What is a good IB score?

This answer was originally adapted from our answer on Quora.

So, what is considered a good IB score?

In all honesty, it depends.

But what does it depend on?

Let’s start with what is a good score to YOU?

Undeniably, this is the most important factor.

You need to ask yourself what you want to do after IB - and your answer will be clear.

If you want to enter Cambridge Law, chances are, a 35 won’t be a good score. But probably for most courses around the world, 35 is a good enough score to enter an Arts course.

So, know exactly what you need to get, add a buffer and that score is basically, what is subjectively “good” or rather, sufficient, to YOU.

What’s a good score in general?

Now, this depends too on context. Where are you from in the world? Statistically, some countries do better on average than others.

So, if you’re from a local school in Singapore (SJI, ACSI, SOTA, etc) and you’re scoring anything under 40, that is generally not considered “good”.

This is not to say that Singapore local IB schools are better. They just have higher expectations for what is “good”.

What a good score is also depends on your own school.

The general consensus is that if you are in a particular school, you effectively have very similar resources as everyone (of course, not counting tuition, which teachers you get, etc). So, perhaps another gauge is your school’s average.

Well, I hope this helps!

BUT WAIT!

Before you go, I want to pass on an advice from a friend, which has helped me alot in my personal development - that is, to avoid comparing.

Why’s that?

Because everyone has a different background, context, experiences and struggles.

We should focus on doing our best and establishing what is “good” to ourselves and only ourselves - that’s happiness.

Take care and all the best.