General IB Knowledge - Ask mini-questions about IB here

[__inthemaking]

Okay, so I am going into IB2 next year, and a question has been bothering me for a bit. When do you recieve your IB diploma? At graduation? We are the first year of IB at our school, and I doubt that our coordinator knows that much about the program. Can anybody here tell me?

Haha my school did a separate IB graduation in October over Thanksgiving weekend (since everybody would be coming home from university that weekend).

We had our regular high school graduation in June and then the IB graduation in October..I liked doing that, we got to reunite with all the IB kids and we all went out for a big celebration afterwards for finally getting our diplomas.

[jjmack]

If there is a place for newbie questions I missed it. I am starting IB in september and really don't understand how it works. I know grade 9 and 10 are pre-IB... but what courses do you take? I'm going to a school with congregated IB. It is confusing.

Once I get into IB in gr 11 and 12... do I pick 6 courses (one from each group) and have TOK and EE on top of that? If so, how do you take one single course for 2 years? What do you do for marks for gr 11?

Does that mean if I take Histoy as an IB subject I don't take any geography?

And what about science? If I take chemistry... do I not take biology or physics?

And do you have to pick your IB courses right away, so that you can take pre-IB courses in 9 and 10 that get you ready for Ib courses in gr 11?

I really don't understand what I am getting myself into. Here is what I have figured out:

- you get a mark or grade in IB (gr 12 only) between 1 and 7.

- you take 6 subjects or 1 from each of 6 groups

- you can get 3 bonus marks for TOK and EE if the grades are high enough

- the max you can get is 45 but you need 24 to get your diploma

- you have to take 3 subjects SL and 3 subjects HL

But after that it is pretty fuzzy. When I start school in September, I don't know how many subjects I will have or which ones. I don't know if I get IB grades in gr 9 and 10.

I realize I am pretty confused, but if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it... i cany figure it out myself.

jj

[godofib]

Wow, you are confused. Firstly I would recommend talking to the IB coordinator at the school you are going to. IB coordinators have a lot of information and sometimes there are also information sessions ( for confused people like I was when I was in your place). You should try attending those information sessions (I went to one before I started IB).

However, I will answer some of your questions

- You pick 6 courses for your grade 11 and grade 12 years.

- They do not have to be one from each portion of the hexagon but rather you can pick two courses from one group and not pick any from another group. For example the courses I have taken are HL chem, HL bio, HL eng, SL math, SL psychology, and SL french.

- Gr 9 and 10 can be different for many of the schools. However, the courses you pick in gr. 9 and 10 can be different from the ones you in gr. 11 and 12. So, gr. 9 and 10 you can kind of experiment on what you like and dislike.

- HL courses run for 2 years and SL courses run for 1 year.

- EE is not a courses but rather just an essay on any topic you are interested in (not to scare you or anything but it is 4000 word essay)

- TOK is a one semester course.

[sweetnsimple786]

A lot of things depend on how your school runs.

At my school, some SL subjects are two years while some are one year. TOK is a one year class.

For 9th and 10th grade, we just had to make sure that we took the first two years of a foreign language so that we would be on track for 11th and 12th grade. The requirements for your preIB years vary depending on your school. Talk to your IB Coordinator, like godofib said.

Your 9th and 10th grade years will be good for figuring out what subjects you want to take. For example, I took bio in 9th and chem in 10th. I loved bio, while chem was just a boring, easy A. So I took Bio HL [and Physics SL as my 6th subject because I wanted to] when I started IB.

A lot of what you can and can't take depends on what your school offers. In my school, we have to pick between Bio HL and Chem HL because they are scheduled during the same hour. Things like that.

No need to worry about the EE, TOK, or even CAS until the summer after your 10th grade year.

