Both programs offer challenging courses to high school students who can earn college credit. However, their philosophies and goals are very different.

 

The AP program was developed in the United States to help high school students prepare for college by taking advanced courses. Students may take as few as one or as many as a dozen AP classes, depending on the school, program and goals.

In contrast, IB was developed in Switzerland to be an internationally recognized diploma. To get your diploma, you must take a certain amount of courses in a range of subjects. It is possible to take only a few IBs without graduating.

The IB program is much less common than the AP. Over 2 million students took AP exams in 2014, but only about 135,000 took IB exams.

 

The programs also have different objectives. IB places more emphasis on writing and developing critical thinking skills - and not just on the exams themselves. The IB diploma also requires the production of a lengthy college-style research paper. The IB program also has extracurricular requirements.

In contrast, AP is a program focused on teaching specific content and testing their knowledge through exams.

 

IB exams are more expensive. There is a registration fee of $172 each year plus a fee of $119 per exam. APs cost $94 per exam.

You can take AP exams without being enrolled in a class, but you must be enrolled in an IB class to take an IB exam. If you have proficiency in a language not offered at your school, or if you want to self-study for a niche subject like Art History, the AP program offers you more flexibility.

Additionally, the IB program offers upper-level and standard courses. To earn an IB diploma, you must take at least three upper-level courses. AP courses are offered at a single level. The highest level of IB is in some high schools considered more difficult than AP. Most colleges give credit for AP exams and upper-level IB exams, but not all give credit for standard IB exams.

You can search the AP credit policy of various colleges in the AP college database. The IB program does not have a similar database, but you can look up the IB credit policy of any college or university by searching for "IB Name [College/University] Credit."

 

To know more:https://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c21984.htm

IB PROGRAM:https://www.ibo.org/

AP PROGRAM:https://ap.collegeboard.org/