Progressing into IB with bad IGCSE grades.
Hey guys, new member here. Im stuck in a desperate situation here, I got 3C, 1E and 3D in my IGCSE exams, luckily my school has given me chance to do IB if i really think i can do it as well as taking the failed subjects again at the re-sits in november. The principal says i am at an advantage because i am a year younger than anyone else, meaning i should be starting my year 11 now. The school said i might not be at the emotional and maturity level to be able to cope with the IB because of my age, i believe i can do it if i tried my hardest. Re- taking a year would mean a waste of time and a LOT of money since i go to a private school, i am also afraid of the negative effects it would have on my social life if i repeat a grade. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Original post by bl1ndmelon
Hey guys, new member here. Im stuck in a desperate situation here, I got 3C, 1E and 3D in my IGCSE exams, luckily my school has given me chance to do IB if i really think i can do it as well as taking the failed subjects again at the re-sits in november. The principal says i am at an advantage because i am a year younger than anyone else, meaning i should be starting my year 11 now. The school said i might not be at the emotional and maturity level to be able to cope with the IB because of my age, i believe i can do it if i tried my hardest. Re- taking a year would mean a waste of time and a LOT of money since i go to a private school, i am also afraid of the negative effects it would have on my social life if i repeat a grade. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm sorry to hear that you're not happy with your grades, but it is still possible to do well in IB with poor IGCSE grades. Dedication and good time management is much more important than just learning the material.
I am a year younger than my peers as well and I've just finished IB1. Maturity is not determined by your age but by your attitude. How did you approach your IGCSEs? Did you really work hard and gave it your all, or were you mostly procrastinating through your course and couldn't be bothered to the work you were assigned? Your attitude is much more important than how much you actually know/knew, because if you had understood everything but just wanted to get things over with and scribbled down random stuff in your exams and coursework, you would not get a higher grade than your friend who might not be the brightest but revised constantly and did his work to the best of his ability. If you really don't want to repeat a year, then you will have to start/continue to do all you can to convince your teachers and parents that letting you start IB was not a mistake.
Of course, your grades are important to some extent, and how well you think you understood IGCSE material is often a good indicator of whether you should take it to the next level. If you desperately struggled with most of your IGCSE subjects, especially core subjects like English, maths and science (which are compulsory at IB), then perhaps you should consider repeating the year. However, the (semi-)good thing about IB is that you can choose to study the subjects you're less strong in at SL, which covers less material. Hopefully, you will be able to study in depth the subjects that you like and get through the ones you're less interested in, and that this will give you the motivation to continuously study hard.
Without having done IB, it is impossible to understand the difficulty of the course and the expectations IB and your school have of you, so if you think you can cope based on how you found IGCSE and your perceptions of your own attitude, I would say give it a go while retaking IGCSE in November. The first few months of IB will be relatively less stressful and should give you enough time to review IGCSE material. If, come October, you really are struggling and don't want to continue with IB, then perhaps you could ask your teacher to allow you return and repeat Year 11. Ultimately, you and you alone can make this decision, as we don't know your abilities and strengths. Whatever your decision is, good luck!
And sorry for the very long essay! 
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by bl1ndmelon
Hey guys, new member here. Im stuck in a desperate situation here, I got 3C, 1E and 3D in my IGCSE exams, luckily my school has given me chance to do IB if i really think i can do it as well as taking the failed subjects again at the re-sits in november. The principal says i am at an advantage because i am a year younger than anyone else, meaning i should be starting my year 11 now. The school said i might not be at the emotional and maturity level to be able to cope with the IB because of my age, i believe i can do it if i tried my hardest. Re- taking a year would mean a waste of time and a LOT of money since i go to a private school, i am also afraid of the negative effects it would have on my social life if i repeat a grade. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Aw, I'm sorry to hear about your IGCSE results
If you're going to do the IB from the beginning, then you'll manage. Doing it halfway is extremely tricky, I don't know why some people even want to do it!
As for the IB itself, as long as you can spare time to do both academic work and CAS activities, you'll manage. Your social life won't deteriorate because you'll have a lot of group work in-class and outside. Transferring from the IGSCE to the IB won't have major negative effects (as far as I've seen in my previous school).
The benefits of the IB is that you'll have options with subjects and HL/SL. Again, time management is extremely important!
Just do your best! If you're really stuck (and hopefully you won't) then you can change from Diploma to Certificate (discards the Extended Essay and ToK)
Original post by ashleighgiles
Just do your best! If you're really stuck (and hopefully you won't) then you can change from Diploma to Certificate (discards the Extended Essay and ToK)
Just do your best! If you're really stuck (and hopefully you won't) then you can change from Diploma to Certificate (discards the Extended Essay and ToK)
You can, but I wouldn't recommend it at all. Certificates are nearly useless in comparison to the diploma even if you did all 6 subjects. Universities ask for the diploma not certificates.
