My D just started her IB coursework. She’s in a very small new IB Program at a very large public HS. Our entire region has massive grade inflation in the public schools. The IB courses are different-- no grade inflation as they use the IB rubric. I would be okay with this if she was only being judged relative to the other IB students, but for ranking purposes she’s in with everyone! (She’s taken APs here, and there is no comparison, IB grades are harder to come by). Will colleges understand this situation? Should we ensure the GC understands and writes the LOR accordingly? I’m concerned she’s being penalized relative to AP students. She does love the program and we both wish we could make it about learning instead of grades, but colleges admissions stats make that pretty hard!
(Note: She currently has a UW GPA of 3.95 or so, WGPA ~4.4. This is a standard smart kid stat for her school. But Bs junior year will look really bad, right? Teachers say things like “a B in IB is still really good.”)
IB grades aren’t A’s and B’s and C’s. They’re 7’s, and 6’s and 5’s etc. A 7 doesn’t correlate to a A and a 6 doesn’t correlate to a B. Is your school assigning A-F grade instead of a 1-7 grade? If they’re getting a 1-7, then they are being graded relative to all IB students worldwide.
Brand new IBD? Like this year?
My kids’ IB classes still give A-F grades. The IB grades and diploma are in addition to the high school diploma. They also don’t publicize the predicted grades at all - I’m always surprised when the international students talk about them. They don’t find out anything until after the tests in May and the final IB grades are online - well after high school graduation.
Using the UK as an example, many high schools (not the term in Britain, but using here for American understanding) do not give internal marks. The test scores (IB, GCSE, A-levels, etc) are the grades. The instructors are generally quite accurate in their predictions, which is why UK universities (and many US universities) use predicted scores in the application process. US teachers are often either not used to predicting, or have had historical inaccuracy, so American students do not have the benefit of having predicted scores considered for admissions.
We have trimester grades for every class, A, B, C, etc. They have a regular GPA and get a regular diploma. The IBD is on top of that. The point is that top students that are working hard get nearly all As in APs. Top students working hard do not necessarily get As in IB courses. This creates a problem for IB students since it is NOT a separate school. I’d like to see consistency is all.
I can understand your concern of the school not comparing apples to apples for ranking/grades. That said, many schools have this issue even without IB courses. Feels similar to schools that don’t weight honors and AP courses. Two students can have a 4.0 UW GPA but with extremely different course rigor.
Colleges adcoms WILL see the rigor. They know IB is more challenging. And your D will have the added benefit of being well prepared for college.
That said, if you live in TX and you need ranking for auto admit, I might rethink IB.
At my child’s school the differentiation happens when the GC checks “most rigorous” vs “rigorous” on the college application. There is a way to get “most rigorous” with out the IB diploma, but the student has to take the hardest AP classes.
All IBD students I know are part of a separate small group of students within a larger student population. At my DS’ school, they only list top 10 students, and they always are IBD candidates. Even tho IB courses are more rigorous, the students are also more academically inclined, and like APs, IB courses weighted higher than non-IB courses, and the ranking uses weighted gpa. The gains you get from IB training worth the potential GPA point loss (if any) imho.
Look at the track record of the kids in this program vs other choices. It doesn’t necessarily follow that there is an advantage.
And absolutely, in states and systems where it goes by rank, it may not be a good idea.
CA definitely goes by WGPA. But D plans to attend private university so UCs policies don’t matter for us. I guess we will cross our fingers and hope that the Adcom’s know the rigor of her program (she’s taking 4 HLs). I’m sure any student who take ~5 of any APs probably gets “most rigorous” checked from our GCs. Just a guess, but probably close.
I am concerned that our IB Program will fail to grow (it’s new and small) if they don’t match the AP courses when it comes to grades. Nearly all top students in the school are UC-bound. My younger D is Pre-IB and may well change her mind due this concern.
Unless it’s a workaround way for graduation requirements, she shouldn’t be taking 4 HLs. 3 HLs+3 SLs+ CAS+TOK IS the most rigorous curriculum.
My DS is taking five HL courses, IB Math HL is not offered at his school. but he only takes three HL exams.
Not a workaround. Her school requires HL History and English. She chose HL Math Analysis and Visual Arts. So far, though that is not the problem.
and yes, She’s a Junior this year.
Why wouldn’t an IB program offer math HL?
That’s what I call a workaround - required to take English and History HL, she chose 2 other classes but will take 3 HL tests. It’s unfair because ultimately she’ll be judged on 3 HL tests and on her total score whereas the rigor of 4 HL classes is similar senior year to having 4 college courses at a strong college PLUS other classes (whereas a coll get student would have 4 or 5 courses only).
@ucbalumnus
Good question! I don’t know what is covered in IB math HL, as it is a two-year course, and IB math SL is also two-year. We were told that the school didn’t have good passing record in the past for IB SL math, so a few years ago they stopped using IB math and started AP Calculus AB/BC in place of IB math SL. We were also told that IB is revamping their math curriculum. But we would have preferred higher math courses were offered.
Is 4 HL much different from taking 5 APs in 1 year? Lots of kids do that.
I actually wasn’t aware she will only take 3 HL exams. I do’t think she knows it either. I guess she can choose anyway.
I thought the maximum you could take was 4 HLs- that how it is at my D’s school. There was still grade inflation at her school, even in the IB- not everything is sent off to the IB so there are internal grades that can be inflated. Plus the AP also has rubrics which they have to use to grade all the non multiple choice. Usually, the IB kids still end up at the top percentage of class rank, since all of their classes are weighted including TOK.
I would say that 4 HLs is more difficult senior year because they will have 4 IAs on top of the extended essay. Most of our kids supplemented their IB senior year with AP classes.
Unfortunately for your daughter, it’s a new program. It could be a feeling out process and her grades could suffer.