Should I do the IB Diploma or not?

[skategirl]

I am not quite sure if I should do the IB Diploma Program or not. I think it is a very well preparation for university but for me it would be also a two year exchange program. I'm living in Switzerland and I would prefer to go abroad for the IB to benefit as well as possible. My mother tongue is German and I don't know if I could follow the lessons good enough. Now I have 4 lessons a week bilingual subject teaching. But I don't know if that is enough to follow the IB courses.

I would be really happy if somebody could help me! Maybe somebody has made similar experiences or could say how difficult the first half year will be and how important the first half year is.

Thank you very much for your answers.

[∫ Jorge δx]

Your first year's difficulty will be defined by a lot of factors:

-The subjects you pick and at which level

-The teachers that teach the subject

-Your own abilities

-Your interest in said subjects

For me, first year was largely easy because I had a good balance of classes that made me stress a bit and classes in which I could kick back, understand concepts and get grades easily.

[Julie]

Your English seems to be quite good, and yo do not have to take IB English A1, you have the option of taking it as an SL subject and A2 as well.

You need to weigh your strengths and weaknesses

• How much do you usually study a day?
  
• How quickly do you study?
  
• Where do you want to go to college (do they require IB Diplomas, IB certificates, don't require either but give credit, or don't look at it at all)
  
• Are you willing to give up your weekends to study?
  
• Are you willing to pay for tutoring if you really need it because you are struggling with a subject?
  
• Do you think you can keep up with TOK and write the required essay (look at your level of English and analysis for this)
  
• Do you think you would be capable of writing the Extended Essay in English (it is about 4000 words). You could possibly write your EE in German if you have the possibility of taking German A1
  

Remember,you do not necessarily have to be on the full Diploma (a subject from all 6 groups) if the college you want to attend does not require it. Instead, you could take certificates- IB classes in only a few subjects of your interest.

What are you interested in exactly? What subjects do you do well in? Maybe I could help formulate an IB Diploma/Certificate plan that would lean towards your strengths and stray away from your weaknesses.

Think about these questions and tell me your thoughts and I'll try to give advice to best of my ability:

• What do you prefer- biology, chemistry or physics. Or do you hate the sciences and are bad at them in general?
  
• Are you very good, average or bad at mathematics?
  
• Do you like visual arts or do you prefer something different?
  
• Do you like history or psychology better?
  
• What second languages have you been taking in high school and for how many years?
  
• How long have you been taking English?
  

P.S. Don't feel like you have to be a Diploma student. I switched to a certificate student- I do not take a science, instead I take both psychology and history as social sciences.

[skategirl]

Your English seems to be quite good, and yo do not have to take IB English A1, you have the option of taking it as an SL subject and A2 as well.

You need to weigh your strengths and weaknesses

• How much do you usually study a day?
  
• How quickly do you study?
  
• Where do you want to go to college (do they require IB Diplomas, IB certificates, don't require either but give credit, or don't look at it at all)
  
• Are you willing to give up your weekends to study?
  
• Are you willing to pay for tutoring if you really need it because you are struggling with a subject?
  
• Do you think you can keep up with TOK and write the required essay (look at your level of English and analysis for this)
  
• Do you think you would be capable of writing the Extended Essay in English (it is about 4000 words). You could possibly write your EE in German if you have the possibility of taking German A1
  

Remember,you do not necessarily have to be on the full Diploma (a subject from all 6 groups) if the college you want to attend does not require it. Instead, you could take certificates- IB classes in only a few subjects of your interest.

What are you interested in exactly? What subjects do you do well in? Maybe I could help formulate an IB Diploma/Certificate plan that would lean towards your strengths and stray away from your weaknesses.

Think about these questions and tell me your thoughts and I'll try to give advice to best of my ability:

• What do you prefer- biology, chemistry or physics. Or do you hate the sciences and are bad at them in general?
  
• Are you very good, average or bad at mathematics?
  
• Do you like visual arts or do you prefer something different?
  
• Do you like history or psychology better?
  
