IB students gear up for exams

    AHS first introduced IB exams in 2002, and the first diploma class graduated in 2003. This year as April and May draw nearer AHS students are preparing for the IB and AP exams. AP exams will start this year in April. IB exams will be administered the following month from May 5 to the 23.

    AHS students have the option of taking AP exams whether they are enrolled in an AP class or not. IB exams are only offered to students enrolled in that IB class. Both AP and IB exams can be used by students to earn college credits.

    IB exams help “students gain college credit or placement,” explains IB coordinator Erin Albright. Placement refers to a student’s opportunity for students to place into higher-level classes or even place out of certain college courses using their IB exam scores.

     “Students assume a college won’t accept their IB exam scores as college credits, but later learn the college would have accepted the exam,” said Albright. Students can even use IB exams to improve chances of getting into college admissions because a high score on an IB exam can overshadow poor grades.

     “The IB exam demonstrates what students have learned and how they can use that information,” said Albright. Students who are preparing for the exam know that the best preparation for the exam is working hard and doing well in an IB course.

    Junior Anita Obasi, who plans on getting the IB diploma, has taken one AP exam and is planning on taking the IB Environmental Systems exam this year. “I’ve always taken harder classes so I’m used to the challenge,” said Obasi. “I don’t know if I can obtain college credits, but I would like to.”  

    IB exams are deigned to test a student’s ability to apply the information that they have learned in an IB class. For example, Albright noted that in IB English class  students learn analysis skills with certain literature, but instead of being tested on the same literature, the IB exam will test students on the same analysis skills with different literature.

    Senior Debbie McCoy, who is enrolled in her second year of IB Biology says, “I’m not nervous [for the Biology exam] because I have the experience of taking the IB Biology  I test last year.

    The IB exam is graded on a scale of one through seven, seven being the highest. Certified IB examiners, from around the world, grade the exams based on an IB rubric. The IB rubric is the same year after year, all around the world to ensure that students are graded fairly. Several FCPS teachers are certified IB examiners, but none from AHS.   

    AP exams are also graded by certified examiners but are graded on a different scale. AP essays are graded on a scale of one to five, five being the highest. Colleges award credits for students that score from three to five.

    As exam near, AHS students prepare for another year of challenging exams and a stressful anticipation for results and opportunities.