“How to get ahead in the university race” Special to The Globe and Mail, Oct. 18, 2005, P7

When Tracy Nowski was completing her final year at Toronto's St. Clement's School, her agenda was packed solid.

Not only was she preparing university applications; competing internationally on the Canadian public speaking and debating team; and playing varsity sports, she also made time to study for two sets of exams — six demanding Advanced Placement tests as well as those required to complete her Ontario Secondary School Diploma.

It was stressful, she concedes, but well worth the challenge.

Ms. Nowski, now 20, is in her third year of a Bachelor of Arts program at Harvard University and believes it was the AP courses that gave her an edge. “The party line for [Harvard] is they are looking for you to have taken the most rigorous course load available to you and they definitely consider Advanced Placement courses an indication of that.”

As the academic race becomes increasingly competitive, thousands of students are preparing for their post-secondary education by taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses, which offer university-level content in secondary school.

Last year in Canada, more than 100,000 students wrote AP tests, while more than 5,200 diploma candidates wrote IB examinations.

AP officials estimate about 15 per cent of registered AP institutions in Canada are private schools; IB officials say 20 to 25 per cent of registered IB schools are private.

Indeed, independent schools uphold a mandate to focus “all of their attention on curricular programs that are geared to post-secondary school success,” explains Susan Both, executive director of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools.

“By definition then, that ability to focus on this stream of programming means that independent schools can also make a focus on any specific curriculum [such as IB and AP] that supports post-secondary academic success. It's a function of the ability to specialize.”

Though the two programs are often compared, there are notable distinctions.

AP registered schools may offer more than 20 subjects, but students can pick and choose which ones to take. In fact, they are not obliged to enroll in any of the courses to write the three-hour tests administered each May and graded by outside examiners.

Though AP course content is developed by the College Board, administrator of the SAT university admissions tests in the United States, the onus is on educators to decide how to teach the material.

For example at St. Clement's, an independent girls' school, self-standing AP classes are offered as well as blended classes — where both AP and non-AP students can take the course. To make more time for AP content, the regular curriculum is accelerated.

Meanwhile, AP's younger counterpart, IB, is a two-year program for students aged 16 to 19. Though students may opt to take individual courses, the main objective is usually to receive the diploma.

Diploma candidates must select subjects from each of the following (with occasional variations): first language; second language; individuals and societies (includes philosophy, psychology, history); experimental sciences (includes biology, chemistry, physics); math and computer science; and the arts. They must also take the “theory of knowledge” course that is meant to develop critical thinking skills.

Students are also obliged to complete the “creativity, action, and service component;” in which they participate in sports, community service and school productions. And they have to write a 4000-word extended essay, which has been compared to an undergraduate thesis.

There are no shortcuts with this diploma.

“Even you if you don't like to study a second language or math — too bad, you have to do it,” says Bob Poole, head of the IBO's Vancouver office and the International Baccalaureate North America's recognition division. “Our expectation is that you are trying to keep all your options open.”

Costs vary for both programs, depending on how the institutions and school boards divvy up the fees. At most private schools, the costs are built into the yearly fees.

While some may cringe at the idea of packing more learning into those already-tumultuous adolescent years, there are undisputed benefits for those studious enough to reap the rewards.

In fact, those eager to accelerate their post-secondary education can take advantage of policies offered at universities across Canada. Provided students garner high marks in their AP or IB courses, they can receive credit for qualifying first-year university courses.

University of New Brunswick is one of those institutions. While associate registrar Shirley Carroll discounts the notion that these programs predict post-secondary success, she asserts they are an indicator of “the fact that students are ready to start at a higher level.”

University of Alberta assistant registrar Melissa Casey agrees. In fact, IB students are the target of special recruitment initiatives because “we know they are matching the needs of the university.”

IB students also have an advantage in getting into universities the world over when they graduate with both their provincial diploma and internationally standardized diploma in hand, explains Karen Murton, principal of Toronto's Branksome Hall, an independent school for girls. “Indeed many of our students will choose to study abroad.”

Some foreign institutions require North American students to complete at least one year of university before they apply, but that prerequisite is sometimes waived for IB diploma holders.

At Branksome Hall, about a dozen students will graduate with IB diplomas this year. But the school is in the process of fully implementing the program so that within about three years, more than 100 girls will be graduating with IB diplomas in hand. Still, though both AP and IB programs are widely lauded for having high standards, they also have their detractors.

A 2002 National Research Council report looking at American high schools accuses some AP teachers of turning coursework into a test-preparation review, given the emphasis on passing the exams, instead of offering an in-depth education. In addition, the report warns learning can be shallow as there is too much material for the students to absorb.

But George Ewonus, director of the Advanced Placement program in Canada, rebuffs such criticism. “Mount Everest is difficult to climb but there are still people who will do it. There are those who like challenges, and AP appeals to those people.”

Ms. Nowski echoes the sentiment, saying that if AP courses are blasted for being too rigorous, “I can only imagine how one would criticize a university education.”

How the programs started

The seeds for Advanced Placement were sown in 1951 when American educators met to discuss the overlap of high school and post-secondary curriculum. The committee published a report in 1952, urging secondary schools to encourage seniors to engage in higher-level work.

Meanwhile, a proposal called the Kenyon Plan was being formulated by a committee of representatives from colleges and secondary schools across the United States. It called for developing post-secondary-level standards that could be instituted at the high school level.

Following these recommendations, the Kenyon committee recruited faculty to develop more demanding courses. In 1952, a pilot program involving seven high schools was launched; the basis for what has since become the AP program.

The International Baccalaureate Organization was founded in Geneva in 1968 to meet the needs of geographically mobile students who required academic credentials to be accepted globally, such as children of diplomats.

Its original mandate was to facilitate the international mobility of students preparing for university by providing a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities around the world.

Since then, its mission has expanded, and it now seeks to make an IB education available to students of all ages. The IBO added the Middle Years Program in 1994, a curriculum for students aged 11 to 16, and in 1997 it adopted the Primary Years Program for students aged 3 to 11.