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IB Course Selection/Combination Advice? :)


badkidmarie

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Hey guys,

yes... I know... another Pre-IB student asking for some advice on course selections :)

So far I have chosen:

German A Lit HL

English A Lang&Lit SL

Economics HL

Biology HL

Mathematics SL

Geography SL

To be quite frank, I absolutely loathe writing essays. It's not that I'm particularly bad at it, I just dislike writing in general. So here are my questions regarding this:

-I've heard a fair amount of older students say that Eco HL is hell if you do not like writing essays. Is that true?

-Secondly, I'm not quite sure which English course I want to pick yet: English Lit or Lang & Lit? Which one is more manageable in terms of workload/essays? Which one is more enjoyable?

-Lastly, I haven't really decided on my sixth subject yet - I randomly chose Geo because I heard that it was quite easy going in terms of content and workload. What do you think? Would you suggest something else?

Also, let's just say that I'm not always the most productive or organized student :)... Is my subject combination manageable with a medium work-input? Don't get me wrong, I have a GPA close to a 7, but I'm pretty stressed out right now and plan to take things a little easier next year for my health.

Thank you :)

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all group 3 subjects are essay based so if you hate essays maybe only take 1?

 

lit and lang&lit are also essay based because the exams involve writing essays

 

 

lang&lit is considered easier than lit but it matters about what you're good at--if you like reading and analysing difficult literature then literature is good but if you prefer less difficult literature and some language skills then lang&lit is better.(i think those are the differences) if my school offered lang&lit i would 10000% take it

but we don't have it so :'(

 

for your 6th subject,if you have a passion for one of the art subjects you should take it but they take a lot of time and if you don't love it then its a struggle. since you don't like essays i wouldn't recommend geography but rather a second language B (at ab initio) or chem/physics because they're not too essay based

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I honestly wouldn't say econ HL is hell if you don't like to write essays as the class is more focused on theory. All you really need include in your economics essays is a couple of definition, a diagram + explanation, analyse and evaluation of the theory. If that doesn't appeal to you consider the fact that all group 3 subjects are essay based so you might as well go for economics as its a really easy HL subject + its extremely interesting (although some people will disagree with me on that). Plus, writing essays for economics isn't too bad if you're interested in what you're writing about (as with any other subject). 

 

I took Lang Lit for 2 months - I'd say its way more interesting than literature, however with that being said what made me switch to literature was the fact that the language and literature course is very disorganised, its not a structured course where as literature is. What I mean by that is that the teacher has the freedom to do whatever he/she wants (not that they don't with literature, but there is a prescribed list) for the language component and there aren't many guidelines. Plus, the written tasks for lang lit are all creative writing based so if that doesn't appeal do steer clear of lang lit - this was a deal breaker for me. Plus, if you're more of a science/maths oriented student, my English teacher says that literature is a better course because its structured. With that being said, literature is definitely trickier so do take that into consideration. If you want the easy way out, I recommend taking lang lit. 

 

Geography is one of the easiest group 3 subjects and has the highest rates of 7s so you're right in that respect, its an easy class (according to one of my friends). If you're interested in psychology I would recommend you try it out as its extremely interesting but I will warn you that its very work intensive and extremely memorization based. Stick with geography if you want to reduce your workload. 

 

Your subject combination looks manageable to me, so don't worry! :) However, you say you don't like to write essays but you took 2 essay based subjects? Perhaps consider taking another science in lieu of geography?

 

Hope I helped! 

Edited by Pink97
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If you would like to take next year off in terms of difficulty and stress then I'm not sure you'll be able to find an "easy" course load in IB. Don't get me wrong, IB is great but some would consider it a rigorous option for courses. And please don't put in a "medium work-input". If you want to find success in IB then putting in a half fast effort won't do you much good.

 

However, I must say that your course load should be just fine. I don't care too much for essay writing either but the bottom line is that if you're registered for IB then you're probably going to come across essays in any of the subjects you take. It's just the nature of IB. Geography would be an awesome subject; I wish my school offered it.

 

Good luck in your future endeavours :)

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