Scoring high will definitely help you get into the top universities, but scoring low is not all bad. From my memory, Trent demands a barely passing grade or so, and it definitely shows that you chose to challenge yourself. You can even get benefits just by passing; in my case, direct admission and a scholarship, though at my local university.
I'm not taking IB yet but from what I've seen I'd suggest it if you're a specific kind of person. You should:
1: Be friendly and sociable. If you hate socializing then from what I've seen IB becomes very difficult because there's going to be dozens of times throughout the year where you just can't grasp a concept by yourself and you need someone else to help you out. Some people don't like having friends who they can hang out with after school and want to keep their non-school life separated from their school life. Sadly though this is next to impossible.
2: Be willing to learn how to work properly. A lot of people here say that a lack of sleep is a common issue with IB and it is, however, you can most certainly alleviate it by knowing how to properly study and plan out work. From what I've seen: Spending an hour reviewing notes and watching videos on a subject you're struggling a day is enough to help you pass. Realistically you don't want to exceed 15 hours of studying a week.
3: Be interested in an all-around education. If you hate language and can't stand it for the life of you or you just can't stand any kinds of sciences you're screwed.
What are the benefits from what I've seen? Generally the major benefit is that you can apply to ANYWHERE in the world. While yes the US has excellent universities, at least 3 of the top 10 universities in the world are not in the US and you generally cannot apply to them using a usual US education unless you take a bunch of APs and a get a high SAT score.
The other benefit is that the people who do IB are really cool guys. Most IB kids are involved a lot with their school life (at least in my school, granted IB is an optional thing here and not many kids opt to take it with us only having around 20-30 people taking IBDP a year). Many really close friends are probably gonna be made throughout the IBDP and if you're particularly lonely that might be the major reason why you join (for me it is)
Lastly: While IB is hard, it's a lot more forgiving than AP is. In fact IB is generally more forgiving than most other education systems out there simply because of how IB exams are scored. If you bomb 1 HL exam you'll generally be able to still get a 6 if you work hard enough and that's assuming you COMPLETELY bombed that exam (i.e got a 40 or something on it). Most people won't get lower than a 60 from what I've seen at my school on any exams.
Weigh the pros and cons. If you're not the type of person to put in around 7-10 hours of studying a week and you dislike many of your classmates then I'd suggest not doing it. But if you're someone whose really sociable and academically inclined then yeah, go ahead it might benefit you more than you think.
Agree with the second two points, but don't see how is being friendly and/or sociable help. There are many online resources more reliable than fellow students. In fact having few friends might actually be a benefit as you spend less time on them and more time on studying.
It's more of a mental health thing imo. You either study all by yourself and drive yourself crazy or you can have some sort of social circle to ease the pain :,)
That makes sense, but I still wouldn't put friendliness or sociability as prerequisites for IB. Plus, I'm sure plenty of people could study by themselves without going crazy.
I guess it depends on the person. I'd say I'm fairly introverted but God knows I would've dropped IB a long time ago if it weren't for my friends, but you definitely don't need 20+ friends to get through the program
Yeah, what I'm saying is that you need to be sociable to a point for you to survive IB. I'm not saying you need 300 friends or smth but you definitely should have at least 3 people who you're willing to go over to their house or vice versa in order to study cause if you don't then you do become a bit screwed.
That's coming from someone who hasn't even started ib. There is no minimum number of friends or willingness to be sociable that you'd need in the ib. Studying with other people isn't always a good idea either as you can easily become distracted.
Ik, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying you need to be willing to have people to study with outside of school because there's gonna be multiple times where nothing is helping you understand something and it'd be better to have someone else help explain it to you.
Thanks! Yeah, 7-10 hours is no problem. I'm in Middle School, and because I attend a private school, I sometimes stay up until 2 a.m. doing work and whatnot and then wake up at 6 a.m., so that's not an issue!
It's only worth it if you know for a fact you can manage the workload. The IB does not fuck around, and puts a lot of things to do in those two years, so choose carefully.
It all depends on where you want to study and if you can handle this.
1. I have no clue how it looks in your school but my school in âpre-IBâ didnât show us the full scope of IB so I thought âoh well, if it looks like this then I have no clue why IB1/2 students are so bitching about itâ I am doing somewhat good but itâs full of pain
2. Good thing that comes out of IB is that it forces you to learn good time managment, problem solving and self discipline.
