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Subjects choice help!


rawan1408

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Next week i get to pick my IB courses,

I'm torn between Math and English.

 

When choosing your courses, you chose which one you want to take HL between Math and English, Biology and Chemistry,

French and History (in french). Since I'm in french immersion, i have to take French HL and History SL.

 

Currently im in the grade 10 IB prep and my math mark varies from 94-96%. I love math and I was convinced that I was gonna take Math HL but I've heard and read about the exams, how they're extremely hard and they don't prepare you for the exam questions like in SL and they're worth around 80% of your mark. 

 

I'm not very good at english. I struggle with completing a book, I don't enjoy reading at all. Right now in my english course, I have to read a 500 pages book by Feb 22nd and I'm already struggling. People and teachers have told me that English HL is mostly reading a bunch of books and essays. Therefore, I will definitely struggle with it, SL or HL. I currently don't have a mark in english since it's just the beginning of the second semester, but we've been analyzing poetry and I'm already having a hard time doing it. 

 

I really want to take Chem HL, but I can't if there isn't Bio SL. This year, my school didn't offer Bio SL, so if they don't offer it next year, I'm stuck with taking Bio HL and Chem SL.

 

In my science class last semester, I enjoyed chemistry a lot more than Bio, but then in bio we only learned about ecology which i found really not interesting. But all my marks were above 90%.

 

So my questions are:

1. Is Biology HL REALLY hard?And do you do any dissecting?

2. When i understand something in math, it becomes really easy. Is it like that in math HL? 

3. What are math IAs? Hard to do in HL?

4. Any tips for choosing my courses? :)

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1. HL Biology is by no means easy, but I find it to be easier than HL Chemistry, personally. Generally, the material is not particularly difficult. However, there is a lot to know, and it is definitely not simply memorizing facts. If you understand what you are learning and are able to think logically, then HL Biology should not be too hard, though.

I recall that we recently dissected a pig's heart for the physiology unit, but I don't think that there was any other dissection. This could vary from school to school, though.

 

2. Personally, I love HL Math and find it to be much easier than what many say. However, I could be biased. The least I can say is that you must understand the material in HL Math enough to be able to combine what you have learned in various topics together for one question. It also helps to be able to think creatively when solving a question, but I believe that this comes with practice.

 

3. The Internal Assessment (IA) in math is an exploration paper on a topic that is not really included in the syllabus. For example, I am solving the brachistochrone problem for my own IA. At the higher level, it is expected that the exploration paper is sufficiently complex, so it could be difficult to do. However, if you find a topic that you find interesting, I would not necessarily say that it is too difficult to complete the IA. 

 

4. If you enjoy math more than English, I would definitely advise you to take HL Math rather than HL English. While HL Math is obviously a rigorous course, I believe it would be better for you to choose it over something that you enjoy less and excel less at.

 

Biology becomes very interesting (I think, at least) once you begin the IB, as it is not solely ecology (I must admit, I am not a fan of this topic either!). If you'd like, you could peruse the syllabus to see if you will enjoy the content. You begin to study topics such as biochemistry, DNA, evolution, etc., which may excite you more than ecology. I think it is quite an enjoyable course!

 

Good luck with choosing your courses. I hope I was of some help!

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1. Okay, so we haven't officially done things in our classes for HL (our school separates HL and SL into two different years), but I've looked over the contents and started making notes and it's not really difficult. Sure, it's a lot to remember, but it's really interesting and the only parts that aren't (personally) is Plant Biology in HL and Ecology in SL. Other than that, I love the course. You definitely do some dissections in SL so I'm presuming that's the case for HL as there's more human anatomy. If you do neurobiology as an option, in either HL or SL, I know the people in our school did an eye dissection.

 

2. I don't take Maths HL, but I know that's partially the case. Yes, understanding is important, but a big thing my friends who take Maths HL say is that it's mostly about applying it into different questions, and sometimes the way you do it isn't very obvious - similar to Maths SL (don't know about Studies) but definitely on a more difficult scale. I can't offer much more advice for Maths HL, sorry.

 

3. The maths IA is an exploration in which you choose a topic and apply maths of the level of your course or beyond. I don't know how else to explain it, really. It's like a formal essay in Maths, in which you're trying to prove a point using Maths. Honestly, I think it might even be slightly easier in Maths HL just because you know more and therefore have a wider array of topics which could suit more things you're interested in. On the other hand, you'd have to ensure that the maths is the equivalent of Maths HL or above, which will limit topics again, so I'd basically just say it's (relatively) about the same as you'd only be in Maths HL at that stage if you can definitely do it.

