What's a better choice IB or A/levels?

Which choice should I make about Pre-IB, IB and AP?

• I am a student of grade nine who just got accepted into a pre-diploma IB program in Churchill secondary. I am not sure whether to go or not since if I don't go, I can complete AP Calculus at my home school (yes I am doing AP Calc in grade 10). But if I don't go, then next year getting into IB would be much more difficult since I must compete with the Pre-IB students and they have received half a year of advanced training. But if I don't do IB at all, then I can complete several AP courses/exams at school. Which option should I pick in order for an Ivy League university to offer me the most recognition 1)I don't do IB at all, and complete all AP courses offered by the school 2)I go to Pre-IB, then IB and complete several HL courses 3)I go to Pre-IB, but drop out and return to my home school for grades 11 and 12: My marks will rise a lot but I will not have enough time to complete all the AP courses 4)I don't go to Pre-IB, but apply for IB next year. There I can complete AP Calculus and the HL courses. I am not asking you guys to make the decision for me.I just need suggestions from the public.

• Answer:

  I feel like whatever I say you won't like it. I think subconsciously you know what you want. For me, I did academic in gr. 9, pre-IB in gr. 10, IB in gr. 11 and academic in gr. 12. From my experience I only know IB, I've never been in AP so I don't know. Pre-IB does prepare you somewhat for IB but honestly the jump from pre-IB to IB was huge for me. The course load went up by soo much and it was stressful (not scaring you). The jump from academic to pre-IB was not that significant. I don't exactly believe that pre-IB prepares you that much because when I went from academic to pre-IB, the jump was not that great. People often compare these two programs side by side and say they're equally as hard but I think it depends on what you're taking. If you go into the IB diploma program and take HL math and HL chem then it's going to be WAY harder than AP. But you're going into the IB certificate program and taking the non-science and non-math courses (ex: art or psychology) or SL math and SL chem then it'll be easy. I think that HL ib courses are harder than AP but SL ib courses may be easier than AP (depending on the school as well).