CDNIS vs HKIS

lijacq

I agree too. My daughter is in IB system and they need to write a lot of analysis.  So one must be good at writing even for Mathematics or Physics.

lijacq

My son is also in an IB school in grade 7.  He studies in local school in primary years.  His teachers love to ask them to write an essay for tests but would give them a worksheet with questions so that the students can gather information to answer thr worksheet for about 1-2 weeks.  Then the student will write an in class essay based on the information on the worksheet.  My son has improved a lot in his writing and essay organizational skills as he can have a lot of time to gather information, understand the topic, plan his essay, and ask questions without having to memorize any facts.

lijacq

CDNIS follows Ontario curriculum and the course names do not convert easily to US high course names. So if you want to change to US high schools after Grade 9, you may need to print out all curriculums and sit down with US high school counsellors to match classes so that you won't need to repeat some classes you have already studied before.
IB is very dependent on teacher's guidance, cos sometimes teachers can be too unorganized and kids may be lost (cos a lot of the tested materials are not taught in class but requires your own thinking and research) where AP is very organized and you will be tested on taught materials.  AP is a series of tests and is good for good test takers where IB score is a 2 year effort which us extremely demanding throughout.
CDNIS report cards requires 97% to achieve a 7 in IB so it is very difficult to achieve 7 in higher grades.  
CDNIS has undergone a big and lousy management change over the last 2 years and currently not accredited by CIS. Not sure that will affect university admissions.
Guidance office help with admissions counselling is very helpful but not aggressive.  My daughter is always adviced by guidance offices not to apply to first tier universities which is true but kids are discouraged.
In my opinion, CDNIS is very strong in arts and humanities but lacking in Science subjects.  Science lab reports are very demanding and is a big part of your grade, so again, requires very logical analysis and presentation and writing skills.  Actually, boys who are smart but not confident in writing essays may not do well in the IB curriculum.  
Just my 2 cents.