What's the difference on AP, honors classes, and the IB in highschool?

NeilMo
Thu, 28 Jul 2016 03:18:20 +0000

I’m at a school where both AP and IB are offered. It really just matters on what your circumstances are. IB tests are much more expensive to take ($300) while each AP is about $100. See if your school district has funding or a grant. For example, at my school the IB tests are free.

AP tests are scored from 1-5
IB tests are scored from 1-7

Note, I take both AP and IB courses

If you plan on going to a local school (Division 2, JuCo, NAIA, etc) I would recommend taking AP courses. They tend to transfer over better at the local level. If you want to go to Ivy League or other top schools it doesn’t really matter if you take IB, AP, or a mix…just make sure your course load is rigorous.

There are some great scholarships for IB. For example, the university of Nebraska has a very good scholarship for students with an “IB Diploma”. ($56,000 and 28 credit hours). AP also can count for college credit

Here is a link to it, just scroll down until it says IB
http://admissions.unl.edu/why-unl.ASPX

In terms of actual workload, I find that IB courses have substanicouly more homework than AP courses.

Also, there are multiple levels of IB courses. There is “HL” (the hardest level), “SL” (second hardest level), and “Studies” (DO NOT take studies, they are not accepted for credit at many institutions). In addition, most IB courses are 2 year courses, unlike AP, which is 1 year.

Just keep in mind
-what colleges you are looking at
-scholarships/credits
-which teachers are teaching the course