General IB Knowledge - Ask mini-questions about IB here

[Terry]

I'm just wondering, my family usually go on a vacation in the winter, so I've taken one week off school for this some years. Would that be foolish of me to expect doing in the IB?

[sweetnsimple786]

For pre-IB? Nah take a month off

For IB... I personally would not, but that's because I hate missing school. As long as you can make up assignments, and you exercise good time management skills, you'll be fine. However, for English A1, I did have to do my IOP [oral presentation] in the last days before the break. If I was going to be missing school, I would have rescheduled mine early.

See what you'll be doing in that week if you can. If you mentally prepare yourself that you're going to have to work harder to make up for that week, then you should be fine, really. You should have none to minimal work to do over the break.

[Abu]

You can take a week off, as long as you make up for the stuff you've missed. And it depends on your classes, I hated missing Maths while I could make up for everything else.

[Terry]

Okay, good to know, then. I'll be able to put in some work during the vacation, and I was planning on applying for the week off about 6 months in advance.

Thanks!

[Tiara Angel]

I just wanted to ask something before starting IB - when do they register you for exams (i.e. upto what time of the year is it possible to drop a subject from HL to SL)?

[biochem]

I just wanted to ask something before starting IB - when do they register you for exams (i.e. upto what time of the year is it possible to drop a subject from HL to SL)?

At my school they ordered exams during second semester of junior year. We went through a schedule verification stage so that they ordered the right exams (where you could change your exam once and for all). However some schools might have their own policies about this, and order the exams as soon as the deadline comes up before talking to students, so be aware of that. the best thing to ask is that you are having doubts about the nature of your schedule, and want to know the final date for scheduling decisions which you may have.

[The Economist]

How often do we get our grades?

At the school I was at (non-IB) we got them every 3 months (7th-8th-9th grade) or every 4 months (10th grade).

[Max]

How often do we get our grades?

At the school I was at (non-IB) we got them every 3 months (7th-8th-9th grade) or every 4 months (10th grade).

That depends on the school. We got them with our report cards at the end of every semester (i.e. twice a school year), but some schools give out grades more frequently.

[biochem]

if you are studying in Greece, you should be getting your grades every semester I believe.

In the US, in most states, you get your grades "officially" 4 times a year, every 9 weeks.

This also includes an official progress check, where the whole day is oriented around getting progress grades to students. That is, every "9 week" (there are 4 in a year) you receive the grades at the end of the fourth week just to check your progress.

[sweetnsimple786]

But then again, some schools work in trimesters, where you have three terms a year.

We had the progress check thing that biochem is talking about prior to secondary school. But it really does depend on what school you go to. IB doesn't have any control over when schools give grades--just what they can't count as grades.

[biochem]

My Spanish teacher refused to give anyone a 7. Even the flawless natives. She said it just tempted the moderators to bring the scores down. She always gave us slightly lower scores and said they were almost always moderated up. But then again, IB marks don't really affect my grades in Spanish class. Almost everyone had a 90+ unless they just didn't do the work.

Mine too!! she did the exact same thing. I really hate that my school is waiting for IB to pick up their scores, that is a gamble itself. Really, a horrible one.

[Tiara Angel]

Apparently my school doesn't let people take 4 HL's like the IBO permits. This is due to timetabling problems. However, I need my 4th HL to get into university because I'm not sure what I want to do. Is anyone in my situation?

[Peachez]

How often do we get our grades?

At the school I was at (non-IB) we got them every 3 months (7th-8th-9th grade) or every 4 months (10th grade).

At my school, for example we get our grades at the end of each quantile (5 times a year) and at the end of IB year 1 we recieved our first predicted grades based on the quantile reports we were recceiving throught the year (which was basically the average of the 5 grades). I believe next year (in mt IB year 2) we will be given our predicted grades whenever we ask for them based on which university we will apply to since each university has a different deadline.

Apparently my school doesn't let people take 4 HL's like the IBO permits. This is due to timetabling problems. However, I need my 4th HL to get into university because I'm not sure what I want to do. Is anyone in my situation?

Hmm.. your situation sounds new to me. At my school we mostly have combined classes with HL and SL because we do not have very many people going for the IB diploma. Maybe you could be in a SL class, but do extra work independently or after school with the teacher and count it as HL since you will be doing all the HL work for that class. It will require more independent work though, think about it.

Edited August 5, 2009 by Aboo

[Terry]

When graduating from the IB, does one have a baccalaureate degree? Or am I being completely fooled by the name?

On the webpages of the University of Alberta it was stated that:

"Applicants who hold, or are about to receive, their baccalaureate degrees from an accredited institution are eligible to apply to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for admission..."

Does this mean that one can enroll for a law or business degree right after IB? I thought that seemed a little too good to be true.

[master135]

When graduating from the IB, does one have a baccalaureate degree? Or am I being completely fooled by the name?

On the webpages of the University of Alberta it was stated that:

"Applicants who hold, or are about to receive, their baccalaureate degrees from an accredited institution are eligible to apply to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for admission..."

Does this mean that one can enroll for a law or business degree right after IB? I thought that seemed a little too good to be true.

The "baccalaureate" in that statement does not refer to the IB Diploma.....and instead to a Bachelor's degree. So you still need to do your Undergrad before Graduate Studies.

Edited August 10, 2009 by master135

[~Lc~]

are you serious? firstly you don't need to apply for a graduate degree to have a business degree. And no you don't have a BSC/BA after finishing the IB.

Baccalaureate stands for: a farewell sermon to a graduating class at their commencement ceremonies

which does not necessarily imply a bachelors degree!

[Terry]

I thought it was too good to be true.

So I'll need a Bachelor's degree before I can take a Bachelor's degree in law?

[Abu]

Of course you do. Do you honestly think that IB is a free backstage pass to get out of the last 2 years of high school and 3-4 years of undergraduate studies? Where was your brain when you thought that that was remotely possible?!

[Terry]

Of course you do. Do you honestly think that IB is a free backstage pass to get out of the last 2 years of high school and 3-4 years of undergraduate studies? Where was your brain when you thought that that was remotely possible?!

I think it might have visited the place where it was when I thought IB would make me more attractive to a university.

[__inthemaking]

I thought it was too good to be true.

So I'll need a Bachelor's degree before I can take a Bachelor's degree in law?

You definitely do. IB barely even covers first year uni courses, much less 4 years of a university Bachelor's degree. Otherwise I'm sure way more people would be interested in IB if you could skip directly to grad school after finishing the IB diploma.