IB or local final exams?

[Zarathustra]

Hi everyone, I am writing from a small country located in Central Europe and I'm done with grade 10, thus I have to decide whether to take IB exams instead of my local ones. In my country there are only a few IB schools that offer the IB Diploma Programme and are all very competitive (the average assessment results range from 34 to 39). I am a good student, and so far I don't think I wouldn't be accepted at any of them, nevertheless there is an issue that is worrying me; if I take my local exams I would probably achieve a perfect score. I don't really know if a perfect score with a TOEFL exam would be enough to enter Oxbridge, Ivy League or other well known universities (King's College, Imperial, etc), 'cause I don't know anyone who studied in any of the previous mentioned universities. The IB is of course the ideal solution, but I'm a bit worried due to the fact that I don't know if my current knowledge of english language is enough to succesfully sustain my exams (and with succesfully sustain I mean score at least 43). At school I've done 7/8 years of english as ''first foreign language'' (3 hours a week) and I've always been a straight A grader but I'm still not sure if this is enough to score a 7 or at least a 6 at English A2 HL/SL. I also have some questions regarding different aspects of IB exams:

1. Will I have to write my EE in english?

2. Is Further Mathematics SL still available?

3. Is it true that good US/British Universities don't accept students who graduated with English B as one of their subjects?

4. If my language A1 is not english and I take EVERY exam in english including my EE, will I be awarded with a bilingual diploma?

5. What are the differences between English B and A2? Is it only more literature?

I am really looking forward to your aswers

And I'm sorry if some parts of my post would fit better in other sections, but I find it easier this way instead of opening lots of topics in different sections.

Edited August 24, 2010 by Zarathustra

[Sandwich]

1. Will I have to write my EE in english?

2. Is Further Mathematics SL still available?

3. Is it true that good US/British Universities don't accept students who graduated with English B as one of their subjects?

4. If my language A1 is not english and I take EVERY exam in english including my EE, will I be awarded with a bilingual diploma?

5. What are the differences between English B and A2? Is it only more literature?

I am really looking forward to your aswers

And I'm sorry if some parts of my post would fit better in other sections, but I find it easier this way instead of opening lots of topics in different sections.

1. To my knowledge, the EE must be written in one of the three official IB languages (English, French, Spanish) unless it's an EE which is specifically for a language subject. I can't download it off this PC to check, but I suggest you look at the Extended Essay Guide (look in the Files section for it) and take a peek to see what they state in their guidelines, just to make sure I'm giving you good info on that score! You'll want to check out the EE guide anyway.

2. According to the IB website it's still on offer (Click) however I've also heard that it's going to be phased out. I don't know quite when! I assume that the IB wouldn't advertise it if it were already off the list.

3. Yes, you will.

4. A B language is basically the language for people who aren't quite beginners but have a reasonably poor grasp of the language. It's got no literature (at all) and is aimed at people pretty new to the language. A2 is for people who're approaching or at a level of fluency. So it's quite a leap up in terms of your abilities. I might do B if I'd studied a foreign language at school for a year, for instance. It sounds like you should definitely be doing A2. Also you'll need to do A2 if you want to do your exams in English (you can't do B in a language you're clearly capable enough with to sit your exams in it!) and besides, you'd not get a bilingual diploma otherwise. If that was your dilemma

As for what Universities will accept, I'm pretty sure they do take TOEFL qualifications seriously. Why don't you check out the websites of Universities/courses you're interested in? It'll say it on there. I know people at King's who I'm pretty sure took the TOEFL and got in fine

Hope that helps a little bit. I'd also suggest you contact Universities (including ringing them up if you have to) about whether they accept your local exams. Chances are that they might (it's hard to say without knowing which country you're from, but it's likely ) and so your perfect score in your local exams will be fine and you won't have to bother with the IB at all! It's definitely worth a check if you're getting perfect marks in your current course. In fact I think it'd be crazy not to pursue that as far as you can xP No point in wasting a good thing!

[Zarathustra]

1. To my knowledge, the EE must be written in one of the three official IB languages (English, French, Spanish) unless it's an EE which is specifically for a language subject. I can't download it off this PC to check, but I suggest you look at the Extended Essay Guide (look in the Files section for it) and take a peek to see what they state in their guidelines, just to make sure I'm giving you good info on that score! You'll want to check out the EE guide anyway.

2. According to the IB website it's still on offer (Click) however I've also heard that it's going to be phased out. I don't know quite when! I assume that the IB wouldn't advertise it if it were already off the list.

