What Do Colleges Think of IB and AP? As it turns out, colleges don't automatically consider AP or IB harder or more impressive on a transcript. Since IB is a rarer program, they can't penalize students for not taking it.
In fact, universities tend to admit IB students at a higher rate than their non-IB counterparts. So if you had the US in mind for university, definitely consider the IB. Most of the top US colleges will even give you credits for your Diploma Program subjects if you get over a certain score.
The difficulty of the IB is based on the variety of subjects you have to take as I said, and the workload you have. With IAs, EE, TOK and CAS, there's a lot to do and little time to do it. These projects can be really hard and a lot of people leave them to the last minute (myself included).
The short answer is that Harvard does take IB scores into consideration. In fact, it is believed that a high scoring IB diploma (DP) correlates well with success in the Harvard application. However, it is important for IB students to score at least 38 points and above if they are aiming for an ivy league school.
How much homework is there for IB classes? It is expected that students will receive about 20 minutes of homework per class per night. So 5 classes should be 1h40m of homework; however, instructors are aware that some classes require more others less homework, so instructors focus on the overall amount of work given.
Which Courses Make the HARDEST IB Diploma?
- Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature. English A Literature HL – Average Score: 4.67.
- Group 2: Language Acquisition. Spanish AB.
- Group 3: Individuals and Societies. History HL – Average Score: 4.29.
IB and AP Classes Can Lead to College CreditBoth IB and AP classes culminate in an exam, and students may be able to earn college credit depending on their scores. "If you are successful on the assessment, then it is invaluable in terms of how much money you save on college credit," Nelson says.
2020 Results
| # | Avg. Points | Name |
|---|
| 1 | 42.0 | Anglo Chinese School |
| = | 42.0 | Diocesan Boys' School |
| 3 | 41.8 | St Paul's Co-educational College |
| 4 | 41.7 | King's College School - Wimbledon |
IB students often perform betterIB World School students develop strong academic, social and emotional characteristics. They are also likely to perform well academically – often better than students on other programmes.
In NSW, you have to study at least eight ATAR “units”, of which six have to be what are called Category A, plus two units of English. Category A units are defined as having “academic rigour” and a “depth of knowledge” required for tertiary studies.
Mr Dhall noted that, while parts of certain IB courses may be “conceptually harder” than the HSC, a less competent IB student could still perform better than a more competent HSC student, because the ATAR derived from an IB is more likely to scale up.
The mean
score posted by TASIS candidates who obtained an
IB Diploma was 34.1, which tops the 2020 worldwide
average by more than three points.
Diploma scores exceed world average by nearly three points.
| Average Candidate Diploma Score (5-year trend) |
|---|
| TASIS Average | Worldwide Average |
|---|
| 2018 | 31.5 | 29.8 |
| 2019 | 32.2 | 29.6 |
International Baccalaureate (IB) - Participating Australian Schools. We regard the IB as a high quality, viable education alternative both for "domestic" Australians and for expatriate Australians who wish to maintain continuity in their children's education.
The IB diploma is recognized by all major tertiary institu- tions in Australia. Most Australian higher education institutions accept IB diploma results as an equivalent to an Australian Year 12 qualification, and students' IB results will be used as a ranking system instead of an ATAR.
In regards to choosing subjects, the IB demands that students be 'all-rounders' and choose subject streams such as Mathematics, Science, Humanities, English and a Language. However, the HSC allows you to choose your strongest subjects (with the exception of English which is compulsory).
A result in the 40-41 band is definitely good enough to get an offer from some of the world's best universities. 42-43: Virtually everyone will agree that this is a stellar result, which only the top 4-6% of all the candidates reach. Most Oxbridge offers are in this range.
According to the UCAS tariff, 45 points is the equivalent of 5 grade A* at A Level; 40 points is the equivalent of 4 grade A* at A Level and 35 points is equivalent to 2 grade A* at A Level and 1 grade A.
Cambridge usually requires A*A*A for most sciences courses and A*AA for arts courses or 40–42 in the IB, including core points, with 776 at Higher Level. AAA is usually required at Advanced Higher grade, for students in Scotland. At Cambridge, subject requirements may also vary from one college to another.
The University does not accept the IB Career-related Programme as it does not provide sufficient opportunity to develop the academic skills and knowledge necessary to make a competitive application.
In A Level you need 90% in standardised marks to get an A* - that is clearly not easy either! There are THREE types of maths in the IB. It is a lot easier than Maths SL – in fact you can probably say that you will score 3 points higher on the studies SL exam than the SL exam with the same effort and ability.
AAA = 36 points (IB equivalent) AAB = 35 points (IB equivalent)
Both the IB and Singapore A level are rigorous and challenging in their own ways, especially considered next to the British A Level counterpart. I think generally Singapore A Levels tend to have 'more depth' in a subject.
35-36 is good enough for most universities, depending on the subject you want to study. Manchester usually require a 35/36, btw, not 38/39. 38 out of 45 if you're doing harder subjects, but even 36 is respectable to me.
At least two languages are studied. At least three courses are taken at higher level (HL), generally 240 hours of instruction. Standard level (SL) courses are typically 150 hours. All courses are designed to span two years, assessed with the same level of rigour and equally weighted.
