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.