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German A2 SL or German B HL ... Please help!


angie65

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Hey all,

Im in the middle of IB1 andtake the following subjects:

English A1 SL
German A2 SL
Geography SL
Biology HL
Chemistry HL
Mathematics HL

Would it have any affect on my chances of getting a place in a UK Uni if I change from German A2 SL to German B HL. Thats if im applying for either Economics or Medicine.


German B HL would probably be really easy for me since its my mother tongue, however, havving languages A1 and A2 and Math HL just really stresses me out!

Hope you guys have some advice ??

Thanks in Advance

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Last I checked, the level of your second languages have no bearing on your application to study Economics or Medicine in the UK. The only difference I know of is that you will not be awarded a bilingual diploma if you drop down to German B. In order to get a bilingual diploma you must either: take an A1 language that differs from your mother tongue or take an A1 and A2 language, or two A1 languages. If you take a Language B, the only way to get a bilingual diploma is to write your extended essay in the Language B, which is what I did :D .

I was lucky because Danish A2 doesn't exist which is where I belong, so I took Danish B HL and it's an easy 7 plus I wrote my Extended Essay in Danish because I deserve a bilingual diploma!

In short, no dropping to German B will not affect your application to study Economics or Medicine. However, if you are leaning towards economics it does help to have proficiency in several languages because of the growing impact of globalization. :D

Actually, it is against IBO policy for students to take their mother tongue as a Language B. If your coordinator has you registered as German being your mother tongue I'm afraid you won't be able to switch. The more important question is why aren't you taking German A1 and English A2?

Edited by blindpet
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Last I checked, the level of your second languages have no bearing on your application to study Economics or Medicine in the UK. The only difference I know of is that you will not be awarded a bilingual diploma if you drop down to German B. In order to get a bilingual diploma you must either: take an A1 language that differs from your mother tongue or take an A1 and A2 language, or two A1 languages. If you take a Language B, the only way to get a bilingual diploma is to write your extended essay in the Language B, which is what I did :D .

I was lucky because Danish A2 doesn't exist which is where I belong, so I took Danish B HL and it's an easy 7 plus I wrote my Extended Essay in Danish because I deserve a bilingual diploma!

In short, no dropping to German B will not affect your application to study Economics or Medicine. However, if you are leaning towards economics it does help to have proficiency in several languages because of the growing impact of globalization. :)

Actually, it is against IBO policy for students to take their mother tongue as a Language B. If your coordinator has you registered as German being your mother tongue I'm afraid you won't be able to switch. The more important question is why aren't you taking German A1 and English A2?

Thanks for your reply!

Thing is I've gone to an English School since Pre-school, so my English is probably better than my German. Changing two subjects in the middle of IB1, probably isn't the best idea either.

What I'm most worried about right now is what Universities will think about taking a mothertongue langauge at B :D

Anyone else got any suggestions??

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You don't have to tell them it's your mother tongue, just say you are much more comfortable speaking English as you are used to it. You can also tell them that since you've been to an English school, you have some difficulties in writing German, and that's why you took B HL. Besides, they won't even know your school offers A2 German, and it's a pretty rare language so they probably won't understand to ask.

I don't see German being your mother tongue affecting taking it as B HL, as you've probably been registered to have English as your mother tongue since it's your A1.

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I don't see German being your mother tongue affecting taking it as B HL, as you've probably been registered to have English as your mother tongue since it's your A1.

That's not necessarily so deissi. My gf for example has her mother tongue registered as spanish, yet she takes English A1 HL and is going to receive a bilingual diploma because of it. So if angie's mother tongue is registered as German and she takes English A1 and German B, I believe she will still be awarded the bilingual diploma. However I don't think they allow students whose mother tongue is German to take it as a second language - but I could be wrong.

angie, don't worry what UK universities will think. They didn't seem to care that I take Danish B HL as opposed to Danish A1 SL. Don't sweat it :P You will still have decent proficiency in German and better proficiency in English as a result of your A1 studies, so you made the right decision if you want to study in the UK.

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