pros and cons of IB

[missrunway]

hey what are the pros and cons of IB that i can expect? thax

[__inthemaking]

Pros:

- forces you to learn how to prioritize, utilize time management (skills that will be very useful later on in university/workplace)

- less time for "distractions" (no partying every weekend) which could help you be more focused as generally people that party every weekend will have less time for school and may slack off

- translated marks look really good because they bump your mark higher (my friend had a 88% in maths SL before the exam, but she got a level 7 and got translated to a 98% in the end)

- learn how to be well-rounded, must do equally well in all your subjects instead of just sciences/math or languages

- the EE prepares you for university, as you get used to doing a large scale paper

- CAS helps you become more involved in the community, looks good on uni applications

Cons:

- if you procrastinate, you will suffer

- be prepared for less sleep than you are used to, I've pulled several all nighters

- IAs and EE are a total pain in the butt

- obviously the HL subjects are difficult, and in english A1 HL, you have a huge load of books to read and you're given like a week to read each one

- no partying every weekend, expect to spend your weekends doing assignments/homework

- all of the major assignments are all due around February-March for May candidates (not sure about November candidates), which means those 2 months are basically hell

- IB is really nitpicky about word limits, and it can actually take you longer to cut down if you go over than it did for you to write it in the first place

- you become isolated from the regular students..everyone else seems to think IBers are snobby and they have a hard time relating due to the differences

- your untranslated marks will usually be bad (or worse than you're used to) and it may be more difficult to get accepted into a uni unless they look at your predicteds (but where I live, Ontario, Canada, unis look at your Ontario mark first unless you specifically request them to look at your predicteds)

That's all I can think of for now.

[robertomx]

Here go my lists

Pros:

- IB makes you understand what you're talking about. You have to know your stuff instead of just memorizing it all.

- It teaches you about time management and priorities

- It forces you to not procrastinate that much (you can still do it, just not a lot)

- It teaches you to think critically in subjects like History: i.e. to be aware of different and even opposing points of view, to reach your own conclusions, instead of focusing on what a regular text book says

- It teaches you to distinguish between a reliable and a non-reliable source (History, EE ...)

- It teaches you to analyze common assumptions and to understand better people's approach to knowledge (ToK)

- It leads you to a closer relationship with other people and with the world itself (CAS)

- It may give you credits for uni.

- It helps you with your abilities to speak to a crowd (ToK, A1, A2...)

Cons:

- IB consumes A LOT of time

- It makes you work a lot

- It puts you through all-nighters

- IB exams

- You read a lot (i'd put this in the pros list but idk if you like to read)

- Your friends probably won't understand why you have less time to hang out

- You wont have a lot of free time

They aren't complete i think, but i couldn't think of more things to add. Hope that helps. oh and, i'd say there's more pros

[__inthemaking]

- IB makes you understand what you're talking about. You have to know your stuff instead of just memorizing it all.

Actually, IB forces you to memorize instead of understanding, or at least that's how it is for me. I have an excellent memory and that's really mostly why I've done well in IB. For the exams, I just basically memorized straight from the IB syllabus and textbook what was required of candidates to know, and even if I didn't understand it, I just memorized how to solve the problem/the answer and regurgitated it on the exam. Obviously given the time, I would try to use the opportunity to understand things, but my exam schedule sucked and I was forced to resort to pure memorization.

This happened a lot to me in maths actually..they can only ask you so many variations of the same question. I just memorized how to solve an example problem (like the steps used) and I aced math even though if I was just given a problem I've never seen before, I wouldn't be able to do it.

I would say if you're good at memorization, then this is a pro for doing IB, but if you're not, then this would be a con.

[circusmind]

Everyone seems to have addressed pretty much everything. In my own mind, the major pros that stand out in my head are: good education (ONLY if YOU take advantage of it), better chance of getting into college, preparation for college, a good exercise for the brain. Cons that stand out: if you procrastinate, you may find yourself always screwed...no sleep (if you procrastinate)....no social life (if you procrastinate)...you get my point. =)

[schouston1991]

hey what are the pros and cons of IB that i can expect? thax

haha well there are deffinatly a multitude of them. Ill name a few of the major ones for you

PROS:

- are able to aquire a 'world view'

- have an advantage to get into university

- you get a 'well rounded' education as you have to do an art, engl, math, langu, humanities etc

- you have to learn a language (also condidered a con)

- you learn to orgainse yourslef extremmely! well

- it is an internationally recognised course

- you get to do a philosophy type cource (TOK) wich is not often available in other courses

- CAS makes sure that your education is not just about the books

- you have IBS to help you out

CONS:

- you have to learn a language (also a pro)

- its a whole lot more work than other courses

- possibly the most stress full thing you will ever do, other than medicine

- there is a HUGE amount of work involved

- if your not at least an average student you'll probably stuggle greatly

- you may have a non existant social life for the next two years.

-hope this was helpfull

-soph x

Edited July 4, 2008 by schouston1991

[Zefar]

If you are willing to spend alot of time, and sacrifice your sleeping time, then go IB.

[missrunway]

i remember reading somewhere here hat you are isolated from the kids who are taking the normal high school diploma, is that true?

[__inthemaking]

i remember reading somewhere here hat you are isolated from the kids who are taking the normal high school diploma, is that true?

Yeah, pretty much. Since you're in IB, you'll have only IB classes..so you won't have any classes with any of the other kids. But you can still interact with them through clubs, teams, school events, etc.

[IBStuck]

it is is the states, but i don't know about canada. IB usually put into really bad schoool so they don't lose thier federal funding. the IB kids make it appear as if the schosl is doing well with thier standardized test, when it is really only a small percentage of the school that is doing well.

[Gwib]

I think a big advantage is the EE. It helps so much when it comes to essay-writing in university.

[Zefar]

Pro: It gets you ready for university

Con: Less sleep

[IBStuck]

i got seven hours of sleep ever night, but here are always those few nights... like the night you TOK teacher tells ypu she lost all of you perscribed title essays and she has to send them tomorrow, and since you had written them a year aoo, you panic and begin seaching your entire hard drive to see if you still have it... there is that possibilty that it was deleted.... those are long nights. but it all about time managment.

[KLSmash]

it is is the states, but i don't know about canada. IB usually put into really bad schoool so they don't lose thier federal funding. the IB kids make it appear as if the schosl is doing well with thier standardized test, when it is really only a small percentage of the school that is doing well.

err... so the bad schools get IB? :/ here in Canada for the most part, is whichever school has IB and whichever doesn't, doesn't. They don't specifically carry the IB Program to a single school to raise its marks.

[IBStuck]

that was specific to the states, and only in certain areas. in the city thati live in now they had IB at all of the schools in the city (there are only 3), and the schools didn't need it to keep federal funding. but IB can be odd sometimes here from what i have heared.