Pros of the VCE

[vexx]

i honestly regret not doing the IB.. haha but oh well ;P

just curious, why?

because i like to so much better then vce...
- easier to get 99+
- i'd get to do spanish
- and biology at uni level
a few other things but meh first one mainly.

[/0]

On the contrary, I've heard it is ridiculously hard to score high in IB

[Twenty10]

- easier to get 99+

How is it 'easier'? I thought IB course is more difficult than VCE?

[ReVeL]

 

- easier to get 99+

How is it 'easier'? I thought IB course is more difficult than VCE?

Apparently the scores you get in IB translate like very well to an ENTER score. I met someone in my course who did IB and said this, so it's not concrete evidence.

[EvangelionZeta]

On the contrary, I've heard it is ridiculously hard to score high in IB

- easier to get 99+

How is it 'easier'? I thought IB course is more difficult than VCE?

It's ridiculously hard to get, say, 45/45 in IB.  The exams and the assessments are also more difficult than the VCE.

HOWEVER, because IB is marked out of 7 for each subject, there's a lot more "space" for one to get say a 6 (which is roughly 38-43).  Similarly, a 7 is roughly the equivalent of 44-50 in a subject, and getting six 7s is a lot easier than getting six 50s.

So, all in all, a student who would be getting in the low-mid 40s for his VCE would be getting around 41-42, especially given that some subjects have a reputation for being ridiculously easy to get a 7 in (such as Economics).  In the VCE, this would equate to roughly the mid-98s/low 99s.  In contrast, IB has some RIDICULOUS scaling, which allows it so that a 39 (six 6s, so potentially around six 38ish scores) goes to a 98.75.  40 goes to 99, 41 goes to 99.3, 42 goes to 99.75.  

[vexx]

^ yep exactly as EZ said.
you do three subjects at high level (which often dips into uni level, harder exams, etc.) and to get a 7/7  for psych for example (equivalent to close to a perfect score) a 65% on the exams is required (i looked at this a couple of years ago so it might have changed). Whereas other subjects for a 7 is usually ~85%

but for me to get a 99.30'ish (41/45) i would have needed (in my exams)
65%+ in HL psych, ~85% in Math, HL Bio and HL Chem(7's), 70~80% in English&Other Language(6's)
And then only a low grade on my ToK/EE (not too hard to get, which is a score of 1 on it)

Many people here would definitely be able to get 99+ more easily whilst doing IB (if you are able to score well in a science, math, english, humanities (includes psych) and second language. Although it is harder, more time-consuming, it is far more rewarding. Plus, you aren't competing against anyone else.

[Visionz]

^ yep exactly as EZ said.
you do three subjects at high level (which often dips into uni level, harder exams, etc.) and to get a 7/7  for psych for example (equivalent to close to a perfect score) a 65% on the exams is required (i looked at this a couple of years ago so it might have changed). Whereas other subjects for a 7 is usually ~85%

but for me to get a 99.30'ish (41/45) i would have needed (in my exams)
65%+ in HL psych, ~85% in Math, HL Bio and HL Chem(7's), 70~80% in English&Other Language(6's)
And then only a low grade on my ToK/EE (not too hard to get, which is a score of 1 on it)

Many people here would definitely be able to get 99+ more easily whilst doing IB (if you are able to score well in a science, math, english, humanities (includes psych) and second language. Although it is harder, more time-consuming, it is far more rewarding. Plus, you aren't competing against anyone else.

Sounds good. But for those of us who havent had the most stable education.. theres a few problems. With VCE you can pretty much kick into gear when it matters and do well.

[vexx]

^ yep exactly as EZ said.
you do three subjects at high level (which often dips into uni level, harder exams, etc.) and to get a 7/7  for psych for example (equivalent to close to a perfect score) a 65% on the exams is required (i looked at this a couple of years ago so it might have changed). Whereas other subjects for a 7 is usually ~85%

but for me to get a 99.30'ish (41/45) i would have needed (in my exams)
65%+ in HL psych, ~85% in Math, HL Bio and HL Chem(7's), 70~80% in English&Other Language(6's)
And then only a low grade on my ToK/EE (not too hard to get, which is a score of 1 on it)

Many people here would definitely be able to get 99+ more easily whilst doing IB (if you are able to score well in a science, math, english, humanities (includes psych) and second language. Although it is harder, more time-consuming, it is far more rewarding. Plus, you aren't competing against anyone else.

