Not Worth The Time

Full IB has caused a lot of stress for the students. There are multiple different projects that are required to get the diploma for the core classes. Aside from being stressed out about getting a certain score on the test, students are graded on three IA's (Internal Assessments) and an EE (extended essay). Some of these papers and projects are a two year long project and if you do not finish them then you do not get the diploma. The papers are in addition to the already very difficult, course content. Dedicating two years to a vigorous, college level academic education program that someone may not even get credit for because they didn't pass the test is huge disappointment. Although the student may be gaining good education strategies, their grades are weighted, and their IQ may be higher, the intense 3 weeks of non-stop testing is hard to get through. The IB students also have to complete a certain number of hours in areas of creativity, action, and service (CAS). All these requirements are detrimental to the students in this course. Students, not matter how they budget their time, will always be staying up late or working on the weekends, just to finish one of the many projects for a class. If a student passes the two years of classes, does all the hours for CAS, turns in all the papers, but does not pass the tests and gets the diploma, they would have taken it for nothing. Colleges will not accept the fact that a student "tried" to complete the IB course at their school. The diploma program should only be taken by kids who truly think they can meet the expectations.

Image from: http://www.ibo.org/digital-toolkit/logos-and-programme-models/

CMC Classes Are Better

CMC is a community college that has different courses offered at Summit High School. Students can take all the core classes at the CMC level and still have the same benefits as the IB program. Instead of DP Math, DP Biology, DP Language, DP English, and DP History, a student can take CMC Composition, CMC biology, CMC algebra and statistics, and other CMC classes. By doing this, they receive immediate college credit and all they have to do is pass the class. CMC also weights grades so a high GPA can be met without the hardest course track at SHS. CMC prepares students for college similar to the IB course and is still a challenging level for academics. CMC classes, along with the IB course can allow students to go into college as a second year student. CMC classes are accepted at all colleges while IB is not. If an IB student wants to go to a college that does not accept IB credit, then they have wasted their time. CMC is an easier course yet still challenges students to work hard. The CMC track course allows students to also have multiple off periods as a senior at SHS, unlike the IB course.

Image from: http://blog.gobreck.com/index.php/breck-events/learn-something-new-in-breckenridge-classes/

About Dorje

My name is Dorje John and I am a Junior at Summit High School. He is almost complete with his first year in the full IB course track. He is taking IB math studies, HOTA, English, Biology, and Spanish. After completing the first year of the Diploma Program and taking the Math studies IB exam, I personally have come to the realization that the DP program is not the best course track for students. There are multiple reasons why I dont think that the

External Connections

http://www.hercampus.com/high-school/ap-ib-classes-demystified-pros-and-cons-each

This website discusses the pros and cons of taking AP and IB courses. The website says many good things about taking IB courses but also points out issues that many students will run into. To begin, many colleges do not accept the college credit for the class unless a student scores a 4 or 5 on the final exam. Even if a student gets enough points out of all the classes combined to earn the diploma, they may not get college credit because they didn't get a high enough score on a certain exam. A 4 or 5 or higher is hard to earn for typical students, unless they excel in all subject areas greatly which is very uncommon. This rule applies to AP tests too.

This website also informs readers that engaging in the full IB program means students may be restricted in which classes they are allowed to take. For example, at SHS, most full IB students don't take DP English and CMC Composition or British Literature. These two classes are offered for students who aren't in the DP program but unless a student wants to take one of these classes, they would be taking 2 english classes and that is not always fun. Being in the full DP program at SHS means that at a minimum, the students have to take the 5 mandatory IB classes, leaving only 2 periods for electives. At SHS there are very few IB classes offered so they have priority, taking over which limits the choices of elective classes.

One final con of taking the full IB program is that as stated in the early posts, the workload is immense and very overwhelming. The overload of homework, projects, papers, and tests are all factors which cause stress. It is unhealthy to be stressed and can lead to many different effects on a human. Unless students are very good at managing time and spacing out workloads, the IB courses cause students to stay up past midnight working most nights of the week.

Overall taking the IB course is only worth it if a student feels comfortable in that they can pass all the tests and write all the papers while passing all the classes too. IB may look good to colleges, but the fact that some colleges don't even accept it, may not be worth 2 years of a persons education. IB has its pros which are extremely beneficial though it may not be worth the cons. Juniors and seniors should be focusing on other things like where they would like to go to college, working, sports, etc. The IB course takes away from other important aspects in students lives.

I have shaped my blog in a similar way to this website. For example, I listed the pros and cons of taking the IB exam. By showing both sides of the argument, the statement is not completely biased.

Background Information

Full DP (IB): The Full IB Program is a choice students can make in their education careers at Summit High School. It is a vigorous, college level, two year course that very few students choose. Being "Full IB" means that students have to take IB History, Math, English, Foreign Language and can choose one of the following IB courses; Biology, Art, Music. Each class has the big IB exam at the end of the second year of the course. A student must score at least 24 points to get the IB Diploma and each test is out of seven points. Some students take full IB and do not get enough points for the diploma and some do. The IB program is offered at only some schools.