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Maths HL vs Maths SL - Opinions?


Viv

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Hi everyone,

 

I start my IBDP this year and have currently chosen maths HL. However, I've been looking over past papers and feel as if SL is far easier for me and would require little to no study to reach a 7 (I'm assuming that 3U maths is a little harder than SL, and I did my 3U HSC last year - I accelerated maths by 2 years).

 

The thing is, I want to study a double degree law and commerce at either USYD/UNSW (which require a 44 entry mark), and I'm worried that SL maths will not be sufficient in the commerce course? Or would SL maths be insufficient in a career in finance/banking? 

 

I am capable of HL maths but it would require much more attention and practice - therefore I would prefer to do SL maths and concentrate on my other HL subjects (currently maths, english A, economics and business). However, if dropping to SL maths is not an option, I will drop to SL business due to four higher subjects. 

 

What are your opinions on my situation? Anything is appreciated - especially if you have done HL maths/considering a double degree in commerce and law!  :phone:

 

Thanks so much! 

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Hey!

 

It's always lovely to see other Australians on IBS who are doing Maths HL - although I may be generalising, I get the feeling that it's not very popular in Australia. Although I'm not studying commerce/law - only law (albeit in a different country), though I must admit I am glad I am not doing commerce as I can't stand business/finance stuff - I did apply for commerce/law for UAC for some unis. 

 

Given what you've written, you seem totally capable of Maths HL without too much hard work/practice - doing 3U in year 10 is crazy! Maths HL is not as hard as it seems, and although it was lots of work, despite not liking or being very good at maths and not having done accelerated maths, I found the work to be pretty fine. I'm not sure about the exact details, but if you've done 3U, you should have covered a pretty significant portion of the basics of Maths HL. The only big gaps would be in advanced integration techniques, statistics, and possibly vectors and complex numbers (though I'm not sure if they're in 3U), and your options work. Frankly, that's not very much new content - and I think Maths HL exam questions would be of fairly comparable level to 3U. I believe that UAC still (ridiculously) equates 3U with HL and whilst that is clearly untrue, based on some quick glances I think that 4U is probably harder. 

 

In terms of whether maths is worth doing in comparison with HL, as with many questions in life, it really does depend. Maths HL may be a lot of work (though I suspect in your case it is a lot less than you think), but other subjects are too - albeit of a different nature. From what I gather Business HL is a lot of memorisation, so for some people that might be even harder. Also, Maths HL, unlike writing subjects, is objectively marked so you know your hard work will generally pay off. I personally was tossing up between Maths and History HL, and I decided on Maths HL - the best choice I made in the IB, given how badly all the copious reading/essay-writing went even in History SL for me! Indeed, I think it is possible to make the case that Maths HL is easier than English or Economics HL, so it really depends. Although it is ultimately subjective, I think that doing Maths HL could be good, simply based on the desire to have a good humanities/science balance at HL so that things don't get boring. 

 

In terms of preparation for finance/banking, Maths SL would probably be sufficient. Pre-requisites and assumed subjects don't really exist for commerce, so you're good there. Whilst Maths HL would no doubt be useful, I doubt it's something that you couldn't cover whilst at university. 

 

As to USyd/UNSW's ridiculous IB entry requirements (usually 44, though theoretically it could drop to 43), doing Maths HL could be both an advantage or a disadvantage - that depends on how much work you find is required for each subject relative to each other. The great thing is that UNSW will give you bonus points (EAP) for many many things - so look those up and check out what you could get, and you might be surprised at how low the ATAR requirement is for law. USyd does have an EAP scheme as well, but it is quite a lot less generous - I never heard back on my application, and I suspect that unless you're a crazy sportsperson those bonus points are mythical beasts. 

 

This was quite a long post, but I hope it's useful! Short version - it depends, but Maths HL could be a good subject to do to lock in a decently certain 7 points, compared to other subjects which might not be quite as certain despite doing lots of work, perhaps as much as Maths HL. There are different perspectives of course, but I think that Maths HL shouldn't be as scary as a lot of people think it is.

 

And finally, you've still got time to decide what to drop, so I would strongly suggest starting with Maths HL - and if you change your mind, drop to SL (it's harder to go from SL to HL)! Best of luck. :)

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