IB= 5.5 As at A level

NuMbA1hUnEy

sorry to tell you but we now have an award and it is officially recognised to be worth that much unfortunately it will not be put in to practice til 2008

Well, utter trash if you ask me. *shrug*

Top universities don't give out offers in terms of UCAS points anyway.. unis like LSE/Imperial/Oxbridge give out grade requirements. For 'A' level they usually ask for AAA, and IB they ask for 38-39. I don't forsee that changing anytime.

good point ..

is it true LSE points offers exclude bonus points (TOK and EE)

Reply 24

*Mike*

11

ive heard of people getting offers from LSE with bonus points included, but it depends on the individual what offer they get.

Reply 25

kizer

15

This obviously makes no sense. If the AVERAGE score at Sevenoaks is 38, then surely 38 should be equilavent to the average level of attainment at schools like Sevenoaks, i.e. 3 As? Not 5 As?

What a load of *******s.

Reply 26

kizer

15

33% of grades awarded in IB are 6 or 7 (source: IBO stats page linked a few threads down).

About 20% of A Levels are grade A

So getting a 6 or 7 is not equivalent to an A: it is significantly easier. The worst 6s awarded are more like an average B in A levels.

EDIT: just come up with an even better way of seeing how stupid the comparison is.

According to the site above again, 66% of grades awarded are 5, 6 or 7.

According to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000630/SFR01-2006v1.pdf

69.8% of grades awarded are at grade A, B or C

Therefore a score of 30 with no bonus points (getting 5 in each level) seems much more similar to a candidate getting Cs in their A levels.

Working on percentages, then on average, an IB mark of about 6.3 is equivalent (just based on how many people get it) to an A at A level.

This suggests that the true comparison to a straight A student is about 38 - or what Oxford, Cambridge et al knew already.

As far as I'm concerned that article has been completely statistically trashed.

Reply 27

No thats ridiculous. this doesnt take into account anything. the students who take the IB are genearlly cleverer than those taking A-Levels. to get a good grade students ahve to work harder in IB. consequently they will work harder if they want a good grade. Logically the number of people getting 6/7 or A/B should be about the same.

its all psychological people think they are worth a 6, just as people think they are worth a B. they will work to a level taht means they will get that grade or be in a good position to get that grade. I do not think the same effort is required for a 6/7 in IB to a A/B in A-Level. this would not reflect in the number of people that get the grade. because the grades are not determined by the number of hours spent working for them.

if someone is told they need AAB they'l work to get AAB just as if someone is told they need 667 they will work to get that. if someone was told they needed AAAAB from A level and someone was told tyeh needed 38 points 677 then they would work to get those things. and perhaps by that stage the work put in by an A level student would be equivelant to the work of an IB student

those stats are not correct because they relate purely to attainment not the work around the attainment. people will naturally work to what they think they should/could/need to get. so if that requires more effort at IB than Alevels more work will be done

Reply 28

and kizer how many people take/are encouraged to take 5 A levels. they dont need 5 a levels for their oxford they need 3 contrastingly people need 38/40 points. people work for what they need. how stupid would it be for a A level student to work their ass off four 5 As at A level when they could do less work and be in the same position as someone who had worked their ass off and got 38 poitns IB

Reply 29

No thats ridiculous. this doesnt take into account anything. the students who take the IB are genearlly cleverer than those taking A-Levels.

What the heck did you base that sweeping and grossly inaccurate generalisation on?

Reply 30

rawkingpunkster

kizer

33% of grades awarded in IB are 6 or 7 (source: IBO stats page linked a few threads down).

About 20% of A Levels are grade A

So getting a 6 or 7 is not equivalent to an A: it is significantly easier. The worst 6s awarded are more like an average B in A levels.

EDIT: just come up with an even better way of seeing how stupid the comparison is.

According to the site above again, 66% of grades awarded are 5, 6 or 7.

According to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000630/SFR01-2006v1.pdf

69.8% of grades awarded are at grade A, B or C

Therefore a score of 30 with no bonus points (getting 5 in each level) seems much more similar to a candidate getting Cs in their A levels.

Working on percentages, then on average, an IB mark of about 6.3 is equivalent (just based on how many people get it) to an A at A level.

This suggests that the true comparison to a straight A student is about 38 - or what Oxford, Cambridge et al knew already.

As far as I'm concerned that article has been completely statistically trashed.

You're doing hell lot of unjustice to IB people, because our coursework is much more than A levels. A levels they just slack through tutorials, work hard for 6 months and then you can get the As. IB requires you to churn out quality work throughout the year

Reply 31

Kenneth, won't you only be going to university in 4 years?

