What is the difference between Chemistry HL and SL?

[Strawberina55]

Hey, guys. 

I'll just give out a list of my subjects in case it helps: 

HL: Biology, Chemistry, English 

SL: French, Psychology, Maths 

I'm currently thinking of going into the medical field, but I've been having some doubt recently. I want to do Psychiatry and if my calculations are correct, it would take 10+ years to finish my education. So I might just go into the healthcare field, not necessarily Medicine, but something similar. Although, as I said, I'm not sure yet. 

So I currently am a right disgrace in Chemistry. Don't get me wrong, I really, really like the subject and am incredibly interested in the sciences. But I'm afraid my teacher isn't exactly the best (okay, she's really...well, she's just not good at teaching concepts from scratch) and I'm literally failing my tests. I'm great at everything else, like the lab experiments, lab reports, and things that require you to be  logical/practical. I actually ENJOY writing the lab reports, analysing data, etc. But when it comes to writing the tests, I am not doing well at all. And it feels terrible. 

I legitimately considered just dropping the subject as a whole because of how much I loathed Chemistry class. Now obviously that wouldn't look good on my university application if I actually do intend on doing Medicine. I want you guys to know that I am absolutely sure of that fact that I enjoy Chemistry. After looking at the situation from different perspectives and approaches, I've settled on the problem being the teacher. I sat back with her for some extra classes but it did not work out. I still didn't understand anything. I then thought that I could try to study it on my own but it was taking too much of my time and that would lead to me losing progress in other subjects. 

I really don't want to drop Chemistry. So I was wondering if shifting from HL to SL would help me enough to get a decent score in the subject. I'm not even asking for a 6/7, I personally think a 4 or 5 would do, that's how bad I am at it right now. I'd have to switch my levels in Psychology since that's the only SL subject I have that I can viably change levels in. 

My mid-year exams (just a series of summative exams that follow the pattern of the actual IB exam) end on December 9 (Friday), and after that, it'll be the last chance I have to drop the subject and take up something else. So if I choose to keep Chemistry, I'll have to stick with it. I can change levels for another year, however, so that's more under control. 

But do you guys think that I should switch from Chem HL to SL? Or just drop the subject as a whole? Will switching to SL be easier enough for me to not just drop the subject? Please keep in mind I DO enjoy the subject. I just don't enjoy the class. I think that's a pretty valid difference. 

Do you think I can handle Chemistry on my own? Not the whole subject, but most of it here and there? It's not possible to change to another class+teacher because the schedules are super tight. If I come across stuff that is too difficult for me to study on my own, I'll go to the teacher. But would it be better if I just switched to SL later? Is it "easier" to score in, by a large number? 

Also, I'm thinking of going to university in Canada. I think that information might matter as this question also concerns university applications. 

Thank you for your time. Sorry if I missed any important details. 

 

Sincerely, 

A really confused/afraid student who has a lot of potential but doesn't know what to do. 

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Strawberina55
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