kenyat98 Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 I'm trying to decide what science to take in the IB diploma program. It'd probably make the most sense to take ESS (Environmental Systems and Studies) or Biology, since I'm not good at math, but I don't find those subjects very interesting and, from what I hear, they're very content-based (involve lots of memorization and such). I'm going to take HL English, Art and History, which are also heavy with content, so I don't want to be too overwhelmed with having to memorize stuff. I think Chemistry is really interesting but, like I said, I suck at math. It's not that I don't like math, I'm just not a mathematically-inclined person.. at all, unfortunately. So, how much math is involved in Chemistry SL? Would I be better off taking Biology or ESS? Any advice you could give me on this would be very much appreciated. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluedino Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 There is some maths involved in Chemistry SL - there's a topic called quantitative chem based around some calculations.. and in the IAs you've got to do calculations for your DCP.. but I think you should be able to manage even if you're not a very mathematically-inclined person. For 2 of the 3 papers you can use your calculator as well, and even though there are calculations in chem, it's based upon understanding the chemistry formulas and knowing how to use them. There were people in Maths Studies in my Chem SL class and I believe they were fine. As you said you don't find Biology or ESS very interesting, then I think you'd be ok with Chem - it makes more sense to do a subject you'll enjoy more as you'll probably end up putting more effort into it? I guess you may or may not run into some challenging problems here and then, but if you're willing to work them through then it sounds like you'd be ok in chem. Hope this helps Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) Chemistry Maths is very basic, especially considering that you want to do SL. I don't know about ESS but you need to know Statistics etc for Bio Edited February 16, 2014 by ryuk1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanne Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 nope, I know people who take Maths studies and are doing Chemistry at the moment Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 To repeat what's already been said, SL Chemistry isn't very mathematical at all, you should be fine. All the hard parts are in HL Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 To repeat what's already been said, SL Chemistry isn't very mathematical at all, you should be fine. All the hard parts are in HL Not necessarily, I do Maths Studies and HL Chemistry but I wouldn't say I wasn't good at maths though, so maybe it depends on the person Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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