How hard is it to score high points in IB?

[millionbucks]

Hi you guys,

I'm hoping to start IB next year and I have read A LOT of forums with many people saying how hard

it is and stuff.. But I will see that next year.

I just have one question: you graduate when you have 28 points right, so 38 points is - relatively -

a lot above that. I am an HAVO student in the Netherlands now, which is the one level beneath the

highest level here (VWO; you can go straight to uni then). Though my teachers say my current education

is lower than what I'm capable of, I am a bit afraid that 36 or 38 points will be hard to achieve. I am

ready to learn a lot and give up things, cause this is what I want (and what i will pay a big amount of

money for), but it could be above my level, you know? Cause getting 7,6,6 HL is like (almost) perfect!

So I was browsing through all kinds of topics and I see many people stating that they got predicted scores

like 36, 38 and stuff, so it seems kind of "standard" (note the quotes please), or is it because you guys

are all really smart?

I know there are kinda similiar topics about this out there, but I just wanted to ask this specific question

so that's why.

Wow, I see a big text now, so I will just ask the question again: how hard is it to score 36 or 38 points?

Many many many many thanks in advance!

[dexter]

I can only give you an answer that is may seem limited. Generally, it is not HARD, yet, it is no walk in the park. Any grade you are seeking to obtain will need hard work. Since you need to enter IB in the first point, start thinking of what subjects you will be taking (this helps a lot in terms of getting a higher grade.) Next, don't consider IB very hard, think of it this way (thousands and thousands of students are graduating every year therefore it IS possible.) Last, once you do enter IB, work hard, focus on Internal Assesments (since they are a good 10 points maybe more even) and do not forget the external exams.

Good Luck.

[tdubthebassist]

Well, in a way, it is really difficult to tell because it varies with the subject you choose. Generally, Social sciences in IB tend to be easier than the combination of Maths, Phys, Chem HL. (but of course, again, it varies with person who is taking the course).

In my opinion, if you are a decent student, getting under 5 is not viable. So getting 36~38 is quite difficult, but doable. The challenge seems to come when you have to get more than 40.

Good luck

[Sandwich]

Well, I think 36ish is a reasonable mark to get. Looking at some decent-ish IB schools, their average point score every year is roughly 35-36 (the best IB school I know of, Sevenoaks in the UK, actually has an AVERAGE point score of 39.2 or something ridiculously brilliant), so 36 is just above average. Apparently around the globe the average point score is more like 30 (I think) but I've never heard of any schools responsible for pulling the average down, so in my mind the average is 35-36 xP This is probably extremely ignorant of me.

Also I think the fact that people are A) Willing to share their grades and B) On this forum suggests they're probably going to score well.

If you think about it, 36 is the same as 6s in all subjects (which is possible with some effort) and no bonus points (which is unlikely -- most people get at least 1). I'd say if you put the application in, it's possible to get 36. Your probability of getting this is definitely either enhanced or crushed by the subjects you take -- taking languages or social sciences as your 'pair' of subjects and taking the (relative to SL/HL Maths) sublimely easy Maths Studies will definitely make you more likely to get a higher points total, unless for some reason you're extremely bad at languages or social sciences. Few people find taking a B language harder than a science xP

It's not impossible to get 36 by any means, even with the harder subject combinations. It just requires some work... and of course the same sort of stress any IB student has to put up with

[__inthemaking]

It will depend on how hard your subjects are (ie. you are more likely to get 7 in maths SL than HL) and how much effort you put into it. But in my graduating class of 44, the average was 32-33 points. So getting high 30s is a quite reasonable score to get, I think.

[millionbucks]

Thanks alot you guys! It means alot to me!

I'm not a star in the sciences (Chem etc.) plus I haven't had them for, like, three or two years or so. But this

isn´t bad, because I want to to something with a social science, I am a tiny bit of a star in those actually. I already filled in a subject choice form, but I want to change some

things because I didn't realise that in the UK (where I want to study) you have specific subject requirements, which is very different

from the unis here. So I want it this way:

English A1 HL

Economics HL

Spanish SL

Math SL

Environmental Systems and Societies SL (does anyone know something about this? is there another science which is good to cope? haven't had bio since 3 years ago though I do remember a lot of it)

And I don't know what will be my next HL.. can't take History and Economics together though I want that. I want to go into management or

do something like European Studies, Psychology, Anthropology, Literature, Film Studies etc. Just something in the social sciences.

So I'm doubting what's best to choose.

OMG I can't even choose Maths HL at my school.. that's pretty weird I guess. And I really want to do French instead of Spanish, because

they ask for French alot at King's College London (really want to go there), but they don't teach that too..

Well, one more time, thanks alot!

PS. just - accidently - discoverd that VWO (which is the level I should be capable of doing) is on the same level is IB. I'm so happy you wouldn't even know!

Edited April 22, 2010 by millionbucks

[Sandwich]

Unless you want to do a degree involving French at KCL, they'll never specifically ask for French. They might ask for a language, but they never mind which one it is (again, unless you're apply to do that language in particular!) xP

Also is it just the timetable at the school you want to go to which prevents you doing History and Econ at HL? There's no reason within the IB why you shouldn't be able to, is all. Anthropology at IB is meant to be mega hard, but if you were interested in it, I can tell you IB Philosophy is a dead easy and reasonably interesting social science

Good luck anyway!

