RobbieIB Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 I am now vacillating between Biology SL and Environmental Systems & Societies SL! I don't think if I'll be doing anything medical related like becoming a doctor or a pharmacist, so I don't know if I should take Biology. I just find it interesting and I'd feel weird not learning it in highschool. What exactly do you learn in ESS? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah1 Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 Short answer? About the environment!Long answer? Everything from food chains and webs to energy sources that humans use to biogeochemical cycles, and everything in between. I haven't taken Biology SL (I'm in HL), but I just got done with ESS SL. It's not too terribly hard, but some of the IB questions require a little bit of a... logical leap. But that's not really any different from any other IB class, at least in my experience. It was certainly interesting, and I'd probably take it again if I had to do it over again. They're both quite a bit of memorization, but ESS is a lot more application than Biolgy, in my opinion. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjy Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 ESS is basically an amalgamation of Geography and Biology. I did both Geo + Bio and there was HUGE overlaps in the syllabi. I imagine that ESS is that overlap fleshed out. If I were you, I'd do Bio, as it's a lot more respected than ESS. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobbieIB Posted July 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 (edited) I know that some people kind of look down on ESS compared to the other science courses. I plan to either take the business or law route but I also want to study Biology because I think it's interesting. I'm already taking Economic HL anyway. Do you think universities will mind either one? Also, how related is ESS to Business or Law? Thanks guys! Edited July 31, 2013 by RachelIB Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayedott Gee Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 chem/physics for life Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobbieIB Posted July 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 chem/physics for lifelol well that totally answered my question.. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MainRostand Posted August 9, 2013 Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 I take both Bio SL and ESS (as a group 3). In my school, they like to call ESS "the science for non-scientist", because it talks about the science itself in a different concept (systems and models) which dont go into the comprehension as deeply as the other sciences. From my experience up to now, it is a very interesting subject that involves a lot of logical thinking and a little of memorizing as well (for important concepts). You will definitely enjoy it if you like the environment and understanding how the relations between living things work. I've heard that the complicated part of this course is the essay-like responses in the exam, which make it different from the other science courses. If you are good at essays, though, you will probably have no problem. (or that's what my teacher told me)On the other hand, Bio SL is pretty great. It is definitely one of my favorite classes. The thing about it is that it has a lot of memorizing and talks about the concepts of the cells, DNA structure, organs and I think it broadens more with the Options. If you think this stuff is boring I would probably recommend you to go for ESS, as it goes more into human populations. Furthermore, Biology SL is pretty easy compared to the other sciences or Bio HL. I dont know! At the start I had chosen Bio over ESS, because, in my opinion, it is more interesting and 'exciting' (to the point you can call it that, obviously...). I substituted Business and Management for ESS, and I dont regret it! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmileBeloved Posted August 9, 2013 Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 Hello! There are several students in my school that do both ESS and Bio just to fill up their credentials If you're not going to pursue a Science course in Uni/not interested in Science then I would choose ESS. ESS is more interactive and hold alot of disussions concerning rhino horn trafficking for example. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpaca Posted August 9, 2013 Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 I would definitely go with bio. I think it's more respected with unis, and at standard level it really isn't that difficult - mainly memorisation! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowSpider Posted August 9, 2013 Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 I am now vacillating between Biology SL and Environmental Systems & Societies SL! I don't think if I'll be doing anything medical related like becoming a doctor or a pharmacist, so I don't know if I should take Biology. I just find it interesting and I'd feel weird not learning it in highschool. What exactly do you learn in ESS? hey, i was in the same situation after my IGCSE's!! bio was one of my favorites, but i knew i wouldn't do medicine.. then i figured i'd pick my IBDP subjects sensibly, having backup plans for the future.. i dropped bio and IT from the IGCSEs and opted for B&M.. do you think you would study anything related to geography or bio or anything like that? ESS is pretty much the same thing as geog..if you're good at something else which may be useful for you later, i recommend you go for that.. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arigiz Posted August 11, 2013 Report Share Posted August 11, 2013 I would also go with Bio. I took SL Bio this past year, and found it really interesting! Also, with the options that my class did, we ended up learning a lot of material that overlapped with the SL ESS class. There are so many interesting overlaps with other subjects that I discovered in bio, and I think that there are sometimes less in ESS. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBKID4lyf Posted August 18, 2013 Report Share Posted August 18, 2013 Honestly, it just depends on what you are more interested in! I am now doing ESS and it suits me. I find it really interested because i am more of a humanities kind of a person! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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