Peachez Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 I use Oxford Revision guides for some of my classes and the book is great. Although there are books out there which do not give you much information. For example, I saw a book which one of my classmates had and it was literally useless, it had the information thrown at you, just like random graphs and definitions which I did not find organized at all and if it is not organized, then it is not useful!Basically, I would go with Oxford! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laryxle Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 For chemistry I think the oxford textbook is also not that great. I've got the oxford one and chemistry for the IB diploma, pearson education, and that one is so much better, and makes everything a LOT easier to understand. So for chemistry I would get that one. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachez Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Who invented IB, why and how? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishup Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Some French Speaking Swiss would be my guess sicne it was founded in Geneva. Why? To create a better education accessible to all at an internationale level and how because he thought he was cool? (: (I don't really know who, why and when. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilia Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Who invented IB, why and how?According to Wikipedia:Marie-Thérèse Maurette created the framework for what would eventually become the IB Diploma Programme in 1948 when she wrote Is There a Way of Teaching for Peace?, a handbook for UNESCO.[4] In the mid-1960s, a group of teachers from the International School of Geneva (Ecolint) created the International Schools Examinations Syndicate (ISES), which would later become the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO).[5] The IB headquarters were officially established in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1968 for the development and maintenance of the Diploma Programme[6] which would "provide an internationally acceptable university admissions qualification suitable for the growing mobile population of young people whose parents were part of the world of diplomacy, international and multi-national organizations"[7] and offer internationally standardized courses and assessments for students ages 16 to 19. Alec Peterson was appointed as IBO's first Director General (1968-1977). Peterson was followed by Gérard Renaud (1977-83), Roger Peel (1983-98), Derek Blackman (1998-99), George Walker (1999-2005) and Jeffrey Beard, who has been the current Director General since 2006.[8]Since 1994, the IB has offered the IB Middle Years Programme,[9] which is composed of eight subject areas and five areas of interaction and designed for students ages 11 to 16. In 1997, the IB added the IB Primary Years Programme for children ages 3 through 10, an inquiry-based program relying on six global transdisciplinary themes supported by six subject areas Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachez Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 (edited) They just want our lives to be difficult, huh? Edited September 13, 2009 by Peachez Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taigan Posted September 21, 2009 Report Share Posted September 21, 2009 I live in Saudi Arabia, and the Ministry of Education has closed many of the Saudi schools. I go to a British International school, yet have not started school yet because they merged a ramadan break with the summer vacation. The thing is though, that this means we are running about a week behind (but this can easily be made up by shortening the winter break). However, the school has recently sent us emails saying that school would be postponed for another 2 weeks (they had no choice, the ministry is forcing it because of Swine Flu), so my question is how much of a problem is this? I know that the IB sets a specific number of hours for each class, so would about a month of delay be that much of a big deal?Thanks for your help in advance. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deissi Posted September 21, 2009 Report Share Posted September 21, 2009 It won't matter at all. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r a i n b o w stardust Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 I don't quite understand what mark boundaries are.Also a question about predicted marks. What if my predicted marks are terrible but my final marks are really good and I wait a year before going to uni. Would they be able to look at my final marks then? I heard that for the SL exams that are taken during first year IB, predicted marks don't matter to unis. Is that true? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetnsimple786 Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 A certain number of people are allotted a 7 in each subject, a certain number get a 6, and so on. The boundaries tell you what range of points you can get to qualify for a 7, 6, 5, etc for each subject, from my understanding of it. Yes, they will look at your final marks. This is one of the more common reasons people take gap years. I'm not sure about the third thing... I would guess that the final score would be -the- deciding factor so it wouldn't matter, and usually, when unis are giving conditional offers, they ask that your actual scores on the HLs be such and such. So I'd bet that the predicted scores don't matter once you have the final scores. