IB Programs

[Sneezyone]

DS can apply to our district’s IB program in a month or so and it’s likely he’d get in. He’s drawn to the interdisciplinary work and heavy emphasis on global affairs and service but I haven’t found anyone who’s gone through it to assure me it’ll be ok. Has anyone done (or had a child do) this program start to finish?what was your/their overall experience like?

Our district starts the pre-IB 9th graders with advanced bio and world history (year-long, block classes) then offers them the AP exam for European history and biology at the end of the year. Is there enough concurrence between IB and AP to make the exams worthwhile?  

What was the homework load like? DS has mostly honors classes now but doesn’t spend more than 30-45 minutes (mostly trombone) on homework and still has a 3.85+ GPA. Fast learner, very efficient uses of time, easily memorizes, reads for pleasure, but I think he needs some challenge to develop **actual** study habits. Are study skills part of the pre-IB scaffolding?

Anything else I should know?

 

[Lori D.]

From past threads, it looks like the quality of your IB program will greatly depend on the way the program is being implemented by your IB instructors, and what their major goal or thrust of the program is. The main impression I got from these past threads is that it was a LOT of busywork, and that it took away from being able to develop other interests / skills / strengths. But again, that is just the impression I got from these past threads. YMMV.

Here you go -- these are all linked at the bottom of POST 2 of the big pinned thread, "High School Motherlode #1", at the top of the High School Board:
 

IB  (International Baccalaureate)
What exactly is the IB program? 
Do you guys know anything about the IB program in high school?
IB vs AP Capstone vs homeschooling with college classes
IB and AP question 
Pros and Cons of an IB program in high school, and is it worth it? 
What do you think of the International Baccalaureate program for high school students? 
International Baccalaureate? (sharing of personal experiences with IB) 
Does anyone have experience with an IB program? 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Lori D.

[Bocky]

Since most of the linked threads are older, here's my 2 cents.

Getting info: Is the school planning to have an info night or open house event for the IB program? Dd19's HS did an info session at their fall back to school night and a separate info session as well. They laid out the basics of the program and you could meet teachers and current students. The IB director at the school might be willing to meet with you  and ds too. There was also a good description of how their IB program was implemented in their student courseguide online.

Pre-IB: DD's school has a world languages focused IB program. There was only one feeder school with a pre-IB (French dual immersion) but a lot of schools in the large local district with dual immersion programs in various languages. The HL level language classes were 90% students who had come up through the dual immersion classes from K. The 10% were native speakers and returned exchange students.

Study skills: At Dd's school, these were taught in a required 9th grade class which taught notetaking, research, and presenting skills.

The core of the IB program is taking the Theory of Knowledge class (which will help with study skills in terms of critical thinking and essay writing), three exams in 11th and three exams in 12 grade, 150 hours volunteering over 11th and12th, and the research essay. There were 2 or 3 year class sequences leading to the HL exams - for example honors Chemistry in 10th, IB Chem 1 in 11th and IB Chem 2 in 12th if you wanted to take the HL Chemistry exam. SL exams could be taken after 1 or 2 years - for example Environmental Science SL was a popular non-sciency student science exam taken in 11th or 12th after one class. If Bio and European history are your 9th grade classes, I would expect the IB classes to be on other topics because you can't take IB exams until end of junior year - so perhaps no Biology HL class is available.

Homework: IB classes functioned as a rigorous honors track. Science classes did have a lot of homework. Students who were taking 2 IB sciences definitely were super-stressed. Humanities-focused students really thrived. As a senior, Dd was taking IB Math Studies (the easiest math track), IB Global Politics SL and IB Spanish HL - homework was about 90 minutes a day.

When looking at college credit, it seemed more US universities granted AP credit than IB but that affected the more obscure classes (like IB Global Politics!) A high exam grade for most classes got the same credit as the high AP score.

Things to consider: Is it an open program where all students in the school are encouraged to take as many of the IB classes as they want or do you have to be full IB to get access? Do they have  the right HL classes for your student's interests? (Maybe a Music HL class?)

[Sneezyone]

On 11/1/2021 at 2:19 PM, Bocky said:

Since most of the linked threads are older, here's my 2 cents.

