Thinking about what to do for my Junior year.

[Antiares]

I am a sophomore right now, so I'm starting to get concerned as to what I should be doing next year. I honestly don't really have an idea as to what job I want to have in the future, so that's not really affecting my decision. Right now, I'm taking:

IB Math HL I

Pre-IB Government

Latin 3

P.E.

IB Physics I

World History 2

Pre-IB English

I'm thinking of doing next year:

IB Math HL II

IB English I

IB History of the Americas

IB Latin SL I

IB Chemistry I

IB Biology I

IB Physics HL II

Would something like that be reasonable, or would that have too much of a workload?

[Drake Glau]

Is that

HL Math

SL English A1

HL History

SL Latin B

SL Chem

SL Bio

and HL Physics?

And yes it's reasonable if you think you can do it. I don't know how 3 sciences fair to anyone else because so far I'm the only one to do it in the 8 graduating years we've had IB =/

Also, which one is your extra science, which science is group4 and which is group6...?

[elmar]

It's certainly not the average IB subject choice.

It's not going to be easy, as you have all the sciences (at HL? or is it Physics only at HL and Biology and Chemistry at SL?) and Math HL. If you are used to heavy course loads, which you might as according to your schedule now, then you might be prepared for your selection. Again, Physics HL, Math HL, and Chemistry HL are the hardest IB exams out there, and adding Bio HL only adds the stress.

This schedule looks most similar to one for a future engineer or even a doctor. If you're not sure about what you want to do, why so many options? I'd say drop to Math SL (unless you really love math) and drop one of the sciences.

[Drake Glau]

It's certainly not the average IB subject choice.

It's not going to be easy, as you have all the sciences (at HL? or is it Physics only at HL and Biology and Chemistry at SL?) and Math HL. If you are used to heavy course loads, which you might as according to your schedule now, then you might be prepared for your selection. Again, Physics HL, Math HL, and Chemistry HL are the hardest IB exams out there, and adding Bio HL only adds the stress.

This schedule looks most similar to one for a future engineer or even a doctor. If you're not sure about what you want to do, why so many options? I'd say drop to Math SL (unless you really love math) and drop one of the sciences.

I think those are just SL for chem and bio since he/she is doing IB Chem/Bio I, then senior year would be SL.

Assuming you like math (from the HL) and physics (also from the HL) I'd drop biology unless you plan on majoring is some obscure science that combines all three (biophysics). Also since you seem to like science/math a ton more since you took a ton of it, what's with the HL history? o.O Don't want to force you into picking what you want to do for a living, just seems like an odd combo to me.

HL Physics

HL Math

SL Latin B

SL History

SL/HL Chem (Having those three HL's could be potentially catastrophic, but I'm still assuming you like them o.O)

SL A1 English if you take HL Chem

HL A1 English if you take SL Chem

Chemistry and Physics to intercept a little, biology is kind of way out there compared to physics.

^All that based off the fact that you took HL Math and HL Physics, so let me know if you don't like science/math for whatever reason o.O^

[Antiares]

I was hoping to do all 3 HL Sciences + HL Math. Right now, I think I'm doing pretty well in HL Math, and I enjoy it, so that's why I'm taking that now. The real reason I want to do this is because I enjoyed taking Biology last year, I'm enjoying Physics now, so I figured that this combination would be more enjoyable than taking HL English or HL History.

Is History of the Americas an HL class? Because I was only planning on taking that and Topics SL.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Antiares

[Sandwich]

Just going to put it out there that doing 2 HL sciences in combination is quite a lot of work, doing HL Maths is a lot of work and doing all three plus another HL science just for kicks is either mildly insane, or overestimating your abilities, or underestimating the eventual workload orrrr means you are some kind of hyperintelligent hugely organised superhuman.

Basically it's a crazy workload, so unless you NEED to do it, or have some kind of plan where you can drop one if it's too much at any point, I'd revise your plans a little. Especially when it comes to the actual exam weeks, there's no way you can possibly revise all that content and do well in all subjects unless you're REALLY REALLY good. And you might be. But I feel like I should issue a warning

[elmar]

I was hoping to do all 3 HL Sciences + HL Math. Right now, I think I'm doing pretty well in HL Math, and I enjoy it, so that's why I'm taking that now. The real reason I want to do this is because I enjoyed taking Biology last year, I'm enjoying Physics now, so I figured that this combination would be more enjoyable than taking HL English or HL History.

