Random thought/rant/question, but, I just finished doing IGCSE and my school only offers IB so everyone staying at that school continued onto doing IB, and since I'm moving to the UK I'm going to be doing A levels - thing is I heard people saying that taking A levels is the "easy way out" just because we do less subjects and don't have to do the EE/ToK/CAS - I just feel like hearing this makes me feel like my education is being devalued in a way... Like if i achieved an A in for example A level chemistry and they were to achieve an A as well I feel like it would mean nothing... I don't know if this makes sense, but any advice/opinions?
Random thought/rant/question, but, I just finished doing IGCSE and my school only offers IB so everyone staying at that school continued onto doing IB, and since I'm moving to the UK I'm going to be doing A levels - thing is I heard people saying that taking A levels is the "easy way out" just because we do less subjects and don't have to do the EE/ToK/CAS - I just feel like hearing this makes me feel like my education is being devalued in a way... Like if i achieved an A in for example A level chemistry and they were to achieve an A as well I feel like it would mean nothing... I don't know if this makes sense, but any advice/opinions?
Forget what your friends are saying. They are completely ignorant to how different qualifications work.
A levels are a perfectly valid level 3 qualification which provide access to degree level courses. That's all that matters.
Forget what your friends are saying. They are completely ignorant to how different qualifications work.
A levels are a perfectly valid level 3 qualification which provide access to degree level courses. That's all that matters.
Hey, thanks for your reply. Yeah honestly it was ignorant of them... They act as if IB is the hardest thing in the world and now that they're doing the program they're technically the "geniuses" in the world of education as they'd say...
Random thought/rant/question, but, I just finished doing IGCSE and my school only offers IB so everyone staying at that school continued onto doing IB, and since I'm moving to the UK I'm going to be doing A levels - thing is I heard people saying that taking A levels is the "easy way out" just because we do less subjects and don't have to do the EE/ToK/CAS - I just feel like hearing this makes me feel like my education is being devalued in a way... Like if i achieved an A in for example A level chemistry and they were to achieve an A as well I feel like it would mean nothing... I don't know if this makes sense, but any advice/opinions?
ok lemme tell you an example, to do Mechanical Engineering at Imperial you need A*A*A and * need to be in Math and Physics. IB they required 40 points with 6 in Math HL and Physics HL.
Tell me how A Level is the easy way out when the Physic and Math course ( or any A level subject ) is equivalent to IB Higher Level.
Hey, thanks for your reply. Yeah honestly it was ignorant of them... They act as if IB is the hardest thing in the world and now that they're doing the program they're technically the "geniuses" in the world of education as they'd say...
Just ignore them, they will soon realise that they are small fish in a very big pond.
If A levels were somehow worse than IB then they wouldn't let A level students into university.
Just keep plodding along, do your A levels, and get to where you want to be in life - all whilst ignoring what your friends say as what they're saying is unfounded nonsense.
And also while it seem you only do 3 subjects, each subject required you to learn so many things and its so much broader than what IB can offer. Doing 3 subjects can already give you approximately 9 exams you have to deal with
ok lemme tell you an example, to do Mechanical Engineering at Imperial you need A*A*A and * need to be in Math and Physics. IB they required 40 points with 6 in Math HL and Physics HL.
Tell me how A Level is the easy way out when the Physic and Math course ( or any A level subject ) is equivalent to IB Higher Level.
I should tell this to them haha, and yeah I did read somewhere that A level subjects were equivalent to IB HL subjects, Thanks for your reply!
Random thought/rant/question, but, I just finished doing IGCSE and my school only offers IB so everyone staying at that school continued onto doing IB, and since I'm moving to the UK I'm going to be doing A levels - thing is I heard people saying that taking A levels is the "easy way out" just because we do less subjects and don't have to do the EE/ToK/CAS - I just feel like hearing this makes me feel like my education is being devalued in a way... Like if i achieved an A in for example A level chemistry and they were to achieve an A as well I feel like it would mean nothing... I don't know if this makes sense, but any advice/opinions?
A-Levels are an easy way out?
No other way of saying this, but they are talking ****.
Once you start A levels you will realise they are far from the 'easy way out'
They are DIFFICULT. And I got 8 A* at GCSE. There is a REASON why few people get A*s at A level. Even Oxford offers AAA to arts students and no university makes standard offers of A*A*A*. They are HARD. By doing A levels you are NOT undervaluing your education. Your friends do NOT know what they are talking about. While IB may be difficult (I am not particularly familar with it), it does not mean that A levels are easy, as I promise you they are not.
If A levels were somehow worse than IB then they wouldn't let A level students into university.
A-Levels were recently reformed to make them a bit harder and more discriminatory (IB hasn't been), so arguably there was a disparity.
Unis should in theory give equivalent offers, in practise the IB's seemed a bit harder. But the A-Level grades required are still the same despite the reform, so you'd hope it would've levelled out.
The only other comment is the IB is more 'rounded' than A-Level education and workload may be more (depends on the person and subjects picked ofc).
I'd say her friends have a point, moreso for pre-reform, but it's more nuanced and there's no reason to gloat. Doing well is doing well, focus on that.
Once you start A levels you will realise they are far from the 'easy way out'
They are DIFFICULT. And I got 8 A* at GCSE. There is a REASON why few people get A*s at A level. Even Oxford offers AAA to arts students and no university makes standard offers of A*A*A*. They are HARD. By doing A levels you are NOT undervaluing your education. Your friends do NOT know what they are talking about. While IB may be difficult (I am not particularly familar with it), it does not mean that A levels are easy, as I promise you they are not.
A-Levels were recently reformed to make them a bit harder and more discriminatory (IB hasn't been), so arguably there was a disparity.
Unis should in theory give equivalent offers, in practise the IB's seemed a bit harder. But the A-Level grades required are still the same despite the reform, so you'd hope it would've levelled out.
The only other comment is the IB is more 'rounded' than A-Level education and the workload may be more (depends on the person and subjects picked ofc).
I'd say her friends have a point, but it's more nuanced than that and there's no reason to gloat. Doing well is doing well, focus on that.
I'd also say that we have our "more rounded" education at GCSE level where we literally have to do every subject under the sun - if I had to do that again at 17/18 years old I would have given up; at the end of GCSE I was ready to start specialising in what I was interested in.
I'd also say that we have our "more rounded" education at GCSE level where we literally have to do every subject under the sun - if I had to do that again at 17/18 years old I would have given up; at the end of GCSE I was ready to start specialising in what I was interested in.
Good point, I don't even know what's pre-IB. But yes broad education is at GCSE, then narrowing occurs. For maths/physics say, I don't know what 'level' the IB goes up to, or how it prepares you for AEA/STEP/Uni.
I had the same query RE Scottish Highers. Ultimately you'd hope a good student should be able to fully display their ability under any of these systems.