Considering taking the IB Diploma!

[HelloNimra]

Hello everyone,

I'm in deep thought, whether I should take IB or not. If I take IB, I've to take Pre-IB first.

But lots of people says things like,

"Omg, IB's hard, don't take it" or "You'll fail easily, I put all-nighters everyday"

It kinda makes me fearing IB, but I really wanna study Law at University of Bristol in UK and I've heard that IB is a bonus for getting into Uni? For the classes - I might consider taking Math studies, since I'm not good at Math at all, but is it true that some universities don't accept Math Studies?

Please answer me, because I'm freaking out, and all my friends and class mates are taking AP.

- Nimra Iqbal.

[batta]

Well generally it depends on you as a person. I mean you know what you want to do so maybe AP might be better for you BUT the good thing about IB is it gives you many alternatives to take in case something doesn't work out however because you want to go to the UK then IB is a much better choice.

And while IB sounds scary it really is about your time management. If you do things on time and work efficiently not only will it be less stressful but you may find yourself getting higher grades than you expected. In regards to maths studies it depends on the country and the uni itself. So check with the uni first then pick your subjects. Besides you can always drop from HL/SL to studies

Hope it helped

[Emmi]

1. IB usually has no advantage over other things. Just make sure you are taking some sort of curriculum that is accepted (such as IB, AP, A-levels, whatever). It doesn't really matter which, the one you take is more of what your school offers and which you feel more comfortable doing.

2. The only people that say that are people that slack off, procrastinate, and don't try. If you put in some effort and have decent time management skills you will likely never pull an all-nighter and you certainly will not fail.

3. Math studies should be fine for law since it doesn't really use math. Check with the individual university (in your case Bristol) to see if they want SL, but you should be ok with studies provided you do decently in it.

[Gaby]

I've never pulled an all-nighter during my time in the IB. The latest I went to bed because of working was probably something around 2 or 3.

IB is not really a bonus, I think, but it might be more known to the universities you're applying to than other qualification you might take. However, having done the IB, although I think it was the best option for me (out of the ones I had), I don't go around saying "do the IB". No. IB sucks. If it will help you in any way - do it, if it's all just to be "challenged" - don't. Just my opinion, though.

[IBidiot]

At first I didn't want to take the IB. Ha! I thought anyone who took it was crazy and worked way too hard. However, I made the decision myself to go into Pre-IB to see what it was like, and I am glad that I did. At least in my school, the classroom setting is different, and in a school that has a lot of people who don't care, the Pre-IB had a lot of people who did care.. even if a little too much:) Through the past few years, we have weeded out those who didn't really want to stick with the programme, and most joined AP. I think that if I had done AP, I would have had a lot more options as far as classes go, and colleges would probably consider me just as successful if I had done the IB, but like I said, there's usually an environment difference. Depending on your class size, this could affect your experience. Currently in the IB juniors, there are only 13 kids, and we are all pretty close. In AP, there are over 60 juniors, and many are just figuring out how to balance their time and get along with one another. This may not be important to you, but for me, I wanted to be in a class where the students and teachers were close and cared deeply about what they did. Of course, it differs for everyone. Keep in mind, though, that I do think I could have done just fine in AP.

Oh and one more thing: if anything, try Pre-IB if you think that you can do it, and you'll find that if you choose the AP route, the work load should be easier (at least in my area). For example: juniors who were in the Pre-IB with me and took the AP route are all taking 4 or more AP classes and plan to take at least 4 next year. They consider it to be rather easy, while my sister, who has stuck with Pre-AP and AP finds that her two classes are very difficult because of the work load. She's just not used to it. I would recommend talking to those who have been successful in the IB and see what they say. Also, if you can, talk to one or two of the teachers as well as the counselor and weight your options.

All in all, I'm sure that whatever you pick, you will end up liking it and being successful. Good luck!

[student3]

IB isn't really a bonus and doesn't really help you that much in terms of admission since only some universities give special treatment and admission to IB kids, where as most don't.

In grade 11 and 12 I contemplated dropping out of the IB program many times because I do admit it is stressful at times but I think at the end of the day it pays off in terms of work habits. I ended up doing perfectly fine on all my finals and got into every university I wanted to get into. Once I got to University I found everything a lot easier because of the study habits and time management I learned while in the IB program. While most people were crying during exam time in University because of a 60% exam I felt pretty calm and I currently have a perfect GPA.

I think you should take IB. It WILL be challenging at first and seem hard at first and trust me you will probably cry and ask yourself why you got yourself into it when all your friends are having fun but once it's all done you'll be a step above everyone else and come University time you'll be the one still getting the same grades you got in IB, while your non IB friends might see a drop of 10-20% in their grades.