SIS vs CIS,兩間學校分别大嗎？

foolish.mom

回覆 jilin1960 的帖子

It is fair to say that the math and science in CIS are relatively weaker. But languages (especially English), humanities (especially History) are very strong.
2014 cohort has weaker IB results because of 2 reasons (my own opinion):
1. 2014 is a relatively weak cohort (let's wait and see the result of 2015)
2. In CIS, 50% of students aim at US universities. They will stop studying after Nov when the last transcript result is out. Close to 50% of students will not study hard for the actual IB exam. This trend will continue in CIS. I think in other IB schools, more students will aim at HK and UK universities, which give conditional offers and thus dependent on actual IB results.

foolish.mom

回覆 HIHinsurance 的帖子

If the child aims at studying medicine, the following points should be considered:
1. How to achieve a perfect or nearly perfect score at IB

The requirement for HK medical schools is IB 44-45, CU IB 43? It means the student needs to aim at grade 7 for all 6 subjects, plus 3 bonus points. We Chinese are usually strong at Math and Science. It isn't that hard to get grade 7 in Math and Science for a smart Chinese kid. But it may be difficult to get grade 7 in the 2 languages + humanities. My son (in CIS) is a Math & Science guy. Even without outside tutoring, he predicts that it is not really difficult to get grade 7 in Math and Science HL. However, over the years, CIS teachers and ways of teaching helped him to improve his English and humanities, and TOK too. Math and Sciences are easy to study (even by himself), but good English, essay writing skills, critical thinking and reasoning require the nurture of years at school.

2. Reputation of school (especially during university admission selection and interview)

When my son attended interview at HKU, and alumni interview of top US universities, the interviewers all mentioned "Oh, you are at CIS". He saw certain advantage being at this school.

3. Competitiveness of classmates

The reputation of CIS attracts many of the most competitive students to study there. Yes, shoe shining is a common phenomenon, especially in senior years. Shoe shining in the ways to catch attention of teachers in classes, in order to get a good predicted grade. Students have to be very involved in classes, asking sensible questions, provide insightful feedback instantly.
My son wasn't nervous when attending university interviews. He said, during TOK, language and humanities lessons, he often had to debate with teachers and classmates, and many of those classmates are in debate team, world scholar team. He felt he couldn't have been challenged more in the interviews than in those classes.

CIS is not a perfect school. Like many other schools, it has many flaws. However, if I were that boy, I would choose CIS.

foolish.mom

回覆 yemarose 的帖子

The CIS Hangzhou for year 10 students has 2 main objectives:
1. provide boarding school experience, especially after school and weekend activities for a full year. The administration said it is a life changing experience for teenagers
2. Chinese language immersion

I personally don't quite agree with the Hangzhou initiative. But it is compulsory for newly admitted students.

Regarding Chinese, the atmosphere of CIS (mainly student themselves) doesn't support the "pursue of excellence" in Chinese.  Some students have excellent Chinese throughout the school years. But as I see they all like reading Chinese books. So your boy needs to have some driving force, either from an inspiring teacher, or from himself to excel, to push himself to read Chinese books.

If your boy is admitted to year 8, he must be academically talented. So he should be able to perform at the top levels regardless of which school he is in. As kids need time to adjust themselves when changing schools, you should think twice before making any decision.

If your main concern is whether he can achieve top grades in DP exam, you may analyse the IB DP grades of each subject obtained by SIS students, in order to predict your son's grades. How is the study atmosphere at senior years of SIS? At CIS, the academic pressure is high, and the pressure is mainly created by peer students. Anxiety is not uncommon.

If the boy's target is to study medicine in HK, achieving top DP grade is the prime objective. However, if you target US top universities, a shining and broad based activity resume is a must. CIS may be more appropriate, as the school encourages and supports students to take part in many activities, many of which build leadership skills.

foolish.mom

回覆 yemarose 的帖子

Yes, your points are very valid.
The most difficult area should be how to teach TOK, and give advice.  Besides, marking scheme in IB is really quite different from other traditional syllabus. Experienced IB teachers know whether a particular Extended Essay can get a high mark, Marks of internal assessment will not deviate much after external moderation.

If your boy considers overseas universities, an experienced university counselling team will help a lot during the application process.

foolish.mom

回覆 112200 的帖子

In CIS, students can write essay or answer questions in simplified Chinese. The teaching materials are all in traditional Chinese, though.