4 replies to this topic

[Zoe Brooks]

hl english
hl chinese b
hl art
hl history
sl math
sl bio

or

hl english
hl art
hl physics
hl history
sl chinese a
math sl
regular bio

(we have to take a form of bio and history at my school, and we don't have sl physics. also, I would take sl chinese a in the first schedule but that's 7 ib courses.)

1) should I just not take art? I'm interested in photography and stop motion projects but I'm not an incredibly artistic person overall.
2) should I take hl bio instead of physics in the second schedule?

thank you!

[Sandwich]

1. It is not really recommended to take 4 HLs unless you intend to drop one, take one a year early, or are a masochist of some kind.
2. Assume that in your second list, 'regular bio' = SL?
3. Really a lot of this is about what you're good at.

For instance HL Physics requires you to be very good at Maths. HL Biology requires you to be very good at memorising
You should also consider what you want to do after you're done with school. Are any courses pre-requisites for University courses? Also, some courses are more of a doss than others for the IB - Art is obviously a lot easier than Physics, languages are a lot easier than Physics. These are things that Universities will be aware of - roughly how challenging your courseload is. Although I should point out that they generally care only about the subject matter and don't seem to care about 3 vs 4 HLs.

To be honest I don't really get the rationale behind the two lists - or indeed your subject choices. How much do you want to study these subjects, why these subjects in particular, are you confident that you're going to be good at Physics?? These are pieces of information that currently only you know and it's hard to give you advice without knowing the answers.

[Desy Glau]

I don't think taking Arts is worthwhile in your case, I loved arts so much too but I'm not that good at it, so I decided to take Chem instead of Visual Arts. but for my CAS projects, I did some designing and got a lot of Creativity hours. so my point is that if you love arts but are not very talented at it, it'd be better to just do it for CAS. it wouldn't really advantage you in terms of uni prospects anyway unless you plan to study arts-related courses.

the most important questions to ask yourself when choosing your subjects are:
1. what are your strengths and interests?
2. what do you want to study at uni? i.e. what subjects would help you at uni?

good luck!

[Zoe Brooks]

Sandwich, on Feb 09, 2012 - 11:37, said:

1. It is not really recommended to take 4 HLs unless you intend to drop one, take one a year early, or are a masochist of some kind.
2. Assume that in your second list, 'regular bio' = SL?
3. Really a lot of this is about what you're good at.

For instance HL Physics requires you to be very good at Maths. HL Biology requires you to be very good at memorising
You should also consider what you want to do after you're done with school. Are any courses pre-requisites for University courses? Also, some courses are more of a doss than others for the IB - Art is obviously a lot easier than Physics, languages are a lot easier than Physics. These are things that Universities will be aware of - roughly how challenging your courseload is. Although I should point out that they generally care only about the subject matter and don't seem to care about 3 vs 4 HLs.

To be honest I don't really get the rationale behind the two lists - or indeed your subject choices. How much do you want to study these subjects, why these subjects in particular, are you confident that you're going to be good at Physics?? These are pieces of information that currently only you know and it's hard to give you advice without knowing the answers.

Desy Glau, on Feb 09, 2012 - 12:11, said:

I don't think taking Arts is worthwhile in your case, I loved arts so much too but I'm not that good at it, so I decided to take Chem instead of Visual Arts. but for my CAS projects, I did some designing and got a lot of Creativity hours. so my point is that if you love arts but are not very talented at it, it'd be better to just do it for CAS. it wouldn't really advantage you in terms of uni prospects anyway unless you plan to study arts-related courses.

the most important questions to ask yourself when choosing your subjects are:
1. what are your strengths and interests?
2. what do you want to study at uni? i.e. what subjects would help you at uni?

good luck!

thank you! I have decided to take
HL:
English
History
Physics

SL:
Maths
Mandarin A
Biology

out of the three sciences, the one I'm most interested in is physics, even though I'm not very very good at it.
English is probably my best subject, and I'm fairly interested in history. As for mandarin, I think B would be way too easy because I'm on A track right now.
I plan to study law in the future, so I'm taking history and english HLs. I didn't know I could do art things for CAS, so I decided not to take art, thanks!
Do you think my schedule is too easy/too hard/okay?

Edited by Zoe Brooks, Feb 09, 2012 - 13:23.

[Desy Glau]

good! is econ offered at your school? if so, I'd highly suggest that you take econ. so, two humanities subjects rather than two sciences.

speaking from experience, physics HL is really really difficult. you're going to die if you're not good at it. just like me. I'm now crying over my performance in physics, I don't understand a single thing... maybe it's just me, but physics HL is really really challenging. but my friends are also struggling too so maybe it's indeed difficult.