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asheee Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 I know for Australian students that go to Uni in the UK (excluding Oxbridge), they look at your predicted grades and not your final marks, and I know for the US, they don't even look at your marks at all I'm not sure about SL exams taken in the first year though, maybe try asking a fellow Canadian student who has already been through it? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 I'm pretty sure if you take SL subjects anticipated (in first year) and are not considering retak, then they would consider your real mark. What would be the point of predicted then? In any case, you would probably still have to hand in grade transcripts with the application, yes? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cognac Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 To what extend do predicted grades matter if I am taking a gap year?[And, is it true that examiners are knowing your predicted grade and tend to give marks under the influence of your predicted grade?] Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r a i n b o w stardust Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 A certain number of people are allotted a 7 in each subject, a certain number get a 6, and so on. The boundaries tell you what range of points you can get to qualify for a 7, 6, 5, etc for each subject, from my understanding of it. Yes, they will look at your final marks. This is one of the more common reasons people take gap years. I'm not sure about the third thing... I would guess that the final score would be -the- deciding factor so it wouldn't matter, and usually, when unis are giving conditional offers, they ask that your actual scores on the HLs be such and such. So I'd bet that the predicted scores don't matter once you have the final scores.So are the boundaries created for the final mark? If I end up with an 80% in Math it's a level 7 which gets translated to 95-100%. Am I correct?I'm really hoping predicted scores won't matter too much. I heard one of the students dropped out of IB just because her predicted for math was ~60 even though her final was high and unis wouldn't really accept her. I don't want that happening to me in the middle of IB I know for Australian students that go to Uni in the UK (excluding Oxbridge), they look at your predicted grades and not your final marks, and I know for the US, they don't even look at your marks at all I'm not sure about SL exams taken in the first year though, maybe try asking a fellow Canadian student who has already been through it? That's really strange. Why would they disregard the final marks? Even if you take a 'gap year'? And for the US are you sure about that? What do they look at if not your marks? Thanks for the help everyone! This had been bugging me for a bit- was debating whether it was worth studying for the frequent tests or not. With art on my back, I really don't have much time. Not to mention CAS hours as well. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetnsimple786 Posted October 13, 2009 Report Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) A certain number of people are allotted a 7 in each subject, a certain number get a 6, and so on. The boundaries tell you what range of points you can get to qualify for a 7, 6, 5, etc for each subject, from my understanding of it. Yes, they will look at your final marks. This is one of the more common reasons people take gap years. I'm not sure about the third thing... I would guess that the final score would be -the- deciding factor so it wouldn't matter, and usually, when unis are giving conditional offers, they ask that your actual scores on the HLs be such and such. So I'd bet that the predicted scores don't matter once you have the final scores.So are the boundaries created for the final mark? If I end up with an 80% in Math it's a level 7 which gets translated to 95-100%. Am I correct?I'm really hoping predicted scores won't matter too much. I heard one of the students dropped out of IB just because her predicted for math was ~60 even though her final was high and unis wouldn't really accept her. I don't want that happening to me in the middle of IB I know for Australian students that go to Uni in the UK (excluding Oxbridge), they look at your predicted grades and not your final marks, and I know for the US, they don't even look at your marks at all I'm not sure about SL exams taken in the first year though, maybe try asking a fellow Canadian student who has already been through it? That's really strange. Why would they disregard the final marks? Even if you take a 'gap year'? And for the US are you sure about that? What do they look at if not your marks? Thanks for the help everyone! This had been bugging me for a bit- was debating whether it was worth studying for the frequent tests or not. With art on my back, I really don't have much time. Not to mention CAS hours as well.Boundaries are created for all of the components as well as the final mark, I believe. For English A1, for example, there are boundaries for the two papers, for the WL papers, and for the IA, if I'm not mistaken, as well as for the final mark. BUT the individual school decides what grade you get in school based on your IB grade [or maybe they don't base your grade on your IB grade.] I'm not really sure what you mean by an 80% on an official IB score. But I'm aware that Canadian schools do translate/scale the scores somehow... so yeah, I don't know how to fully answer your question. As for the US.. yeah, the predicted grades aren't important because they aren't concrete indicators of what you'll get, which is true for the rest of the world as well, but thankfully, as far as I know, teachers don't even tell us predicted grades. They just send them into IB, and they are of little consequence to us. Our grades in school aren't affected by what the predicted grades are. Universities DO look at final scores. But the scores are only a small part of what they look at, in addition to SAT/ACT/TOEFL tests, GPA [if you have one], recommendation letters, and essays/personal statements. Aboo started a great thread about unis around the world in the University Forum, if you want to take a look at that. Definitely don't take predicted grades lightly, from what I hear.To what extend do predicted grades matter if I am taking a gap year?