[Sandwich]

Just to add to conflicting information on this (in a sense!) how the school chooses to split up your courses depends on how they're run. For instance I know many schools in the US split the IB up between two years so you do 2 or 3 SL subjects in year one and your HLs in year two because that way it fits more with how the US system works normally. The IB is, however, designed to be a linear two year course, so you should study all six of your subjects for the full two years and sit your exams in them in the summer of the second year. As a two year course it therefore requires no exams (except for often internal ones to assess progress) at the end of year 1. So you technically get no marks for grade 11, as you say, unless your school has chosen to intentionally skew the schedule and try to split the subjects fifty fifty instead of all of it over 2 years

Does this mean you're going into grades 9 and 10, then? If you are, I really wouldn't bother worrying with this stuff until you're there. Your school will explain it to you and your teachers will do the same

[jjmack]

Heh... this a great site. I am less confused now. I know they will tell us all about it in the fall. Glad to know that you don't need a subject from all 6 groups.

Also good to know that the IB courses really are 2 year cources. WOW!!! That sound really hard. How do you get graded over the 2 years? Bunch of tests or just one big exam at the end?

If the SL only go one year... it doesn't sound like you will take that many courses in the second year... if you have already finihsed some.

I really wanted to go my neighbourhood HS, but parents are making me take IB... hope it is not too hard and worth it in the end.

[sweetnsimple786]

Well you have to take a course from every group except the Arts one [i don't know what it's officially called.] So you still have to take your main language, a second language, some type of math, some social science, and a non-social science [bio/chem/physics/environmental systems/design tech]

For me, I finished two courses in IB 1 and I'm continuing the other 4 in IB 2 plus I'm doing TOK in IB2. I still take 8 classes each year, but the other classes are nonIB.

[KLSmash]

Heh... this a great site. I am less confused now. I know they will tell us all about it in the fall. Glad to know that you don't need a subject from all 6 groups.

Also good to know that the IB courses really are 2 year cources. WOW!!! That sound really hard. How do you get graded over the 2 years? Bunch of tests or just one big exam at the end?

If the SL only go one year... it doesn't sound like you will take that many courses in the second year... if you have already finihsed some.

I really wanted to go my neighbourhood HS, but parents are making me take IB... hope it is not too hard and worth it in the end.

I'll give you an idea of how my Gr 11 and 12 years are. Each class is approximately 1hr and 15 minutes in length.

Grade 11

Sem 1 (September - January):

HL Math

HL English A1

SL Chemistry

SL Physics

Grade 11

Sem 2 (February - June):

TOK

SL Chemistry (IB exam in May)

SL Physics (IB exam in May)

Grade 12:

Sem 1

HL Math

HL English A1

HL French

SL ITGS

Grade 12:

Sem 2

HL Math (IB exam in May)

HL English A1 (IB exam in May)

HL French (IB exam in May)

SL ITGS (IB exam in May)

Hopefully this helps. As for being graded, we get many tests, quizzes and assignments throughout the year, but the marks we receive are to just check how we are doing and to determine if we should drop IB or not. Our final marks are based on our internal assessments (labs and portfolios) and the final IB exam in May.

Edited July 15, 2009 by KLSmash

[Sandwich]

In many countries two year courses are the norm

For instance at our school we did every subject, every week for both years. 4 SL lessons per subject, 6 HL lessons per subject, 3 TOK lessons and 2 'CAS time' lessons a week for 2 years Which is more or less how we'd do normal qualifications (A Levels) over the 2 years, although admittedly those are examined at the end of year 1 whereas the IB really is 2 years! For the IB all exams are at the end unless you take something a year early. The only way you can really manage that is to work very intensively on a single or set of subjects for the first year at the expense of other subjects (like KLSmash describes doing). Technically speaking it's not how the course is designed as it makes it less 'all round', but in all honesty it probably helps in terms of distributing workload and stress levels for the final things

SL subjects aren't all gone at the end of year one. Very few people, even in KLSmash's system, seem to take more than 2 SL subjects early.

