276 replies to this topic

[asbb96]

hi everyone
i am starting the IB this year when we return to school next month and im pretty excited (australia btw)
i am doing arabic B SL, this is the only subject that i have concerns about
has anyone done this subject before
was it difficult
i cme from an arab backgroung but still find the language difficult

[Abid]

Hey, was just wondering what are the rules for a remark for a subject? I just got my SL Psychology Anticip results and got a 6 but I don't know the percentage but I think it may have been close to the mark boundaries. Could anyone outline the policy for remarks?

[kiwi.at.heart]

Abid, on Jan 09, 2012 - 12:22, said:

Hey, was just wondering what are the rules for a remark for a subject? I just got my SL Psychology Anticip results and got a 6 but I don't know the percentage but I think it may have been close to the mark boundaries. Could anyone outline the policy for remarks?

If you want a remark, just ask your coordinator. They will work it out for you but i does cost some sum of money, i think mine said about just over $100. Though I would ask your coordinator if the grade breakdowns have came through before doing so. That way you will actually know your percentage, which will tell you whether its worth a remark, as well as not having the risk of your grade possibly begin closer to the 5 boundary, remarking bring your marks down a little, and as a result also your grade

[aemjames]

Hi everyone!
I'm a junior in the IB program and I'm a little confused about the points for the diploma. To my understanding, you need 24 points to get the diploma and you cannot get a 1 or a 2 on any of your exams. So how do TOK and the extended essay factor in? Are they like "extra points" or do you have to get specific grades in those in order to get the diploma? Thanks to anyone who can help!

[Emy Glau-ski]

aemjames, on Jan 16, 2012 - 21:54, said:

Hi everyone!
I'm a junior in the IB program and I'm a little confused about the points for the diploma. To my understanding, you need 24 points to get the diploma and you cannot get a 1 or a 2 on any of your exams. So how do TOK and the extended essay factor in? Are they like "extra points" or do you have to get specific grades in those in order to get the diploma? Thanks to anyone who can help!

In addition to getting at least 24 points in your exams you must do an extended essay and take TOK. You can either get 0, 1, 2, or 3 extra points. See this matrix:



Basically (with EE grade listed first and TOK grade listed second)
You get 3 bonus points if you get AA, BA, or AB.
You get 2 bonus points if you get AC, AD, BB, CA, or DA.
and so forth

You can fail one, but not both, of these papers. Although doing so is very difficult and you have to essentially go out of your way to fail or completely miss the point of the assignment to fail. Failing both or not doing one of these results in no diploma.

[spereira14]

I was looking into buying some textbooks and I was wondering what were the differences between a course companion and a regular textbook. Thanks

[Trololol Marf]

spereira14, on Jan 30, 2012 - 22:51, said:

I was looking into buying some textbooks and I was wondering what were the differences between a course companion and a regular textbook. Thanks

Course Companions are more condensed and they cover the syllabus with less pages than your regular textbook usually. I would say they are great for exam review; you don't have to flip through every single page either. The Companions essentially cover everything you need to know without having you read too much.

This is extra but I think the Companions are a good supplementary to your regular textbook. I have found that I switch between books when I don't quite understand a concept in either book, so you'll have that extra resource readily available.

[Snorlaxn]

I need to pick my subject choices for IB, and so far I have:
Higher Music, History, and Biology
Standard English Lang & Lit, French Ab inito, and Math Studies

What do you guys think of this combination? Is it too easy/hard/time consuming?
Thanks

[Summer Glau]

Snorlaxn, on Feb 24, 2012 - 09:46, said:

I need to pick my subject choices for IB, and so far I have:
Higher Music, History, and Biology
Standard English Lang & Lit, French Ab inito, and Math Studies

What do you guys think of this combination? Is it too easy/hard/time consuming?
Thanks

It depends on what you want to do with your subjects later on (ie what you want to study) It's a pretty good combination for humanities IMO, HL history is good for a lot of humanity-related courses of study. English Lit would also be a good HL for the humanities. But if you want to study something math or science-related, you should take another science instead of music and swap math studies for math SL or HL.

In terms of difficulty your subjects are a bit on the softer side; you have English Lang and Lit instead of English Lit, in addition to math studies. ab initio may also be seen as a soft subject at some unis but I'm not too sure. It depends on where you apply to uni; some unis will care about how hard or "academic" your subject combo is but most won't.

[parkseunghyun]

i heard it was a little crazy to take 4 HL's, but at my school we are required to HL in history and English. for my third HL i chose visual arts, but i also am now HLing in spanish. I already have taken my chemistry exam and i only got a 2 on it, which is embarrassing but whatever.

anyway, what i am wondering is how hard will it be now to get my diploma? im good in english and exceptional in spanish since it is my third language.... but i am just worried mostly about the history test

[Emy Glau-ski]

parkseunghyun, on Mar 05, 2012 - 19:23, said:

i heard it was a little crazy to take 4 HL's, but at my school we are required to HL in history and English. for my third HL i chose visual arts, but i also am now HLing in spanish. I already have taken my chemistry exam and i only got a 2 on it, which is embarrassing but whatever.

anyway, what i am wondering is how hard will it be now to get my diploma? im good in english and exceptional in spanish since it is my third language.... but i am just worried mostly about the history test

Depends on your skill in history honestly. I don't find it all that hard, but that's because I've been taught how to properly write history essays and I like the subject. Even if you don't like it, practice your essay-writing skills, make sure you have a grasp on all of the major topics including those that will be on your Paper 2, and know how to analyze.

