IB: Another way to get a jump on college

Kentucky high school students can earn credit for college through the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

While both programs can lead to college credit, there are differences. IB is a structured two-year program that requires students to take certain classes and exams if they want the full IB diploma. With AP, schools choose which classes they offer, and students choose which classes they'll take.

AP is the better known and more widely available program in Kentucky. Fewer people are familiar with IB, which is available at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Holmes High School in Covington, and Atherton High School and Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville. KHEAA and The Student Loan Peoples visited Apollo in January to find out more about lB.

Juniors Branden Payton and Maxson Overby said they liked IB because of the challenge and because there is more discussion of issues and less memorizing.

"I like looking at different sides," Maxson said, acknowledging that she sometimes plays devil's advocate. "You develop your arguments for all sides of the problem. We are learning how to think critically."

That's one way IB prepares students for college, said Rachel Rosales, a math teacher and the coordi­nator of Apollo's lB program. They also learn time. Management skills and how to form study groups. That way, when they go to college and a profes­sor tells them to read this chapter and write a paper about it, they know how to go about it.

"A lot of these things I didn't learn until I was a junior in college," Rosales said, "things like how to read quickly but effectively, how to write a paper without doing six or seven drafts."

Rosales said she sees the program as not only pre­paring students for college but preparing them to stay in college.

The full diploma requires completing classes in English, European history, math, foreign language (third and fourth years or beyond), experimental sciences, theory of knowledge, and an elective (either visual art or computer science). Students must also take and pass exams in three higher level and three lower level classes, one from each area.

They also have to write two world literature papers, a 1 ,400-word historical monograph and a 4,000­word essay, plus keep a math portfolio.

On top of that, they have to com­plete 150 hours in the creative, action and service areas. Action is generally inter­preted as anything involving physical activity. Service hours would in­volve community volunteer work, but religious­oriented activities don't count. Students can earn creative hours by attending plays, ballets, etc.

Branden earned 18 hours of action credit during a trip to Washington, D.C., in early January. He also gets to count playing intramural basketball.

The payoff can be huge. Some universities will give students with an IB diploma 30 hours of credit and start them off as sophomores.

For more information, e-mail Rosales at rRosales@daviess.kI2.ky.us or visit www.ibo.org