King's College School & IB

[poiuyt]

So be cautious if a school has recently started teaching IB

[leanmeamum]

Three 7s compared to A*AA!!!!!! they must be kidding. I'll tell DS to sit A levels.

Which uni was that? Some are supposed to be more IB friendly than others. I am told by KCS that the average points offer for Oxford is 38-40 and Cambridge is 39-41, is that right in your experience?

It was Oxbridge for 2011 offers - the offers were really high. 1 girl got a 43 but got 7,7,6 in her higher & missed her medicine offer from Cambridge. She's at Notts now. Few more offers like that - maybe because of the over-subscription last year due to fees changes

[doingmybest]

I had heard that the science modules in particular are very hard marked, so thats probably why Kings are now offering an alternative.

Its interesting reading another post that of 70 45 scores internationally, 13 came from her daughters school, a similar number from Kings. Assuming the daughter was at the Collegiate that would leave Sevenoaks which you would also expect to have at least 10. That would mean that nearly half the top scores come from a trio of schools in the UK, which makes no sense when you look at the numbers sitting elsewhere, US etc. Why are our kids having to work so hard to achieve such high scores? I can only assume its because thats what our Unis are demanding.

Friends with older children tell me last year was a nightmare for places and to get in anywhere decent was difficult, so you're right it could have been a one off. Thanks for coming back.

[mike1880]

Its interesting reading another post that of 70 45 scores internationally, 13 came from her daughters school, a similar number from Kings. Assuming the daughter was at the Collegiate that would leave Sevenoaks which you would also expect to have at least 10.

There were 125 max scores in 2011. Sevenoaks got 15 of them so similar to the other two mentioned. It does seem strange that a few UK schools (far less than 2% of the candidatesin total ) are getting perhaps 30%+ of the global max scores.

Mike

[doingmybest]

An increase from 70 to 125 in 145 scores!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds like grade inflation to me!

[mike1880]

Out of about 50,000 taking it? The percentage is fairly stable from year to year at between about 0.2 and 0.25% of candidates. But I'd still like to know why a tiny handful of British schools are doing so much better than anyone else.

Mike

[doingmybest]

I was joking about grade inflation, its just something I have heard moaned about by all heads at schools which have gone for pre-us or IB as an alternative.
DS has place at Kings for next year and we have a meeting with the head next week and I am going to ask why the UK is doing so much better, like you I would be interested to know why. I suspect it's partly the calibre of the schools/colleges adopting the IB and partly that it isn't a level playing field for Uni entry and our kids are having to do a lot more work to get the required points.
I'll post if I find out anything.

[P's mum]

In answer to the last question surely because they are highly selective schools whereas the IB is offered by international schools all round the world which are not selective.

I agree that an offer of 3x 7s in higher levels plus all the other things that the IB requires is outrageous - no British University would dream of asking for 3xA*s. Yet I believe that about 8% of IB candidates get a 7 and it hasn't changed for years - this is similar percentage for an A* yet in addition an IB candidate is doing 3 other subjects and meeting the other IB requirements.

The IB is hard work, more demanding than A levels for students. However, if the school understands the IB (warning here about choosing schools that are new to the IB or think that its just an add on to A levels) relatively 'ordinary' candidates will pass. As for UK university applications - some universities, or more probably departments, understand it better than others and its worth doing research before applying. Some are said to prefer the IB (I've heard that this is case for Imperial).

I did the IB my daughter is at an IB only only (state) school that abolished A levels years ago (my school didn't offer A levels either).

[P's mum]

In answer to the last but but one question I should have said - another poster got in whilst I was writing my reply!

[leanmeamum]

I had heard that the science modules in particular are very hard marked, so thats probably why Kings are now offering an alternative.

Its interesting reading another post that of 70 45 scores internationally, 13 came from her daughters school, a similar number from Kings. Assuming the daughter was at the Collegiate that would leave Sevenoaks which you would also expect to have at least 10. That would mean that nearly half the top scores come from a trio of schools in the UK, which makes no sense when you look at the numbers sitting elsewhere, US etc. Why are our kids having to work so hard to achieve such high scores? I can only assume its because thats what our Unis are demanding.

Friends with older children tell me last year was a nightmare for places and to get in anywhere decent was difficult, so you're right it could have been a one off. Thanks for coming back.

Yes she was at collegiate & some of the girls had ridiculous offers which made them think the unis were not very sure about the IB marking schemes. Some girls had 7,7,6 with 40 overall for eco.

I think it all depends on the subject, no. of applicants & last year was particularly over-subscribed.

Having said that IB is a wonderful all-round course. If your son is capable & enthusiastic, he should go for it. Kings has a good record with IB. Choose the higher levels carefully & change them around with standard level subjects within 2 terms if he is finding any of them hard.

The maths & physics module are quite hard but so are the A levels in these subjects.