Starting IB next year: Tips on the subjects I have selected.

[The Rainbow Connection]

I'm new to this website so I hope I am posting this in the right section.

I am starting the IB Diploma course next year, and I just wanted tips for my subject selection. E.g. which subjects require more attention to and are harder, which require more memorising rather than having practical solutions etc.

The subjects are:

HL Business Management

HL English

HL Psychology

SL Maths

SL Physics

Ab Initio Italian.

Thanks

[Peanut Butter Jelly]

HL Business Management - Very interesting and fun course. Work load is manageable and you can score high if you study. If you enjoy buisness, this will be a very good course.

HL English - Probably the hardest course to score well in. All the IA's are annoying and you have no idea how your teacher or IB marks. Heavily dependent on the ability of your teacher.

HL Psychology - Same as buisness management.

SL Maths - IMO, very easy for the math oriented study. Manageable for the 'average' student.

SL Physics - Quite hard, though not as hard as HL but nonetheless very predictable.

Ab Initio Italian. - Initios are all relatively easy if you enough time.

[Summer Glau]

I can only speak for math SL and English HL.

Math SL - Depends on your math ability and what you covered in math before the course. A bit of it is review but quite a bit of it was new for me. If you're not good at math you can work hard and get a 6 or 7. If you're good at math it shouldn't be a hard course. My advice is to put in time and effort on your IA. It can help you if you do well and they give you something to fall back on if you don't do as well in your exam. Make sure you practice IB exam questions throughout the course and/or well before exams; it gets you used to the IB question style. Always know where you stand; don't go into the exam blind.

English HL - Read. Actually read the books, it helps (who knew?). Again, know what the IB expects of you. You can write a brilliant essay according to your teacher but if it doesn't fit the IB rubric it won't score high. Read sample essays to get an idea of how they should sound. Practice writing unseen commentaries (for paper 1) and time yourself. Practice. Take your IOP (individual oral presentation) seriously; it seems like a joke to people but it's an easy mark if you actually try to make it good.

[dessskris]

subjects that require more attention to and are harder (objectively), in descending order:

HL English

SL Maths & SL Physics (can't say which one is more difficult. both are.)

HL Business Management

HL Psychology

Ab Initio Italian

of course it's highly subjective and the list will change depending on what you're good at and what skills you have. but objectively, that's the list.

subjects that require more memorising rather than having practical solutions, in descending order:

HL Business Management

HL Psychology

HL English

Ab Initio Italian

SL Physics

SL Maths

for the first two you know you'll have to memorise a lot of crap. for English there are a few terms you need to memorise. same with Italian, I guess. in Physics and Maths you'll be given data booklets, containing formulae so you won't need to memorise much, but for Physics some formulae are not in the data booklet so you still need to memorise a bit. but for Maths, no memorising except for special angles trigonometry.

[Guest]

For math, always always always complete assigned homework, its been doing well for me

For English, constantly practice writing commentaries and essays, refer to previously written ones by others to give you an insight on key factors that can make your writing stronger