• What second languages have you been taking in high school and for how many years?
  
• How long have you been taking English?
  

P.S. Don't feel like you have to be a Diploma student. I switched to a certificate student- I do not take a science, instead I take both psychology and history as social sciences.

I prefer to do biology or physics.

In mathematics I'm a bit over the average.

I prefer geography or history.

My first second language was French but I think my English is better than my French. So I would choose English as second language (I don't know if I should choose B or A2).

Instead of an arts subject I would choose French or a science subject.

I study maximal one hour a day. But I think the school system in Switzerland is a bit different like the system of other countries.

The colleges I prefer don't require the IB Diploma but I think it is a well preparation for university.

Is it so difficult that I have to give up my weekends?

At the moment I have four lessons bilingual subject teaching a week. So I think I could follow the TOK enough to discuss a bit. But I have respect of the essays. I think my vocabulary wouldn't be enough to write varied and really specific. But I think the extended essay at the end of this two years would be easier because I have enough practice in writing in English.

I don't exactly understand what you mean with a certificate student. I've never heard something like this. Could you explain what is the different between a Diploma student and a certificate student?

[∫ Jorge δx]

A certificate student is one who does not take all the required courses for full diploma, doesn't need to do an extended essay or CAS hours.

Like, for example, you can just take DP Biology, DP History and DP English A and take regular high school courses for everything else. It in a sense allows for more freedom in course choices if your school has cool non-IB courses.

[Morpheus]

I would say - No.

[skategirl]

I would say - No.

Sory if I ask. But why do you think I shouldn't do the IB Diploma?

[Morpheus]

I would say - No.

Sory if I ask. But why do you think I shouldn't do the IB Diploma?

It is not worth the effort. It is easier to get into unis using your country's own education system than using the IB.

Even if you are ridiculously good at everything like me, it is still not worth it. This is because I would have done even better at A levels (what we do at 16-18 in the uk)

[Julie]

I prefer to do biology or physics.

In mathematics I'm a bit over the average.

I prefer geography or history.

My first second language was French but I think my English is better than my French. So I would choose English as second language (I don't know if I should choose B or A2).

Instead of an arts subject I would choose French or a science subject.

I study maximal one hour a day. But I think the school system in Switzerland is a bit different like the system of other countries.

The colleges I prefer don't require the IB Diploma but I think it is a well preparation for university.

Is it so difficult that I have to give up my weekends?

At the moment I have four lessons bilingual subject teaching a week. So I think I could follow the TOK enough to discuss a bit. But I have respect of the essays. I think my vocabulary wouldn't be enough to write varied and really specific. But I think the extended essay at the end of this two years would be easier because I have enough practice in writing in English.

I don't exactly understand what you mean with a certificate student. I've never heard something like this. Could you explain what is the different between a Diploma student and a certificate student?

Thanks for the info. Just so you know, I incredibly disagree with Morpheus' advice. The colleges I am applying to do not require IB, but you have a better shot when they see how rigorous your high school curriculum was. In my opinion, if you are willing to do the work, and are capable of doing it, than you should. There is than no reason why not too, unless you are just lazy, which you obviously aren't.

From what you have told me, I think you will be pretty fine in the IB Diploma, after the first semester, if you feel you are not capable, you can always drop some subjects and be an IB Certificate student. If you feel incapable of doing it period, you always have the option to drop both the diploma or certificates...

From what you have said I would do as follow for the IB Diploma (doesn't mean you have to):

• German A1 HL self-taught (you could possibly write your EE in German, so you could stray away from English)
  
• English A1 SL or B
  
• Mathematics HL (if you are good and math and can do HL, this is good, because language will not be too big of an issue)
  
• Physics HL (because it is very mathematical and won't require a huge level of English
  
• Biology SL (because it has more theory involved- memorizing and writing in English, and you said you were worried about english)
  
• History or Geography SL (your preference, but History requires a tone of analyzing and reading and writing, but I don't know about geography, I don't take it, but it seems geography will have less analyzing and writing than history, so i would suggest geography since English is your second language)
  

As far as weekends go- no, you don't have to give up your weekends, but than you need to work a lot during the week. You will need a lot more than an hour. I have friends who do 4 hours a day, I do 5-6, and I have another friend who is crazy and does about 8. It all depends on how fast and how efficient you can work, but 1 hour for sure will not be enough. You will simply have to give up time during the week to study, write essays and do homework. Save the TV, going out with friends, etc. for the weekend. If you can do that, than you are fine.