Reply 32

Chestnyh Psihov

IB requires you to churn out quality work throughout the year

Yeah, also with A-Levels, half of your pressure is "taken away" in the first year, as you sit your AS's - whereas with the IB, we have to wait right until the end of our upper sixth year to do ALL the final external exams. Some people prefer this, but in a way it's not so good, as if you become sick (most probably from stress!) half-way through your IB, then you have no qualifications, but an A-Level person will at least have some grades from their AS's to work with. But yeah, ultimately they're very different qualifications - so it's very hard to compare them both I think. It does annoy me when people say that the IB is for people who are much more intelligent than A-Levels people - cos that's blatantly not true. Don't get me wrong, the IB is shockingly difficult, but then so are A-Levels (so my 'A-Level friends' tell me) - so you know, there shouldn't be this distinction between people who do the Bac and people who do A-Levels - we all get into university in the end, don't we (well usually... :wink:

)

Reply 33

Chestnyh Psihov

Yeah, also with A-Levels, half of your pressure is "taken away" in the first year, as you sit your AS's - whereas with the IB, we have to wait right until the end of our upper sixth year to do ALL the final external exams. Some people prefer this, but in a way it's not so good, as if you become sick (most probably from stress!) half-way through your IB, then you have no qualifications, but an A-Level person will at least have some grades from their AS's to work with. But yeah, ultimately they're very different qualifications - so it's very hard to compare them both I think. It does annoy me when people say that the IB is for people who are much more intelligent than A-Levels people - cos that's blatantly not true. Don't get me wrong, the IB is shockingly difficult, but then so are A-Levels (so my 'A-Level friends' tell me) - so you know, there shouldn't be this distinction between people who do the Bac and people who do A-Levels - we all get into university in the end, don't we (well usually... :wink:

)

FYI, whether people sit for the 'A' levels in a modular structure or all of the exams at one go at the end of the 2nd year varies from country to country. I sat for all of my exams at the end of my 2nd year, within the span of 2 weeks. 2-3 papers per subject, each 3h long.

Reply 34

Knogle

What the heck did you base that sweeping and grossly inaccurate generalisation on?

i dunno how inaccurate it is 2bh. i know taht at my school wherhe they offer both they recommend IB to smarter people and it is generally smarter people who do the IB at my school.

i look at schools in the area where i live and a lot of people doing A-levels arent that smart well some are obviously but some are pretty stupid. i mean i think the IB punishes u a lot harder for not working than doing A levels.

for example u do piss all work in AS level for a certain subject its ok u can drop it. i dont think its that grossly innacurate actaully. only looking at UK students where they offer A levels and IB. maybe in terms of countries where they only offer IB...do they exist i dunno but in UK i think its accurate to say that students doing IB would have a higher IQ than average A level

and let the flame war begin...

Reply 35

andy_cole2

i dunno how inaccurate it is 2bh. i know taht at my school wherhe they offer both they recommend IB to smarter people and it is generally smarter people who do the IB at my school.

i look at schools in the area where i live and a lot of people doing A-levels arent that smart well some are obviously but some are pretty stupid. i mean i think the IB punishes u a lot harder for not working than doing A levels.

for example u do piss all work in AS level for a certain subject its ok u can drop it. i dont think its that grossly innacurate actaully. only looking at UK students where they offer A levels and IB. maybe in terms of countries where they only offer IB...do they exist i dunno but in UK i think its accurate to say that students doing IB would have a higher IQ than average A level

and let the flame war begin...

Bullocks.

Most people don't have the option between the IB and 'A' level.

And if this segregation is done at your school, don't assume that it happens worldwide.

Gosh, and you consider yourself to have a higher IQ? Clearly your thoughts don't reflect so. :rolleyes:

Reply 36

pianofingers

10

UCAS did some kind of a report comparing the IB and A-level examinations.

The reason why the IB seems to have a sky high tariff is because:

Every HL subject gets graded like so on the tariff:

7: 130
6: 110
5: 80
4: 50
3: 20

... because it was deemed by the guys doing the report that a 6 is a lower A, while a 7 is a higher A, hence 110 and 130 respectively (an A at 'A' level is counted as a 'middle' A, with 120).

Every SL subject gets graded like so on the tariff:

7: 86
6: 73
5: 53
4: 33
3: 13

... because it was deemed that an SL subject's syllabus is 2/3 of the size of an 'A' level syllabus.

The 3 bonus points are represented like so on the tariff:

3: 120
2: 80
1: 40
0: 10

... this is to be inline with doing the 6 Key Skills qualifications at Level 3, worth 120 points.

Thus, a candidate with 45 would typically have 130+130+130+86+86+86+120 = 768.

The other values are then worked out using a regression line, all the way down to minimum pass, 24.

Reply 37

Chestnyh Psihov

FYI, whether people sit for the 'A' levels in a modular structure or all of the exams at one go at the end of the 2nd year varies from country to country. I sat for all of my exams at the end of my 2nd year, within the span of 2 weeks. 2-3 papers per subject, each 3h long.

Ok, but FYI I'm speaking for the majority of the people in England - because that's where I live and that's what almost everyone does over here - but maybe it's different in the Arctic (or wherever you come from)...

Reply 38

Chestnyh Psihov

Ok, but FYI I'm speaking for the majority of the people in England - because that's where I live and that's what almost everyone does over here - but maybe it's different in the Arctic (or wherever you come from)...

Right.. it's a fair point to make and I generally agree with your sentiments. Cheers.

Reply 39