IB discussions

tingtingting

This special report in the Sunday Times has triggered loads of discussion in various education forums.  I guess the readers here may also find it interesting.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol ... /article6735896.ece

tingtingting

Thanks for your link.  I am all for IB but the problem is, based on what quite a few IB graduates say in various IB forums, that not an insignificant no. of universities treat a monkey with 3As at A-level as a bright IB student with a score of 38 or above.

matthewdad

Hi
I have done some research and like to share although my son is still very small.

1. All the good schools in UK take Cambridge A-Levels http://www.cie.org.uk/ which is more difficult than the what we called A-Level in HK.
2. There are more schools change to support IB and if this trend is keep on, IB will be used by most IS schools ater 10 years.
3. IB school can get in univerisity easier? If the score is below 38, it is unlikely to get in reasonable university. Considering the IB score of the IS in HK, there not much advantage when compare to previous year.
4. Advantage of student from IB school in unversity? Yes, their capability on handling projects, presentations & creativity are much better than "examination expert".
5. IB system is better than examination system? I agreed. However, some kids are good in exam and if you put them in IB system, he will get poor grade and cannot get in Uni. I think it is important to consider individual capability and get the entrance ticket for university and there are still have rooms for development in first degree, master & Ph.D.
6. IB system is more difficult? According to our development (in good old days) as an examination expert, I found it is difficult but we cannot use ourselves as the standard and kids may find it more interesting.

Rgds.

原帖由 thankful 於 09-8-18 22:04 發表
I read in another newspaper article that 25.9% got A grade in A-Levels last year and the percentage is expected to increase further this year.  Likewise, the passing rate was 97.2% last year and it is ...

[ 本帖最後由 matthewdad 於 09-8-19 10:21 編輯 ]

WYmom

原帖由 thankful 於 09-8-19 14:40 發表
Thanks for the information.  When you said "all the good school in UK take Cambridge A -Levels", I guess you are referring to the Cambridge Pre-U.  To quality for the Cambridge Pre-U, the website says ...

Hi, Thankful,

Do you know if the coming Harrow International School will go for A-level or IB?

almom

Very informative and inspiring. Thanks everyone.

So it seems that if you are thinking of going to the UK, then you should stick to the A levels.

However, according to my observation, US universities prefer all rounded students and IB may be a better path. Of course, there are other things that they look for as well, eg SAT, non-academic acheivements (eg sports), etc.

Please share your views. Thanks.

mattsmum

in the article"monkey can do a-level, it says that universities are relying more on their own system to select the right students than looking at the a-level result". I don't know what their own systems are.

Yunigary

My kid is still a toddler but we as parents already need to think about the path as it is decided very early on.
I can see the advantage of the IB system in child development as I was raised under traditional schooling. Nowadays, not only IB is a trend, but Chinese language is almost as important in Hong Kong and greater China. I think most parents in Hong Kong who enrolled their kids in international school would like to raise their kids with reasonable Chinese skills as well. However in most school that provide IB system, the teaching on Chinese language is very very limited or none. Any remedy on this situation without putting too much extra loading on the kids?