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afitz

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The German matriculation exams are also said to be hard. For IB students wanting to go study in Germany, they have to either study Math HL and a science at SL, or a science at HL and Math SL. My friend is having big problems with this now, because she is also taking IB German A1 Self-taught in addition to French B and English A1. The German universities regard IB as lower in terms of standards than their own schools.

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The German universities regard IB as lower in terms of standards than their own schools.

You sure about that? I wouldn't know either, but given that they consider 45, 44, 43 and 42 points in the IB to be equal to an average of 1,0 (the best you can achieve in the 'Abitur') I'd say the converse is true :P

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There's a thing called the A levels in the UK. They're supposedly harder than IB, because all of its courses are VERY in depth and you have the choices of taking very few courses but going above and beyond in studying them. So you have fewer subjects but you're spending more time on them. Its got it's own thing with it too, so you can look them up for more details and decide whether you'd find them harder (a lot of people that took them regretted it; they seemed to want to go to IB).

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  • 2 weeks later...
There's a thing called the A levels in the UK. They're supposedly harder than IB, because all of its courses are VERY in depth and you have the choices of taking very few courses but going above and beyond in studying them. So you have fewer subjects but you're spending more time on them. Its got it's own thing with it too, so you can look them up for more details and decide whether you'd find them harder (a lot of people that took them regretted it; they seemed to want to go to IB).

Hi theDIDDLER

I'm sorry but I must disagree with you regarding the British A-level qualification. We have a mixed IB/A-Level college (5 - 10% of each year does IB, the rest chose A-levels). From my experience, the A-levels are much, much MUCH! easier than the IB. I would say that A-level courses match SL subjects in terms of difficulty. So, when an IB student is taking 3 SL and 3 HL, they are basically doing twice as much work as a -levellers (without even including TOK, EE, CAS!!!!).

I definitely have to work way more towards my IB than a-level students need to put towards their course to get a good grade.

Sorry about the rant, but in comparison to IB, A-levels are a complete JOKE and it REALLY grinds my gears when A-level students are given easy offers from Uni's and IB students are given ridiculous ones, when I think about how much work I have put in over the last 2 years compared with my a-level friends.

*sigh*

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Hi theDIDDLER

I'm sorry but I must disagree with you regarding the British A-level qualification. We have a mixed IB/A-Level college (5 - 10% of each year does IB, the rest chose A-levels). From my experience, the A-levels are much, much MUCH! easier than the IB. I would say that A-level courses match SL subjects in terms of difficulty. So, when an IB student is taking 3 SL and 3 HL, they are basically doing twice as much work as a -levellers (without even including TOK, EE, CAS!!!!).

I definitely have to work way more towards my IB than a-level students need to put towards their course to get a good grade.

Sorry about the rant, but in comparison to IB, A-levels are a complete JOKE and it REALLY grinds my gears when A-level students are given easy offers from Uni's and IB students are given ridiculous ones, when I think about how much work I have put in over the last 2 years compared with my a-level friends.

*sigh*

Yeah, I'm pretty sure A-levels are not more difficult than IB from trawling TSR. They also have modules so it's easier to have retakes in case you mess up. The only course where I'd say you learn more is FM (as compared to Math HL), but since I haven't taken both FM and Math HL, I can't really back it up with personal experience. ;)

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You sure about that? I wouldn't know either, but given that they consider 45, 44, 43 and 42 points in the IB to be equal to an average of 1,0 (the best you can achieve in the 'Abitur') I'd say the converse is true ;)

My friend has to do German A1 in order for her IB Diploma to be accepted in Germany. They have no problems with her other subjects. But it's also quite demanding to ask students to take Math SL and a science at HL (or the reverse).

Even though the Abitur is often compared to a high school diploma of the United States, the academic level of the Abitur is more comparable to the International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement tests — indeed, the study requirements for the International Baccalaureate differ little from the Finnish exam requirements. It is the only school-leaving certificate in all states of Germany that allows the graduate (or Abiturient) to move directly to university. The other school leaving certificates, the Hauptschulabschluss and the Realschulabschluss, do not allow their holders to matriculate at a university. Those granted certificates of Hauptschulabschluss or Realschulabschluss can gain a specialized Fachabitur or an Abitur if they graduate from a Berufsschule and then attend Berufsoberschule. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitur)

In other words, the Finnish and German education systems are just as rigorous as the IB.