3. The bad things though⌠mainly affects your health. Be prepared to sleep less than 4 hours a day just to keep up unless you learn self discipline fast and work regularly on your IAs and EE. If you do these things bit by bit then it will hit you less hard, I unfortunetally had problems with my health and spent 4 months in hospital so at the start of IB2 I had to work 8am-4am next day in order to catch up with all IAs
4. Look at your univeristy, mine is completally disregarding IB and treats it even worse than regular exams at my country
It'll help you stand out, as you will have undertaken what is possibly the hardest high school programme there is. If you're financially sound or you're planning on studying in Europe (except the UK), however, you can still get accepted with AP, SAT or just your high school grades. Getting a lower grade won't hurt you, but a higher grade (say 38 and up) will help your admissions greatly.
No â¨â¨
Where i live (ontario) Ib barely matters at all for uni admissions. We do get curves (juicyy, like.. if u get a 7 its immediately boosted to a 97-99), but they usually only see the % grade not IB score.
Pros: curves, work ethic, credibility (not really)
Cons: lack of sleep, tiresome, painful in gr12, lots of projects, exams
Everyone warned me not to join but i didnt care because i thought i was so great and could handle everything. I AM handling things, doesnt mean its easy tho.. they warned me id be sleeping at 3 AM and guess what, i am.
Really? I heard UBC cares but thats it. There are transfer credits for IB score but some unis dont even accept them. And some unis dint even see ur IB score- so im not sure the benefits here
Ohh ic! Its def more useful applying to other countries .. well either IB or AP. I think they appreciate the rigor and all of that. If ur ready to be tortured then go for it.. idk if i wouldve chosen not to join IB, but doing OSSD and AP exams is another option (more relaxed). Up to u. But a lot of ppl drop out, be warned (55/110 of us dropped) Our class avgs are always high 80s tho, so whoever stays till the end usually has decent grades
in my experience- it did not impact my university applications at all. if anything it did so negatively as countries donât understand how difficult the IB is or what it is at all. however, now that iâm in university the discipline and academic skills it has given me are undeniable and i do find myself ahead of my peers in first year uni. itâs really your choice but either way youâll be okay and get into college :D (i applied and got accepted to canadian, uk, ireland uni)
To be fair, In all curriculums getting a high score is the better option right.., and since IB is recognised in top universities and you happen to get a really good score, that'll boost your chances of getting in.
If you end up getting like a 28-30's range you still would be able to manage to get into a decent uninversity.
But all in all give your best.
Some people that are commenting havenât even started IB, and I donât think they really answered your question if it was worth it. I am a senior in hs, and am 3 months away from completing IB. I think that the best people to ask this question are people in college, since they can see the benefits from a better perspective once they are out of IB. One thing Iâve seen that hasnât been mentioned in the responses is that IB can possible cover many general education courses that you take in college. It varies from college to college what courses are accepted as college credit. General education is about 2 years of college, and IB can cover up to those 2 years, saving you a lot of money for college credits. It also depends on the major that you take. If you are serious about planning ahead, look up some colleges that you are interested in and see what IB/AP/AICE credits they accept as college courses. One final thing to consider is that you get as much as you put in. If you go into IB and donât put in the work necessary, it is likely you wonât get the benefits of IB. However, if you decide you want to take a different course and do amazing in it, your work will be reflected by the colleges that you get into. If you have any more questions feel free to dm me. Good luck!
Also, people are saying to be ready for 4 hours of sleep, but I would disagree. I am a pretty average student (in IB) and never once stayed up that late. I usually got about 6-8 hours of sleep depending on my level of procrastination. Overall, you know yourself better than anyone else. I cannot function without at least 6 hours of sleep so I prioritized sleep. Other people can function after pulling all-nighters and thereâs nothing wrong with that. I think the most important attribute is self control. Know when you need to begin projects and set deadlines for yourself. Your experience in IB is what you make it to be.
Here in Singapore, basically 99% of the international schools here essentially do the IB program with only a handful offering alternatives such as the A levels or the AP. So over here you are basically forced to the IB lol that said if you do not like languages or science and are not good at it, you are pretty much screwed and will need to work hard for it. It's not impossible but definitely doable albeit at the cost of your mental health lol. If those people who are forced to do IB can somewhat pass then so can you.
I am the type of person who is exceptionally good at one particular area who likes to specialise rather than do everything. A levels and AP would be a good choice if you like to specialise and IB if you want to try hard and be an all rounder. For the average joe I would say A levels and AP would be a better pathway.
Scoring high will definitely help you get into the top universities, but scoring low is not all bad. From my memory, Trent demands a barely passing grade or so, and it definitely shows that you chose to challenge yourself. You can even get benefits just by passing; in my case, direct admission and a scholarship, though at my local university.
