Switching from A Levels to IB

WYmom

原帖由 arielle.w 於 10-6-10 12:52 發表
We get our predicted scores from school grades. So the total would be 42 instead of 45 as the extended essay score is treated as 'bonus'. We just add up all our exam/test scores and that would be the  ...

Thanks.  So when do you get the predicted IB score?  By end of Y12?

Actually even the student takes AP or GCEAL, they won't be able to send the actual results to U until end of August by end of Year 13.  Besides, many UK Us won't confirm acceptance until end August as they have to wait for GCEAL final results from all applicants.  This is really unfavourable to IB students.

WYmom

原帖由 almom 於 10-6-10 12:54 發表


Can you share how you believe a "decent" score should be?
I have been reading/googleing about how people view the score of IBD. There seem to be so different comments/views (whatever we call it).

Hi, almom,

I think "decent" score is different in different people's mind.  35 or above is a"decent score" to me if a student is targeting at first to second tier of Us worldwide.  I come to such thinking after reading the University placements of IS for a few years.  Just my personal thoughts.

almom

原帖由 arielle.w 於 10-6-10 12:52 發表
We get our predicted scores from school grades. So the total would be 42 instead of 45 as the extended essay score is treated as 'bonus'. We just add up all our exam/test scores and that would be the  ...

Can you share how you feel about the "difficulties" to get a perfect 7 for a subject?
For MYP, it is about the time management, the writing skills (I mean, the actual quality, but not exactly how fast you can write), etc. I see that the MYP curriculum is very challenging when compared to the local curriculum or the IGCSE. But honestly, if a student is focused and determined, it it not exactly that hard to get a 6 or 7.
But when I look at the IBD curriculum (including , after understanding what they expect from a student in terms of school work and also the IBD exam), I would say that even with the background of MYP, I really am not too confident my child can get a 7 in subjects he is good at (those he gets 6s or even 7s) now in MYP.
MYP does provide very good foundations for him, but I still feel (my feelings or understanding might not be right though, and I do hope I am wrong) there is a "gap" between MYP and IBD. The "gap", I meant, would be the skills to handle the study as a whole, but not the knowledge or content itself.
However, I must say that my child is now only in Year 9.  So may be things will start to tune in during the next 2 years.
Anyway, really appreciate your comments.
Thanks.

almom

原帖由 WYmom 於 10-6-10 13:02 發表


Hi, almom,

I think "decent" score is different in different people's mind.  35 or above is a"decent score" to me if a student is targeting at first to second tier of Us worldwide.  I come to such t ...

Thanks, wymom.
Nice to see you around again. :)

hhy2007

I highly value arielle.w's inputs as well.  I appreciate it so much that arialle was able to ignore the unnecessary challenge on his/her identity and keeps on answering questions and inquiries on IBD. Those answers help me a lot to know more about IBD.

Thanks a lot, arrialle.w

[ 本帖最後由 hhy2007 於 10-6-10 13:14 編輯 ]

delusionist

It's indeed very difficult to get a 7.  Take English A1(HL) for instance, according to the 2008 subject boundaries, a student need to score 81-100% (from oral assessment, paper 1 and paper 2, and world literature) to get a 7.  Around 7% of the students got a 7 in English A1.

These figures are available from IBO website.

delusionist

This IB forum is also very useful:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=10

arielle.w

Yes we do get our official predicted score by the end of year 12. Before that, we could have a brief idea of how our predicted score would be by school tests and midterm exams.

原帖由 WYmom 於 10-6-10 12:59 發表


Thanks.  So when do you get the predicted IB score?  By end of Y12?

Actually even the student takes AP or GCEAL, they won't be able to send the actual results to U until end of August by end of Yea ...

iamfine

Students won't get a bilingual diploma if they do one language at language A (HL or SL) and the other at language B (HL or SL) or ab initio level.  Other things being equal, universities may give priority to bilingual diploma holders.  But, things are seldom equal.  I will say it's better to get a 7 in language B than a 5 in language A.  Language A (especially at HL level) is extremely hard.  Less than 1/4 of the students from the most prestigious IB schools in England choose English language A (HL). Go figure.  I have had a look of the past papers for Chinese language A (HL).  They really look harder than HKAL Chinese literature.  The Chinese language A (SL) looks more manageable but still not easy.  Language B though should be a piece of cake for most HK students.

It's not entirely up to the students to choose to study a language at A or B or ab initio level.  It depends on what the schools offer.  For example, very recently a famous and well established international school on the HK Island side offered scholarships to 2 students from another IB school. The scholarships were offered on one condition - they take Chinese language A.  ESF schools have a different policy.  Some of them do not even offer Chinese at ab inito level.  I have somewhere on my shelf a booklet issued by WIS in respect of choice of language courses.  Will post here if I can find it.

[ 本帖最後由 iamfine 於 10-7-1 09:15 編輯 ]

mattsmum

i once heard in an IB talk that if they (university) know you are chinese, from a city with chinese environment, but take an earlier level chinese ( I don't remember which level for group 2 language), they would think differently of you. but i guess you are not talking about chinese but other language that this city is not familiar with such as spanish.

almom

thankful,
The school would arrange for a student to speak with the school's counselor. This person is usually very familiar with university placements. You will be asked what you would want to do in university, which university(ies) you are interested in, etc. And from there you would be advised what courses to take. For example, you probably would not need 2 language A's if you want major in engineering, but you would need Math HL. Et cetera.
Having 2 language A's would lead you to a bilingual diploma. However, it is probably not exactly necessary for everyone, except, it may help if you are interested in studying in language/linguistics in university.
For ivy schools, for example, they are looking for a lot of other stuffs too rather than whether you have 2 language A's. So if it is not that necessary, why make it hard and thus possibly lowering your final score? I agree that I would prefer to have a 7 in language B than a 5 in language A.
Chinese A is VERY HARD. Language A is not just the learning the language but also literature. This make sense because Language A is supposed to be the first language of the student. I am not sure whether IS students can easily handle Chinese A if they were with an IS all the way from Year 1.
On the other hand Chinese B is simple reading comprehension and writing. It is much more manageable to most IS students. But I still do not think it is exactly a piece of cake for home grown IS students.
Further, I heard that they (both the school and IBO) are very strict with the language ab initio. For example, a student would not be allowed to take Chinese ab initio as Group 2 language if he has good background in Chinese langauge.

iamfine

原帖由 mattsmum 於 10-7-1 10:03 發表
i once heard in an IB talk that if they (university) know you are chinese, from a city with chinese environment, but take an earlier level chinese ( I don't remember which level for group 2 language), ...

That's true.  Some subjects are less well received. For examples, a number of universities don't quite like a second language at ab initio level (or even language B SL).  Math studies and biology too are considered "soft" subjects.  On the other hand, students who take chemistry, math and history at HL and a second language A are generally considered students with some real guts.

And, I understand that some top universities give very high regard for students who take music HL, which is an unbelievably difficult subject. The music investigation paper alone is considered another language A + another EE + another ToK. I have seen some music investigation papers which are awarded a 7.  They are really impressive.

[ 本帖最後由 iamfine 於 10-7-1 15:15 編輯 ]

mattsmum

how is the chinese B compared with the website I send to you before? do you have typical example?