[dessskris]

Do not consider taking IB certificate. Forget that.

Don't be afraid. Do IB. My first language is Indo, I've always been going to national schools until grade 9 (last year of middle school) and then I moved to an international school. I took 4 IGCSE exams in grade 10 and now am doing IB.

TBH most Indonesian do not speak English fluently. Some people can but most people can't. Even if they are 20 y.o. already or even older, the way they speak English can still be much improved. I myself was not that fluent before I go to an international school. Problem is that going to this school was kind of my only choice so yeah.. The school gave us an English foundation program before we entered the school though so it helped us to improve a lot. When we first came (grade 10) there were a lot of silence because we didn't know what to say, we couldn't quite understand what the teacher said if they talked too fast, we still spoke Indo most of the time.. However, time flies and we had changed. Over time, we improved our English, written and oral. IMO our writing is now quite good already but maybe we still need to speak English more often. My friends still do speak Indo at school and I do speak both because I'm not so comfortable with speaking English.

I do not face much problem with grammar and spelling but my biggest problem is with vocabulary I'd highly recommend the Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary. Install it to your laptop and keep the hard copy at school. I personally think it's better than Oxford Dictionary.

I am taking English B HL. I wish I could take English A2 but it's not offered here so I have no choice. I am currently doing well in IB and I am quite confident with my essays. TBH I only write English essays in English, Econs, TOK and EE (you can write your EE in German if you want to), not that much in Phy, Chem and CAS. Obviously not a lot in Math. So I am not too worried. Plus you have grammar&spelling checker in Ms.Word so you'll know if you had to rephrase something.

If you are worried, you can always come here and we would try to help you. I just completed a Math IA and I got 3 people from IBS to proofread it and write some comments. One of them criticised my English quite a lot haha and I'd like them to read my TOK essay and EE someday so I guess you can actually get some help. Even your English teacher could help you!

From your post I can see that your English is good! Or well, compared to how I spoke English in grade 9 you are a lot better than me and you are overly worried. Over time you will improve and eventually be fluent. See now I post quite a lot in IBS in English.. Never thought I'd be able to write like this I talk to some people in IBS quite a lot and I think they have helped me to improve my English. TBH I sometimes look some words up in my dictionary -- words that I am not familiar with. I take note of good words (words I usually use in Indo but I didn't know what they are in English) and then learn the vocabs the list

I suggest taking English A2. Schools usually allow you to change subjects in the first few weeks so you should try A2 first and if it's too much of a torture, drop to English B.

I do give up my weekends and I don't mind.

Subject choices is another business (and we can help you). The problem is whether you want to do the IB or not. TBH it is worth taking. The experiences...you could never gain it in A Levels nor any other course. IBS is here to help you survive btw

Further questions on my experience are welcomed.

[Julie]

Oh, and one more thing:

My friend started IB in Switzerland, and her English is, no offense to her, really bad, but she is still capable of doing the whole IB Diploma. Sometimes she needs our help with grammar and expressing herself, but you can always find people who are willing to help you It is worth the try in my opinion, you can drop the classes after first semester if you find it too difficult.

Do not consider taking IB certificate. Forget that.

I have to ask- why not IB certificates later if she feels she can't handle the full IB?

I switched to IB certificates because I had a teacher who did everything he could to get me to fail his class, and when my parents talked to him, he had no argument, so in order to keep up my GPA for the college I wanted to attend, I quit that Chemistry class and took Psychology, but I'm not on IB anymore because I don't have a science, but I still have 6 subjects, TOK and CAS

[Morpheus]

I incredibly disagree with Morpheus' advice.

