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How is IB different in your school?


MariusIBDP

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After reading several of the comments on this topic, I realize that my school has a great IB program and I am very thankful for that. We have all IB trained teachers in the IB course classes and many opportunities. I am a sophomore and though I won't be taking my IB courses until next year I have already been educated on the IB curriculum and course options. I have decided to take English, History, and Physics HL, Economics, French, and Math SL. Our school also gives a lot of help to IB students and a majority of students at my school go certificate or diploma. I think it is an under appreciated program that needs more recognition. When I talk to others about my school they don't understand the prestige or benefits in comparison to AP. Overall, it's a great program and my school does a great job of utilizing it to the benefit of the students.

It's sad that it being an ACTUAL IB school is what makes it different from some of our schools XD

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I would love to save you, DivyaDhanani, but how? A class of 4 should mean that your teachers can give you a lot of personal attention, but this may not be of much help if they are mediocre. How did the school get authorised to run the IB DP if it does not have enough qualified teachers to deliver the programme?

Our school was first authorised to run the IB DP in 2004, when there were only 8 students. They all took the exams in 2006 and 7 students were awarded a diploma, although the highest score was only 31 points. Experience counts, and the scores in subsequent years were always higher than this, with maxima of 41 points in 2009 and 44 in 2010.

Hi, what would you say are the odds of achieving a high score of being the first batch of IB students? Is it possible? Some of our teachers have had experience teaching the IB (in other schools) but the rest don't. And is class size a significant matter? We're looking at fewer than 20 students... It is extremely worrying. Thanks!

Honestly, experience shows that schools new to the IB generally screw up the most in the first year because the first batch are the guinea pigs. But that doesn't have to be true. If a student is focused and more importantly, if the teachers are experienced with the IB Programme and know what to teach and how to teach it, there is no reason why the students should suffer at all. My personal opinion is that it is your teachers that can make or break your IB career. I've been on this website a while, and am affiliated with a lot of students from different IB schools in a number of countries, and I've found that people often complain or are dissatisfied with different subjects, there is rarely universality within their issues (except Maths and Physics HL, that seems to be a constant). However, the one aspect that permeates every general complaint is bad teaching, or simply, the teacher being unaware of what IB wants and how these things should be done and presented. Ergo, students suffer as teachers stumble their way through a new programme for the first time. As the teachers get better with time, the scores of the students rise in subsequent years.

So if your teachers know what they are doing and your school has employed an able coordinator who has knowledge and some expertise with the IB, then first year, tenth year or fiftieth, you are poised to do well in the Programme, everything else is ancillary.

Edited by Arrowhead
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Hi, what would you say are the odds of achieving a high score of being the first batch of IB students? Is it possible? Some of our teachers have had experience teaching the IB (in other schools) but the rest don't. And is class size a significant matter? We're looking at fewer than 20 students... It is extremely worrying. Thanks!

I think that the quality of the teaching can be an important issue for students of average ability, but it is less so for the more able ones who are self-motivated and don't require very much external guidance. The odds of achieving a high score in the first batch will also depend on which subjects are being taught by the less experienced teachers. (The teacher's role is more vital in areas such as language instruction than in some science subjects, which can be largely self-studied from the excellent texts available, supplemented in some cases by online lectures)

If the new teachers know their subjects well, but are not yet familiar with the IB, you can check with the subject guides (available in the Files section) that they are following the syllabus details rigorously and that they are familiar with the procedures and assessment criteria. Class sizes of fewer than 20 students should be quite OK.

But worrying about the IB is not productive if it interferes with your studies! Do discuss any concerns with other students, your teachers and your DP coordinator. Everybody at school wants you to succeed and achieve your goals, and they should all be ready to help in any way they can.

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I guess my school beats all the other schools.. :blowup:

Firstly we don't have anything called pre-IB or any sort of course that prepares you for IB... you receive your shock in your junior year.. and you fully understand the IB program by your senior year (hopefully)..

Secondly, choosing subjects or even levels isn't possible.. you have to take Biology HL, Chemistry HL, Math SL, Arabic A1 HL (even if you suck at that language), English A2 SL and business & managements SL.. :disgust:

CAS is a mess.. I only knew about the fact that we write reflections about the activities by March of my senior year (I had to write all reflections and proposal plans in two days)

you might think that is enough but things only gets worse at my school.. The IB programs is dedicated for alines, some weird kids that have decided to destroy their own life.. our batch is only 7 (including me), the previous batch is 4 and the following batch is also four.. I guess we never had a batch larger than 15.. and other kids look at us as the weird nerds who actually decided to do something in their life.. :what:

All what I've mentioned are only small things that you have to accept when you do IB in my school.. the worst thing is that if you ever decided to do the IB program then its next to the national curriculum.. which makes our attention divided among the two programs (imagine the number of extra after school hours we take in order to catch up with both programs and their requirements).. I've start exams in April and I still didn't finished, my last exam is 2morrow.. everyone knows that in the IB senior year you spent more that two months doing nothing but exams for both programs and they are both equally important..

However I should be fair to my school, we do have a couple of great things: because the class is small you will get all the attention you need from the teachers and they are our friends more than teachers.. we also have some of the best teachers you could ever imagine and we do get some privileges that non-IB kids don't have.. we are called VIP students (because when we tried to tell the we are "the IB students" they didn't understand what we were saying and though we said "VIP students" :shifty: ) and no one asks where are we going or if we have a permition to do something.. we can do what ever we want and no one would dare to ask us what or why are we doing that.. and the best thing is that we are a family in the class we are so close to each other and that is what helped us to survive the IB..