Getting info: Is the school planning to have an info night or open house event for the IB program? Dd19's HS did an info session at their fall back to school night and a separate info session as well. They laid out the basics of the program and you could meet teachers and current students. The IB director at the school might be willing to meet with you  and ds too. There was also a good description of how their IB program was implemented in their student courseguide online.

Pre-IB: DD's school has a world languages focused IB program. There was only one feeder school with a pre-IB (French dual immersion) but a lot of schools in the large local district with dual immersion programs in various languages. The HL level language classes were 90% students who had come up through the dual immersion classes from K. The 10% were native speakers and returned exchange students.

Study skills: At Dd's school, these were taught in a required 9th grade class which taught notetaking, research, and presenting skills.

The core of the IB program is taking the Theory of Knowledge class (which will help with study skills in terms of critical thinking and essay writing), three exams in 11th and three exams in 12 grade, 150 hours volunteering over 11th and12th, and the research essay. There were 2 or 3 year class sequences leading to the HL exams - for example honors Chemistry in 10th, IB Chem 1 in 11th and IB Chem 2 in 12th if you wanted to take the HL Chemistry exam. SL exams could be taken after 1 or 2 years - for example Environmental Science SL was a popular non-sciency student science exam taken in 11th or 12th after one class. If Bio and European history are your 9th grade classes, I would expect the IB classes to be on other topics because you can't take IB exams until end of junior year - so perhaps no Biology HL class is available.

Homework: IB classes functioned as a rigorous honors track. Science classes did have a lot of homework. Students who were taking 2 IB sciences definitely were super-stressed. Humanities-focused students really thrived. As a senior, Dd was taking IB Math Studies (the easiest math track), IB Global Politics SL and IB Spanish HL - homework was about 90 minutes a day.

When looking at college credit, it seemed more US universities granted AP credit than IB but that affected the more obscure classes (like IB Global Politics!) A high exam grade for most classes got the same credit as the high AP score.

Things to consider: Is it an open program where all students in the school are encouraged to take as many of the IB classes as they want or do you have to be full IB to get access? Do they have  the right HL classes for your student's interests? (Maybe a Music HL class?)

Thank you. Not sure why I’m just now seeing this but it helps with perspective. DS is a quiet, humanities kid through and through and will focus on English and history. Math, just MEH, is a sore spot. Science is OK too b/c of the vocabulary component. It’s where he/DD meet, lol. DS decided to apply to the IB program for our district and his teachers fully support that choice. His English teacher even selected him as ‘student of the week’ to augment his application b/c he chose not to select ‘honors’ for English/History but has a 98/99.XX in both. I make recommendations but give my kids veto power at this age). Overall, I’m happy with where things are going. DSs IB application is complete. Now we just wait for acceptance/rejection.

 

[Roadrunner]

2 hours ago, Sneezyone said:

Thank you. Not sure why I’m just now seeing this but it helps with perspective. DS is a quiet, humanities kid through and through and will focus on English and history. Math, just MEH, is a sore spot. Science is OK too b/c of the vocabulary component. It’s where he/DD meet, lol. DS decided to apply to the IB program for our district and his teachers fully support that choice. His English teacher even selected him as ‘student of the week’ to augment his application b/c he chose not to select ‘honors’ for English/History but has a 98/99.XX in both. I make recommendations but give my kids veto power at this age). Overall, I’m happy with where things are going. DSs IB application is complete. Now we just wait for acceptance/rejection.

 

I don’t have a direct experience, but I have friends who have gone through IB programs and loved it. The key is really how good the school is at running the program. Also it’s mostly for liberal arts kids, not so for math. 
So hopefully it will be a perfect fit for your DS. Fingers crossed on acceptance. 

[Sneezyone]

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

I don’t have a direct experience, but I have friends who have gone through IB programs and loved it. The key is really how good the school is at running the program. Also it’s mostly for liberal arts kids, not so for math. 
So hopefully it will be a perfect fit for your DS. Fingers crossed on acceptance. 

Thx. DS is definitely a liberal arts kid and he dislikes math. My impression is much like  yours so I hope he gets in. I found out during the virtual open house that 90% of students earn the IB diploma and most earn passing scores on their exams too so it should be good. One month until results come out!

Edited December 13, 2021 by Sneezyone