Taking IB courses is a great way to make yourself more competitive in the race for university admissions. But for the best results, you need to make sure you pick your classes carefully. That’s the message of this article from the online IB resource Oxford Study Courses.
The OSC’s main point is that IB isn’t just useful for admission to university in general. It’s also a way to earn entry into specific competitive programmes. For instance, the law programme at Cambridge requires “40-41 points, with 776 at Higher Level”, while Oxford says that IB students are “usually required to achieve a level of performance of 38–40 points, including core points, with 6s and 7s in the higher level subjects”.
IB results aren’t just useful for admission, though. A good score can lead to course credit in your preferred programme as well. At Columbia, undergraduate students can earn “6 points of credit for each score of 6 or 7 on IB Higher Level examinations” as long as they are in courses offered by Columbia. MIT also awards credit for IB scores in some subjects, though not as many as Columbia.
Of course, these rewards aren’t worth much if they aren’t in subjects you’re actually interested in studying. That’s why planning your university career early can help you choose your IBDP courses. If you know you will apply to study physics at MIT, for example, you should prepare for the IB Physics exam. NTK’s academic planners can help with this process, and our IB tutors are on hand to provide the help you need to achieve a good exam score.
What part do your university plans play in your course selection? How many people do you think check out their school’s requirements before they make their choices?
