All About International Baccalaureate (IB)

[nansk]

Thank you for the responses.

[mathtuition88]

Personally, I would think that Singaporean students would have a good chance to rank favourably in IB (global programme).

Singaporean education system is currently stronger than many countries in terms of taking exams. (e.g. in PISA Singapore is ranked one of the top).

However, in A Levels Singaporean students are essentially competing against one another, since our A Levels are set and graded locally. Together with the "Bell Curve", this is not very good news for the students. (Note that the "IP" students from RI/HCI will be back in the competition)

Similar for O Levels, where a recent trend is that getting A1 for E Maths requires >90 marks.

[sinoboy]

dreamerz718:

nansk:

[quote=\"havok_ex\"]The UK A-levels has always been looked upon as inferior as compared to the SG A-level version. Its not unsurprising. Even NUS/NTU regularly rejects what is considered a 'good' A-level score if you take the UK version instead of the SG version.

I am curious why the UK A-levels are considered inferior. :scratchhead:

I heard that its considered 'easier', and there seems to be a form of grade inflation?[/quote]Some students do well in IB system and some in PSLE/O/A level system. The important thing is to make the change to a system that suits the student:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sin ... 70076.html

[MysticPurple]

My daughter is sitting for her O level this year and she told me she is keen on going to IB instead of JC or poly.


Thing is, I’m clueless about IB. All I know is that student join at secondary level and they skip O level. My girl told me that after her O level she can join IB, is this true?

I would appreciate if someone would be kind enough to enlighten me on this IB program. I’m really at a loss about its admission, curriculum, etc.

TIA…

[sharonkhoo]

The IB diploma programme starts at Yr5/JC1. The middle years (sec1-4) years lead up to it but are not mandatory. The schools which offer IB do take in students in Yr5/JC1. You can google to find out more.

[tck]

Local schools that offer the IB Diploma are SJI and ACSI. The bulk of their students are from their own through-train (Integrated) programmes, but there are places available for students who join after O-levels.


The L1R5 for SJI 2013 intake was 7, according to the FAQ. You can find out more about the programme in SJI's IB page.
http://www.sji.edu.sg/programmes/academ ... -questions

[12mum]

I think sji and acsi already had their open house and acs international was like a week or two ago.


Sji international open house is in sept. Would be good to go and speak to the teachers and students (not necessarily mean you must study in this school in the future) to have a better idea what Ib is all abt. Go see sji international website for more info.

[MysticPurple]

Thanks ! Will go check out

[johnnyenglish]

Nice to hear your daughter considering IB. I was from ACS(I) class of 2013 with a score of 43. I have the following to share.


Yes your daughter can join the IB programme through the joint admission exercise as she would for a JC. Currently only 2 national schools offer IB, SJI and ACS I. As mentioned above both have relatively competitive cut off points. For my year it was 5. Otherwise you would have to consider international schools.

The curriculum is fairly similar to A levels with students taking subjects combinations commonly found in JC. Then again ACS runs the programme as though it was a regular JC. Higher level (HL) and standard level (SL) corresponds to H2 and H1 respectively. There is no H3 equivalent, which is important to consider especially if she wants to take on more academically rigorous subjects.

You will have to read 6 subjects 3 HL + 3 SL and complete a 4000 word extended essay and 1600 word essay and presentation for theory of knowledge. The last two components trains you to be an independent learner.

IB is an excellent alternative if your daughter wants a more holistic and broad education at the expense of some academic rigour. The GCE A level math and science subjects often cover more topics and at greater depth. Nonetheless, with decent scores your daughter can easily get in the more selective local university courses. IB is an excellent choice if she wants to study overseas since it is an internationally recognised qualification.

I hope I helped. Feel free to PM me if you need more information.

[lalaland]

I am thinking - are all schools offering the IB equal - SJI, ACSI, SOTA, the "local" international schools, the "real" international schools like UWC, etc…?


I have heard that some schools are more "holistic" in their approach. They are less score conscious and encourage the students to go beyond their comfort zone. Some schools, on the other hand, discourage students from taking challenging subjects, or encourage them to "downgrade" to less difficult subject levels.

Any comments/experience?