As I said, it depends on where you live and where you're going to school as to what's normal, but here it would be very unusual to take any subject early - you'd be examined in all six all at once at the end of the two years. Why not contact this school you're going to and ask your questions to them? You're only going to get speculation from us, but actual answers from them

Edited July 15, 2009 by Sandwich

[KLSmash]

Taking 2 SL courses in IB1 seems to only occur in North American schools from what I have experienced. My Chemistry teacher ended up teaching right up to a less than a week before our actual exam, simply because we needed to cover so much in so little time (but that's only because she taught us most of the HL syllabus as well since we would need it for university if we're going to major in Chemistry).

If jjmack, you're going to a high school in Ontario, and chances are that it is semestered, that for university applications, they'd take the marks you receive on the end-of-semester1 exams. Of course, they'd be overwritten by your final IB marks, but because you can get accepted to university before you even write any exams, the teachers need to submit some sort of mark!

Edited July 15, 2009 by KLSmash

[jjmack]

I think I am getting it. But this sounds really stressful. For example. if I take HL history in gr 11, and I have 20% of my final mark come from IA, the the other 80% comes from some IB guy in Wales marking my final exam. Then my whole 4 years of IB craziness comes down to one exam. That sounds too stressful. What are my parents doing to me?

[__inthemaking]

I think I am getting it. But this sounds really stressful. For example. if I take HL history in gr 11, and I have 20% of my final mark come from IA, the the other 80% comes from some IB guy in Wales marking my final exam. Then my whole 4 years of IB craziness comes down to one exam. That sounds too stressful. What are my parents doing to me?

It does sound really stressful and intimidating but I actually preferred it that way. I got way better marks with IB than I would've if I was in the regular academic stream.

If you prepare sufficiently and study hard then you should be prepared for the exams. Even if you feel like you did really badly on a paper, chances are you didn't do as bad as you thought. I remember being convinced I got a 4 in econ HL and I ended up with a 7. Remember that the grade boundaries are different in IB, all you need is 72% (+/- 2% usually) to get a level 7 in econ HL, for example, so it's really not that bad.

[jjmack]

Remember that the grade boundaries are different in IB, all you need is 72% (+/- 2% usually) to get a level 7 in econ HL, for example, so it's really not that bad.

Thanks _in the making!

I read quite a few of your posts and you are my hero. You did fantastic in IB. I am totally clued out about grade boundaries. How doess a 72% get you a 7? I thought a 7 was 96-100%.

jj

[godofib]

In IB the level that you get (between 1 and 7) depends on how other people around the world do. For example in 2008 if the Math SL is really easy and a lot of people get high marks, then the raw mark you need to get in order to get level 7 will be around 85%. However, if in 2009, the same math SL exam is hard, then in order to get 7, the raw percentage mark may be around 75%. Once you get that level 7, it gets converted to a mark that Canadian universities can recognize, which can range between 96%-100%. IB does not recognize percentages but in order for some canadian universities to understand your mark, your mark need to get converted from an IB level to a percentage.

[powa2]

When do I.B. students usually start on the extended essay, and when do they usually finish?

[Flippy]

When do I.B. students usually start on the extended essay, and when do they usually finish?

Usually it depends on when your school sets deadlines, however my IB coordinator told us that we should write "the bulk" of our EE over the summer (between the first and second year of the IB). But basically I think you should have a plan for your EE towards the end of your first year of the IB, and start it during the summer. Not sure about when it should be finished because there were a bunch of issues with our school's EE (we were the first year to do the IB at my school.)

[~Lc~]

I think I am getting it. But this sounds really stressful. For example. if I take HL history in gr 11, and I have 20% of my final mark come from IA, the the other 80% comes from some IB guy in Wales marking my final exam. Then my whole 4 years of IB craziness comes down to one exam. That sounds too stressful. What are my parents doing to me?

