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Group 4 at HL


Shreyashi.98

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Heyy

Could any one here tell me about the IB HL biology and chemistry courses? I am greatly interested in taking both at HL. However today when I spoke to one of my science teachers he did not seem too content about taking 2 science at HL due to the amount of work one is supposed to do. I am not exactly sure what I would want to major in however I am thinking along the lines of biotechnology or bioinformatics or might go into the computer science field.

I did pretty well in my IGCSE mock exams and got A* for all 3 sciences and maths and I currently do Triple Award Science (I basically get a IGCSE for each science). I finished my IGCSE in Mathematics this month and am currently doing the Additional Maths course and since HL maths is considered extremely challenging, I would have to catch up on HL Mathematics over summer as well.

These are the IB options that I am interested in:
HL: Maths, Biology, Chemistry

SL: English A Lang/Lit, French B, Business and Management

It would be great if any one could kindly tell me whether it would be a good idea to choose the options I have mentioned above or would it be smarter to do 1 HL science and 1 SL science? And if so, could you also suggest which science I should take at HL. I love chemistry more than biology, however if biology is more valued for the courses I am currently thinking about then I wouldn't mind taking Biology at HL.

THANKS A LOT! :)

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ok so i take both those hls and honestly, if you enjoy and are dedicated to these subjects you should do absolutely fine. However upon reviewal of you higher level selections, i strongly recommend you either take one more hl as insurance or actually drop one of your hls unless you are extremely willing and dedicated to your subjects. hl math, bio and chemistry is definitely doable, but requires a lot of commitment and dont forget - especially, math, the questions can get extremely difficult and mind boggling. furthermore i was just wondering if you had to, which subject would you drop and which science do you have more of a affinity to? I started off loving both sciences and now i love chemistry, however i still have the 20hr organic chem and one more option... nevertheless, biology is extraneous content with a lot of memorizing, and depending on your teacher, definitely doable. good luck and if you have any further questions, let me know.

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From my experience Math and Chemistry at higher level is most fun but biology the easiest; however, if you don't have a good teacher at any of those subjects you won't get any satisfying grade for the amount of effort you put in for each one of them. For example my math teacher couldn't even help me with one of the first tasks in the book which made me reconsider my choice and pick mathematics at a lower level. The same goes for Chemistry as I had an amazing teacher during my preliminary year which made us one by one understand the topic before going on to the next one; however, the same goes not for my current teacher which has made me pull a lot of all-nighters to fully understand each topic but that's not a big issue for me since I truly love chemistry.

I would recommend you to take chemisty and math at higher level since these are the most awarding considering you've teachers which put in a lot of effort; however, if you don't I would recommend dropping math to sl since in my opinion is the hardest subject to self-study. But of course, the choice is yours, GOOD LUCK! :)

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Hi All,

Firstly thanks for replying!

The HL Maths teachers is my school are completely amazing at what they do. So, with my EXTREME hard work and their great teaching I think I will be fine with it. Also since its highly required for any computer science course, I think I should stick to it. Also my dad is a marine engineer so his maths is pretty amazing.

With Chemistry, I am very lucky to get an amazing chemistry teacher at IGCSE. I always preferred chemistry over the other 2 science and with his teaching I love it even more. Also the HL teachers for chemistry are fine and I am really hoping to get my current teacher next year.

But with biology, there is a STRONG 50% chance of me seriously hating the subject and not doing it well since 2/4 of the HL teachers are really bad at teaching. One of them is my current biology teacher and he had seriously started to induce a hatred for the subject. Thanks to my sister who is currently doing her PhD in microbiology, she helped me through the course and despite the fact my teacher can't teach I still like the subject especially cell biology and genetics. However, she won't be with me during my IB years since she is getting married this summer so I am really worried about burning out due to so much work.

I spoke to my chemistry teacher today and he din't seem too concerned about the fact that I was considering 2 HL Sciences, much to my surprise since I thought he would just give me the "are you nuts" expression similar to what my physics teacher gave me yesterday. In the contrary, he seemed boggled about my HL Maths consideration. My current maths teacher said that if I work as hard as I normally work, then I will be fine.

In short, all these left me very confused since later I don't want to have any regrets and get restricted in the choices I have. My dad is very keen on pushing me to the computer programming and software developing fields, which I honestly don't mind since I am extremely good at computer utility. If I had prior experience with programming, I think I would be extremely confident with it as well. And I think the job prospect is better in that field than any other science field.

So if I had to choose my IB subjects focusing on computer science and also keeping doors open for a swap to the science world, would you suggest me to go with the following:

HL: Maths, Chemistry and Business and Management

SL: Biology, English and French.

Or do you think I should just keep to my original plan which is to take HL Biology and SL Business and Management? Also I am really keen on applying for MIT which I know is insanely challenging but apart from doing a variety of CAS and acing the academics, what else would you suggest me to do in IB to boost my chances?

I thought my choices were sorted until monday but then suddenly I just felt the need to discuss my science HL's with my teachers and now I am all really confused. Even my friends are strongly suggesting that I take 1HL science and 1SL science. However, they are also suggesting that I should do what I want to. But I don't know why I just don't feel good about doing only 1 HL science and 1 SL. But then again there is this fear inside me about what if I am unable to handle the demands of each subject and the pressure that comes along and am unsuccessful at being on top of things.

Thanks All for reading through this. Good Luck with your IB's! :D I seriously can't thank you enough for bothering to read through such lengthy posts amidst all your IB prep. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

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See if I were you I'd keep both sciences at HL to keep my options open, because you said yourself that you would be interested in biotechnology/ bioinformatics/ computer science. If your sister is married, it doesn't mean that you'll lose contact with her, although she'll probably be busier than she is now. And remember, your sister and your teachers aren't your only source of information, there also online biology sources such as http://www.ib.bioninja.com.au/ib-home/ and http://click4biology.info/ :) I suggest you take a look at these sites to see what you would be facing biology HL/SL

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