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Is IB really worth it?

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Hey everyone,

I've been told to think about my sixth form choices and am considering doing the IB?

I would take
HL maths , chem , bio
SL eng, economics , spanish

with the aim of being a medic?

Would anyone who has done it recommend it?
How much work per night is it?

Any advice would be appreciated

:confused:

Thanks!

I'd say yes, and i didn't even have the best experience of it. I was miserable during the last two years of high school (well, for a lot of it), and I was doing subjects that I didn't enjoy (lots of science and maths when I was more adept at humanities).

But overall it was a positive experience because it's a well-rounded education and although it gets intense at times, it's very rewarding. One misconception I have to correct: that it's hard. It's really not, fi you are willing to put in the time and effort for it. Yes, your social life will suffer, but it was bound to in the last 2 years of high school anyway. But really, if you study regularly and pretty much learn your syllabi from the beginning (make notes for your subjects as soon as you can, that's REALLY what's on the exam, not rocket science).

Also, tailor your subjects. Give consideration to what medicine requires, and also then what you enjoy and are naturally good at. Two years of rigorous studying can be made so much easier when you're doing subjects that you naturally enjoy. So if a class makes you unhappy or you feel it's too hard, consider dropping it or switching levels. Don't worry about HL or SL at this point, really. Although as far as I know, HL and SL English are fairly similar and HL's not all that challenging apart from an additional essay.

Anyway, I think it's worth it. If you put in time and effort and work hard for the next two years, it is absolutely, definitely guaranteed to pay dividends (i.e. this will translate to an excellent score). Don't feel intimidated by it and the amount of work, to get into medicine by any system you'd have to work bloody hard. The IB offers a real opportunity to tailor to your strengths and interests, and things like TOK and the Extended Essay do take extra time but 3 points make SUCH a difference. The CAS requirement is also good for getting you away from your books.

But I just wanted to let you know: it's entirely manageable and can at times provide an excellent alternative to other systems (I know it did for me). The long hours of study and committment are really what you would be expected to do to get into a challenging course. But it's not unduly difficult, if you study and pretty much follow the syllabi, you'll breeze through it. It can be a trying experience that seems never-ending, but in the end you'll realise that it stretches you and matures you and more often than not translates to brilliant grades.

Good luck.

Reply 21

Welix

Everyone's pretty much said it.

Don't listen to anyone just telling you "ZOMG NOT HL MATHS" though. If you enjoy maths, don't be intimidated by it. I found it by far the most rewarding subject. I won't lie and tell you that it was by far the hardest of all my subjects, demanding more time than them put together, but it is absolutely addictive to see your grades slowly inching upwards throughout the 2 years :colone:

Also, for medicine, maths HL will look much better than any other subject (even though one of my classmates did the 3 sciences at HL because he got special permission from the IB)

I'm not sure where people get this "IBers can't socialise" idea though :confused:

I went out almost all friday's and a lot of the saturdays, especially in the first year. How much do people expect to "socialise" in sixth form?!

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 22

timothyravinder

Thanks again guys.

Also, how's SL English, English is my weakest subject and is one of the things putting me off IB..

Anybody done iGCSE English then IB English?

Also, can you do your EE and CAS hours over summer?

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 23

Scribblet

Original post by Welix

I went out almost all friday's and a lot of the saturdays, especially in the first year. How much do people expect to "socialise" in sixth form?!

I can see your point about HL. The maths is much more interesting and it gave me more satisfaction than SL does but I just wasn't good enough to do it.

Also I agree with the socialisation point - life is not like an episode of Skins

Reply 24

timothyravinder

Anyone know if you get frees on IB? Does it depend on your school?

Whats the IA for the sciences, im confused? :confused:

Reply 25

green chica

Original post by Nayred

My friend is doing the IB and I respect him for it because it's something different. The IB is a lot more work because it is the equivalent of 6 A-levels (if you achieve the top grade that is). I think it takes a lot more brains because you have to take maths, science, languages, humanities and art. The other benefit about the IB is that it's internationally recognised. If you travel to the US or other countries, you're more likely to get acknowledged than someone who studied A-levels, which is only really recognised in the UK. I think as years go on more and more colleges will introduce the IB and more students will choose to do it. Universities love the IB and are accepting more and more students who do it. If you're prepared to do a lot of work and have the brains then do it (a recommended minimum of 8 GCSE grades at B-grade is recommended).

ah! be careful with that. i did IB and i'm from america. whether or not they recognize IB in the US actually has a lot more to do with the location of the school and the school itself than anything else. on the east coast, IB is accepted in some schools. on the west coast, not so much. IB is just beginning to start up in the US. AP is way more popular and recognized. so, if you're going to study in another country, make sure you do some research on the schools you want to go to. IB really ****ed me over because there was a misrepresentation on the acceptance of it in colleges (uni). i was told that it was pretty widely accepted, which really isn't the truth.