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I feel this topic needs a fun fact , so here we go. If you want to study something concerning math in France after finishing the norwegian system. You have to take a one year pre - course of math before you are allowed to start studying the real **** ;) that is how much the norwegian system sucks.

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You can apply to what's called the Governor's School which is more government and business related and less liberal arts. It's harder to be accepted into, and it's a harder program than what's at my school. Although, the IB classes at my school aren't very challenging compared to IB standards. So, I'd still say that IB is more rigorous.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmm.... I think not.... Our former IB students tell us that the lessons they take in universities seem oddly very familiar (Of course it must depend on which university you go)

[EDIT] At least I can tell that the German Abitur doesn't seem to be harder than IB. Our school also offers bilingual German Abitur, but when one compares the amount of homework we get and they get, there is a certain difference.

Edited by hermine0817
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Hmm.... I think not.... Our former IB students tell us that the lessons they take in universities seem oddly very familiar (Of course it must depend on which university you go)

That's the case here as well. We get transfer credits for HL courses that allow us to skip the course. Univ econ (introductory) also appears to closely mirror SL Econ so yay! got my first few electives. :unsure:

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The German matriculation exams are also said to be hard. For IB students wanting to go study in Germany, they have to either study Math HL and a science at SL, or a science at HL and Math SL. My friend is having big problems with this now, because she is also taking IB German A1 Self-taught in addition to French B and English A1. The German universities regard IB as lower in terms of standards than their own schools.

It is not hundred-percently necessary to take the German language in A1 level. An A2 level is enough. If you do not have these levels, you have to write entrance exams in German universities confirming that you are able to speak German fluently.

As far as I know, a science HL is absolutely necessary and you either have to take maths HL or SL. Studies is not allowed.

I think that would it be.

But true, the German universities regard IB lower, I think. Of course 42 up counts as 1.0, but It has become much easier to get an 1.0 after they have added persentation exams into the Abitur process. This boosts the grades up hugely.

No need to say that it is hard to get over 42 points, I think.

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There's a thing called the A levels in the UK. They're supposedly harder than IB, because all of its courses are VERY in depth and you have the choices of taking very few courses but going above and beyond in studying them. So you have fewer subjects but you're spending more time on them. Its got it's own thing with it too, so you can look them up for more details and decide whether you'd find them harder (a lot of people that took them regretted it; they seemed to want to go to IB).

Hell no!! You have no such thing as EE or TOK in their program!

Their exams are way easier, at least in biology.

People who cant do IB in our school go to another school that does A-levels.

Edited by mahuta
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The other thing with A-levels is that it's tested by module so you can easily have retakes to boost your marks up. It's also easier in a sense as you're only tested on a few months of material in contrast to 1-2 years.

In terms of content, I know A-Level FM > IB HL Math but for the other courses, I THINK it's the other way around.

Edit: Oh ha! I already said that! I have such a good memory nowadays. :P

Edited by Irene
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My friend has to do German A1 in order for her IB Diploma to be accepted in Germany. They have no problems with her other subjects. But it's also quite demanding to ask students to take Math SL and a science at HL (or the reverse).

Even though the Abitur is often compared to a high school diploma of the United States, the academic level of the Abitur is more comparable to the International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement tests — indeed, the study requirements for the International Baccalaureate differ little from the Finnish exam requirements. It is the only school-leaving certificate in all states of Germany that allows the graduate (or Abiturient) to move directly to university. The other school leaving certificates, the Hauptschulabschluss and the Realschulabschluss, do not allow their holders to matriculate at a university. Those granted certificates of Hauptschulabschluss or Realschulabschluss can gain a specialized Fachabitur or an Abitur if they graduate from a Berufsschule and then attend Berufsoberschule. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitur)

In other words, the Finnish and German education systems are just as rigorous as the IB.