 

4. Here's a few pieces of advice I'd give you for choosing your subjects:

  • First, either have a general idea of what you want to do in university and choose your subjects accordingly, or, if you don't know, try to get a mixture of subjects that allow you to take multiple pathways. Of course, sometimes it means sacrificing one option for others (e.g. if you want to study Engineering then it may be difficult to choose subjects that leave options open for Medicine, Law, and Economics), so you'll have to be careful.
  • If you know what you want to do, know where you want to go and the requirements for it.
  • Play to your strengths. Choose subjects that allow you to get the maximum score you can, whilst still adhering to the above two
  • Be mindful of what your school allows you to do - this is probably the most important thing as you clearly won't be able to take certain courses if you don't have certain combinations (e.g. without Chemistry HL and another science/Maths HL, you can't do Medicine in the UK; you need Physics HL and Maths HL to do Engineering, and so on).
  • What do you enjoy? If you love Maths and loathe English, then Maths seems like the clear winner to me. Of course, it's up to you in the end.

I wish you luck!

Edited by Guest
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Currently im in the grade 10 IB prep and my math mark varies from 94-96%. I love math and I was convinced that I was gonna take Math HL but I've heard and read about the exams, how they're extremely hard and they don't prepare you for the exam questions like in SL and they're worth around 80% of your mark. 

 

I really want to take Chem HL, but I can't if there isn't Bio SL. This year, my school didn't offer Bio SL, so if they don't offer it next year, I'm stuck with taking Bio HL and Chem SL.

First I want to say all your marks before IB are irrelevant.

80% of Math mark is final papers, yes, split between paper 1, 2, and 3, paper 1 and 2 out of 120 marks each, paper 3 out of 60.

IB expects, for all three papers, that you on average do 1 mark worth or work in 1 minute. This is one of the most time demanding subjects.

Paper 3 they won't throw you curve balls ... it's mostly straight forward. Hard questions, but similar questions you've seen before.

In each of Paper 1 and 2, there are two sections: A and B. Part A questions (9-10) test direct application of concepts, very straightforward (not necessarily easy). Each question is only few marks. Part B (3-4 questions) tests concepts from multiple units, and worth half of all possible point (each question worth 15-22 points split into subsections ranging from 1-9 marks each). All but 1 whole question will have subquestions ("parts") you mostly have seen before. 

Part B questions use a "scaffolding method". Where they take a daunting question and break it chunk by chunk for you. One of the question will be less broken up so you will need to do a lot of critical thinking on your own. Most of Part B questions allow some kind of leniency where if you don't know answer to a part you just assume an answer for work in future parts.

EDIT: my chem year got messed up because the IA was significantly curved down. I find HL Chemistry just as difficult as Math. But it's less time spent on calculations and more time spent on knowing the concepts (which is distinct from "memorizing" concepts)

Edited by kw0573
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1. Is Biology HL REALLY hard?And do you do any dissecting?


This answer is uncommon but I find chem HL much easier than bio HL. Not coursewise, bio is better in terms of syllabus, but the bio papers and markschemes are really harsh compared to chem. I've always done better in chem because of the straightforwardness of the exams.


I don't know about other countries and schools but mine does not allow dissection stating the ethical guidelines released by IBO. We only can experiment on plants, and I don't count the dissection of a flower to be dissection. Chem HL also has 4 more compulsory labs than bio, and since you have to do a proper lab report, this increases your workload but also offers more practical knowledge than bio. Any science HL is difficult but also extremely rewarding. If you're good at math I suggest chem HL solely because the HL part almost always includes some maths component. But it depends on your career option and college requirements.


 


2. When i understand something in math, it becomes really easy. Is it like that in math HL? 


I took math HL for a year and couldn't handle it. And I got 95% in maths in my IGCSE's. I don't think that you can predict how you'll do in IB because math HL is a whole new experience. It depends a lot on your teacher to be honest. But English isn't easy either, so if you're more comfortable with maths I suggest you try it out and then if you can't do it, change. They normally allow a buffer period before making a final decision.


 


3. What are math IAs? Hard to do in HL?


All math IA's are hard if you don't start early. If you pace yourself and are good at a subject, you'll do well. Don't worry about IA's unless you're a procrastinator.


 


4. Any tips for choosing my courses?


- Follow your interests otherwise you won't feel like studying and will keep regretting your choices.


-Make sure they are in line with your career prospects and university requirements.


- Take what you are able to perform well in. 


-Don't take something just because your friends took it.


- If you can, attend a few classes of each subject before deciding.


 


Best of luck!

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