If I, were you, I would seriously consider whether or not to take the International Baccalaureate diploma. The I.B. diploma is a two-year program that mainly targets 16 to 19-year-olds and it is used in approximately 150 countries all over the world.  When I say you shouldn’t take it, I’m not trying to say that it isn’t a good program or anything like that, I’m just trying to say that it is better suited for some students than others. One of the reasons I think this is that it has way too much work, that it is so overwhelming to complete everything on time every day. Some people may not find it so hard but unfortunately there are some that do.  

The main reason for this argument is the amount of work one needs to complete every day to pass this program. The fact that it is a two-year program is exhausting just thinking about. Obviously, every school that offers this diploma teaches different classes and subjects, but the idea is still the same. It is designed to engage students to have a more international way of thinking and taking important decisions. In May of 2021, results showed about 3,073 schools from all around the globe, and some 150,000 students taking IB. Out of that number, about 20,000 students (about the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) have failed the IB program, meaning that they wouldn’t pass to university. It is a program that takes over the last two years of your high school, which means that if you fail it, you will not pass to university. You do have to take into consideration that some of these schools don’t just offer it, but sometimes it’s the only course you can take in high school. The students that aren’t exactly good students in those schools would have no choice but to take it and sometimes fail.  
Some may argue that IB is great no matter how hard it may be, and everyone should take it due to the better education system, and how the subjects are more worthy of students that age. I personally know that that is not true. The AP Capstone program also has classes that are better to take than the IB when it comes to interest, and difficulty. I believe that most people would take the AP program as it is an easier program but still has amazing classes to take. For example, if you’re interested in studying government, law and economy, you can take AP Economics, AP Government/ Economics and many more classes.  

In my opinion, AP is the way to go. I personally know what the IB could do to a person. You’d have to stay home and work so much that you wouldn’t have enough free time in your day after coming back from school. I think that the AP is not only easier, but it’s also an amazing program to take. Now there is a compromise for students that want to take some classes IB offers and still take AP. This is called the IB certificate, which is where you would take IB Business Management, for example, if you’re interested in business, and then you would still have to completer the required amounts of AP classes you need to graduate, or to get accepted into university.  

In conclusion, do whichever program you think is better for you, but be careful which one you take and take into consideration which one to do and evaluate whether you are someone that can control IB, if not you still have AP and IB certificate. For those of you that are still in 9th or 10th grade, read this carefully and do some research before taking this important decision. Talk to people that have taken it and get advice and a summary of the entire IB program.