That's if OP wants to go to university.
Original post by chickenonsteroids
You can, but I wouldn't recommend it at all. Certificates are nearly useless in comparison to the diploma even if you did all 6 subjects. Universities ask for the diploma not certificates.
That's if OP wants to go to university.
That's if OP wants to go to university.
I have to agree with the Certificate thing. If I were OP then I'd definitely avoid it. Unfortunately, some students see it as an easy way out of the IB.
Almost all of my friends who took Certificate can't go to university!
Original post by AquisM
I'm sorry to hear that you're not happy with your grades, but it is still possible to do well in IB with poor IGCSE grades. Dedication and good time management is much more important than just learning the material.
I am a year younger than my peers as well and I've just finished IB1. Maturity is not determined by your age but by your attitude. How did you approach your IGCSEs? Did you really work hard and gave it your all, or were you mostly procrastinating through your course and couldn't be bothered to the work you were assigned? Your attitude is much more important than how much you actually know/knew, because if you had understood everything but just wanted to get things over with and scribbled down random stuff in your exams and coursework, you would not get a higher grade than your friend who might not be the brightest but revised constantly and did his work to the best of his ability. If you really don't want to repeat a year, then you will have to start/continue to do all you can to convince your teachers and parents that letting you start IB was not a mistake.
Of course, your grades are important to some extent, and how well you think you understood IGCSE material is often a good indicator of whether you should take it to the next level. If you desperately struggled with most of your IGCSE subjects, especially core subjects like English, maths and science (which are compulsory at IB), then perhaps you should consider repeating the year. However, the (semi-)good thing about IB is that you can choose to study the subjects you're less strong in at SL, which covers less material. Hopefully, you will be able to study in depth the subjects that you like and get through the ones you're less interested in, and that this will give you the motivation to continuously study hard.
Without having done IB, it is impossible to understand the difficulty of the course and the expectations IB and your school have of you, so if you think you can cope based on how you found IGCSE and your perceptions of your own attitude, I would say give it a go while retaking IGCSE in November. The first few months of IB will be relatively less stressful and should give you enough time to review IGCSE material. If, come October, you really are struggling and don't want to continue with IB, then perhaps you could ask your teacher to allow you return and repeat Year 11. Ultimately, you and you alone can make this decision, as we don't know your abilities and strengths. Whatever your decision is, good luck! And sorry for the very long essay!
I am a year younger than my peers as well and I've just finished IB1. Maturity is not determined by your age but by your attitude. How did you approach your IGCSEs? Did you really work hard and gave it your all, or were you mostly procrastinating through your course and couldn't be bothered to the work you were assigned? Your attitude is much more important than how much you actually know/knew, because if you had understood everything but just wanted to get things over with and scribbled down random stuff in your exams and coursework, you would not get a higher grade than your friend who might not be the brightest but revised constantly and did his work to the best of his ability. If you really don't want to repeat a year, then you will have to start/continue to do all you can to convince your teachers and parents that letting you start IB was not a mistake.
Of course, your grades are important to some extent, and how well you think you understood IGCSE material is often a good indicator of whether you should take it to the next level. If you desperately struggled with most of your IGCSE subjects, especially core subjects like English, maths and science (which are compulsory at IB), then perhaps you should consider repeating the year. However, the (semi-)good thing about IB is that you can choose to study the subjects you're less strong in at SL, which covers less material. Hopefully, you will be able to study in depth the subjects that you like and get through the ones you're less interested in, and that this will give you the motivation to continuously study hard.
Without having done IB, it is impossible to understand the difficulty of the course and the expectations IB and your school have of you, so if you think you can cope based on how you found IGCSE and your perceptions of your own attitude, I would say give it a go while retaking IGCSE in November. The first few months of IB will be relatively less stressful and should give you enough time to review IGCSE material. If, come October, you really are struggling and don't want to continue with IB, then perhaps you could ask your teacher to allow you return and repeat Year 11. Ultimately, you and you alone can make this decision, as we don't know your abilities and strengths. Whatever your decision is, good luck!
And sorry for the very long essay! Thanks for your input! It was hard to work for me the first year since the teacher in 3 of my subjects didn't care about us and we practically had to cover all topics in one year, resulting in me not learning proper work ethics early enough. I can't blame it entirely on the school. I'm willingness to try my best to do well.
Original post by bl1ndmelon
Hey guys, new member here. Im stuck in a desperate situation here, I got 3C, 1E and 3D in my IGCSE exams, luckily my school has given me chance to do IB if i really think i can do it as well as taking the failed subjects again at the re-sits in november. The principal says i am at an advantage because i am a year younger than anyone else, meaning i should be starting my year 11 now. The school said i might not be at the emotional and maturity level to be able to cope with the IB because of my age, i believe i can do it if i tried my hardest. Re- taking a year would mean a waste of time and a LOT of money since i go to a private school, i am also afraid of the negative effects it would have on my social life if i repeat a grade. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Just retake the whole year and get all As and A*s?
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Original post by chickenonsteroids
You can, but I wouldn't recommend it at all. Certificates are nearly useless in comparison to the diploma even if you did all 6 subjects. Universities ask for the diploma not certificates.
That's if OP wants to go to university.
That's if OP wants to go to university.
I am hoping to go to a decent university in the US.
Original post by bl1ndmelon
Thanks for your input! It was hard to work for me the first year since the teacher in 3 of my subjects didn't care about us and we practically had to cover all topics in one year, resulting in me not learning proper work ethics early enough. I can't blame it entirely on the school. I'm willingness to try my best to do well.
Ah I see. Well since you had such unfortunate circumstances I'd say that your IGCSE grades don't fully represent your potential. Give IB a try and see what you think.
Original post by bl1ndmelon
I am hoping to go to a decent university in the US.
Yea, stick with the diploma. ibsurvival.com will help.
Out of curiosity, how old were you when you started IB? I was 15, and I'm now enrolling into the second year, and I'm 16. I'm a year younger than everyone else, like you.
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Original post by co2014
Out of curiosity, how old were you when you started IB? I was 15, and I'm now enrolling into the second year, and I'm 16. I'm a year younger than everyone else, like you.
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I havent started the diploma yet, its deciding between the 2 now, whether I repeat, or try IGCSE and IB at the same time. Im struggling to make the right choice. IGCSE will give me a second shot as im younger than everyone and IB can mean if im not meeting standards i can risk getting kicked out of school and my dad refusing to pay for school if my performance is not up to par.
I second AquisM in that age isn't the determining factor. I was 15 when I started IB, and have come out the other end with a good score. I never felt like my age was an issue during the course (in fact, some of those who struggled the most were the oldest), either academically or emotionally. That said, if you find IB too hard, you have a year to spare to either redo IB1, or change to another exam system. I completely understand you don't want to because of fees, but at least there is the possibility.
With the grades you got, you need go seriously consider your subjects. I've had friends who didn't do very well at IG, but really connected with their IB subjects and went on to top universities. If there are two or three subjects you really enjoy, and feel you could do well on regardless of previous results, then you've sorted your HLs and just have to live with SLs. Also take into account the subject restrictions - if you aren't a good all rounder then maybe IB isn't the best pathway. That said, IB should be manageable for you if you can manage the time (DO NOT ignore anyone who tells you time management is key - it is!!!), avoid excessive procrastination and are prepared for a lot of hard work. Don't forget to think about CAS, the EE and TOK. If you get less than 28 points you must pass both of these (and CAS for any grade), so if you think you might get around this number, you must be confident.
Overall, I'd say have a go, but don't be afraid to pull out if you're really overwhelmed - IB isn't for everyone. As others have said, IB certificates are next to useless if you're aiming for uni, so in this case look at A levels or AP exams.
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With the grades you got, you need go seriously consider your subjects. I've had friends who didn't do very well at IG, but really connected with their IB subjects and went on to top universities. If there are two or three subjects you really enjoy, and feel you could do well on regardless of previous results, then you've sorted your HLs and just have to live with SLs. Also take into account the subject restrictions - if you aren't a good all rounder then maybe IB isn't the best pathway. That said, IB should be manageable for you if you can manage the time (DO NOT ignore anyone who tells you time management is key - it is!!!), avoid excessive procrastination and are prepared for a lot of hard work. Don't forget to think about CAS, the EE and TOK. If you get less than 28 points you must pass both of these (and CAS for any grade), so if you think you might get around this number, you must be confident.
Overall, I'd say have a go, but don't be afraid to pull out if you're really overwhelmed - IB isn't for everyone. As others have said, IB certificates are next to useless if you're aiming for uni, so in this case look at A levels or AP exams.
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Not to interrupt this conversation, but i have a similar problem for English specifically. I just got my IGCSE results, and got
Business A*
History A*
Geography A*
Music A
Mathematics A*
Additional Mathematics A*
Coordinated Science (Double Award) A*A*
Chinese (First Language) A
English (First Language) B
SO that is 7A*s, 2As, and 1 bloody B
I am taking HL English LAng and LIt next year. Is this a problem. I am aiming for a 6/7.
Business A*
History A*
Geography A*
Music A
Mathematics A*
Additional Mathematics A*
Coordinated Science (Double Award) A*A*
Chinese (First Language) A
English (First Language) B
SO that is 7A*s, 2As, and 1 bloody B
I am taking HL English LAng and LIt next year. Is this a problem. I am aiming for a 6/7.
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