Chesire_Cat Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 (edited) Ok, so at our school they told us that even the best students shouldn't expect to get above a 39, because it's very rare and almost impossible, but when I was reading the "University Offers 2009", I keep seeing that people are predicted 40 and above. I am an IB 1 student, so I still have time to worry about my own predicted grades, but at my school they said that last year only 1 person got a 7 in Psych HL, nobody got a 7 in English HL, and that the class with more 7s was SL Biology, and I think that they had 4 students getting a 7. Is my school's preparation level really low or are all those people just smart?I'm really curious because my school is considered one of the best in the United Arab Emirates![EDIT: I added an "almost" to impossible] Edited November 28, 2008 by Chesire_Cat 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flsweetheart422 Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 I'm going to say that they are just really smart. Last year at my school, our we had like 3 people out of 89 get a 40 or above. Don't freak out. You're looking at the creme de la creme here. (I am aware I probably completely butchered that french saying, but bare with me.) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 It depends on your school, really. We had a ton of people get 7s in SL Bio. I'd say at least half the class.Don't lose hope! You're only in IB1 after all. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cereja Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 They said the same thing at my school. Because we have IB as well as the district requirements and most of us are taking AP exams at the same time, it's hard to manage all the studying and still get more than a 40. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deissi Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Well, I've also thought about the fact that people on this site tend to have high predicteds. In my opinion, the reason for this is that (in general) people who join a site like this are people interested in IB and people interested in IB (in general) are people who do well. It's a big generalization but I think there HAS to be some reason for it.As for the world average, it's 29 points I believe. You can find averages for all subjects here. There may be reasons for why your school doesn't tend to do so well. The first, most obvious reason for schools not doing so well is that they aren't selective, i.e. they take everyone willing to pay for it (or if it's a public school, just everyone). That means you'll have some less intelligent people than schools that are selective. My school, for example, costs nothing but is very selective. Thus, we've actually had years where the average grade has been 39 points in the class, so in contrast to your school, we ARE expected to get WAY over 39 points. The other reason is the quality of teaching. Some schools might prepare students for university, but not for IB exams. This means that if you want to do well, your teachers should only teach whats in the curriculum and nothing around it. They should also help you with the answering style, since the way in which you answer has a huge impact on your grade as well. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
__inthemaking Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 (edited) They told you nobody should expect to get 39+? I wouldn't say it's impossible..but it is rare. I myself ended up with 42 points, and in my IB graduating class, I believe 7/44 students got 39 or higher.Not very many people were predicted 40+ though, because my IB teachers tended to lowball predicteds (they'd rather underpredict than overpredict). I was predicted 41, and I was the only person who had a prediction of 40+. Edited November 28, 2008 by __inthemaking Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Do you go to EIS?Anyway, it's seldom the student itself who's responsible for their own score. Their school always plays a part in their success. I agree with deissi's theory above to an extent. The students who are remotely bothered about how they fare in their exam choose to join IB sites. At my school, most of us were pretty smart post GCSE. We were the third batch of our school, and they clearly hadn't grasped the teaching method of the IB which is the reason why none of us got past 31. If no one teaches you how to answer in the IB style, how are you expected to know? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkSpider Posted November 29, 2008 Report Share Posted November 29, 2008 Well, my school ranges from 24 to 45 this year, with one student getting predicted at a full 45, which totally blows everyone's mind. In IB, you full grade doesn't reflect your intelligence per say, it reflects your ability to excel in multiple areas, and to work really hard, and sometimes, to pick easy courses. I would probably get a full point higher if I dropped the four SL crap, and I know people who got 7s in math SL, now taking HL and getting 5s.Anyways, my school has 100 diploma students, and there are about 6 of us predicted at 40+ with a rather bell-curve-esque appearance all the way down to the 20s. My physics class has about six 7 students and four twos, so it's a really big gap, which makes me wonder what's with the teaching, since schools with higher averages usually do less 7s than my school does.Finally, this is an IB forum for keeners, and you'll notice that the people with low post counts who come here to ask questions and peace out generally don't post their IB scores, and I know for sure that there are people in the 30s who visit the site. It's not that they're stupid or anything, just that most people I know in the low 30s don't try as hard as they can, or have one or two courses that they're just bad at. I feel pretty lucky not to have anything that I'm terrible with, but for those of us who are unfortunate enough to be bad at english, with no way of getting out of it, it sucks, because 10 out of 45 marks are directly related to your english language ability, so even if you get a 7 in chem physics and math all at HL, you could lose 5 points on your EE/TOK/English. That being said, most avid forumgoers I know do well with languages, so it may be that a forum attracts just the people that the IB system favors, which is, to say the least, definitely not science-only students. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted November 29, 2008 Report Share Posted November 29, 2008 In IB, you full grade doesn't reflect your intelligence per say, it reflects your ability to excel in multiple areas, and to work really hard, and sometimes, to pick easy courses.Oh bingo. I totally forgot about that. I think with optimized course choices, anyone who puts in the effort can do pretty well in IB. