drade_ Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I'm entering my third month of the IB as an 11th Grader at an International School, I currently take English Language and Literature HL, Economics HL, Spanish B HL, and Portuguese B HL as well as Biology SL, TOK, and Math SL. I currently have all grades above 90% with an exception of 74% in Math. My school has a retake policy where students are allowed to retake tests with harder questions and in the case of math we are allowed to do rigorous Test Corrections which can give you up to half the points you missed back. Even with these policies I have been unable to strive in Math finding everything we learn very difficult and hard to keep up with. In the past my grades have not been amazing because I had the tendency to not study for my first two years of high school, as this was my first year of IB I understood how important this was and began studying tirelessly which is why I have the grades I have so far. I do not expect to get into anything like a Harvard University or and Ivy league but more of a University of Miami, NYU, Boston College, or even University of Michigan. I have since the beginning of the year looking at the positives and negatives of moving down from Math Standard Level to Math Studies. I have been given various opinions; some saying it was better to get into college with a mid 70's, possibly low 80's grade in Sl than a very high 90 in studies while others saying the opposite. Im not sure exactly what I want to study in college but my three largest interests are Pre-Law, Political Science, and Business. I would like to ask what is better for me to get into a better college, a very high Math Studies grade boosting my GPA or a lower Math SL grade showing that I tried to do well. My biggest concern is that I have never been good at Mathematics and if i'm already haring difficulties with the current things what will I do when it gets harder (because i've been told it gets much harder). Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyShariff Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 If you're convinced that you are going into Pre-Law or Political Science where math isn't really needed, I would say go for it! (I would make the switch). However, if you plan on going into business, you may want to stick with Math SL, where math plays more of an important role. On a side note, I wouldn't rely on your school re-take system. You won't get a retake for the exam. I mean you can, but its not fun. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannyk Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I would suggest you to keep Math SL. It is much more considered for every college, especially if you intend to do business. In fact, top schools like NYU don't even accept math studies for business undergrads. I also had the option to choose, and decided to stay with math SL. I got a predicted grade of 6, and it was totally worth it. Furthermore, you can receive credits in the university with 6 or 7 in Math SL, but with math studies you cant. Of course it is harder, but your effort will pay off in the end. Study for math finals like you do on any other subject, and I guarantee success. It is not as hard as the IB sells it! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia. Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 If you think that you might want to study business, I'd stick with SL. Also, it would go nicely with Economics HL. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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