I though someone would. In the UK it isn't worth it

[Sandwich]

I would say - No.

Sory if I ask. But why do you think I shouldn't do the IB Diploma?

It is not worth the effort. It is easier to get into unis using your country's own education system than using the IB.

Even if you are ridiculously good at everything like me, it is still not worth it. This is because I would have done even better at A levels (what we do at 16-18 in the uk)

I agree with this, but I also think that it's somewhat specific to the UK. Other countries have a greater respect for the IB Diploma -- and in (a few) places in the UK it gets an advantageous rep too, although this tends to be accompanied by demands for very high scores... Also certificates are held in very low regard in the UK, so I'd never ever advise doing anything but the full diploma if you intend to study here. They have no interest in anything but your grades and overall point score, the difficulty of your curriculum isn't taken into account like it is in other countries.

If you don't want to go to University in the UK, you should see how your country regards it. I hear they're also quite demanding if you apply to anywhere in Germany, I know some of my friends had to do a special heavy-science version of the diploma so they could apply to Medicine, or so I understood. It's a tough course so generally you'd be looking for Universities rating it very highly and giving you decent offers. Failing that, go to Canada. Canada wants to have the IB's babies

As for whether the IB takes up your weekends, it depends what you do, to be honest. If you like to work slowly but steadily then yeah, it'll probably take up a fair section of your spare time. Stuff like CAS (creativity, action, service) can take up a lot of your spare time depending on what activities you find to do. I used to be really bummed out by CAS 'cause the only service I could find used to take up every Saturday morning and I lost a lot of sleep that way! Need weekends for catch-up sleep xP But really it's just happenstance as to what you end up doing. I did no work for all the first year of IB but paid an evil price for it in IB2. That was mostly the fault of my school, but I definitely had an easy ride for most of it followed by incredible and ridiculously stressful workloads.

Little edit: as a general note of advice, I personally didn't find the IB to be a worthwhile experience and wouldn't recommend it to a friend, or whatever the phrase is! At times I felt that the format and general experience was mostly just making me feel very miserable. However, as you can see, some people on this forum enjoy it loads. I would take everybody's opinions, positive or negative, with a pinch of salt. We're all different. As much of it is the school you go to as the diploma itself.

[dessskris]

Do not consider taking IB certificate. Forget that.

I have to ask- why not IB certificates later if she feels she can't handle the full IB?

I switched to IB certificates because I had a teacher who did everything he could to get me to fail his class, and when my parents talked to him, he had no argument, so in order to keep up my GPA for the college I wanted to attend, I quit that Chemistry class and took Psychology, but I'm not on IB anymore because I don't have a science, but I still have 6 subjects, TOK and CAS

Ahaha I hate Chem too btw!

Idk I just personally don't favour the certificate. I heard some unis don't accept cert students and I think their study won't be balanced if they don't have any one of the 6 subjects.

I thought you don't need to do EE nor TOK?

[Julie]

Do not consider taking IB certificate. Forget that.

I have to ask- why not IB certificates later if she feels she can't handle the full IB?

I switched to IB certificates because I had a teacher who did everything he could to get me to fail his class, and when my parents talked to him, he had no argument, so in order to keep up my GPA for the college I wanted to attend, I quit that Chemistry class and took Psychology, but I'm not on IB anymore because I don't have a science, but I still have 6 subjects, TOK and CAS

Ahaha I hate Chem too btw!

Idk I just personally don't favour the certificate. I heard some unis don't accept cert students and I think their study won't be balanced if they don't have any one of the 6 subjects.

I thought you don't need to do EE nor TOK?

You don't need it, but I took chem fr one year, and therefore I finished TOK and everything with it, I had also gotten half way through my EE, but I didn't finish it, and I decided to keep doing CAS because it looks good for the colleges I'm applying to

[skategirl]

Thank you everybody for your help. It's very interesting to read your experiences and your tips. And it's really nice how helpful you are. Thank you!