All you need is 24 points, and as long as you don't get another 2 in your SL class and no 1 or 2 in your HL classes you'll be fine. Provided you turn in all work and don't plagiarize

[Bad Boys of Boston]

Hey guys, for all May 2012 exam ppl, when will the results of the Diploma work be released? (EE, TOK Essay, CAS, etc if any)

[Emy Glau-ski]

Bad Boys of Boston, on Mar 11, 2012 - 07:16, said:

Hey guys, for all May 2012 exam ppl, when will the results of the Diploma work be released? (EE, TOK Essay, CAS, etc if any)

July 6, although your IB coordinator gets them on the 5th.

[annabelle9]

I'll be taking IB in September, grade 10 - grade 12.
I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, and I'm taking IB because it covers lots and I love a good challenge. However, I recently found out through my private research (I am such a nerd sometimes) that a job will only accept a HL subject, or whatever. I'm not exactly sure. Do you think it's a good idea to go in HL with what my current interests are and what I'm good at? For instance, right now I'm sure English for me would be HL, not sure what else though yet. Because this way, maybe I'll find out I really liked my Maths SL class (because I believe I'll take that, too) and maybe in grade 11 I can move up into HL?
I'm looking forward to these answers, because I really like this site, especially this topic! Thanks guys, I really appreciate it! I'll be meeting with my IB coordinator about class schedules when March break is over. Oh, and good luck on your exams, thanks for taking the time to give advice

[Stein]

Wow your taking ib for three years? I've never heard of that before but if its true then good luck sister because you have a long road ahead of you. Onto the question now...

I do think it would be really beneficial to not only take hls that are easier for you but I do in fact recommend takin hl classes that relate to what you will do in the future. If you do well on your exams you could get credits for certain classes and you could special opportunites if you show your strengths in those subjects. Now we are all teenagers and quite young so maybe what you want to do in the future presently isn't really what you're really going to do in the future. Don't worry it happens all the time! That being said I'm sure you know in what subjects your strength lie and where your weaknesses lie so also base your hls on that or your looking at a few tough years.... Not saying they won't be tough already

[annabelle9]

Thank you! And yeah - I'm pretty sure it's three years. Fun. I'm not exactly sure what grade 12 has in store, but I'll find out.

[MylakIB]

Who chooses the options in subjects: teacher or students?

[Emy Glau-ski]

MylakIB, on Mar 15, 2012 - 18:26, said:

Who chooses the options in subjects: teacher or students?

It depends. At my school we did not get to choose our options for chemistry, but others on here have posted that they voted for which options they take or they got to choose which ones they wanted. Ask your teachers

[Magnus]

How does Internal Assessment work for Chemistry and Physics?

It says in the chemistry book that "The mark you receive out of 48 is then divided by 2 to give a mark out of 24 which constitutes the IA component (maximum 24%) of your final assessment mark"

Does this mean that if i get 48 IA points, I can have 24% more mistakes on the exam?

I've heard that you can get approximately 30% wrong on a physics test and still receive the mark 7. If i then get 40 IA points, can i then have as much as 50% WRONG on the exam papers and still get a mark 7?

[Emy Glau-ski]

Magnus, on Mar 25, 2012 - 21:29, said:

How does Internal Assessment work for Chemistry and Physics?

It says in the chemistry book that "The mark you receive out of 48 is then divided by 2 to give a mark out of 24 which constitutes the IA component (maximum 24%) of your final assessment mark"

Does this mean that if i get 48 IA points, I can have 24% more mistakes on the exam?

I've heard that you can get approximately 30% wrong on a physics test and still receive the mark 7. If i then get 40 IA points, can i then have as much as 50% WRONG on the exam papers and still get a mark 7?

No
The IA mark for chemistry and physics works like this: You get 12 points in your design, 12 for data processing, and 12 for conclusion. This is why you submit two labs for each aspect. The remaining 12 points comes from Group 4 and from manipulative skills (basically can you measure things and not set yourself on fire). Added up this gives you a score out of 48 points. The reason they divide it in half is because that's a lot of weight to give to an IA. And no, you can't make 24% more mistakes on the exam. Although scoring well on your IA gives you a bit of leeway on the exams, you still want to do well in case your IA gets moderated down (which often happens).

The physics grade boundaries change every year, but a 7 is roughly about 70%. This is because the exam is hard and the boundaries are therefore lower than other subjects. So again no, if you get 40 IA points (which then turns to 20) you wouldn't want to miss 50% on the exam.