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkSpider Posted November 29, 2008 Report Share Posted November 29, 2008 Oh bingo. I totally forgot about that. I think with optimized course choices, anyone who puts in the effort can do pretty well in IB.English HL, Bio HL, Geography HL, math SL, Mandarin SL(Lots of Mandarin speaking people get to do Ab initio in this, so easy 7) and Chem SL at my school is the typical "easy diploma" for someone who wants to go to university. Usually, people who take that course load only stress about English HL, cause my school doesn't offer SL english. Of course, the course load of HL math and physics for engineering (or in my case pure mathematics) just takes a normally easy course load and overdrives it, not to mention having to learn conics and polar coordinates on your own and study for all of the national math contests (which pretty much equate to an entrance exam if you're applying in Eastern Canada) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivy12003 Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 I'm in the mid-30 range, even though most of my subjects are at a borderline 6 and 7. I'm taking English HL, Chem HL, Bio HL, and History SL, Math SL, and French SL. It's not the worse of subject combinations, though it could be much better. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesire_Cat Posted December 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Yeah, I decided last moment to take Computer Science, which is considered to be one of the hardest subjects to do well on, especially at my school. Nobody told me that the people who took the exam last year all got 3s and 4s, or I would not have taken it, since I'm going to the UK, so I think I lowered my score at least by 2 points (I would have taken History HL). Also, I took Chemistry HL, which is harder than I thought...So I'm not expecting my grade to be higher than a 32-34 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kman Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Yeah, I decided last moment to take Computer Science, which is considered to be one of the hardest subjects to do well on, especially at my school. Nobody told me that the people who took the exam last year all got 3s and 4s, or I would not have taken it, since I'm going to the UK, so I think I lowered my score at least by 2 points (I would have taken History HL). Also, I took Chemistry HL, which is harder than I thought...So I'm not expecting my grade to be higher than a 32-34Hey. Its not at all impossible to get a mark that is higher than 40. Time management my friend. It also helps to take the hard courses that will matter in your future. For example, there is no point loading up on too many sciences if business is going to be your future. However, I may not be fully priviliged to comment because I am in year one like you, but am speaking based on the experiences of my older friends. Hope that helps Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkSpider Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 Hey. Its not at all impossible to get a mark that is higher than 40. Time management my friend. It also helps to take the hard courses that will matter in your future. For example, there is no point loading up on too many sciences if business is going to be your future. However, I may not be fully priviliged to comment because I am in year one like you, but am speaking based on the experiences of my older friends. Hope that helps Hold on a second, it's common knowledge that physics and math courses are what you need for high level business degrees. A guy from my school went to harvard on a full ride scholarship, he entered in physics and ended up getting a business degree by taking math courses as well as science ones. Anyways, I know it was an example, but us business-inclined people don't like getting called un-scientific Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 Hold on a second, it's common knowledge that physics and math courses are what you need for high level business degrees. A guy from my school went to harvard on a full ride scholarship, he entered in physics and ended up getting a business degree by taking math courses as well as science ones. Anyways, I know it was an example, but us business-inclined people don't like getting called un-scientific Maths yes, physics no. Again, you only need maths for Economics degrees and the like (I don't think Actuarial comes under business), you don't need to take HL Maths for other Business degrees. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Well, I've also thought about the fact that people on this site tend to have high predicteds. In my opinion, the reason for this is that (in general) people who join a site like this are people interested in IB and people interested in IB (in general) are people who do well. It's a big generalization but I think there HAS to be some reason for it.Yes, it's the fact that you care enough to devote time and energy to finding out more about, it somewhat reflects your attitude to the whole thing, if you will. But keep in mind, people tend to flaunt their good points and hide their bad points. You see it often in threads discussing final results in IB forums: there would be a bunch of people shouting Hallelujah because they got 36+ but then people who do not so well tend to not advertise the fact and so it makes it seems like everyone's brilliant, whereas you might just be getting a biased sample. That said, people on this site really makes me feel inferior sometimes. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 That said, people on this site really makes me feel inferior sometimes.Haha if they make you feel inferior, what about me? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 It depends on the school and the people taking the class.. At my school we have about 17 kids in Chem HL every year. Last year, everyone got a 7 except for 1 6 and a 4. But with Math SL, the average for that class was 4. Math HL was a 7 because only 2 students took that exam. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymouser Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) Which school are you in? I live in the UAE too =DAnd to be honest, there is only one proper/good IB school in the entire country.That would be: "Dubai International Academy" Edited December 5, 2008 by Anonymouser Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymouser Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) Haven't really heard of it but from what I just saw online, yes it's definitely a good IB school. However, DIA is still a full IB school (PYP, MYP, and DP) with a student:computer ratio of 3:1, unlike the other schools.No offense to anyone =PPS: My school is probably the worst there is in the world (when it comes to IB), not only in the UAE =P. Edited December 5, 2008 by Anonymouser Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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