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<p>It might be more important to consider the time that his/her parents have to devote to schooling, their experience in designing and communicating curricula, the social benefit of surrounding yourself with other driven youth, etc., than to decide solely based on comparative intelligence.</p>
<p>JimboSteve, it’s not just the C, trust me!</p>
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Well, yeah, all of that–I just used “smarter” as shorthand. I think homeschooling is somewhere between home cooking and home dentistry in terms of the potential consequences of a practitioner who isn’t skilled.</p>
<p>@Hunt, Neither my father, nor my mother went to college. I am learning most of the stuff on my own, with a little help here and there, but while I don’t think I’m terribly behind other student who are in AP classes and IB programs, I do feel a little left behind. Hence, the reasoning why I posted this question. The only educational advantage that I can think of with homeschooling is that I am able to study a lot more for the SAT than most other kids.</p>
<p>Well, a person who hasn’t been to dental school might be able to successfully perform home dentistry.</p>
<p>The value of IB is not the material reward one gets out of it (barely anything in terms of college credit or even intelligence) but the immense sense of accomplishment at its completion. Two years of hell is no joke, and if IB kids seem smarter, it’s because they learn to pour their blood and sweat into anything they do.</p>
<p>As an IB kid in a school that offers both IB and AP, I’m tempted to say that the smarter ones choose IB - that’s because, in terms of course difficulty, AP = IB, but you take (at least!) 7 IB classes, whereas most take 2, 3, maybe 4 AP classes, and if you’re going for the full the Diploma, you have CAS and the Extended Essay as well.</p>
<p>So to answer your question - the students who CHOOSE to do the IB are already more intelligent than the norm. Keep in mind that this is anecdotal though.</p>
<p>^well, I would think that most students wouldn’t mind taking three more classes in a span of 4 years. Of course, I’m not completely familiar with the format of IB and all the work that you have to do, but that is my general opinion on AP to IB: It’s just three more classes and an essay, right?</p>
<p>^ Not exactly. Each class has at least one internal assessment, which is a super long and involved project + a writeup. This counts for 20%-40% of your final grade.</p>
<p>In addition, most IB exams are all essays and short answer.</p>
<p>Also, each class lasts two years - so if you’re taking 7 classes a year (and I’m taking 8), you’re taking 14 classes over two years. That’s the equivalent of 14 AP classes, as well as the EE and CAS.
And no, YoungProdigy, the IB is just for juniors and seniors. Before then, I was taking pre-IB classes (the MYP, middle years’ program), but I definitely can’t compare that to anything. I expect it’s like taking Honors classes? And you took 12 courses a year.
I’m not trying to convince anyone that IB > AP, because without having taken an AP class it’s hard to judge, but that’s how it goes at my school.</p>
<p>ahhh, I see. I did not know all that about IB. So basically to summarize what everyone has said: In the comparison of AP vs. IB, there is no clear winner in terms of which students become more successful or smarter. While IB may prepare student for the stress that they may experience during college, and down the road, AP teaches the same material except in a format that is much less stressful, and a somewhat easier workload, and final test. Do I have my information correct thus far?</p>
<p>A few corrections and add-ons: The IB is a program that goes beyond the classroom. You have to participate in CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) and write a (basically unsupervised) research paper yourself. It’s considered an extremely challenging course option.
The material taught in IB and AP, to the best of my understanding, overlaps, but is not exactly the same. The IB also has core requirements - you have to take a math class all four years, same with humanities, english, foreign language, etcetera.</p>
<p>^this is what led me to believe that IB students will/are better prepared than non-IB students. I had forgotten the exact reason, but you have reminded me. So, again, the question I think is are IB students better prepared and, in turn because of these core course that require a lot of hard work smart (albeit, in textbook knowledge). I can’t see any reason why a AP student would be better off in the future than an IB student with all of these essays, and extra school work that IB students do. Do all of you still firmly stand on your opinions, or has it swayed a little? :)</p>
<p>IB makes you smarter, textbook-wise. The regimented curriculum prescribed by IB forces you to step up your game no matter who you are, even if you are the class genius with med. school internships at the age of 14.</p>
<p>IB is a load more work than taking a smattering of AP courses. IB typically goes deeper than AP: IB Biology, for example, requires that you both know the concepts and the details - such as the specific bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle. IB also involves other forms of assessment apart from taking a test at the end of the year - IB entails oral assessments, loads of written assessments, and so forth.</p>
<p>^so are you vaguely implying that a majority of IB students don’t remember what they’ve learned after a couple of months (though, I may be streching what you aid just a little bit. Tell me if I’m wrong.)? Also, do IB students have to take a final exam on everything they’ve learned in, let’s say, IB Biology, such as the “the specific bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle.” If not, then what are they tested on when they take that final exam during their senior year?</p>
<p>BUT, and here’s an important thing to consider - to most universities, the IB is equivalent to APs. So even though it’s much more challenging (as these posts seem to underscore), it will not (relative to taking APs) help in college admissions.</p>
<p>In addition, the IB doesn’t prepare you for SAT IIs, except for Math and maybe Lit. I’ve also heard that the languages are much stronger w/ the IB.</p>
<p>And yeah, @YoungProdigy, we have a final exam on everything we’ve learnt over the span of two years.</p>
<p>Of course almost all students forget most of the material they’ve learned after a few months, but when I had said “so are you vaguely implying that a majority of IB students don’t remember what they’ve learned after a couple of months.” I had meant that despite their hard work, and memorizing so much information it becomes useless because they don’t remember the material a few months later. Sorry for the ambiguous writing.</p>
<p>Also, I emphasize: do not confuse rigor with intellectual benefit. Knowing more details does not make you better at a subject, only more encyclopedic. The internet, and libraries, exist for a reason.</p>