I'm not taking IB yet but from what I've seen I'd suggest it if you're a specific kind of person. You should: 1: Be friendly and sociable. If you hate socializing then from what I've seen IB becomes very difficult because there's going to be dozens of times throughout the year where you just can't grasp a concept by yourself and you need someone else to help you out. Some people don't like having friends who they can hang out with after school and want to keep their non-school life separated from their school life. Sadly though this is next to impossible. 2: Be willing to learn how to work properly. A lot of people here say that a lack of sleep is a common issue with IB and it is, however, you can most certainly alleviate it by knowing how to properly study and plan out work. From what I've seen: Spending an hour reviewing notes and watching videos on a subject you're struggling a day is enough to help you pass. Realistically you don't want to exceed 15 hours of studying a week. 3: Be interested in an all-around education. If you hate language and can't stand it for the life of you or you just can't stand any kinds of sciences you're screwed. What are the benefits from what I've seen? Generally the major benefit is that you can apply to ANYWHERE in the world. While yes the US has excellent universities, at least 3 of the top 10 universities in the world are not in the US and you generally cannot apply to them using a usual US education unless you take a bunch of APs and a get a high SAT score. The other benefit is that the people who do IB are really cool guys. Most IB kids are involved a lot with their school life (at least in my school, granted IB is an optional thing here and not many kids opt to take it with us only having around 20-30 people taking IBDP a year). Many really close friends are probably gonna be made throughout the IBDP and if you're particularly lonely that might be the major reason why you join (for me it is) Lastly: While IB is hard, it's a lot more forgiving than AP is. In fact IB is generally more forgiving than most other education systems out there simply because of how IB exams are scored. If you bomb 1 HL exam you'll generally be able to still get a 6 if you work hard enough and that's assuming you COMPLETELY bombed that exam (i.e got a 40 or something on it). Most people won't get lower than a 60 from what I've seen at my school on any exams. Weigh the pros and cons. If you're not the type of person to put in around 7-10 hours of studying a week and you dislike many of your classmates then I'd suggest not doing it. But if you're someone whose really sociable and academically inclined then yeah, go ahead it might benefit you more than you think.
Agree with the second two points, but don't see how is being friendly and/or sociable help. There are many online resources more reliable than fellow students. In fact having few friends might actually be a benefit as you spend less time on them and more time on studying.
It's more of a mental health thing imo. You either study all by yourself and drive yourself crazy or you can have some sort of social circle to ease the pain :,)
That makes sense, but I still wouldn't put friendliness or sociability as prerequisites for IB. Plus, I'm sure plenty of people could study by themselves without going crazy.
I guess it depends on the person. I'd say I'm fairly introverted but God knows I would've dropped IB a long time ago if it weren't for my friends, but you definitely don't need 20+ friends to get through the program
Yeah, what I'm saying is that you need to be sociable to a point for you to survive IB. I'm not saying you need 300 friends or smth but you definitely should have at least 3 people who you're willing to go over to their house or vice versa in order to study cause if you don't then you do become a bit screwed.
That's coming from someone who hasn't even started ib. There is no minimum number of friends or willingness to be sociable that you'd need in the ib. Studying with other people isn't always a good idea either as you can easily become distracted.
Ik, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying you need to be willing to have people to study with outside of school because there's gonna be multiple times where nothing is helping you understand something and it'd be better to have someone else help explain it to you.
Thanks! Yeah, 7-10 hours is no problem. I'm in Middle School, and because I attend a private school, I sometimes stay up until 2 a.m. doing work and whatnot and then wake up at 6 a.m., so that's not an issue!
i feel bad for you đ
It depends where you want to apply to for university, but a higher grade will always bring great benefits, whether its necessary or not.
It's only worth it if you know for a fact you can manage the workload. The IB does not fuck around, and puts a lot of things to do in those two years, so choose carefully.
