International baccalaureate

[Rafaella]

Does anyone have a child studying this at sixth form? My dd's school (state) is offering it for the first time next Sept and it sounds good, but I'd be interested in practical experiences. How does it compare to A levels in difficulty and amount of work required? Is it preferred by universities?

At the technical college where i did a bit of teaching they were offering the Welsh Baccalaureate. I don't think it's been the success that people wanted it to be

THe school my kids will go to is now offering it. It offrs a broader subject base, better study techniques and an element of community service. It is highly regarded by universities.. altho' I think you can only do 1 science as part of the 5 choices so might not be the best choice for someone wanting to do engineering or similar.

I think the biggest problem with multi-subject qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate is that one is required to pass in a number of subject areas in order to obtain the qualification, so if you mess up on, say, Maths, you don't get it. As nobody really wants to fail a student for a weakness in just one particular subject, standards then get pushed down in the subjects that students have the most difficulty with (typically Maths and languages). I have no experience of the IB, but have taught at a US university where similar rules applied.

I started to do the Bac Int but had to stop after one year because my maths were so appalling! At the time (1981), you were required to do 3 higher subjects, with English & a foreign language compulsory, and 3 lower, with maths compulsory. Realising I was likely to fail maths, I went to a crammer in London & got 2 A-levels, English Lit and French but an equivalent qualification for university entry! I hope things have changed - it doesn't seem fair.

A friend's son is doing the IB at the moment and finishes next June. He doesn't seem to be having any problems with it, however, when he started, I didn't know an awful lot about it, so I went onto their website. They had links there to all the universities that accepted the IB in lieu of A levels. There wasn't a huge variety there, in fact, I was quite surprised at the low numbers accepting the IB. Has this changed? It could have done since I looked, but it is something that you might want to bear in mind and perhaps check that universities are accepting it. Particularly, the Russell ones, ie, Birmingham, Durham, etc.

This was interesting on another forum:

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=193859

So may be my previous comment is misguided!

The situation with universities has changed quite a bit this year as different scores on the IB have been assigned specific (and pretty high) numbers of UCAS points -- so it has to be accepted by all universities (and a good IB pass will get you a much better UCAS score than three good A-levels).

I did an IB diploma 18 years ago. (Went to an International School for a few years).

Thought it was very well-rounded. Sussex university (and several others) didn't have a problem then.

I'm involved with admissions to a clinical faculty at a Russell Group uni. We are happy to accept students with the IB but we don't view it any differently to A-levels. Students applying to us are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by taking it. We ask for an overall IB score but also set minimum scores in the subjects we really care about (biology and chemistry).

My dauchter is studying the Welsh Bac and I think this will be the equivelent of one A level when she has finished it. I think it is simular to the international Bac.

I did the IB between 1991 and 1993, at a state sixth form. As others have posted, we had to study three subjects at a higher level, and three subjects at a subsidiary level. One of the subjects had to be a second language, another a science, another a maths subject. There were a number of maths classes to account for varying maths ability - the one I did was no more difficult than GCSE, to be honest.

We also had to undertake a programme called "CAS" which is similar to a Duke of Edinburgh award. We had to carry out a number of hours activity in something creative, something active and a service to the community. Without fulfilling this element, the diploma will not be awarded.

Additionally, we had to undertake a non-examined course called "Theory of Knowledge," in which we spent many hours debating philosophy type questions and generally learning to think.

All students had to choose an topic to carry out an extended piece of writing (I think 4000 words) which I found to be execellent prep for university, as we had to choose the question ourselves and carry out our own research with very limited guidance.

The best bit, in my mind, was the international focus of the course. The syllabus is not taught from the perspective of United Kingdom, so the "english lanuguage" subject is actually called "world literature."

Although I failed the overall diploma (I failed the chemistry subject) my first choice university accepted anyway on the strength of my extended piece of writing. IB results are out a lot sooner than A Level results and they accepted me even before the A Level results came out.

Some people say that a good IB diploma is worth 4+ A Levels. I wouldn't like to compare, having limited knowledge of A Levels, but the course certainly was a challenge but also forced me to have a life outside the academics through the CAS programme. I'd encourage anyone down the IB route!

One of the benefits of being part of the first intake to do the IB at my school was that we were a very small group. My biggest class had five students and we were a very cosy twosone for economics!

I was going to do it - like hub2dee as the result of a few years at an international school (but ended up not, as this would have meant going to boarding school for sixth form in the end) .

I think it has real advantages - but only for a certain kind of child. I had real difficulty deciding between arts and sciences, and ended up taking Further Maths, English and Economics A Level, so I think the broader approach would have suited me very well.

But if someone has a clear leaning to one side or the other - whether in arts or science, I think it could be a lot harder than A Levels.

Thanks for the advice. So if, say, my dd was considering a French degree, would she be better with 2 language A levels plus perhaps English, or the IB with 2 languages as higher subjects?

Personally I'd go with the IB. My friend did a French degree after the IB. She did the extended piece of writing in French so was good prep for university...

Some universities regard a top grade in an IB subject as higher than an A at A Level.

Hub2dee - I did my IB 16 years ago, also in an international school. Where did you go??

I ended up going to Bristol Poly to do business studies, and then Portsmouth to do international business.

No probs. Loads of unis accepted it too (but did not do the hands-on course I wanted to do...)

I had to do 3 subjects at higher, 3 at lower, and a dessertation.
Found it really good, I think it gives a broader education, and at age 17/18 who really really knows what they want to do with the rest of their lives...

I did the IB 26 years ago, again at an international school. My DH and I are both uni teachers, so we also have some experience of the how the IB compares in terms of how it prepares students. I think it has many advantages over A-levels. As well as encouraging breadth of study, the humanities and social science subjects take a genuinely international approach - so, for example, English Higher Level involves studying world literature in translation, as well as the kinds of classics of English literature studied at A-level; History Higher involved a module on war in the twentieth century across the world and so on. I far preferred this to the relatively insularity of British A-levels at the time. DH is an Oxbridge tutor and finds IB graduates very well-prepared for uni. Indeed, he thinks it's an ideal preparation for the social science/humanties degree he teaches. I teach only postgraduates, but those who have done the IB seem very well-rounded. There is a down side - it's very demanding of one's time and I don't know how the average sixth-former would cope with htis.

I've only just seen this thread. My DS started an IB course in September. He loves it and is so enthusiastic about school and studying. He never misses an opportunity to get "cas" points, so he volunteered to do peer-mentoring- something he wouldn't have dreamed of otherwise. It is the first year his school has done it so he is in a Drama class of one and an English class of two!!

He wanted to do an "odd" collection of subjects with a specific goal in mind but we were worried he'd change his mind later and be left with a selection no university would accept. Under the IB he has to do maths, English, a science, a language so it's a much broader curriculum. And being new for the school the teachers are all fired-up with enthusiasm as well.