I heard that Finnish kids are among the smartest in the world and apparently a typical high school student gets on average only an hours homework each night!

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As someone who's done A-Levels and currently about a third of the way through the last year of IB, I must say that IB is a lot harder, and in my opinion, far more in depth. A-Level maths is just easy (then again so is Maths SL, but HL is mental) and moves really slowly. At one point I thought I was missing something because my A-Level classes were moving so slowly, but nope, not me. I'm so glad to be back in IB... I was taking 5 A-Levels and was bored. I mean, if you just want to get good grades easily, and not be stimulated, interested or challenged the A-Levels are good, but the classes were snail-like. That system suits some people, but I'm really not a fan. I ended up starting ToK debates in maths, and getting A's on Computing (the programming version) tests when I turned up a bit drunk. I had an essay title: 'What is money?' for economics. Meant to be 1500 words. Very descriptive after a paragraph. History was also like that, but more irrelevent and biased about Great Britain, and of course there's certain things one isn't to mention, such as WORLD WAR ONE, when discussing the domestic affairs up to the 1920s. The IB appreciates the analytical power of the student a bit more, which suits me just fine.

/rant

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I heard that Finnish kids are among the smartest in the world and apparently a typical high school student gets on average only an hours homework each night!

According to the results of the latest PISA study regarding maths, reading and science tests, Finland does have the best school system. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finnish+y...s/1101977932986 and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4073753.stm.

In Finland, they only accept into teacher training one out of 10 candidates who want to study to become a teacher. Every teacher must have at least a Master level graduate. They have to have a university-based study, which takes five years to complete. I don't know about the amount of homework they get, since I don't go to school there, but I'm sure its not very much. They also have very long holidays, 11 weeks off for summer.

Students stay in the same school from age 7 until 16, which is unusual since in places like England or America people have to change from primary to secondary school. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4033593.stm gives more information about the benefits of not switching schools. There's more articles ion the right side of that page.

I'm always amazed at how many languages children learn in Finnish schools, some know 4. Finnish, Swedish and English are all compulsory. Apparently in the UK the number of people studying languages up to GCSE has dropped, which is a shame since some then go on to study languages at university, knowing only English.

There's an issue with class sizes now apparently in Finland, which are becoming too large. But the best thing about the system is that you only start school at 7, which is the same in Sweden and Denmark. It's an interesting discussion about which age students should start school, for anyone who's interested I read this a while back http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7234578.stm . Countries like Poland are fast catching up in terms of the PISA tests, and in Poland children start school at 7 as well.

Edited by Vvi
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Yeah, well the competence rate in Finland seems to be rather high. However, I wouldn't say that the Finnish education system is more rigorous. Being in a Finnish school that achieves the best results on both the IB and the Finnish Matriculation exams in Finland I can easily say that we do more work on the IB. The fundamental difference is due to the fact that we have stuff like IAs that we have to do during our school studies which affect our final grade. In the Finnish system it's only the final exams.

But it also seems to me that when comparing to IB schools abroad we seem to have less work here. I mean for me I more often end up doing no work at home than actually do something. I only had to do some serious work now that we had to turn in IAs and stuff, but then, my subjects are relatively easy.

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The fundamental difference is due to the fact that we have stuff like IAs that we have to do during our school studies which affect our final grade. In the Finnish system it's only the final exams.

I'd actually prefer a system like that. All or nothing - no stress no stress. :P I reckon I'd do pretty well too.

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Wow, that's a complete contrast to the Swedish national programme. (I'm never, ever going to argue that that is a difficult or even good system; guess why I'm doing the IB?) There you have no final exams, and everything is marked internally by your teacher.

So for us the difference between the IB and the national system is really big, and at first the thought of final exams scared the **** out of me. But I've come to quite like it; that said, I wouldn't want to have my grades 100% based on my exam results. It's going to feel -so- good going into exams in May and being able to think that I've got really good chances of getting good grades because all my coursework is as good as I'm capable of making it. If that weren't the case, I'd be even more nervous than I already am. ...There's also the thing where I've learnt tonnes from doing the various kinds of coursework; without that, I wouldn't understand any of my subjects as well as I actually do.

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