[Oscar Coniel]

In general:

SL subjects: easy if you do a fair amount of studying, even if you haven't paid much attention over the 2 years.

HL subjects: challenging even with a lot of study, you need to do a lot of practice questions and study over at least 2 months.

Pro tip: have the syllabi with you at all times and study according to it (pay attention to the numbers from 1 -3 for each topic!)

[Amber]

I am in the same situation. From what I have learned, it isn't all about how smart you are, it is a lot to do about how hard working you are. My coordinater said the people getting 7s are usually the ones who organize their time really well, even though they may not be the "smartest" ones.

Good luck!

Amber

[masochist]

30-36 = how hard working you are

37 + = how smart you are

imho its usually relatively easy to get 6s in most subjects

its just the part about boosting the 6 to a 7 that is challenging

Edited May 18, 2010 by masochist

[MaryamB]

I am gonna be an IB student next year, so I havent really experienced it. But I do have a piece of advice.

Nothing is hard. It may be, I have heard, a pretty challenging and demanding course, but its not impossible to achieve high marks. If you really want to get the top marks and you are willing to study and give in your best I think you will be more than fine.

Like I said, give in your best, work as hard as you can, forget about everything that distracts you from your studies and I assure you, you will be no.1

[IB_delusion]

work hard constantly

i wished i did it but i didn't but it is my advise to you :: work hard

[Tilia]

How to score well

1. Choose subjects that interests you

2. Study continuously!

3. Spend time on IAs

I must say that you seem pretty motivated and ambitous and 38 is not soo much. If you just make sure you know stuff from the beginning, don't just study before tests, but basically over the whole terms, you'll be fine.

[lishnaa]

Work hard, play hard and study hard.

Really the only way to achieve higher marks is to work out a balance

between each subject and find out your best method of studying so that you

remember the content.

I usually find that telling myself that I enjoy a subject makes me do better in it

than if I keep telling myself that I really hate it.

In the end it's a psychological thing and where your head is.

[Dzeb]

Actually, I would recommend to consider your current status at school. What are your grades and how hard do you work?

If your grades are low but its because you don't work enough - you will not be able to work enough in IB as well.

If your grades are high, but you don't work much - you're smart enough, go for it. It's going to be really tough to force yourself to do tasks, but you will.

If your grades are high and you are working a decent amount of time - go for it, it won't be a challenge to get 36 points =]

As someone said previously, 6 is not hard to get. But boosting a 6 into a 7 is hard as hell.

[Daedalus]

I think that the difficulty of IB is generally overstated. Thing is during the IB it becomes really, really important to study efficiently. You have to keep up with exactly what you are doing in class instead of cramming for the tests, and similarly you should get an A in all your tests to not have to cram before your exams. You should really aim to do well on IAs - first rule of IB is prioritize - and just do the extra work you need to do. For example for English read books twice. If you want a 7 in English A1 HL you won't have to break your back for it but you will have to read things that are not necessarily taught in class. I recommend the book Sound and Sense by Laurence Perrine to make you a poetry analysis genius, and the Art of Fiction by David Lodge helps a lot with analyzing books.

But back to the general stuff - a 30 is the average score in the IB, more or less. If you work hard, stay on top of the work, stay organized and do stuff in advance you should be more than fine.

One interesting way to look at it is what my teacher once told me: anybody - anybody! - can get a 45. Even a really, really bad student could work 24/7, get tutoring in a billion different ways, and so on. Now if you plotted the %age of time you spend on the course and the score you got, you'd get some sort of a curve. That is, if everyone spent 100% of their time on the IB they would probably all get a 45, but this just isn't practical. So the amount of time you decide to spend on it, and how efficiently you work, ultimately decides what you get. Some people will get an amazing grade easier than others, but other can people work harder and compensate.

I wouldn't be too worried about the whole thing. The very nature of this forum tends to make the IB into a massive beast that freezes your social life, strips you of your sleep and almost kills you. This is an exaggeration! I know people who've taken 8 subjects while working part-time and flying to conferences in place of their family members and still gotten great scores. How you do is up to you, and never feel you are limited by your innate ability!

[Tilia]

You should really aim to do well on IAs - first rule of IB is prioritize - and just do the extra work you need to do. For example for English read books twice. If you want a 7 in English A1 HL you won't have to break your back for it but you will have to read things that are not necessarily taught in class.

For the part 2 and 3 books, read them at least twice! For part 3, you can concentrate on 2 or 3, but make sure you know all of them decently. However, analysing bookds that aren't in the syllabus is not necessay, I think. That time is better spent studiyng maths or whatever.

[Wootable]

You asked what Envornmental Systems and Societies was like. Half my year take ESS, and they seem to enjoy it. However, they get a lot of homework as they only have 2 hours a week timetabled as lessons. Most weeks they seem to have essays/lab reports but it does seem very good for someone like you who says they havn't done science for a while. It is also a lot more related to socail science then Bio/Chem/Phys so unis might like it if you studied something like History at uni.

[Kells]

It depends on your subjects really, as well as how hardworking you are. Generally though if you are hardworking and enjoy the subjects, you should not have any problems with getting a score in the high 30s (35+)...

[Gaby]

16 hours ago, Kells said:

It depends on your subjects really, as well as how hardworking you are. Generally though if you are hardworking and enjoy the subjects, you should not have any problems with getting a score in the high 30s (35+)...

That's a post from 2010... This person has probably graduated from uni already