Is this a smart choice?

[nkccue]

So I'll be starting the DP program this month and still feeling a bit unsure about my subject choices. I have chosen:

English A SL

Maths SL

Chinese B SL

Chemistry HL

Biology HL

Economics HL

Two subjects that I haven't completed at MYP level will be taken at HL level (Chemistry and Econ)... Advice please? Much appreciated

[PeriPeri]

As long as you are comfortable with the classes you've picked, then all's good. Make sure the subjects that you've chosen as higher level are ones you are very passionate about as you'll be studying them quite in depth.

Good luck :-)

[Guest B.E.P.]

So I'll be starting the DP program this month and still feeling a bit unsure about my subject choices. I have chosen:

English A SL

Maths SL

Chinese B SL

Chemistry HL

Biology HL

Economics HL

Two subjects that I haven't completed at MYP level will be taken at HL level (Chemistry and Econ)... Advice please? Much appreciated

I haven't had any experience whatsoever in Economics (or any of my friends in Economics HL) and we all did pretty well.

Chemistry HL might be a bit challenging for you because you don't have a background in Chemistry; however, you start off from the very beginning, so try to keep up with all the material. I don't think I needed to remember anything from my presumed knowledge for Chemistry HL. If you're having troubles in Chemistry, you can always lower Chemistry HL to SL and raise English A SL to HL. The difference between English HL and SL is not as big as the difference between Chemistry HL and SL.

Concerning your other classes, Maths SL is okay, English A SL is fun (although I did Literature, it was one of my well-deserved breaks from my three HLs), Biology HL is content-based (as opposed to Chemistry HL, which is a balance between content and understanding), and I'd assume that Chinese B SL will not be that bad (are you fluent?).

Good luck!

[ctrls]

As far as I know, Economics doesn't have a prerequisite. I also started the year without any prior knowledge of the subject, but it goes rather extensively from the basics so you should be fine. The subject guide confirms this and the syllabus is written accordingly so.

Chemistry on the other hand may be a bit difficult at first, as said above. While you will start from scratch, you'll probably find the class moves rather quickly at first as they go over the more basic topics. The subject guide (p13) doesn't explicitly state the need for any prior knowledge, but it is recommended for HL - presumably so you have a fairly good idea of the basic concepts. It's definitely not impossible, but it just requires more work at the beginning.

Anyways, good luck! Given your subject choices, I'm guessing you are looking to study something related to medicine?

Edited August 14, 2013 by ctrls

[Gaby]

I generally do not recommend doing any work over the summer before the IB, however, with chemistry, it could really help to have some very basic backgroud knowledge. The more, the better, but chemistry is based on developing concepts, so knowing the basics well will be very helpful. I don't recommend studying day and night, but try to grasp the mole concept, differences between states, atomic mass/number, calculating concentrations, the general rules of the creation of oxides, bases, acids and salts. Just look at the textbook, or something like khan academy. It will help you a lot, shouldn't take more than two days and isn't overly difficult to study by yourself.

[MainRostand]

Biology and Chemistry HL are two courses that I think you need to like to be successful in, our at least, be dedicated to attempting to grasp concepts that you haven't seen before and that will probably destroy part of any knowledge you thought you had, so starting fresh will not be that much a problem I think. (That's what happened to me at least, and I am not doing badly). In any case, be prepared for concepts that go deeper with the HL sciences, we actually spend a lot of time in the AHL topics in my chemistry class. Biology, well, you should be fine as long as you have a good memory for fancy nomenclature and names. English A will sure be fine, even if you rise it at HL to take something else SL.