How hard is the IB?

JakeLucGoodman

ah... well ill be going to a college, my school has no 6th form, but it will be their first year of doing the IB, on the other hand they are teachers of the subjects surely just not in the IB format...

Don't do it.

Reply 21

Isaac,R,Brown,CHL

Hey, I'm also year 11 at (at Jakes school I think) and i was wondering if i should should take the I.B
Here are my circumstances
Physics/Biology/Chemistry - A*
History - A
Maths - A
Maths FSMQ - B
English - A*
Graphics - A

I do enjoy Graphics, History and the sciences though not too keen on maths, I only speak English but am very willing to learn. I want to study Architecture at university. (Not too confident on the whole) Would I be able to cope with the I.B and is it the right choice for me.

Reply 22

JakeLucGoodman

OP

in the end only three people in the entire year at loreto opted for the course :P

Reply 23

Tetris-Blocks-For-Brains

3

Original post by Isaac,R,Brown,CHL

Hey, I'm also year 11 at (at Jakes school I think) and i was wondering if i should should take the I.B
Here are my circumstances
Physics/Biology/Chemistry - A*
History - A
Maths - A
Maths FSMQ - B
English - A*
Graphics - A

I do enjoy Graphics, History and the sciences though not too keen on maths, I only speak English but am very willing to learn. I want to study Architecture at university. (Not too confident on the whole) Would I be able to cope with the I.B and is it the right choice for me.

I'm thinking of doing architecture after my IB, and from what I've seen HL Art is the only real necessity, with a portfolio of drawings required across the board. I'm not really sure how graphics fits into that, or if you can even do it on the IB. I've never seen it done.

As for overall, maths isn't too big a worry as you can do maths studies, which is fairly easy, though don't be fooled into thinking it'll be a total doss, as maths is the kind of thing that you have to keep up or it'll just dissapear in my experience.

Is it the right choice for you? You're the only one who can figure that out. I'll warn you though. IB's hard. Really, quite exceedingly hard. I don't know how it compares to A levels really. But just in terms of time management and volume of content, it's a bit of a beast. That goes for the OP as well. This is my warning. Developing OCD is probably a good thing to handle the volume of nonsense we have to learn to spout and some form of code-cracking skills are advisable to understand the questions on our HL chemistry papers.

Good luck. :biggrin:

Reply 24

Ad Meliora

he IB is hard in the sense that the teachers expect you to do a lot of work in very little time. It is one of the most challenging courses out there - but it is for this reason that it claims to be the premier university preparatory program. In the 2 years that you spend pursuing the IB Diploma, you will find yourself becoming more research-oriented with just about every facet of academics.

That being said, the IB gets a really bad rep because all the subjects require students to finish a large amount of coursework along with covering a substantial curriculum. And it is this coursework that becomes an overwhelming burden over time, if you let the deadlines slip and/or aren't getting the appropriate help from your teachers and supervisors. Generally, teachers aren't able to dedicate enough time for each and every student's needs, and thats when things start going downhill. The sooner you start working on your assignments, the higher the chances of you getting more time to improve it over time, instead of procrastinating.

Reply 25

spacefox

IB was such a nightmare, haha. I remember coming into 1st year of uni and thinking it was a complete breeze! The amount of coursework just killed me. As well as the compulsory mathematics + science.. which I loathed. But to be honest, it really was amazing at preparing me for 2nd/3rd year of uni.

Reply 26

studentpharm

What is the IB like in relation to GCSE? for example if you get an A grade at GCSE are you likely to get a 6 or 7 in the IB?

Reply 27

Lionheartat20

11

Original post by studentpharm

What is the IB like in relation to GCSE? for example if you get an A grade at GCSE are you likely to get a 6 or 7 in the IB?

I got 5 A*s , 2 As, 3Bs at GCSE / iGCSE and got 37 points in the IB (bio / chem / bus&man higher - english / spanish / maths at standard level)
I got:
One 7
Five 6's
And one 5

Much harder than GCSEs but also strangely rewarding at the end of it :smile:

Reply 28

DrumChops

2

Original post by Lionheartat20

I got 5 A*s , 2 As, 3Bs at GCSE / iGCSE and got 37 points in the IB (bio / chem / bus&man higher - english / spanish / maths at standard level)
I got:
One 7
Five 6's
And one 5

Much harder than GCSEs but also strangely rewarding at the end of it :smile:

Wow, you're good :smile:

Did you do Maths Studies, or Maths SL?

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 29

saachi

13

Original post by studentpharm

What is the IB like in relation to GCSE? for example if you get an A grade at GCSE are you likely to get a 6 or 7 in the IB?

No, don't be misled by GCSE's! I did IGCSE and got straight A's, yet I got one 7 and two 6's in the IB, and got a 5 in three subjects that I had gotten an A in. It varies a lot, depending on your strengths, but seriously do not take GCSE as a measure of how good you'll be at IB. If you're good at something, you'll do well at it no matter what board (GCSE/ IB/ A-level, whatever). If you're not good at something it will show in the IB, unlike IGCSE where I got an A in subjects which I was expecting a D in!

Reply 30

Lionheartat20

11

Original post by DrumChops

Wow, you're good :smile:

Did you do Maths Studies, or Maths SL?

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

I got an A* at iGCSE Maths - and got a 6 at maths SL (not studies).
However, the subject which I had to concentrate most on was definitely the maths.

If, like me, you can get through maths GCSE relatively comfortably - but start struggling at SL, either drop down to studies or put in the effort; perhaps more than other subjects. In year 2 have an entire folder of every single maths SL paper - of both timezones - sorted by date....and work from about 2003 all the way up to 2011.

Have a seperate folder for revision notes or summary notes - and build up revision notes as you get stuck on the exam papers through looking up the mark schemes. Then you will need to make less and less notes as you get to 2012 as the IB like to be rather repetitive when it comes to SL.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 31

DrumChops

2

Original post by Lionheartat20

I got an A* at iGCSE Maths - and got a 6 at maths SL (not studies).
However, the subject which I had to concentrate most on was definitely the maths.

If, like me, you can get through maths GCSE relatively comfortably - but start struggling at SL, either drop down to studies or put in the effort; perhaps more than other subjects. In year 2 have an entire folder of every single maths SL paper - of both timezones - sorted by date....and work from about 2003 all the way up to 2011.

Have a seperate folder for revision notes or summary notes - and build up revision notes as you get stuck on the exam papers through looking up the mark schemes. Then you will need to make less and less notes as you get to 2012 as the IB like to be rather repetitive when it comes to SL.

Thanks so much for your advice :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 32

Flip1

Do A-Levels and make your life easier while enjoying the flexibility of choosing to study whatever subjects you like..

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

How hard is the IB?

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