The International Baccalaureate, also known as IB, is an educational program offered to students throughout their pre-university career. High schoolers are offered the Diploma Programme (DP), a two-year course. The IB DP requires students to select six courses, a combination of all subject areas with high levels and standard levels. Aside from the regular subjects courses, students need to also follow the “DP core, comprising theory of knowledge (TOK), creativity, activity, service (CAS) and the extended essay” (Diploma Programme). A final examination will take place after the two years of studying.
Here at SAS Pudong, students are offered the choices of following the full IBDP starting their junior year, taking a mix of AP and IB courses, or taking only AP courses. Students often find this a difficult choice. Questions like these arise: Which is easier to take? Why take IB? What’s best for applying to American universities? What are the advantages and disadvantages of IB? Some rumors even go as far as to say that IB is hard to take and it can be torturing with heavier workloads than AP (some even go out of there way to make memes stressing the difficulty of the program). How much of this is true? To answer these questions, this article features interviews with two IB students here at SASPD.
When asked about his perspective on the IBDP, Rafael De Toledo, class of 2025, stated, “I think that being an IB student is a great opportunity for students. The IB classes here in SAS aren’t too big so it allows students to become closer and more comfortable to each other, allowing us to get more quality learning in the end. The courses that IB provides also help prepare students for college, they are very deep in content but slow enough that you are able to keep up with the course. It can be demanding at times but it will be worth it in the end.”
Jiaxin Wang, class of 2024, is in their second year of the IBDP program. With more experience with IB and currently undergoing college applications, their perspective differs slightly from the former.
“As a current IB Y2 student, I only occasionally regret my choice of choosing the IB but something I would like prospective students to know is that it really isn’t as hard as everyone says it is. People like to scare others by saying how hard the IBDP is, but the truth is, as long as you aren’t slacking off in class, e.g. watching YouTube videos in chemistry, teachers at SAS are very good with helping you manage your time and your schedule.”
Basically, time management and self-control is of the essence.
They admit that “Semester 1 of Y[ear]2 has been a little bit hard because my IAs [(internal assessments)], EE [(extended essay), and] everything is going on the same time as finals and college applications, but I’m able to talk about my IA and EE in college applications. I am currently taking HL Econ, English Lit, Math AA, and Physics, and SL Chemistry and French B. The hardest course so far is English Lit, but I really really like the teacher so I would recommend everyone [to] take Lit. The easiest class so far is Chemistry because I used to do chemistry olympiads but decided to stop.”
Jiaxin also offers insight into the consideration of future college plans when taking IB. “Another misconception is that IB is just for kids who want to go to Europe. That’s not true because most of my classmates are applying to the US. I am applying to Hong Kong, where I am from. In the US and UK, IB is quite well known and seen as a very impressive course to take.”
“In conclusion, take IB!” Jiaxin ends by saying.
Both interviewees have admitted to the challenges the IBDP courses may bring. On the other hand, they have spoken about the benefits the IBDP brings to students. It allows students to gain a deeper understanding of a subject and have better quality class time. The rumors surrounding how tough IBDP may have some truth, but the support of SAS should be enough for any student to consider taking on the challenge.
It has also been proved that the IBDP isn’t just for European applications but it can be seen as a strong factor in applications worldwide. In conclusion, the IBDP here at SASPD is not as popular as the AP program, and that may be due to AP being the signature American educational program. However, that does not mean which program is better, as the best learning style is unique for each student.