Currently thinking about dropping down from Eng A2 (HL) to Eng B (HL)

[ephika]

Hi.

I believe this is not a language question, but a general one, since it concerns the possibility of writing exams in the end IB1 (together with IB2) for courses you find really easy.

At the moment, I'm thinking about dropping English A2 for English B. This is not because I find English A2 difficult (it's time consuming, though, and time is expensive in IB), but because I would like to reduce my workload as much as possible so that I can put more effort into my harder subjects (and gain some more free time as well).

I've seen past papers for English B and they seem really easy. I bet I could ace them right here, right now. As such, my question is: Can I finish the English B course in IB1 so that only five subjects remain for IB2? Or does it depend on the school you attend?

[Vvi]

I don't think it's possible to take IB exams a year early. Since you are only registered for all your exams in the November preceding the exams, it doesn't make sense that they would keep your candidate number for 2 years.

Also, please, for your sake, complete both years of English in the IB. A boy from my school was enrolled in IB French B HL, and since he had excellent French he only took classes for one year and the second year he didn't, but still sat the exam. He couldn't go to university in Germany because they only accept you if you have studied 2 years of a language in the IB. Even though he was almost fluent in French, he didn't meet the qualifications.

So really, don't try to skip on hours and reduce the work. It might backfire very badly. IB isn't like the GCSE/IGCSE, where you can sit exams a year earlier. Also, you improve a lot in your second year of IB in terms of essay writing, and so the work you did your first year might pale in comparison.

[moneyfaery]

Depends on your school. I took 2 SL exams in IB1 so I now have 4 exams left.

[Leia]

[quote name='Vvi' post='24636' date='Sep 18 2008, 10:16 PM']I don't think it's possible to take IB exams a year early. Since you are only registered for all your exams in the November preceding the exams, it doesn't make sense that they would keep your candidate number for 2 years.[/quote]
As far as the IBO is concerned, yes you can take exams a year early (anticipated). whether your school is willing to let you do that is another thing. And yes they do keep your info that long. Actually what difference does it make, even if you do finish IB the normal 2 years, they still keep your info somewhere anyway (I'm sure they do) and you can always retake...up to a year after your original exam session anyway. So it's kind of the same. And I think you get a new session number, but your candidate code would remain the same.

[Vvi]

Hmmm I didn't know about the early exams. No one in our school has even done any. But you should definitely check what requirements the universities you want to attend have, some won't take you even if you have high marks just because you only have a year's worth of study for that subject.

[Aquarius]

This is my concern as well, I am currently taking English B HL and I would like to take anticipating exam for it. I haven't talked to neither my teacher nor my IBC yet but I believe it's quite difficult because we need to have oral exams in language subjects.

[deissi]

Some clarifications here:

1) Yes, you can take an exam or two after your first year of IB, this is called anticipating the subject. I did this with Swedish B SL. However [b]you can only anticipate SL subjects[/b]
2) It does depend on your school. European schools don't seem to be too keen on anticipating subjects, but it seems to be very common in North America.
3) You have a different candidate number for the anticipated exam and you are only registered for one exam at the time. If you're name starts with an A, and you're first in the alphabets, your candidate number will look like this:
A0652-026. A - anticipated, 0652 is your school code (International School of Helsinki in this case), 026 means that there are 25 Diploma candidates (not anticipating) that year, and you'll have the number that comes after the last (25th) diploma candidate.

When you are doing the rest of your exams, your candidate number will be:
D0652-001. D - Diploma. 001 Because you're the first in alphabetical order.
So in that sense, they don't keep your info as the remaining 5 subjects will be registered after your anticipated exam.

You'll only have to pay one registration fee for exams, which will be paid in November prior to your exam in the anticipated subject.

No university will actually know that you have anticipated the subject unless they look at your Diploma (where it'll say M08 instead of M09 in my case), or unless you tell them. Anyways, it won't matter to at least British unis since they know the IB programme and are aware of the fact that you get taught the same stuff (only in 1 year) even if you anticipate a subject.

To answer your question, it's not a bad idea at all to drop A2 HL to B HL if you want to reduce your workload and secure a high mark. Aquarius, since you're doing B HL, you can't anticipate it. However, there's no problem with anticipating a B SL subject a year early, like I did. We just did the orals in February 2008 instead of 2009 and they got sent to IBO. (Who moderated me down from 30 to 29 )

[Aquarius]

[quote name='deissi' post='24890' date='Sep 21 2008, 10:27 AM']Aquarius, since you're doing B HL, you can't anticipate it. However, there's no problem with anticipating a B SL subject a year early, like I did. We just did the orals in February 2008 instead of 2009 and they got sent to IBO. (Who moderated me down from 30 to 29 )[/quote]

Thank you for your reply, so it is possible that i could take Viet A1 SL right?
By the way, We have to ask the school about it or the teacher has to nominate us?

[deissi]

[quote name='Aquarius' post='24898' date='Sep 21 2008, 02:09 PM']Thank you for your reply, so it is possible that i could take Viet A1 SL right?
By the way, We have to ask the school about it or the teacher has to nominate us?[/quote]
I'm not sure about A1 languages, you should ask your IB Coordinator about it. It'll have to be your IB Coordinator who will register you for the anticipated exam.