S was in an IB program which also offered AP courses. I noticed that the AP courses focused on preparing for the AP test. This meant, for example, in AP US History, a lot of practice with DBQs (document based questions–read something and answer a few questions about it) rather than writing a term paper. The different assessment approaches lead to differences in the way courses are taught. IB wins hands down in this comparison–significant writing, oral presentations, etc. were a required part of the IB program in addition to the tests that both IB and AP have. S’s school has had a large IB program since the 80s and they have made good use of all that experience to learn how to offer an excellent program. In particular, I never felt like he was doing busy work, and they offered plenty of science classes.