IB, an alternative?

[Katana]

Hello

I’m considering shifting to the IB, so I’ve read this forum, and studied the structure of the IB in general. BUT, I’d like you to give me your thought of my situation.

Currently I’m attending the 1st year of the Danish Gymnasium (stx), and frankly… it’s horrible! Academic incompetence is literally dominating throughout the classroom, and by that I mean that the majority aren’t well-prepared, lacks of basic understanding of the subjects, and doesn’t seem to have any purpose of being in an institution of higher education. It doesn’t normally tend to be so extreme, but I’ve got the worst of it. (Wasn't what I expected when I applied back then)...

Anyway, is IB a great alternative if you want a challenge, and got the right mind-set about it? Should I avoid the IB and try to stay where I am, self-study and not acknowledge my surroundings which will eventually try to drag me down if I don’t resist… Or try to move to another school which offers the same education, but where a more serious view on developing “academic ability” flourish?! .... What's the quality of IB-schools in general?

Regards,

Katana

Edited March 22, 2009 by Katana

[moneyfaery]

I'm somewhat sleepy so I'll keep this post as short as possible.

From your post, it looks like you enjoy challenges, learning, and being intellectually probed. With that mindset, it seems like you're the perfect IB candidate and you should be okay as long as you don't get lazy and give up midway.

As for schools, the better IB schools are obviously the more experienced schools, so if possible, check out pass rates, average scores, teachers' experience, etc. The more you get to know about the system, the better.

[Katana]

When beginning studying the subjects, what's expected of you to know about already? Do you start off with the fundamentals, or do you need to have covered very much beforehand?

Also, which set of proficiencies will you acquire? How many points are needed to get into a decent University? 35-45? Is your cognitive abilities of major importance? Or can everyone, even people who're average gifted in the terms of intelligence achieve a 40+ score, if they work hard enough? (What's hard work in the IB?)

Edited March 23, 2009 by Katana

[Sandwich]

I'm sure other people have different answers, but I'd say that averagely gifted people working hard would have to work quite seriously hard to get 40 or so. 40+ requires both effort and also above average gifted-ness. This is going on the people I'm around every day.

As for what they ask for at universities, depends where you want to go and what you want to do! Some places (Oxbridge) ask for 40+, but outside of that you're looking at 34-38 for decent universities. Again, depends on the course and a whole host of things, though. Some pretty decent Universities (Nottingham, for instance) give offers of 25 points, and another guy has an offer of 24 for Cambridge (on account of being a genius)... to be honest, huge huge variety, so I'd look at the course/uni you're interested in. Universities tend to be relatively similar across the spread, though, so if one uni wants 36, others will probably want within 2 points of that.

You are expected to have GCSE-level knowledge beforehand. A bit of prior knowledge is assumed, but you can make that up quite easily in every subject I've taken.

[Tilia]

I would say that you start with quite basic stuff. I didn't know much about physics before I started the IB, but I'm doing OK anyway. From what you say, I think that you would enjoy a more challenging programme, so it seems that the IB is something you ought to try.

[hermine0817]

Would agree about starting with the basics. In languages, I'm not so sure about that, but in history, maths and sciences, we started with a short review and basic summary about the stuff we took through the years before so that people who didn't have that education could also catch up.

With everything else, I can only agree to those who have wrote above me.

[Tilia]

Languages are a bit special, aren't they? You are supposed to speak fluently on A1 courses, but we weren't expected to know anything about literary terms and such.

[Chesire_Cat]

I'd say you'd be a good candidate for IB. You need quite a bit of background if you want to go into Languages B (Not AB Initio), and you're supposed to speak the language you'll choose for A1 fluently. Other than that, you're good to go, in my opinion. Good luck!

[The Truth]

Just a note to say that the majority of schools that offer the IB are public (ie you have to pay subs) however where i currently study the local state sixth form college and a state secondary school are in conjunction over the course. Luckily they do have strict entry levels (as do most places) so you can rest assure you will be with equally minded people!

Plus give it a go! why not?!?! You sound perfectly capable.

[narathiel]

If you want to continue to university, IB is great preparation.

What you should be careful and plan lots about is subject choice. There are some subjects which are extremely much work, no matter what the teacher is.

These are (not in any particular order): HL: history, art, music, drama, math, bio- due to memorizing sooo much and physics.

Most other subjects are ok.

It is reasonably easy to get good grades if you do much work in the rest of the subjects, but it is very hard doing this if you have more than 1 of the above subjects as the work load is extreme from them.

Otherwise, you learn much about writing big essays, time management, importance of regularity in working to learn hard topics and so this will all become very useful later on- or at least so I think (I am in 11th at the moment)