The Student Room Group

I need help: AS Levels or IB Diploma?

Hi i'm in year 11 and having to decide what I want to do at college next year. I am torn between:

The IB Diploma, Studying:
-English
-French
-History
-Biology
-Maths
-Economics

OR

AS levels doing:
-Goverment and Politics
-History
-Maths
-English Language
-Biology

I want to go into teaching as a career if possible. I Need advice about which one may be better for me. BTW my GCSE predictions are:
-English lang - B
-English Lit - A
-Maths - A/A*
-Biology - A*
-Chemistry - A
-Physics - A/B
-French - A/B
-History - B
-Food Technology - B
-RS - B
-German - D/C

Thanks!
Reply 1
Hiya,

I was in the excatly same position as you last year and I went to do IB at a Grammar school but after the second day I left due to the nature of the school not the work amount. You need to think seriously as there is no going back as you know there are no end of Year 12 exams.

Your choice of subjects are good (they were the same as mine), as you may be aware the jump between A Levels and GCSE's and this will be pushed if you do the IB as GCSE are a basic level of education so saying your a straight A* student , most schools "spoon-fed" their pupils. But having saying all that if your up it I would recomand it as its a fantastic opportunity to study it.

In regards to a job in teaching you will put you choosen subject as a Higher Level and another Group2/3/6 subject which supports it, I hope you make your right choice about it.
Reply 2
Thanks for fast reply! I'm starting to think that Alevels will be better for me rather than IB because (like you said) there is no opportunity to drop at the end of the first year and no exams to see how you are progressing. it sounds better lol

Thanks!
I don't know much about the IB (I didn't even know there weren't exams at the end of Year 12) but friends who did it have told me it's more work than A-levels because you have to do extra stuff like community service. It really depends whether you want to take on an extra subject but study all 6 in less depth and 3 at a lower level, or stick with 5 and go into more depth. In terms of university and your future career, it doesn't matter as long as you take the subject you want to teach (or I think any National Curricululm subject for primary) at higher level because unis accept both. You could do some research into what exactly you'd be studying for each qualification because the topics might be different at A-level compared to IB, and obviously the assessment is different as well. Just out of curiosity, why did you choose French and economics for IB, but politics for AS?
Reply 4
Because where I would be doing it, they dont offer Gov and Pol as part of the IB
Reply 5
mikeman150
Because where I would be doing it, they dont offer Gov and Pol as part of the IB


The school where I attended briefly offered World Politics the IB version of Government & Politics

Latest