Sounds good. But for those of us who havent had the most stable education.. theres a few problems. With VCE you can pretty much kick into gear when it matters and do well.

yeah exactly, it's not for everyone. only a few schools offer it as well,  though if went to one of those schools at the start of the IB1 (its a two year program) you would have had a good shot at doing well. just need to be really organised & consistently working through the entire program. (muuuuch moreso then vce)

[QuantumJG]

- easier to get 99+

How is it 'easier'? I thought IB course is more difficult than VCE?

I would say it's much more difficult to do well in IB because of the restrictions on what subjects you can take. The best way to find out if IB is easier would be to see if I could get 32 (89.50 in 2008).

[Juddinator]

Apart from it being compulsory putting English in your top 4, I would say that it's a great system. I couldn't stand having the US system here.

I believe the VCE is fantastic in the sense that you can play to your strengths, meaning you can choose the type of subjects you think you will excel in. Whether they be art type subjects, maths/science type subjects or languages, you can always choose subjects where your strengths lie.

I say this in comparison to the IB (International Baccalaureate) where every student must do a second language, a maths, a science, a humanities, English, another subject from a science or humanties area and TOK (Theory of Knowledge). Let's also be reminded of the 150 hours of community service students need to complete in order to even be issued with their IB diploma, regardless of their marks!

IB students need to be all-rounded in order to excel rather than VCE students picking subjects they favour in order to succeed. However, an IB diploma lasts forever whereas a VCE certificate (along with an ENTER/ATAR) only lasts for two years.

WTF!

Yes it's true. At a local IB school, I have friends who had a girl in their year level have insufficient CAS hours, (not the total 150 hours) and was not awarded her IB diploma until the total 150 hours were achieved.

[slothpomba]

• I like how there is so much choice, pretty much a subject for everything and a good little sampler to find out your potential uni course. (You cant always chose the subjects you want though.. because you have subjects you *need*.. i need to do methods but i dont like it.. id much rather do history.. but i guess this is a problem with VTAC and university admission and not really the VCE)
• Also, if you seriously screw up in year 11, you still have a pretty decent chance. First couple weeks of Yr 12 is pretty much a sample of the year 11 course over again.
• Scaling makes it more fair, regardless of what your choice is. (debatable)
• It is essentially hard work in -> good results out. (debatable again)

[darkphoenix]

I think the best thing about VCE is that you can pick all your subjects you want to do. (except for english)

So people can play to their strengths and see who is really part of the 'elite' of the state.

[Glockmeister]

^ yep exactly as EZ said.
you do three subjects at high level (which often dips into uni level, harder exams, etc.) and to get a 7/7  for psych for example (equivalent to close to a perfect score) a 65% on the exams is required (i looked at this a couple of years ago so it might have changed). Whereas other subjects for a 7 is usually ~85%

but for me to get a 99.30'ish (41/45) i would have needed (in my exams)
65%+ in HL psych, ~85% in Math, HL Bio and HL Chem(7's), 70~80% in English&Other Language(6's)
And then only a low grade on my ToK/EE (not too hard to get, which is a score of 1 on it)

Many people here would definitely be able to get 99+ more easily whilst doing IB (if you are able to score well in a science, math, english, humanities (includes psych) and second language. Although it is harder, more time-consuming, it is far more rewarding. Plus, you aren't competing against anyone else.

Sounds good. But for those of us who havent had the most stable education.. theres a few problems. With VCE you can pretty much kick into gear when it matters and do well.

yeah exactly, it's not for everyone. only a few schools offer it as well,  though if went to one of those schools at the start of the IB1 (its a two year program) you would have had a good shot at doing well. just need to be really organised & consistently working through the entire program. (muuuuch moreso then vce)

I actually chose not to do IB because my school had just opened up its IB programme and they didn't offer IB Psychology.