IB vs. A-levels

Now, now, touchy much? So if sweeping the streets would get you into university, would you do that rather than A levels? After all, you'd be 'stupid' 'to do so much more to ultimately achieve the same thing'.

I don't know about anyone else, but my mind's been changed

No because sweeping the streets isn't a form of education and doesn't prepare you for higher education

What a ridiculous comparison.

sigh.... you really shot yourself in the foot back there - I was only taking your logic to the extreme. (Implying that doing more work for the same goal is stupidity is what's ridiculous)
Was my analogy really that unclear? I had hoped it was obvious.

sigh.... you really shot yourself in the foot back there - I was only taking your logic to the extreme. (Implying that doing more work for the same goal is stupidity is what's ridiculous)
Was my analogy really that unclear? I had hoped it was obvious.

Isn't wasn't an extreme version of my case though, it was completely irrelevant. Why would it not be ridiculous to 'work harder' [in heavily inverted commas] to achieve the same goal?

I'm very wary entering a topic like this.. but here goes.

A lot of people are (rightly IMO) saying that 4000 words isn't anything to make a song or dance about, but I don't think the word count is the main reason behind the extended essay. It's much more about the skills you pick up whilst doing it. It's not like what my friends are given for A-levels, where it might be (for example) "To what extent is the theme of X portreyed in novels Y and Z?". It involves finding a subject that you enjoy, narrowing it down to a topic that interests you, and getting enough research to make it original. Mine was French B, and I created questionnaires that me and my supervisor got some french people to complete. Some others did it in Biology, and they had to arrange and timetable in their own pracs.
What I guess I'm saying is that a lot more work goes into a good EE than 4000 words, it's not something you could not have a title Friday afternoon and hand in a complete copy Monday morning.

And although I'm sure that there are dozens of different types of cw in Alevels that are as challenging as the EE, people (admissions tutors etc) don't see the extra work that the best A level students put in, because many assume (wrongly) that all A levels canditates have been spoonfed their coursework.

Gosh you're stubborn... well yes, but frankly I've given oodles of points to back me up and you haven't. Again, what exactly is the basis of your argument?? Cutting across other people's points with no counterclaims and a 'you've no place to say that!' type of attitude isn't helping.
This whole thread is a comparison hence the title "IB vs. A-Levels".

If you genuinely think the average A level student is more of an independent learner than the average IB student, convince me.

That's why you should choose to do Cambridge Pre-Us if possible. Its like the classic A levels, except possibly even more difficult.

Lol yea I had a look at them, seem like a pretty good idea, but why is the physics one multiple choice?! (Only looked at the maths and physics papers). I would definately rather do Pre-Us over A levels with this A* stuff, that just proves you can do a few more questions of the same difficulty.

Whoop-de-f*cking do, congratulations! If you're going to keep complaining about the work load then why on Earth did you take the qualification in the first place? Sorry, but that's completely illogical and this isn't a competition to prove who does the most work. Please don't give me any crap like it's fueling your independence skills either.

At the end of the day, IB gives you no advantages over A levels, not in this present day, so if you believe it's the case that you have to do so much more to ultimately achieve the same thing, then you're stupid for taking IB.

Urm, Physics always has had multiple choice questions, I think.

I've come across 1 in the whole of my physics A level. Pre-U on the other hand seem to be entirely comprised of them. http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/qualifications/preu/specimenpapers_markschemes/Physics_SpecimenBooklet.pdf

My history c/w (GCSE) currently stands at 5800 words, and its not completely finished. My other history coursework and my 2 R/S coursework pieces all exceed 4000 words. I appreciate that the level of difficulty of the IB work will be much greater, but 4000 words is not that much. Even with the rest of the work, it should only take a few hours.

My history c/w (GCSE) currently stands at 5800 words, and its not completely finished. My other history coursework and my 2 R/S coursework pieces all exceed 4000 words. I appreciate that the level of difficulty of the IB work will be much greater, but 4000 words is not that much. Even with the rest of the work, it should only take a few hours.

hmm i agree with Jim Grey regarding EE... i finished my IB in november 07. but truthfully, i think Extended Essay is the hardest thing in the entire IB syllabus coursework. So much so that, when i completed my final draft and handed it in, it felt really like a huge accomplishment and i actually was proud of my 37 page essay.

the whole process is, i admit, tedious and tough. thinking up the title, putting enough contents in to meet the IB marking Rubrics. your research must actually be a research with application, instead of just dredging up facts from the internet and pasting it on your essay.
chasing after your EE supervisor on a weekly basis to meet up and improve the essay. i even went to another country to collect/obtain data. so your 'it should only take a few hours' hardly applies when people do make an effort to hole themselves up in labs to do science EEs, or visit other countries to actually observe personally for the humanities EEs.

4000 words with content is no mean feat, so i suggest Ray_Han to not cheapen the status of EE in the IB syllabus.

and for your info, EE is not our only essay to be done. theres TOK and WorldLit which are compulsory coursework, not subject dependent, while your history coursework is subject dependent.

and yes i do feel that a-levels sciences and maths syllabus are arguably harder. (well at least for Singapore A-levels, not sure about the British ones), and i feel that IB science SL syllabus are admittedly light, with no depth. so im not a hardcore IB supporter if you must know, to put down your nonchalance and belittling of the Extended Essay.

Im not saying it was easy, I said it was a difficult task, probably due to the research involved. However, what I was saying is that the word count itself was not that high.

That doesn't make the essay less difficult, though. Sticking to the word count is one of the most difficult things about the EE, as you're heavily penalised if it runs over 4000 words. So you somehow have to cram all the information in and get your point across, but also keep within the word limit.

I see. I'm not trying to belittle IB here, its just that some people said 4000 words as though it was a lot (of words for an essay). Anyway i'll go now.

I am an IB student, and I do agree that 4000 words is not much. But that's a problem itself. I did my EE on PEM Fuel cells, and I ended up having 7000 words.

It took me more than a week to make it 4000! And you need to decide what to have, and what to omit. It is not easy, trust me.