Whats the difference between A2, B and Ab Initio

[IBnoob]

What's the real difference between them? Is Ab a mix of A and B? which one's harder?

[AlonsoDT]

As far as I know, lang. A2 is intended for people who manage the language very well, but are not native speakers; I believe that you read some literature as well. Language B is "second language" and it's about using it -oral and verbal communication, idioms, expressions and such- rather than reading literature. Lang. Ab initio, as the name suggests, is about learning it "from the beginning", so you're not supposed to have knowledge about it, although I'm not quite sure about the last one.

I take Spanish A1 and English B (both HL) and I find A1 to be WAY more difficult than B, so that might give you an idea on which one's the hardest .

[Daedalus]

Yeah the above poster is correct... in order of difficulty:

Language A1 (strongest language)

Language A2 (strong second language)

Language B (weak second/strong third language)

Language ab initio (unknown language)

There's no such language as AB but it's confusing enough having one called ab initio (which is from Latin and does mean "from the beginning"). Some people think ab initio is the hardest, because you have to reach a pretty respectable level and are starting from nothing, but it depends - ab initio Spanish after doing French A2 is easy, whereas ab initio Japanese is not.

[dessskris]

A1: 100% literature

A2: literature&language for communication

B: 100% language for communication

Ab initio: basic knowledge

That's what I think and know so far. Your first language should be taken at A1. Your second language should be taken at A2 or B, depends on what you need and/or what you want. And if you are new to a language, it should be taken at Ab initio; or if you have a little background, you might want to take it at B as its papers are actually relatively easy.

A1 is the hardest while Ab initio is the easiest. You might want to find out the story behind "Ab initio" like why it's named so for your Extended Essay