It is a lot of stress, but usually your teachers have trained you so much during the 2 years for your exams that it won't feel as heavy as you may think. Or it might, depending on what school you go to and how much work you do within the two years. But generally it is a stressful education system, and you get what you signed up for.

Just a correction, they don't correct the papers in Cardiff, there's just an examination head office there. Your exams are corrected by external examiners all over the world who may be someone else's teacher on here or something stupid like that. Your teachers might be examiners as well, then they go to group leaders and head examiners lalala for 2nd and 3rd marking

[Tilia]

When do I.B. students usually start on the extended essay, and when do they usually finish?

We're doing all research and stuff during the second term of the first year and then write the draft over the summer, hand it in as soon as IB2 starts and then the final deadline is sometime in November.

I don't think you should start the IB just because your parents want you to. IB is a great programme, but you need to be motivated enough to cope with the pace and stress.

[jjmack]

In IB the level that you get (between 1 and 7) depends on how other people around the world do. For example in 2008 if the Math SL is really easy and a lot of people get high marks, then the raw mark you need to get in order to get level 7 will be around 85%. However, if in 2009, the same math SL exam is hard, then in order to get 7, the raw percentage mark may be around 75%. Once you get that level 7, it gets converted to a mark that Canadian universities can recognize, which can range between 96%-100%. IB does not recognize percentages but in order for some canadian universities to understand your mark, your mark need to get converted from an IB level to a percentage.

Godofib. Thanks for the explanation. i think i get it. So your IB mark of 1-7 doesn't really have to do with how many questions you get right on the exam, but how many you got right compared to everyone else in the world?

Does that mean that there are a set percentage of people in the world getting a 7? What is that percentage? 2%? 5%? I didn't realize that IB used a crazy percentile system.

Is there some way of finding out the percentage of IB people who get a 7? or a 6? or a 5?

I guess that means that IB sets the average. What is the world average for a course? Is it same for all courses?

I know I am pretty dumb but these questions are really helping me out.

I was feeling better about IB till a read message post somewhere from an IB'er that said: "I'd kill myself but I don't have time."

So now I am worried again.

Edited July 16, 2009 by jjmack

[Sandwich]

The way they do it is that they convert all of the grades everybody has into an overall percentage (for instance a paper out of 90 in which somebody got 45 marks right would be 50%) and then they decided where the boundaries should fall from there. So one year it might be 86% for a 7, the next year it might be 84%. Being honest they very very rarely vary by more than one or two percent in any direction, and it all depends on how hard the exam has been. If the percentages were set, that wouldn't allow for the fact that all exams are different and of different difficulty levels.

There are also two different timezones in which exams are sat (otherwise people would be able to cheat off whichever timezone had to do the exams first) and because the papers are different between the timezones, they have two different sets of grade boundaries - one for timezone one and one for timezone two.

No idea where you'd find the average, but not all that many people actually get 7s. Seeing as it's out of 7, you could have my guess that the average mark is probably 3, 4 or 5 Not very helpful, I know.

Grade boundaries differ between courses (dependent on how hard a subject is....) so no averages probably wouldn't be the same for all courses in terms of the percentage required to reach the average grade.

Google percentages of people who get all the different marks, perhaps? If you're interested. Honestly it doesn't really matter in the IB as it'll have no real bearing on your own grade or ability - everybody sits the same exam, after all, so if you're better than people you'll stay better than them whether the grade boundaries are high or low thanks to the way it's distributed

You don't have much time in the IB. It's not a course for anybody who wants a decent social life, unless you can absorb information like a sponge and do your work extremely efficiently and to a tight time schedule! Most people have social lives mediochre to poor. Being honest, it's not a course which everybody in the world could do, it's designed for a specific sort of person (an academic person ). If you're smart in school and aren't totally averse to learning and working, you'll cope fine. From a personal point of view, however, if you have a national qualification which you've nothing against, I'd do whatever is normal for your country in preference to IB. IB doesn't offer you anything extra (except for work!!)