heard about it and if it WAs true well i'll be waiting but i really don't think it.



whatttttttttttttttttt???????????????/ USc what is that..... uhm sorry if i sound lame ><""" nways tell me more about it

^ USC is the name of my university i attend. University of Southern California.

woah so there's IB in university?? wow must be hard ><""" so the people who were talking about the Ib exams were university peoople???

is IB way harder than AP?!?!?!

i forgot, but my sophomore world history teacher (certified to teach IB) told me that it's way harder than AP?

no..no no no.. he has already graduated from IB in his high school, and is now in USC.. o_O

Joseph is one smart cookie

but he receive money from the Ib??

no, he didn't. I think he just go scholarships from USC because of his IB diploma, so IB didn't give it to him, USC did.

lol thanks for clarifying in my stead ben ^^

I'm doing my first year in IB as well in Canada.

IB Bio SL
IB French SL
IB English HL
IB Chem HL
IB Geo HL
IB Math HL
TOK

Augh, my school can't manage to fit TOK and Bio SL in the timetable so we have to go 3 times a week to school at 7 am. sucks. But I'm doing okay with school work. Not really a procrastinator.. =P

IB Psychology exam? I took it along with safety_bread. We took the HL exam, not the SL... The SL is only two papers, and I heard it wasn't that hard. It was pretty easy from what I heard. HL has three papers. It was really easy. I liked it a lot exception of the third paper which totally killed me. It depends on your teacher whether he or she has experience with IB. Its mostly essay writing. If you need help, I can help you with some things. Afterall, I'm minoring in Psychology.

I think you could take Psychology next year if you want. Its also one of the general education requirements for college. In college, you have a general education program that you have to take. One of them is the social foundations, you can choose from psychology, sociology or anthroology.

Honestly, for psychology. Its a really easy class to take. You can get an easy A in there, if you pay attention and do the assignments and do well on the exams. And do your internal assessment. I think I have some IB questions for psychology. If you want, I can PM with those questions. Well, its not the exact questions, but it might help.

Wahh!~ I'm an IB student XD; Well I'm going to be graduating from IB High School this year.. XD But I'm only getting my diploma one year after.. o_o;

I also applied to go to an IB Cegep for next year XD; (@kakashiwife: yes, the crazy one going there >__>)

Well I'm from Quebec.. so we have cegep.. anyone one else going taking an IB program for cegep? XD;

I should have taken the hit with the tests, 150 for each D: but im regretting not testing
Would have done
ENG HL
BIO SL
Chem HL

Haha oh snaps I guess they were lying. lol

But from some of the experiences from friends that have taken IB, they say it's worth it.

lol I've got another question. Sorry if I sound dumb haha, but do I have to take art or music?
Like, is it mandatory?

Because art, music, or a second science is a required course.
I do plan to take all three sciences, but those are in grade 11 and 12, so do I have to take an art or music subject in grade 10?
Or can I take another option and then take other sciences in grade 11/12?

Thanks haha. I'm so stupid.

might be b/c our school is a little more lenient, but if you dont want to take art or music or theater and substitute with another SL, say SL Bio, then its ok. they told us its "better" to have a class be it SL or HL in one of the brackets, like a hist, sci, math, art, ect class. but not everyone does that.

i'm taking:
SL Calc
SL Chem
SL Japanese
HL Art
HL Hist
HL English

this IB diploma program.... X| most of our teachers are new to the program, so they cant teach or do so at a freshman/sophmore level and make it really boring. Or they're really great teachers, but make the classes extra hard. basically everyone gets together to whine about how hard and worthless it all is. we all give out the advice, desperately, to just take IB classes and only take HL tests since that's all colleges really care about when testing and for your GPA. i'm really disappointed with IB and honestly everyone doing full IB at my school would not be such big procrasinators and slackers and burnt out starting junior year if we hadn't done full IB. Then again, it might just be us and our school. the junior IB class seems a lot more studious than we are.

right now all the seniors are also freaking out whether we'll even get out IB diplomas or not regardless of passing the tests since the CAS folders were not done a certain way. all spring break i've been trying to fix it and hope that it'll be good enough to pass the CAS check. gah!!!

a little known fact (or at least i think it's true) is that IB only allows up to 4 HLs, which is why a lot of schools don't offer as many HLs as SLs. and because it requires more training on the teachers' part.

ahhh 1 more month before IB EXAMS !!
I'm so scared & screweddd ! Today's my first day back from Spring Break and I feel even lazier than before I left school.. I know I should start studying soon to prepare for the exams, but gosh I know that probably won't happen since I'm such a procastinator. But ACTUALLY, I'd have to say 90% of IB students are procastinors (well for my school at least.. and I'm from Canada )
haha we've all had the experience of doing the Math Portfolio the night before the due date OR starting our World Lit Papers the day teachers "said" it was due ANDDD the ultimate killer of all: EXTENDED ESSAY !

LOL wow am I ever lucky I dropped full IB last year. So I'm only in partial this year and didn't have to take TOK & world history andd I'm so thankful I didn't have to do EE !! But anyways, referring back to the first post.. I'm currently taking:
MATH SL
ENGLISH HL
MANDARIN HL

I guess it really doesn't seem a lot, compared to everyone else haha. But really, IB's not THAT BIG OF A DEAL. Actually, I think it's more like a big waste of life! (but that's just my opinion ) A lot of teachers put so much emphasis on ib and how it's so much better than regular classes and how much you'd benefit from it just to induce you into the program and then MAKE YOU SUFFER! Yeah, there may be some advantages to IB in regards to university, but I'd say it takes a lot of effort & commitment to actually be able to maintain your grades in the 80's and 90's just to be able to GET those benefits. It's especially hard when there's so much extra ib assessment to do too (ie. EE, world lit, tok, etc).

So my advice is, seriously think hard before entering this program. You're life will be forever changed! hahaha just kidding. You might just have these side effects: addiction to coffee and/or sweet stuff, gaining a little weight, forgetting the feeling of weekends, big eyebags, dark panda eyes, not care how you look AT ALL, suffer from insomnia, growing a real hatred towards IB LAND, your only friends are your study buddies, become easily agitated, start to refer everything in life to something you've leared in IB etc etc. hehe Well I guess it can be a good experience and all, and I'm not saying absolutely all ib courses are useless, because some are actually quite useful and gives you a headstart in university and becomes a bit more motviational and challenging compared to the regular courses if you know what i mean.

lol well anyways, GOOD LUCK TO ALL FOR THE MAY IB EXAMS

That's so truee XD We are the biggest procrastinators!~ well I'm on soompi right now

Well I'm going IB next year.. and yeah.. O_O; I'm up to the challenge!~ >=D .. so I'll see how that goes XD; Just hope for the best!~ loll

You can take partial IB courses? o_o; In what province loll XD? Well I'm in Quebec.. so there's like the no where Cegep. so yeah. loll XD;

Ahhh, May is approaching... T_T IB tests and AP tests.

How hard are the Spanish SL tests? I'm really worried :X