History VS. Psychology

[waitingfortheworldtochange]

I have to choose soon and am completely lost on which direction to take! Why did you choose one over the other?

Current choices:

English HL

French SL

Economics SL

Physics SL

Math HL

History or Psych HL

Thanks!

[dessskris]

it depends on what you want to study at uni. what do you think you'll study at uni?

[Amandurrs]

I'm taking both History and Psych HL right now and psychology is probably the more interesting of the two for me. But my teacher is only in his second year of teaching IB psych so we don't really do much work. History is also quite interesting though! I think it's definitely more work than psych is but its worth it. I'll actually probably end up liking History more just because my history teacher is experienced and will prepare us well for the HL exams. If I were you, I'd try to find out which teacher is better and what you'd probably want to study in college to help you make your decision.

[christran]

I'm taking both History and Psychology at HL, but I'm also someone who enjoys the humanities and the social sciences much more than math or natural science. I find History and Psychology to be very similar to each other. It sucks that you have to choose between the two because I absolutely love them both!

With my teachers, both courses are very reading intensive and require a great deal of memorization. IB History is a wide range of narratives as a collective. You have to focus on what you're trying to prove about individuals and societies while still respecting the broader scheme of things. This may be too much of a generalization but you'll end up memorizing a lot in the hopes that you will be able to connect these events to a larger picture. The most difficult thing about history for me is trying to analyze these events to "prove" something. If you really enjoy literature analysis, there's a likelihood that history may also appeal to you.

IB Psychology is a more methodical approach to understanding humans and I enjoy that it's a lot more open-ended than the "hard sciences". Just like history, there is a lot to read and memorize. It's very similar to history in that you're given these factual concepts but you have to apply them and connect them. Both history and psychology gives you "facts" and by interpreting them, you learn something about humans. History's approach is more open-ended and psychology is more structured. I've found that there's more memorization in History and more application in Psychology. If you like the natural sciences, I'd suggest that you choose psychology due to how the sciences resonate with each other.

I've heard that History and Psychology HL are equally difficult (I wouldn't really know), but they do require a lot of attention. If I were to choose one over the other, I think I might choose History simply because of the times we're living in. I don't want to be lost in historical knowledge and feel out of place. It's kind of funny because my psychology teacher has the highest number of HL passes at my school and my history teacher has the lowest number of HL passes. Perhaps finds out which teacher prepares you the best or is liked better? Also, you may want to think about whether or not you'll take psychology at university. I think more people are likely to end up taking history courses. If you don't think you will take psychology, perhaps it'd be good for you to take advantage of IB and try it out?

[dubyawhy]

History - Personally much harder, but also very interesting. More "academic" and respected than Psychology

Psychology - Everyone in our school for the last 3yrs has gotten a 6/7. Psychology must be VERY easy im comparison with other subjects. I find this a good addition to your overall score(which u need) and more interesting than History.

But if youre headed for a serious academic career, you might want to consider History.

Edited October 11, 2011 by dubyawhy

[Gaby]

Well, Psych is not very easy, it's ok. But it's definitely more interesting than History (though I like both), it's all about human beings, it's really learning about what's around you. History can be beneficial, too, in terms of human behaviours. If you are interested in why people act how they act - go for Psych. If you love History - go for History. And check with the IB2 students which teacher is better, because the quality of a teacher can really be make it or break it (but it depends on the person, some people can study by themselves).