3. Yes, you will.

4. A B language is basically the language for people who aren't quite beginners but have a reasonably poor grasp of the language. It's got no literature (at all) and is aimed at people pretty new to the language. A2 is for people who're approaching or at a level of fluency. So it's quite a leap up in terms of your abilities. I might do B if I'd studied a foreign language at school for a year, for instance. It sounds like you should definitely be doing A2. Also you'll need to do A2 if you want to do your exams in English (you can't do B in a language you're clearly capable enough with to sit your exams in it!) and besides, you'd not get a bilingual diploma otherwise. If that was your dilemma

As for what Universities will accept, I'm pretty sure they do take TOEFL qualifications seriously. Why don't you check out the websites of Universities/courses you're interested in? It'll say it on there. I know people at King's who I'm pretty sure took the TOEFL and got in fine

Thanks for your answers.

However, I would like to discuss some points;

1. Unfortunately I'm not a french nor a spanish native speaker

2. That was useful. I've heard lots of different comments on the apparent discontinue of the course, and none of them was able to clarify the question.

3. I'm sorry, I haven't understood your answer As I said before, I'm not a native speaker, perhaps I missed something

4. That sounds a bit odd to me O_o Apparently, almost everyone chooses English B (yeah, in my country we like it easy ) and is still able to take his/her exams in english. Moreover, everyone has the opportunity to entirely skip english as a subject (by taking a group 1 & 2 subject that differs from it).

Thank you for the TOEFL info regarding King's College

As for what Universities will accept, I'm pretty sure they do take TOEFL qualifications seriously. Why don't you check out the websites of Universities/courses you're interested in? It'll say it on there. I know people at King's who I'm pretty sure took the TOEFL and got in fine

Hope that helps a little bit. I'd also suggest you contact Universities (including ringing them up if you have to) about whether they accept your local exams. Chances are that they might (it's hard to say without knowing which country you're from, but it's likely ) and so your perfect score in your local exams will be fine and you won't have to bother with the IB at all! It's definitely worth a check if you're getting perfect marks in your current course. In fact I think it'd be crazy not to pursue that as far as you can xP No point in wasting a good thing!

Unfortunately universities (expecially top-notch ones ) are really vague when it comes to foreign final exams requirements On Oxford's webpage, for instance, it says ''Final exams with A grades in the majority of subjects.'' and regarding english language requirements ''IB Standard Level (SL): score of 5 in English'' which makes no sense because it's not specified whether it's English A1, A2 or B and I really wouldn't like to take TOEFL or IELTS (and pay additional 200$) after finishing my IB exams. Anyway, I will surely e-mail some of them

I'd like to thank you again for your answers

Edited August 24, 2010 by Zarathustra

[Zarathustra]

Hello Justina and thank you for sharing your own experience

I noticed that you have been through a similar issue recently and I wish you all the best for your future studies in both the IB DP and your bachelor or whatever academic title you'll try to obtain

It seems that I'll have to google some more, 'cause I'm still a bit concerned about everything

Edit: It seems that the previous post has been deleted, but I'd like to thank Justina again

Edited August 25, 2010 by Zarathustra

[Justina]

Hello Justina and thank you for sharing your own experience

I noticed that you have been through a similar issue recently and I wish you all the best for your future studies in both the IB DP and your bachelor or whatever academic title you'll try to obtain

It seems that I'll have to google some more, 'cause I'm still a bit concerned about everything

Edit: It seems that the previous post has been deleted, but I'd like to thank Justina again

Thank you

Good luck to you too, I hope you'll choose IB course. If you have any questions, you can ask me. I would be happy to help you, because I do know what does it mean when nobody can help you to decide.

[Bishup]

Hey mate it would be useful if you could specific the country in which you live in. I strongly recommend doing the IB if you plan on studying in the UK. It's virtually impossible to get in if you don't do either A levels, AP, IB, French Baccalaureate or European baccalaureate. If your from Slovenia for instance, you'd have to get literally 100% to stand a chance of getting in at all. I know quite a lot about this since I have a lot of international friends across Europe.

1. Will I have to write my EE in english?

2. Is Further Mathematics SL still available?

3. Is it true that good US/British Universities don't accept students who graduated with English B as one of their subjects?

4. If my language A1 is not english and I take EVERY exam in english including my EE, will I be awarded with a bilingual diploma?

5. What are the differences between English B and A2? Is it only more literature?

1. You would only be aloud to write your EE in 'Slovenian' A1 and in that regard about literature. So if you want to do it on anything else it'd have to be in english.

2.Alice has already mentioned it above

4.You get awarded the bilingual diploma if you study your subjects in english even if you haven't taken english as one of your subjects, just like me. So you would get it regardless of what you do.

5.English A2 is significantly harder with a language and literature part, ergo a lot more writing in A2. If I were in your shoes I would be smart and take English B so that you can score with flying colours and get your 'free' 7 but then take the TOEFL so that you have an english language qualification. That way you would be satisfying their requirements and be doing you a GREAT favour.

PM me if you want more information.

Sorry for saying 'Slovenian' it's obviously just an example, since I have no idea where you're from.

PS London universities like IB more than the rest of the country. I have spoken to admission boards/tutors of 5 london unis and they value IB highly as well as the students unlike some other parts which might make life harder for an IB student

Edited August 25, 2010 by Bishup