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Higher Level Mathematics Enquiry Thread


pedza

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I have been reading into the IB programme and the subjects that my school has assigned to me for the next two years, and the one that worries me mostly is Maths HL. I am a good maths student but whilst speaking to other people and reading this forum I have gotten the impression that the subject is quite difficult and challenging, but also I have some questions.

1) Discreet mathematics; series and differential equations; sets, relations and groups; statistics and probability. Shall my Maths HL class encompass all of those or only one or a few? Are they all needed to pass the IB Maths HL exam?

2) Considering the difficulty of the subject, should I make an effort during this summer to prepare by going into some of the topics which are going to be covered? Where can I find resources online for Maths HL?

3) Is it really too difficult to get the needed 66% on an exam to get a 7?

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1. You only do 1 of those :)

2. If you want you can start reading your textbook. What did you study before? Like, did you take any course like GCSE or such? If not, I suggest going through IGCSE Additional Maths past papers available at freeexampapers.com they are the basic of Math HL, although there are topics in IB that are not in A-Math IGCSE.

3. Very subjective. Depends on how good you are. I myself would say it's easy but it's highly subjective so I wouldn't talk much about this.

If you like you can try taking 4 HL including math first so as you go along if you feel that math HL is too difficult you can just drop it to SL and still have 3 HL. if you are doing fine then just drop your 4th HL that you don't feel is very important.

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My school does not let you choose your IB subjects because it's a state-run school. It only offers: Maths HL, A1 language HL, B language HL, Chemistry SL, Geography SL and Visual Arts SL; so I won't have the option of dropping Maths HL.

We don't have GCSE programmes in Macedonia. I've only studied standard mathematics, part of the standard high school curriculum. :) I will be looking into that website, thanks!

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:o whattttt??? that's so unfair! if they were to offer only one type of math, it should have been math SL, unless your town is full of math geniuses!

may God bless you. get prepared, it might be tough for some people. it is difficult indeed. my bf is also fighting in math HL although he's very hard working.

just want to check, have you got a Graphing Display Calculator?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a lot of free time for the summer and so I decided to work on some classes so I can have an edge in them like for History, reading up on general Middle Eastern history and for Latin reviewing vocab. Is there anything I can do for Math HL (or calc BC, my school offers Math HL and Calc BC as the same class) during my summer time?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes, you can try reading up your textbooks, the first few chapters are generally the easiest. If you don't understand them, don't worry, that's why the teacher is there! If you REALLY want to work, just practice all the chapters that you've been taught previously in grade 10 or before and make sure you're really good at them, as a good base will make it easier in class :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hey, so I'm currently undecided on what Math I should take for grade 12. I am pretty decent at math and I am completing the SL course this year (grade 11) in in the November 11 exams (my school runs an anticipated course). I am finding SL pretty easy and I expect to get a 7 for it, however I am unsure whether I'll be able to get a high grade in HL math (if I choose to do it next year).

So basically, if I do SL math, I finish this year and have only 5 subjects next year (meaning less work and more time for other subjects). But if I do HL math then I have to do another year of HL math (which is a lot of work).

I am interested in pursuing a career in a mathematical-related field, so I guess HL maths is fairly necessary.

So essentially, I would like to know, a as good math student, how hard is HL? And would it be realistic if I aimed for a 7? (how many people get 7s in HL maths? is it comparable in difficulty to HL physics or chem?) Any advice will be appreciated :)

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Hey, so I'm currently undecided on what Math I should take for grade 12. I am pretty decent at math and I am completing the SL course this year (grade 11) in in the November 11 exams (my school runs an anticipated course). I am finding SL pretty easy and I expect to get a 7 for it, however I am unsure whether I'll be able to get a high grade in HL math (if I choose to do it next year).

So basically, if I do SL math, I finish this year and have only 5 subjects next year (meaning less work and more time for other subjects). But if I do HL math then I have to do another year of HL math (which is a lot of work).

I am interested in pursuing a career in a mathematical-related field, so I guess HL maths is fairly necessary.

So essentially, I would like to know, a as good math student, how hard is HL? And would it be realistic if I aimed for a 7? (how many people get 7s in HL maths? is it comparable in difficulty to HL physics or chem?) Any advice will be appreciated :)

try looking over the syllabus and some past papers first? and IA tasks. you know where you get them, right? I think it's difficult to tell one whether a subject is difficult or easy because it's very subjective. I would say maths is easy for myself, but I know lots of people who would say it's difficult too. it doesn't mean everyone fails maths HL though, I know many people who ace maths HL. I can't tell you though because I do not know how good you are or if you would be able to survive in maths HL. only you, and your teacher, can judge yourself. if you need to take maths HL, try to look into the course and see if you are able to survive it.

and, you can't compare maths with the sciences. because you'll need to memorise some definitions or concepts in sciences, but you don't memorise in maths. the problems you need to solve in maths are not as complicated as the problems in sciences, so you can't really tell.

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Guest -Guns of Steel-

Maths Portfolio Topic:Statistically analysing the difference between temperature predictions and the real temperature measured for x weeks.

I'm well aware this is an HL thread and I'm a Studies fellow, all the same the reason I'm here. I need your brilliant brains to churn out some opinions. What statistical analysis test should I use to compare the difference between data? (column 1 and column 2 kind of) SO far I've thought of Standard deviation. So I can see how far the predicted temperatures venture from the real temperatures.

Thanks and hope to see lots of replies xP ;)

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Does anyone know where I can find portfolio tasks from a few years ago? Is there a reason why it's so hard to find these?

How many years ago? 2009ish?

Does anyone know where I can find portfolio tasks from a few years ago? Is there a reason why it's so hard to find these?

I have some of them if you need. which years and which level?

Higher Level, Type I from pretty much any time, really. Like maybe the past five years or so.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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