I’ve been giving several JC Talk at various tuition centres, students mostly ask me the difference between A-level vs IB. I’ll simply share my opinions on Mathematics.
Difference between A-level Math and IB Math
For A-level, there are two categories namely H1 and H2. Content wise, H1 is 50% of H2. H1 students sit for a 3H paper while H2 students sit for two sets of 3H paper. Students without A’Math background will be more comfortable with H1, though I do have a few students doing H2 without A’math background; they really shed blood and sweat for their A. H2 is definitely more helpful with your university transition. The sad truth is that Math is quite hard to avoid in University.
For IB, there are three categories namely, Math Studies (MS), Standard level (SL) & Higher level (HL). They are of increasing difficulty as their name suggests.
My favourite way of explaining their difference is that A-level is deeper and more narrower while IB is wider but less deep. It will be unfair to compare HL to H2 as they are exposed to different amounts of content. Students should google the content and see if the topics interest them. Pre-University education needs sufficient amount of interest to excel, and as 17 years old, they should be learn to take the responsibility of such decisions.
[…] 5. Complex Numbers 6. APGP, Sequences & Series 6. Statistics 7. Importance of Prelims 8. A-levels vs IB Mathematics 9. How I encourage Students to study Mathematics in JC. 10. Helping Students with Math Course 11. […]