AP is (I believe) mainly done in the US. It stands for Advanced Placement and are considered college level courses taken in the 11th & 12th grade levels.
A child is normally chosen to take the classes by teachers/school (ie he/she has a certain grade point average or excels in a particular subject) and must also pass a formal exam at the end of the year. This exam has nothing to do with the individual school, all students will take the same exam for any given subject regardless of what state or school they are in (like a standardized test).
Most colleges in the US and some abroad will accept passing grades of the final AP exam in lieu of 1st year college courses. Additionally, many (if not all) schools also give an extra grade point scale (ie an "A" is no longer a 4.0, it's a 5.0 when calculating the GPA). I have personally known more than 10 high school students who have started college as a sophomore because they passed enough AP exams. Some consider it highly advantageous, others think it's kind of cheating a kid out of the experience of college. It's an individual decision.
I think SABIS is the curriculum specific only to the Choifat (Lebonese) schools and is partly based on the American curriculum which is not the same as International curriculum.
Everything will depend on the individual school here. Curriculums are approved by MOE and KHDA and there are regulations in place that mean certain topics can not be taught, regardless of curriculum choice. There are a few schools here who do provide a British curriculum with bits that are compulsory from the authorities here, ie Arabic.
Then there are also schools which are running an International curriculum with a British flavour as one Head said recently, where there is very little BC about what they provide. Many schools here are teacher led rather than management led and therefore there can be huge discrepancies as to what is actually taught even within a year group.
Some areas of schools are strong and others weak, some year groups are strong some not, it really depends on the individual school and the management.
IB done right is expensive and many teachers are not qualified to do so as schools have not paid for them to go on the courses or have invested in the supporting course books. Every teacher training is different, all curriculums have good and bad points, as do most schools.
Your choices are limited here and you are looking at this too deeply from the wrong angle, you need to find a school that has proven results and a good reputation and delivers something near what they promise, good luck you will need it.
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