changing to maths SL? (should I?)

[fufufuufufufufuuu]

so here's the issue

I am a scholar and i'm only allowed to apply from the top 50 social science according to times higher ed

my course is accounting and finance, and there is only 8 university in UK falls under that category

UCL, oxbridge and imperial is out of the list since they dont offer accounting and finance

my friends from the other school told me tht their seniors didnt get their offer, due to getting 4 at maths HL

im planning to apply to LSE, warwick, manchester and edinburgh

my maths HL, so far i get 40% for sem 1 and 42% for sem 2.. (borderline , u see)

the min requirement if i were to took HL is 5.. and SL is 7

I'm afraid i might not achieve tht, thus resulting in me not being able to go study abroad.

And recently ive gotten english SL 7, which convinced me to do english HL.. most of my friends who did english HL get 5 or 6

My overall pts is 33 for sem 1, and 34 for sem 2

I know tht LSE really likes high grades, and im afraid i might not be high enough for them..

on the other hand, warwick wants us to take maths HL.. at least 5

ive tried my best during sem 2 despite of the busi-ness of doing IB with theatre and music club and stuff (ok maybe not the best, because my time management sucks eventhough i dont procrastinate)

what do u think?

my aim right now is just to further my studies abroad only.. please help

do you think i have the chance to get Maths SL 7? or continue with maths HL with at least 5?

I know people would say oh you know your own capabilities, but really i need you guys awesome IB students opinion on making this decision

kind of frustrated with my grades in maths HL.. i used to love maths so much.. and believe that effort = good results.. IB makes me hate maths because of my low grades my sleeping patterns to was affected.. or is there any way people would help me to improve my grade in maths HL? how do u study?

Econs HL

Business HL
Maths HL

English B SL

Malay A1 SL

Bio SL

Edited July 12, 2013 by fufufuufufufufuuu

[cjy]

Well my friend did maths SL and got an offer for accounting from LSE, Edinburgh, Durham and Exeter. I know Warwick require Maths HL. So it depends on what unis you want to apply to in the end.

[fufufuufufufufuuu]

Well my friend did maths SL and got an offer for accounting from LSE, Edinburgh, Durham and Exeter. I know Warwick require Maths HL. So it depends on what unis you want to apply to in the end.

do you have any idea why warwick requires maths hl? i really wanna go to LSE.. your friend must have a high predicted grade

[cjy]

She was predicted 776 HL 776 SL. + 3. And no, I'm afraid I don't

[bluedino]

^Good point about considering which unis you'd like to apply for.

I think that if you're considering accounting/finance, maths HL might be better? Just from personal judgement I also think that if you're getting maths HL Grade 4 now, then a Grade 5 shouldn't be too hard to achieve as compared to maths SL Grade 7.

I know that maths HL is incredibly frustrating (trust me, I used to love maths so much and now my interest in it has kinda dropped..) but as much as you might not want to hear this overused almost-cliche phrase - practice makes perfect. Getting that grade 7 in maths requires a lot of hard work and practice. If you want to achieve better than maths it's completely possible. The people who get Grade 7s in Maths HL are those that do practice questions every day. Every time you get stuck, ask your teacher for help. I'm not sure if your sem 1 and sem 2 40/42% marks include the maths IAs, but if they don't, then I recommend you try and do as well as you can in your maths IAs. The higher the mark you get in your maths IAs, the less pressure you'll have to get a higher score in the exams.

If you're worried about your overall points (33/34 now you said), you could also just work on getting higher grades in all your subjects. I don't really know about the universities you've talked about, but in my context, getting like an overall 40 (with maths HL grade 5), would be a lot more appealing than an overall 34 (with maths HL grade 5).

However, please keep in mind that this is kind of a biased point of view. I don't think it will be that hard to get a Grade 5 in Maths HL because I'm currently sitting at a Grade 6 level and working to get it to Grade 7. If you really want a Grade 5+ in Maths HL… I think it is entirely achievable provided you put in the work required.

[ctrls]

If you do switch to SL, I don't think getting a 7 would be much of a problem. A lot of students in my HL class dropped down over the course of this year, but even those who were on a 3/4 seem to be doing exceedingly well.

That said, it does sound like HL may be useful for what you are studying. While meeting the requirements may be difficult, it could be worth the effort. HL is probably favoured by most universities by the sounds of things, so it could help for applications. Although it's not necessary, it won't be a waste either.

Of you aren't going for Warwick, then dropping to SL would probably be the safer and easier option for getting accepted. What bluedino said is very true though, it's not too much of a stretch to get a 5, plus it may be useful.

[susanne]

bro, your university picking is almost as ridiculous as my English commentary (just saying, don't take offence)

you really shouldn't base your decision on time's ranking alone; I wanted to got to the UK for uni, but have you considered the following

1) finance. Unless you are an UK student your school fees will be quite high, and scholarships doesn't cover for all of it ( I've done my research cos I was eyeing Sheffeild for a while), and of course, working time is limited

2) what is your job prospective if you graduate from one of those school. (do your research here, because even with medicine, Australia is facing an intern crisis believe or not; so basically even if you are graduated form a good school, say Uni. Adelaide or ANU, will you be able to successfully find a job? It is also for this reason why many people got to Uni SA, even though its ranking is far lower that the former two, but it gives you better prospect at getting a job)

Remember, reputation of a school is not everything; reputation is based on what you, as students do to contribute, not on the school system alone

have you thought about America or Australia maybe? Pretty sure that one of the uni here offers a decent accounting course (or was that commerce)

Anyway, moving on. From my perspective I think you should stick with SL because you probably would have a better chance of getting a 7. My friends in HLs can easily solve SL problems and yeah, based on what I see from them, them getting 7s is fairly easy if they put in the work. Besides, you'll have your overall to think about, won't you? My reasoning in choosing SL over HL even though many people told me I should do HL is that

a) I don't need HL (I don't intend to do engineering or commerce or anything that needs HL maths)

b) If I can get a 7 in SL, won't it be better than getting a 5 or 6 because I won't be stuck with a lower overall