A level or IB?

I've got subject choices now for Y12 and have the choice of doing A level or IB, I've been weighing it up and its in the balance:
IB: More breadth of subjects, more work (more coursework), University's apparently like them more, Stand out on a CV. Finish the course early so there is less time before exams
A level: Standard building on GCSE, more free periods, can't really go wrong
I learn French GCSE and I'm ok at it but I don't know, the thing that's putting me off IB is the amount of coursework for Chemistry for e.g i'm normally better at operating in an exam than in practical work.
If I were to take IB, my subjects would probably be Higher Level Bio, Chem, Maths and Standard level Econ, English and French
If I were to take A level my subjects would be Maths, Bio, Chem, Econ
Any past experiences would be appreciated!

Reply 1

anonimo-10

Hi! I'm a IB student (Y13), from my experience yes the IB is demanding but you do get the opportunity to do things you enjoy in the IAs (internal assessments - aka coursework), and they are generally worth 20%-25% of your final grade. And my school's counsellors said the IB does stand out a lot more than A levels, especially if you are an international student. If you're already a good student in GCSE then it would not be hard to get 40+ in my opinion. However, I would say that your choices for HL subjects is very demanding, they are probably the hardest to get 7. But of course that depends on how much you enjoy the subjects and how much effort you put into them. A further tip to choose the subjects (I know you didn't ask about that, but this advice was really helpful to me and my friends): you need to make a combination between what universities require/like to see (for example I want to study law, there are no requirements but they like essay writing subjects so I chose HL history, English literature and geography), what you like to study and what is definitely going to allow you to have good grades.