Edited by Sara.Taha
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All what I've mentioned are only small things that you have to accept when you do IB in my school.. the worst thing is that if you ever decided to do the IB program then its next to the national curriculum.. which makes our attention divided among the two programs (imagine the number of extra after school hours we take in order to catch up with both programs and their requirements).. I've start exams in April and I still didn't finished, my last exam is 2morrow.. everyone knows that in the IB senior year you spent more that two months doing nothing but exams for both programs and they are both equally important..

Heeey there fellow has-to-take-classes-for-two-programs-simaltaneously person! *high five* I always knew we weren't the only insane school =D Don't you feel soooo educated now? /sarcasm

(Although I'm lucky cuz we only have to take German HL and English HL and we don't have to take the final exams for either; but most of my friends are still struggling till next week haha.)

What other subjects do you have? Can you at least choose those?

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All what I've mentioned are only small things that you have to accept when you do IB in my school.. the worst thing is that if you ever decided to do the IB program then its next to the national curriculum.. which makes our attention divided among the two programs (imagine the number of extra after school hours we take in order to catch up with both programs and their requirements).. I've start exams in April and I still didn't finished, my last exam is 2morrow.. everyone knows that in the IB senior year you spent more that two months doing nothing but exams for both programs and they are both equally important..

Heeey there fellow has-to-take-classes-for-two-programs-simaltaneously person! *high five* I always knew we weren't the only insane school =D Don't you feel soooo educated now? /sarcasm

(Although I'm lucky cuz we only have to take German HL and English HL and we don't have to take the final exams for either; but most of my friends are still struggling till next week haha.)

What other subjects do you have? Can you at least choose those?

That would be a dream coming true (I wouldn't have taken social studies which is my final exam 2morrow).. we have absolutely no right to choose anything.. but yet I enjoyed the last two years and I still can't believe that I'm finishing High school 2morrow.. its a scary thought.. :dontgetit: :dontgetit:

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I guess my school beats all the other schools.. :blowup:

Firstly we don't have anything called pre-IB or any sort of course that prepares you for IB... you receive your shock in your junior year.. and you fully understand the IB program by your senior year (hopefully)..

Secondly, choosing subjects or even levels isn't possible.. you have to take Biology HL, Chemistry HL, Math SL, Arabic A1 HL (even if you suck at that language), English A2 SL and business & managements SL.. :disgust:

CAS is a mess.. I only knew about the fact that we write reflections about the activities by March of my senior year (I had to write all reflections and proposal plans in two days)

you might think that is enough but things only gets worse at my school.. The IB programs is dedicated for alines, some weird kids that have decided to destroy their own life.. our batch is only 7 (including me), the previous batch is 4 and the following batch is also four.. I guess we never had a batch larger than 15.. and other kids look at us as the weird nerds who actually decided to do something in their life.. :what:

All what I've mentioned are only small things that you have to accept when you do IB in my school.. the worst thing is that if you ever decided to do the IB program then its next to the national curriculum.. which makes our attention divided among the two programs (imagine the number of extra after school hours we take in order to catch up with both programs and their requirements).. I've start exams in April and I still didn't finished, my last exam is 2morrow.. everyone knows that in the IB senior year you spent more that two months doing nothing but exams for both programs and they are both equally important..

However I should be fair to my school, we do have a couple of great things: because the class is small you will get all the attention you need from the teachers and they are our friends more than teachers.. we also have some of the best teachers you could ever imagine and we do get some privileges that non-IB kids don't have.. we are called VIP students (because when we tried to tell the we are "the IB students" they didn't understand what we were saying and though we said "VIP students" :shifty: ) and no one asks where are we going or if we have a permition to do something.. we can do what ever we want and no one would dare to ask us what or why are we doing that.. and the best thing is that we are a family in the class we are so close to each other and that is what helped us to survive the IB..

Seeing that you are appreciative of your IB school even though it is quite constrictive in regards to subject choices has made me a teeny bit less resentful towards my school.

Aside from the teachers all being unqualified and most of everyone not understand what IB really is and how it should be treated, we do get special privileges! I mean, how many IB schools let their students run their own business in school, right? :P In my school the first years BAM students run our school canteen for a year in which we get 50% of the profit that goes towards an international trip. Although it can be totally hectic, the idea of being student managers is pretty swell. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

I don't know how it is in other schools, but in my school it is SUPER easy to pass onto the next semester even if you fail 1-3 subjects. In pre-IB I was so frightened of getting kicked out and I thought it happened all the time, so I was super scared about failing math SL in my first semester of IB1, and then it turns out that loooaads of people failed (myself not included thankfully) and yet only one person was missing during the second semester. I have a feeling the same thing will happen now. If people are failing subjects now, how the eff are they going to pass in 2013?

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you want to take maths SL or HL you need to have achieved certain grades in maths before to qualify. They won't even let you try if they don't think you can handle it.

They also won't let you in to the IB if you are doing it for the wrong reasons, you submit a sort of personal statement with your grades. I don't think thats universal in the IB:/

Oh, and we have no group six subjects. Art apparantly isn't very important. Taking both Physics and Chemistry, however, is.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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