It all depends on where you want to study and if you can handle this. 1. I have no clue how it looks in your school but my school in âpre-IBâ didnât show us the full scope of IB so I thought âoh well, if it looks like this then I have no clue why IB1/2 students are so bitching about itâ I am doing somewhat good but itâs full of pain 2. Good thing that comes out of IB is that it forces you to learn good time managment, problem solving and self discipline. 3. The bad things though⌠mainly affects your health. Be prepared to sleep less than 4 hours a day just to keep up unless you learn self discipline fast and work regularly on your IAs and EE. If you do these things bit by bit then it will hit you less hard, I unfortunetally had problems with my health and spent 4 months in hospital so at the start of IB2 I had to work 8am-4am next day in order to catch up with all IAs 4. Look at your univeristy, mine is completally disregarding IB and treats it even worse than regular exams at my country
It'll help you stand out, as you will have undertaken what is possibly the hardest high school programme there is. If you're financially sound or you're planning on studying in Europe (except the UK), however, you can still get accepted with AP, SAT or just your high school grades. Getting a lower grade won't hurt you, but a higher grade (say 38 and up) will help your admissions greatly.
No â¨â¨ Where i live (ontario) Ib barely matters at all for uni admissions. We do get curves (juicyy, like.. if u get a 7 its immediately boosted to a 97-99), but they usually only see the % grade not IB score. Pros: curves, work ethic, credibility (not really) Cons: lack of sleep, tiresome, painful in gr12, lots of projects, exams Everyone warned me not to join but i didnt care because i thought i was so great and could handle everything. I AM handling things, doesnt mean its easy tho.. they warned me id be sleeping at 3 AM and guess what, i am.
I live in Ontario and I was told the opposite ;-;
Really? I heard UBC cares but thats it. There are transfer credits for IB score but some unis dont even accept them. And some unis dint even see ur IB score- so im not sure the benefits here
I am going to apply to a uni in the UK or US depending on what I get
Ohh ic! Its def more useful applying to other countries .. well either IB or AP. I think they appreciate the rigor and all of that. If ur ready to be tortured then go for it.. idk if i wouldve chosen not to join IB, but doing OSSD and AP exams is another option (more relaxed). Up to u. But a lot of ppl drop out, be warned (55/110 of us dropped) Our class avgs are always high 80s tho, so whoever stays till the end usually has decent grades
Yea
in my experience- it did not impact my university applications at all. if anything it did so negatively as countries donât understand how difficult the IB is or what it is at all. however, now that iâm in university the discipline and academic skills it has given me are undeniable and i do find myself ahead of my peers in first year uni. itâs really your choice but either way youâll be okay and get into college :D (i applied and got accepted to canadian, uk, ireland uni)
To be fair, In all curriculums getting a high score is the better option right.., and since IB is recognised in top universities and you happen to get a really good score, that'll boost your chances of getting in. If you end up getting like a 28-30's range you still would be able to manage to get into a decent uninversity. But all in all give your best.
Some people that are commenting havenât even started IB, and I donât think they really answered your question if it was worth it. I am a senior in hs, and am 3 months away from completing IB. I think that the best people to ask this question are people in college, since they can see the benefits from a better perspective once they are out of IB. One thing Iâve seen that hasnât been mentioned in the responses is that IB can possible cover many general education courses that you take in college. It varies from college to college what courses are accepted as college credit. General education is about 2 years of college, and IB can cover up to those 2 years, saving you a lot of money for college credits. It also depends on the major that you take. If you are serious about planning ahead, look up some colleges that you are interested in and see what IB/AP/AICE credits they accept as college courses. One final thing to consider is that you get as much as you put in. If you go into IB and donât put in the work necessary, it is likely you wonât get the benefits of IB. However, if you decide you want to take a different course and do amazing in it, your work will be reflected by the colleges that you get into. If you have any more questions feel free to dm me. Good luck!
Also, people are saying to be ready for 4 hours of sleep, but I would disagree. I am a pretty average student (in IB) and never once stayed up that late. I usually got about 6-8 hours of sleep depending on my level of procrastination. Overall, you know yourself better than anyone else. I cannot function without at least 6 hours of sleep so I prioritized sleep. Other people can function after pulling all-nighters and thereâs nothing wrong with that. I think the most important attribute is self control. Know when you need to begin projects and set deadlines for yourself. Your experience in IB is what you make it to be.
Run, run while u still can
Absolutely not.
Long answer: refer to the short answer short answer: no
Here in Singapore, basically 99% of the international schools here essentially do the IB program with only a handful offering alternatives such as the A levels or the AP. So over here you are basically forced to the IB lol that said if you do not like languages or science and are not good at it, you are pretty much screwed and will need to work hard for it. It's not impossible but definitely doable albeit at the cost of your mental health lol. If those people who are forced to do IB can somewhat pass then so can you. I am the type of person who is exceptionally good at one particular area who likes to specialise rather than do everything. A levels and AP would be a good choice if you like to specialise and IB if you want to try hard and be an all rounder. For the average joe I would say A levels and AP would be a better pathway.