My opinion about IB:

I highly endorse the program if you know that you can handle it. I have found it a tremendous aid during my first year of university. Here's a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

You will learn how to learn. You will be more motivated than the average joe and you will learn time management.

You will learn how to prioritise your duties, responsibilities and personal activities

You will learn a lot about yourself based on how you handle stress

You will learn information that goes far beyond that required of most students: this will give you an advantage and teach you about life

You will probably (depending on your education system and school) have higher marks than you did before you entered the program. The diploma students in my school usually averaged around 90% (the highest had an average of 98.5%), a sharp increase in our marks from previous non-IB classes.

Taking IB makes non-IB courses very easy.

You will have an advanntage in university. In particular:

1) You will be familiar with the knowledge taught in some of the classes and this will decrease your stress load and increase your marks.

2) You may receive credit for your courses (higher level and sometimes subsidiary level) and you will be assigned a mark on their scale that corresponds to your mark. For example, I received credit in Chemistry and English and my marks of 7 and 6 became 9 and 8 respectively on the 9 point scale.

3) There may be special scholarships for IB students. Some universities recognise IB and some don't so make sure you find out.

4) If you're really lucky you'll get to use your textbooks over for the first year of university!

Cons:

You may have to pay for each exam (I have no idea how much) if your school/school board doesn't pay for it. It costs so much because the exams have to be delivered by special courier around the world to the markers.

If you can't handle stress well and you don't learn to, you could be in for a really rough time. The IB program was designed to put stress on you. To find out whether you are experiencing an average amount of stress, talk to your teachers and classmates.

You will miss out on your social life. However, if you are a geek like me you won't be missing anything!

Your textbooks will be more expensive since they are probably taken of the lists of universities. Typical texts cost from $80.00 to $120.00.

If you get mediocre marks in IB when you could be getting very high marks in normal courses, you might want to consider switching if university admission and scholarships are based on your marks. It also depends whether the universities you are interested in accept IB or not.

The same people will be in all of your classes. You might not be in any classes that your friends are and this can be scary.

You will feel dumb compared to some of the people in your class. This is natural since there are always a few overachivers (myself included) that get all the attention and the rest of the class that isn't quite so spectacular but still darn good. Don't let it get to you personally. There are always people like that and you can't let their overachievements lessen your achievements.

That's about all I can think of for now. If you have any specific questions that weren't answered here or in the links, you can e-mail me.

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