sapphireblue Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) Hi! I need some help with some final decision making I haven't done either of these two subjects at iGCSE level so I don't know what they'll be like. I personally think I would like Geography because I like how it's a mixture of natural sciences and how it has a political and economic side to it too. However Economics does seem pretty useful and learning how the world operates economically seems quite interesting as well. I was wondering if you guys could tell me more about the IA's and work you have to complete, how much memorising you have to do for each subject etc and how you found the course. Thanks so much! Edited May 31, 2011 by sapphireblue Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rigel Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 I don't know how's Economics, but Geography is quite tedious... You will have to do most of the work by yourself. Although it's pretty interesting, and when you find those damn study cases you will ace through the course! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summer Glau Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Well I took Economics SL and I found it alright. There is some stuff you'll have to memorize but most of it is based on understanding. A bit of common sense also helps Economics was actually my least time-consuming course this year (then again I took SL). The IAs aren't that hard to do, you pick a news article with an event happening and analyze it with what you know about economics. You will have to do 4 of these commentaries. Just note that the syllabus for economics is changing for 2013 exams and the new syllabus is supposed to be more mathematical. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
master135 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 From what I know Economics was one of the best courses offered by IB. I think the math that will be added in the new syllabus is pretty straightforward. So go with Economics. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 I'd go with economics. search around the forum, there have been a lot of discussions on Econ VS Geog. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Thanks so much for the advice! I'm not too bad with numbers so hopefully the quantitative part won't be too bad! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noura10 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Do Geography. I took Economics HL and I hate my life. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 ^ Hahaha aw why? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtamboy63 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Definitely do econs. I do SL, but I'm being taught everything for HL anyway, and it seriously changes your whole outlook on like, everything. It's amazing how much you don't actually understand until you do econs. Plus, it'll help you make money. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 ^ Really? That's awesome! Thanks Economics does seem pretty interesting! Oh yeah, I saw an article online which said "learning about money seems to be a great way to make money" hahaha! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
khalid Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 Economics is much more interesting and it helps you become aware of the world around you. . The IA for economics isnt too hard, you have to write a commentary of 650-750 words. ( 3 commentaries).. While for Geography you have to do a 2300 words essay Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hart Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I do economics and it had made me want to take it at uni. Seriously i love it. Not guaranteeing you will but it helps you understand things in day to day life in the news. Economics HL is great 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted June 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 ^ Yeah it was, thanks so much! It's so annoying because I want to learn both.. so I'm now considering if I should swap psychology with one of them so I'd be able to take both.. but I'm scared that it'll be quite hard since I'll be taking up two new subjects at HL. And I also really like psych! I really hate making decisions Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 if I were you I'd go with economics and psychology because I like those two...but if you equally like all three, I suggest taking econ and geo because sometimes psych is considered a soft subject by some universities. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keel Posted June 17, 2011 Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Hi! I need some help with some final decision making I haven't done either of these two subjects at iGCSE level so I don't know what they'll be like. I personally think I would like Geography because I like how it's a mixture of natural sciences and how it has a political and economic side to it too. However Economics does seem pretty useful and learning how the world operates economically seems quite interesting as well. I was wondering if you guys could tell me more about the IA's and work you have to complete, how much memorising you have to do for each subject etc and how you found the course. Thanks so much! Hi sapphireblue, Geography will require you to learn a number of case studies for each aspect of the course e.g. a specific river and how it was managed or a city and its demographic charactersitics. I think most people find geography fun during the course but find it hard to cope with memorising and applying all the case studies during the exams. If taken at higher level, this will mean at least an extra three to four case studies. Economics will require you to learn theories or concepts. However, as the new syllabus will take effect with the 2013 exams I do not believe anyone can really give you an accurate description of what it will be like. From what I have heard, the new syllabus is mathematically orientated which focuses on econometrics and equation based economics. I assume most of they syllabus will be unchanged but I think the theory aspect has been reduced and more applied economics introduced. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mia2468 Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 I am currently taking Geography HL and I really like it.. we do a bit of economics too, but just not that much.. It's really up to you, but I hear Economics is harder than Geography HL if you're not that great at maths.. Good luck with that choice Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Almost Graduate Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi! I need some help with some final decision making I haven't done either of these two subjects at iGCSE level so I don't know what they'll be like. I personally think I would like Geography because I like how it's a mixture of natural sciences and how it has a political and economic side to it too. However Economics does seem pretty useful and learning how the world operates economically seems quite interesting as well. I was wondering if you guys could tell me more about the IA's and work you have to complete, how much memorising you have to do for each subject etc and how you found the course. Thanks so much! TAKE ECONOMICS! Economics involves a lot less memorization. It's also much more useful if you want to know about politics, for example, in your country. I took Geography because our school doesn't offer Economics, but I have to take it in university next year for my BBA and I glanced at online exams when I was bored (don't judge). The Geography IA is hell. Each school has various levels of teacher guidance, but this is how it turned out for our school. The entire class does field work. For example, this year, our school investigated soil pH and obtained various data from the soil in a field next to our school. Then they did up a report in APA format guided by our teacher. They were bored as hell because...it's soil. Other popular IAs involve erosions of sand stone on beaches and other topics you'd like to touch on for no longer than 30 seconds. The Economics IA involves applying economic theory to real life events. You take a news article and use economic theory to explain how things are working. It's actually kinda fun if you're at all interested in the world around you. You do these 'commentaries' and go through various formatting and organizing to make a beautiful portfolio. For example, you could take an article about how the minimum wage increases in Nova Scotia appear to be correlating with jumps in the unemployment rate and then apply things from class to that article. I love both of them dearly because I love social sciences, but at the end of the day, I'm a lot more interested in figuring out how the job market is working than knowing the science behind soil, etc. Also, you have to dabble in some economic theory to do well in History or Geography. I had to learn a lot of the theory behind the Philips Curve to do well on my IA about Margaret Thatcher. Basically, you do not have to learn about Callaghan to do well in a debate about the Philips Curve. You do have to learn a lot about the Philips Curve to do well in a debate about the Callaghan government's economic policies. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 Wow, thank you guys so much for your input! I really appreciate it! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procrastination Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 Well maybe you have already taken your desicion but well, some reaffirmation doesn't make anything bad to anybody in here. ECONOMICS Vs. Geography = Economics off course You'll find this subject more correlated with politics, if you are talking about economics and science if you're talking about geography. It mostly depends on what you like the most, if you say you like natural things, well... geography is likely to be the subject you'll enjoy the most but now, if you say you're interested in how the world runs economically... TAKE ECON. I know you like more natural things but then, once again... there's biology; much more interesting than learning about soil, erosion and rivers. I don't take any of this courses but I'm pretty sure economics is better, plus... you won't have to do everything, or most of the things, by your own as you would do in Geography and the IA is pretty easy too. I've read many books about economics because I'm pretty interested in the topic, and let me tell you I love it; even though you need some mathematical knowledge but most of the things are just common sense and things applied to the real life. Once again, I must restate, take economics, is BETTER Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphireblue Posted June 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) Hahaha thank you! I am now considering changing my science to biology and then maybe changing from Geography to Economics. However I know it's a stupid reason but many of my friends are doing Geography HL which is probably what's preventing me from making my final decision :/ I shouldn't base my subject choices based on the teachers/people right?! Edited June 22, 2011 by sapphireblue Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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