IB - Choices

Hi, I've just finished my GCSEs and I've secured a place at a leading independent school for IB, but i'm unsure as to whether I should go because I'm only an A grade student for English.

How hard is Standard level English?

If I work hard in English is it possible for me to get a 6?

And how hard is IB on a whole - I'm quite organised, so i'm mainly asking about the difficulty of the subjects specifically.

Reply 1

Henry2

having done IB myself, I believe being an 'A-grade' student at GCSE could definitely lead to a 6 at IB SL English. I certainly would not say the same for mathematics though.

IB subjects vary wildly in difficulty; however, English is one of the easier ones to do fairly well in. By this I mean getting a 6 because a 7 is quite hard to achieve.

Reply 2

king_revision

Original post by Henry2

Thank you. Well, I'm not too worried about maths as I got an A* in maths in jan

English was my main worry and would be the main decider as to whether I accept the offer or not.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

Henry2

Out of interest, which school are you talking about?

Reply 4

king_revision

King Edwards Independent Boys School

Reply 5

fairisle13

Original post by king_revision

King Edwards Independent Boys School

Is this the one in Chelmsford? There's no reason why you can't do well provided you practice your essay writing and do the required reading. I got an A in GCSE English and got a 6 in HL English (2 marks off a 7 :mad:

).
Are you going English Literature or English Language and Literature?
EDIT: just realised the one I'm thinking of is a grammar school!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

king_revision

Original post by fairisle13

).
Are you going English Literature or English Language and Literature?
EDIT: just realised the one I'm thinking of is a grammar school!

It's in Birmingham, Edgbaston. And nice, I was told that it just requires a lot of hard work which I think is true to every subject really.

Reply 7

fairisle13

Original post by king_revision

It's in Birmingham, Edgbaston. And nice, I was told that it just requires a lot of hard work which I think is true to every subject really.

I actually found it to be the subject with the lightest workload to be honest, but then again I was also taking a new (ab initio) language and two humanities subjects (huge workload) and I had to work more for maths and because it's my weakest subject. It's difficult to say how you will do because everyone is different, but getting an A at GCSE doesn't mean you won't do well.
IB is a huge workload in general, there's no getting away from it but you have to take English as a requirement anyway it comes with the territory.
Maybe knowing more about what you'll be doing on the course would help you, perhaps you could e-mail the school to ask some questions about it?
There is some info on the IBO website but it is limited http://www.ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/group1/LanguageAliterature.cfm
(if you are going to be doing just literature)
http://www.ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/group1/LanguageAlanguageandliterature.cfm
(if you are going to be doing language and literature)