Is History of the Americas an HL class? Because I was only planning on taking that and Topics SL.

If you enjoyed Biology and like Physics, and, therefore Chemistry is your least favorite, move Chemistry down to SL. So you're schedule would look like this:

HL A1 English

HL Physics

HL Math

SL Latin B

SL History

SL Chem

History of America is an HL class, but is it offered at you school? If it is, here is what you can do:

Take the above^ schedule with History HL, so that you have 4 HL's. Then, as your time in IB progresses, you can decide whether you want to take all 4 HL exams or move one down to SL. I don't mean to question your abilities, but most likely it will be Physics or Math. There were a ton of kids in my class that signed up for HL Math and many have already decided after 4 months that they will be taking the SL Math exam just because of the stress. Some of them are very lucky to have that option.

Some of the smartest kids at my school who were recommended for these courses are not taking Math HL or Physics HL or even Physics SL, just because they know they cannot handle it with their other classes (Chem HL, English HL, etc). I would say they are being very smart in their decisions, just because they know they'll have to factor in extracurricular activities, CAS, and college applications in the second year of IB. Just a word of experience.

[Antiares]

I'm not really interested in English HL. I enjoy literature, but I'm horrible at analyzing it.

The reasoning behind taking History of the Americas is because I believe that at my school, everyone has to take a state-mandated U.S. History test, and I would rather take History of the Americas than U.S. History.

I've never taken Chem, so I don't really know if I like it or not. There was some Chem when I was in 8th grade, but it's kind of fuzzy.

The school that I go to does not differentiate between HL and SL in the first year, so would it be okay if I took the three sciences the first year, and if I figured that I'd be too crushed by the workload Senior year, then maybe I could drop either Bio or Chem to SL?

[elmar]

If you don't know if you like Chemistry, why even take it in IB? Your logic almost scares me. Switch Chem to something easier for a 6th subject. Or, at least take it SL. IB states that HL Chemistry can be handled by a student who has no experience in Chemistry, but just like HL Math and the languages, it's better to have experience. SL Chemistry is more manageable for a Chemistry beginner, which, despite your experience in 8th grade, you are.

So do this instead:

SL A1 English

HL Physics

HL Math

SL Latin B

HL History

SL sixth subject/Chem SL

Switching your English to SL, History to HL (to avoid U.S. History), and have a more enjoyable class for your sixth subject.

Edit: Better yet, take Biology HL or SL for your sixth subject if you like it.

Edited November 26, 2010 by elmar

[Drake Glau]

With SL Chem you can move up, if you end up loving it and understand it easily, to HL since the first year of HL is SL basically. If you do this I do think it is possible to test in SL History of the Americas so you don't end up with 4 HL's and 2 SL's (but this is still viable if you really want 4 HL's). You would need to talk to your coordinator about getting your exam though since you would likely be the only SL History of the Americas tester. We had a student last year do this where he took the SL test over the subject our HL kids were doing, the isreali thingy.

[Antiares]

Should I even consider Biology, or should I just forget it completely?

[Drake Glau]

Should I even consider Biology, or should I just forget it completely?

Well, I'm not really sure, you seem to love quantitative type classes and biology is certainly not one of them. The only math in bio is with magnification and stuff like that. You can always take a 7th subject though, I did. You will need to figure out what it will be though because the 7th subject does nothing for you as far as marks go. 7th subject marks aren't added to your total out of 45, nor does a 1 autofail you.

[Antiares]

Can I pick the 7th once I actually am taking the classes? Or would I have to do that beforehand?

[Drake Glau]

You could afterwards. Just remember you need something in the 6 groups and at least 3HL's (either 3HL/3SL or 4HL/2SL). When it comes to the sciences it can be group4, group6, or the 7th.

HL Math

HL Physics

HL Chem

HL/SL Bio

SL English

SL History\

SL Latin

If you want this it doesn't matter whether bio is HL or SL or which science is your 7th subject. So whichever one you feel you will do poorly on should probably do your 7th so you don't suffer from it.

Edit: If HL Chem or HL Physics is your 7th subject, Bio must be HL in order to keep it 3HL/3SL, just thought of this, sorry.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Drake

[dessskris]

You could afterwards.

I don't think so. It might depend on your school and you would need to decide which are your 6 subjects before they (your school) register you to IB, but I'm not really sure about this. You might change later on but it might cause some problems if you want to change AFTER you are registered to IB.

Sorry but I have a different suggestion:

English A1 SL

Latin B SL

History HL

Math HL

Physics HL

Economics HL

Biology SL

Why Econs and where is Chem?

You only studied Chem in year 8. YEAR 8!! and you said it was kind of fuzzy. You were likely to learn very basic things in year 8 and you already faced some difficulties, so taking it in IB you'd see a very big gap. My classmate never took Chem before and now is taking it in IB -- for university reasons. He wants to study something which requires Chem. He is doing SL, was really struggling in the beginning. He has a weekly Chem tutorial at school and he still has a Chem tutorial outside school, and he has passed Chem topical test only ONCE. I do not know if it is just him who is too lazy or my teacher teaches too fast or it is just hard to take IB Chem if you have no background in it. Just to play safe, you should not take Chem. Especially you have already had Physics HL and Biology SL. Do you want to kill yourself, remembering the amount of lab reports you'd have to write? With your History and Math IAs, and languages orals?? Well, Drake might be able to survive with it but he didn't do Physics in IB1 so it is still..kind of managable. Peace Drake

You do not know what to study in uni and what to be in the future. Look at those subjects that I recommended. You have Math HL and Physics HL which allow you to study Engineering, Computer Science or Mathematics. You also have Econs HL which allows you to study Business or Accounting. If you want to study Medicine, you should instead take Bio HL, Chem HL and Math SL, but you don't have a background in Chem and taking it HL would torture you, really. So you won't be able to study Med with this subject combination but you have those courses available as I mentioned before.

Econs HL is very easy, objectively. Subjectively, it is a bit hard because I am not good at memorising. At my school, the HL and SL classes are combined except for Math. And in Econs, the SL students need to know the HL contents too. So I know how easy it is, but my brain was not designed to memorise that well. It is not a lot to memorise. You just need to understand it well and memorise the definitions. Even the IA is very easy. You only need to find articles and write commentaries. That's it, not so demanding.

Trust me ok, you should consider taking Econs and forget Chem. However, you must take the subjects that you like. If you are so interested in Chem, take it then. Nobody will hinder you. Who knows if you'd break the record the best Chem student yet you never studied Chem before. Do not take Econs if it is really not of your interest. Think of what you like, what you want to study in uni and what you want to be. If you know what to study in uni already, you can decide your subjects based on it.

[Antiares]

The problem with that schedule is that Economics HL doesn't exist in my school. The only HLs my school does are English, History, Design Tech, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Film, Art, Computer Science, and Physics just recently.

[Drake Glau]

You could afterwards.

I don't think so. It might depend on your school and you would need to decide which are your 6 subjects before they (your school) register you to IB, but I'm not really sure about this. You might change later on but it might cause some problems if you want to change AFTER you are registered to IB.

Trust me ok, you should consider taking Econs and forget Chem. However, you must take the subjects that you like. If you are so interested in Chem, take it then. Nobody will hinder you. Who knows if you'd break the record the best Chem student yet you never studied Chem before. Do not take Econs if it is really not of your interest. Think of what you like, what you want to study in uni and what you want to be. If you know what to study in uni already, you can decide your subjects based on it.

You can't after registering for your tests because that's when you pick and I don't know how ti varies but we register for tests about 3 months after school starts so that gives you a 3 month trial

Chem is either you get it, or you don't, if you don't SL will be hell, HL will be impossible, if you get it then SL will be ok and HL will give you some challenge, and thens there's those who just breeze through HL...

As far as a 7th subject goes, you could go into HL Chem if you want and either drop the class since you don't need it, stay in it and keep grades up but just not take the IB exam (literally taking the class just to learn) OR love it, do it, test in it and be happy

Edited November 28, 2010 by Drake

[Antiares]

I have a question about History: do I need the knowledge of History of the Americas to do History SL?