Reply 26

Ktk

^^^IB is fairly well accepted... A 6-7 on an HL exam will warrant you the same credits as a 4-5 on an AP exam (though 6 is infinitely harder to attain than a 5 IMO). I live in America as well; we've 8 classes a term and 3-6 of these are to be devoted to IB for diploma candidates.

I'm taking 6HLs (2 for kicks, being biology and computer science HL, I've already taken 2 SL exams(CompSci & Spanish) last year) and Math/English/History/Physics HL for what I'll be testing in this year. IB courses really aren't hard in concepts, as is for any school system, but the workload is just asinine when all the IB courses converge.

At any given time there are a few projects to be done whether they're IA's or an IOC or EE or whatnot, but really everyone I know is fine and have an active social life - I have been vegetating in front of the computer all day today after cranking out around 12000 words in the past week for ToK and a history essay. These numbers may sound daunting, but once you get into IB and adapt to the pace of it all, it's actually not nearly as bad what people make it out to be.

Math HL is only bad at our school because our teacher doesn't know what she's talking about as she teaches us our option (sets groups relations) so I have to study all that myself which I'm not really going to object to, but it is highly annoying. And no one likes the class but me and a few others, probably because they thought Math HL would be a class that would be good to take to "look good for colleges", only to be sorely disappointed that this class actually requires thinking about problems. Math IA's DO take a lot of time, if you aren't slanted towards math you'll find that no matter how hard you try you won't get the solution within a small amount of time. It's not the mindless repetition I've had in the past (even in SL math, haha.) Sorry for the rant.

Homework takes more or less 2-5-16 hours a night. 16 being when you procrastinate the entirety of your Extended Essay or ToK journals and have to get a mountain of work done before school starts the next day. ^^;

IB English is annoying, but then I am science-oriented.

You're not going to spend the rest of your days doing homework if you do IB.

Reply 27

HildaBaby

Original post by Welix

I went out almost all friday's and a lot of the saturdays, especially in the first year. How much do people expect to "socialise" in sixth form?!

Sweetie you are a freak of nature.

Reply 28

Welix

Original post by HildaBaby

Sweetie you are a freak of nature.

Because I like HL maths or because I was able to go out fridays and saturdays :tongue:

Original post by Ktk

You're not going to spend the rest of your days doing homework if you do IB.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 29

Focus08

Original post by Welix

Because I like HL maths or because I was able to go out fridays and saturdays :tongue:

How's your World Econ essay going?

Reply 30

HildaBaby

Original post by Welix

Because I like HL maths or because I was able to go out fridays and saturdays :tongue:

exactly man, you went out on weekends, had fun, actually enjoyed hl math and still got good grades.
there is a reason why the rest of us IB slaves should hunt you down. the best grade i've gotten so far is a 6, and i was like over the moon because i never understand anything my teacher is going on about....

Reply 31

Welix

Original post by HildaBaby

I only really enjoyed maths in the end (but that has stayed with me). I didn't like it when I was getting 2's and 3's at the beginning :wink:

And it's not like I went out all the time in April and May, I was at home constantly revising and studying... You need to get out at least once a week at other times though, just to give your brain a break! Friday is the best time to do that, even if it doesn't mean go out, but read a book or watch a movie or do absolutely nothing. I think that's really helpful with making you productive for the rest of the weekend.

Reply 32

timothyravinder

Thanks!

What humanities would people recommend as 'easy'ish ?

How hard is English SL?

Reply 33

Scribblet

Original post by timothyravinder

Thanks!

What humanities would people recommend as 'easy'ish ?

How hard is English SL?

I do SL, it's not too bad. I'm a science person myself sometimes I get very frustrated with having to analyse what one word might mean, but strictly speaking you don't have to read all the books... :rolleyes: