International Bacalauriate - has anybody's dc's done it in the UK?

[overthemill]

my dsd is interested in this course - she's good at languages and not sure yet what to specialise in ) - any body any experience of it? She'd have to go to a state sixth form college to do it

what i want to know is:
is it as good as it sounds

is it academically challenging

what's it like for university entry

do they regret doing it/pleased with it?
etc
thanks!

excited as we've just found a german tutor for her - she was worried about not getting a good grade - and she is enthused once more. hope this works out as i think it will give her a good grounding. today she talked about going to a scottish uni so think the broad base will be a good idea

I did year one of IB but maths results weren't good enough (this was at the International School of Geneva) so was bundled off to a crammer in London to do a few A-levels. Ironic! This was back in the early 80s & the IB had very high standard then. Think it's still excellent but know that A-levels are much easier now than they were in 1981!

Hi,
I'm on mumsnet trying to find people I can ask questions about bilingual language development in babies (psychology coursework). I stumbled across your post and thought I'd try to help - I'm currently in 2nd year IB at a state 6th form college in England. I guess you already know how the IB works?... 3 highers, 3 standards, ToK, the extended essay and CAS... so I?ll focus on the advantages / disadvantages. (All of my comparisons with A levels are based on the A levels I did (physics and ancient history) or what I have seen from A level friends)

• In my college the IB takes top pupils from local state, private and grammar schools (it's near Bucks where they still have grammars) so the average GCSE level is much higher than for A levels in the same college.
• My college has offered IB for a few years now and uses it as a major selling point. This means they tend to funnel their best / most experienced teachers into teaching IB classes.
• There are quite a few advantages in the UCAS preparation at my college. For example days with a guest speaker for IB specific help with UCAS forms, a 3rd ?layer? of checking personal statements (form tutor, subject teacher and then IB coordinator)
• There is the opportunity for IB students to do a year-long exchange with guest schools in France, Spain (where they learn IB in French or Spanish) or Germany (Abitur classes) in between first year and second year.
• It is much easier to make friends in IB because it is a smaller group with a limited number of IB classes. As the IB attracts people from different counties and countries , there isn?t a problem of everyone already knowing each other (from a feeder school).
• IB attracts students from abroad who live with guest families. This is handy if you study higher languages as you can almost guarantee there will be a native speaker to chat with.
• Exams are focussed on writing a logical well argued answers rather than remembering facts. For example in history it important that you can discuss why something happened when it did than remember when it happened (obviously there is still some date remembering to do).
• It?s nice to have a chance to study without the pressure of having exams coming up every January and June.
• Course work is on any topic you pick. For languages the course work is actually spoken in the group rather than written because writing is tested in the exam.
• The range of topics covered within subjects is much less prescribed than A levels. The English texts are chosen by the school so they are texts that the teachers want to teach. In German we have studied quite a bit of literature, as well as discussing topics which are in the news.
• At the risk of sounding like a geek...) I really enjoyed writing my extended essay ? it was a chance to write about a topic which I found interesting. By the time you start writing it 4000 words is not quite as intimidating as it seemed in September of 1st year.

Bad points:

• Although there is a UCAS tariff many unis ignore it. I?ve just had offers from Bristol and Exeter (whom both ask for AAA at A level) of 38 and 32, while the teachers at my school agree that 36 is about AAA. The UCAS tariff is too generous to IB so many unis ignore it which can mean get very high offers which are much harder than AAA would have been.
• England is stereotyped for being bad at languages, and it?s true! The IB higher level exams are targeted at people who have learned the language for 7 + years. If you look at Germans who have learned English for 7 years, they are nearly fluent, so there is a big jump between even a strong GCSE and getting a high grade at IB HL in a language. However of the students at a UK college will have done GCSEs, so the lessons will probably be targeted at the GCSE to IB HL jump.
• It?s stressful! Having so many subjects is difficult. When you factor in time for CAS and travelling to and from college most IB students don?t have anywhere near as much free time as their A level counterparts. Which means either cutting out paid work (if you have rich parents) or cutting back on free time.

If I could go back and make the decision again I would defiantly still do IB, for me the good points really out-weighed the bad points. If your daughter has any questions there is a forum called The Student Room which will probably be able to answer them. I?m also happy to try to answer any questions you might have. Sorry to write such a long message!