[And, is it true that examiners are knowing your predicted grade and tend to give marks under the influence of your predicted grade?]I don't think predicted grades would matter at all unless you were like "Oh I got a predicted 6 in this subject, but actually got a 5. As you can see from my other scores, the predicted and actual scores match up perfectly. Could you please consider me for your school even though I'm one point off?" I don't know if unis would see that in a new light. But anyways, they would fade in comparison to the actual scores. Also, yeah, I think that the predicted can have some affect on the actual. I'm not sure how at all, but one of my teachers did say that they look at her predicted and do something. And she never gives 7s because they'll get haughty or something and knock the candidate's grade down because the teacher thinks that the candidate is perfect or something. Edited October 13, 2009 by sweetnsimple786 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
master135 Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 A certain number of people are allotted a 7 in each subject, a certain number get a 6, and so on. The boundaries tell you what range of points you can get to qualify for a 7, 6, 5, etc for each subject, from my understanding of it. Yes, they will look at your final marks. This is one of the more common reasons people take gap years. I'm not sure about the third thing... I would guess that the final score would be -the- deciding factor so it wouldn't matter, and usually, when unis are giving conditional offers, they ask that your actual scores on the HLs be such and such. So I'd bet that the predicted scores don't matter once you have the final scores.So are the boundaries created for the final mark? If I end up with an 80% in Math it's a level 7 which gets translated to 95-100%. Am I correct?I'm really hoping predicted scores won't matter too much. I heard one of the students dropped out of IB just because her predicted for math was ~60 even though her final was high and unis wouldn't really accept her. I don't want that happening to me in the middle of IB I know for Australian students that go to Uni in the UK (excluding Oxbridge), they look at your predicted grades and not your final marks, and I know for the US, they don't even look at your marks at all I'm not sure about SL exams taken in the first year though, maybe try asking a fellow Canadian student who has already been through it? That's really strange. Why would they disregard the final marks? Even if you take a 'gap year'? And for the US are you sure about that? What do they look at if not your marks? Thanks for the help everyone! This had been bugging me for a bit- was debating whether it was worth studying for the frequent tests or not. With art on my back, I really don't have much time. Not to mention CAS hours as well.Yes a 7 is translated to a 96-100 in Canada, and an 80 in math is usually a 7 (it might not be sometimes at SL...), and if you receive your final mark for some courses in your first year, then the predicteds don't matter at all for those courses. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMR Posted March 3, 2010 Report Share Posted March 3, 2010 What is a specimen paper? What does it mean? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted March 3, 2010 Report Share Posted March 3, 2010 What is a specimen paper? What does it mean?Basically whenever the IB change the syllabus, nobody knows what the new paper might look like, or what sorts of questions it might include as there're no past papers similar to the paper which candidates will receive. So the IB produce specimen papers -- papers which were never actually set for an exam, they're just made up to give people an idea of what the exam will look like after a syllabus change has been made Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMR Posted March 3, 2010 Report Share Posted March 3, 2010 What is a specimen paper? What does it mean?Basically whenever the IB change the syllabus, nobody knows what the new paper might look like, or what sorts of questions it might include as there're no past papers similar to the paper which candidates will receive. So the IB produce specimen papers -- papers which were never actually set for an exam, they're just made up to give people an idea of what the exam will look like after a syllabus change has been made Gotcha, thanks. When was the last time a syllabus changed for bio, math and econ? I know the syllabus for history is now new for '10 grads.. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
master135 Posted March 3, 2010 Report Share Posted March 3, 2010 Bio (like phy and chemistry) changed May 2009 onwardsEcon - the d"syllabus" content didn't change since 2001, but the exam format changed May 05 and onwardsMath changed May 2008 and onwards. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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