How do you feel when HSC finishes before IB?

[SHLregrets]

Hi everyone,

I'm starting the IB next year and I have a friend who I was going to go with to schoolies. But since i'm doing the IB i finish my exams about a month later (?) than she does and she's doing the HSC.

Do you ever feel annoyed/left out/whatever about the fact that your IB exams finish later than HSC exams?

And I've heard a lot of people saying that you don't hang out with HSC people, and basically you don't really talk to them for the whole 2 years. Is this true?

Thanks

[flinquinnster]

Don't get me started on this issue of HSC vs. IB regrets... It might be a uniquely NSW phenomenon to complain about the lost opportunities of not doing the local course over IB, though I could be wrong. On the issue of late exam times, luckily (or perhaps not?) most of my friends are IB, with the exception of a few that I hang around with a lot. But it is true to say, at least for me, that there is some kind of weird IB-HSC segregation. Now that's a whole other can of worms to open...

But in fairness, when HSC girls are on trials then we can be smug and know that nothing counts. But in a way, that's pretty awful for us to, as we work hard in trials and then realise that our marks don't count. And that we should've worked on TOK, which actually does count to our final mark (that's my situation right now, when I'm not procrastinating). And our final exams are definitely more high-stakes than HSC.

But then again, scaling. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how HSC becomes an ATAR. At least in IB we can transparently understand whether we've failed or not.

So don't let the fact that HSC finishes earlier than IB influence your decision - that is a minor, trivial issue! Even when you consider bigger issues like the possibly weird HSC-IB segregation, you shouldn't let that dissuade you from the IB if you want a challenging course. Of course, it does seem unfair that we have to do 3HL/3SL/TOK/EE/CAS when all you need in HSC is to scrape up 10 units in 4 subjects. But each to their own; at least our ATAR conversions are somewhat generous for now.

[Sandwich]

In the UK it's the other way around: IB exams are in May and A Level exams are in June, so we actually finished earlier than them.

I would say that it probably depends on the format of your school as to how together the IB and non-IB people feel. When you go through a school day and have no lessons in common with non-IB people I think it stands to reason that you do become separated to some extent.

At my school, I'd been friends with some of the non-IB students since I was 10 years old so I still hung out with them in my free time, we were all in the same space in our common room, and we went to lunch together most days. Although the crappy IB curriculum meant that some days we had to have lessons during lunch time and over break times, so it wasn't always possible to eat with/see other people, but that's just the rubbishness of the IB for you...

So yeah I'd say it depends on how well you know your non-IB friends (like for instance if you started brand new at my school for the IB, you'd probably have had hardly any non-IB friends) and make the most of your chances to remember that each other exist Extra-curricular stuff is sometimes a chance to meet up! There's no reason to not speak for 2 years if you still DO want to speak to them, ahah! Although you could just as easily fall in with an IB crowd just like they could easily fall in with a non-IB crowd.

[nid811]

Don't get me started on this issue of HSC vs. IB regrets... It might be a uniquely NSW phenomenon to complain about the lost opportunities of not doing the local course over IB, though I could be wrong. On the issue of late exam times, luckily (or perhaps not?) most of my friends are IB, with the exception of a few that I hang around with a lot. But it is true to say, at least for me, that there is some kind of weird IB-HSC segregation. Now that's a whole other can of worms to open...

But in fairness, when HSC girls are on trials then we can be smug and know that nothing counts. But in a way, that's pretty awful for us to, as we work hard in trials and then realise that our marks don't count. And that we should've worked on TOK, which actually does count to our final mark (that's my situation right now, when I'm not procrastinating). And our final exams are definitely more high-stakes than HSC.

But then again, scaling. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how HSC becomes an ATAR. At least in IB we can transparently understand whether we've failed or not.

So don't let the fact that HSC finishes earlier than IB influence your decision - that is a minor, trivial issue! Even when you consider bigger issues like the possibly weird HSC-IB segregation, you shouldn't let that dissuade you from the IB if you want a challenging course. Of course, it does seem unfair that we have to do 3HL/3SL/TOK/EE/CAS when all you need in HSC is to scrape up 10 units in 4 subjects. But each to their own; at least our ATAR conversions are somewhat generous for now.

Yes, I agree completely!

I'm doing the IB in Sydney (my exams are this November), and the segregation is MASSIVE (at least, it was for me). The IB is just such an ordeal that you become close with the people who go through it with you + the HSC do have different assessment periods.

However, the whole Schoolies thing really doesn't matter - you'll probably make new Schoolies plans anyways

[Charliepants]

In Norway it's the other way around: exams for "ordinary" high school students are at the beginning of June.

I'm just looking forward to the day when I've finished my last exam and everyone else will still be going to school for another month or so.