I find it extremely unfair that IB students get results much earlier.

and if you're still going to complain, remember you guys have three subjects to study, and we have six subjects plus a 4000 word extended essay and a 1500 word TOK essay.

Also - I guess there's just a ******** less papers to mark, although I dunno how many more students take A-levels compared to the IB.

Maybe the IBO is just a lot more efficient and demanding with marking deadlines, though. I mean, students have to get six subjects marked, on top of a philosophy essay and an extended essay, so being able to mark that by early July compared to August is pretty impressive IMO...

If anyone is interested, I've emailed QCA and asked them if it would be possible to send me a brief overview of that marking process for A-Levels.

If it's like GCSEs, though, my English teacher (for GCSE) told me that GCSEs have to go through several tiers. Like, the examination of papers will be done. And then a selection of marked papers from each examiner has to go to an examination examiner who will check the quality of marking. And then a selection will go to the chief examiner. Or something. Which sounds ridiculous, but when you think about it, it makes sense. I'd rather wait ages and be more confident than mistakes don't happen (not to say it's foolproof, but yeah) than to think that getting a C was absolutely not my fault (even though it probably was :P).

The EB is the European Baccalaureate ... and tbh I don't think there are that many more people doing A-Levels than the IB. The IBO sets a deadline of max 2weeks that each examiner gets to mark the essays.. and they each get about 150 essays to mark so I think its really impressive that the IBO gets our results in time! But yeah this is a rather pointless thread, its not unfair, we only find out if we got in to our unis earlier, there's no priority at all when it comes to courses. Those who miss their offer slightly will find out after A-Levels come out whether they get in or not...
and if you're still going to complain, remember you guys have three subjects to study, and we have six subjects plus a 4000 word extended essay and a 1500 word TOK essay.

PLUS CAS, Math Portfolio, other subjects commentaries/portfolios, lab reports, and many many essays in the language subjects!!!!!!!!!

All AS level students finished by 2nd June, most that I know by 28th. Last proper A levels were like the 17th/18/19thish. That means the AS students finished a week after you and then have to wait 2 months and 20 days, and A2 students have to wait 2 months. That's still longer than you.

I mean, I don't really care that you get yours earlier, because it's international and so doesn't really come under the same umbrella, and it's definitely not "unfair", but I don't think "we finished earlier" is a valid rebuttal of the OPs post.

Forgive me for being naive, but what is IB? I've seen it mentioned around here quite a bit but have no clue what it is.

IB = International Baccalaureate ... its a diploma programme that International School students do during the last 2 years of high school

look on page 2 to get an explanation of what it is

I know, only the first part of my post was your answer haha sorry!

First of all, EB is taken by students who go to the European schools (most of their parents work for the EU), while the IB is mostly taken by students who go to International School.
The IB is marked out of a max grade of 45, while the EB is marked as a percentage of 100. For the IB, each subject is marked out of a grade 1-7, and then you can get up to 3 extra points for the combined grades of your TOK Essay and Extended Essay.
75-80% of an IB:ers final science/humanities/math/arts grade is from the exam taken in May, and 20-25% is from an Internal assesment (project) while for languages the exam taken in May is worth 50% and the orals and written internal assessments are worth 50%. For EB:ers, their grading works like this:
15% coursework from 7th year (last year of EB)
25% exams in January
24% Oral exams in June
36% Written exams in June

For the IB you take 6 subjects, plus write a 4000 word Extended Essay and a 1500 word TOK (its like philosophy) essay. For the EB you take 11 subjects.

Both the EB and the IB comprise of many compulsory subjects.
The EB comprises of the following compulsory subjects: a foreign language, a science, mathematics, philosophy, gym, history and geography (these are taught in the students' first foreign language, i.e. English, German or French).
The IB comprises of the following compulsory subjects: at least 1 foreign language, English, at least 1 science, at least 1 humanities subject (geography, history, ITGS, B&M, Economics, Philosophy or Phsycology), and math. Optional subjects include art, theatre and music. In total you need to have 6 subjects.

For the IB we have to take at least 3 subjects at Higher Level (HL) and 3 subjects at Standard Level (SL). The higher level subjects are usually graded harder have more exams because if you study a subject at a higher level you are expected to have further knowledge of the subject than if you were at standard level. There are therefore more teaching hours for a HL subject than a SL subject.

ok a long post sorry but hope you have further understanding of what the difference between the two are now

Oh boo-*******-hoo. A-level guys lave LONGER to learn and revise, so it's LONGER before the results come out.

Stop winging. You lot have every advantage - you can do retakes; you only have to do a couple of subjects; your qualification is a doss. Live with the one upshot of A-levels.

Last time I checked A levels were still the gold standard. A levels prepare you better for university as we go into far more detail with our subjects. So i wouldn't call it a doss you ****

Actually last time I checked, the IB was ranked higher by the unis than A-Levels.

Actually last time I checked, the IB was ranked higher by the unis than A-Levels.

How would you know you don't even live here.

To be honest if you want something to be pissed about, why not get pissed that students doing Highers and IB will have access to clearing places before A-Level students ?