by Justin Adler ‘18
While St. Ignatius and many other schools in the United States have implemented the AP program, the International Baccalaureate, or IB program, has recently emerged as competition to the Advanced Placement program. The two programs each allow students from around the world to earn college credits and display their intellectual abilities through rigorous curricula. Along with this, the students involved in each program are required to take year-end examinations that assess their knowledge from the courses throughout the school year. One major distinction between the two programs is the fact that the AP curriculum was designed for American students, while the IB curriculum was designed for International students.
Longtime AP United States History teacher Mr. Mark Pecot ‘91 compares Advanced Placement courses and the IB program as a freeway versus a train. “In the AP program, students can get on the freeway any time. If they’re ready for a challenge as freshman or sophomores, we have courses they can take. But if they aren’t ready to take on college work until their junior or sophomore year, they can hop in then.” In other words, the AP program gives a student the flexibility to choose an AP course based on his strengths. The student can opt to take an individual course at any time in their academic career. In the IB program, however, once a student chooses to participate, he must take all of the required courses in order to gain his IB diploma. “It’s like a train,” says Pecot. “If you don’t get on board your freshman year, you can’t participate in the program. The train has left the station and you’re not on it.” Because of AP’s greater flexibility, about 70% of St. Ignatius students take at least one AP course before they graduate.
Another contrast between AP and IB lies in their curriculums and examinations. AP students have the ability to choose their advanced courses, and are assessed on their competency at the end of each school year. On the other hand, IB students take a series of classes with the intent of gaining their IB diploma. To do this, they must follow a comprehensive curriculum that entails year end testing as well as a thesis incorporating all that they have learned throughout their four years.
The AP and IB programs each offer schools the opportunity to expose their students to challenging course loads while also giving them the ability to earn college credits. As the two programs have different curriculum plans, they share a common goal that involves training students to succeed on college campuses. Because of this, both the AP and IB programs are acknowledged for enriching the intellectual abilities of students from around the world.
