IB Subject Selection - Physics, Psychology

[HorseSoda]

Hello. Recently I have had meetings with school administration regarding which IB subjects I want to select. I am certain of most of my subjects aside from Physics and Psychology. As it stands, my subjects are as follows:

HL English Lang.Lit.

HL History

SL Maths

SL French Ab initio

I would like to do Physics and Psychology, one of course HL and the other SL. Choosing Pysch HL would allow me to achieve a higher score than doing HL Physics. On the other hand, selecting HL Physics would allow for a wider range of university/career choices. I am thinking of moving into a course studying Artificial Intelligence or something programming related.

I have read through the syllabuses of both subjects and have consulted many teachers regarding their opinion.

Is Physics HL really as challenging as several students on this site (and many others) say?

Any suggestions and opinions are welcome. Thanks.

[elaifyanre]

If you want to do CS then physics and math HL is definitely more beneficial than all language/humanities HL (you'll need the knowledge to do the subject in university anyways), unless if you're going to US universities who don't care much about HL/SL, but then they don't care much about your IB score either.

Difficulty is subjective, physics HL is challenging, but so is any other HL course including psychology, so it still depends on what kind of person you are. Some people are naturally better at language/humanities, while others find sciences/mathematics much easier and more interesting. Judging from your career aspirations I'd assume that you are one of the latter, but if it's not the case then you should probably reconsider the career choice.

But then, no one knows what you'll think two years later--probably you would decide to do something else instead, so that still depends on what your situation is.

[HorseSoda]

If you want to do CS then physics and math HL is definitely more beneficial than all language/humanities HL (you'll need the knowledge to do the subject in university anyways), unless if you're going to US universities who don't care much about HL/SL, but then they don't care much about your IB score either.

Difficulty is subjective, physics HL is challenging, but so is any other HL course including psychology, so it still depends on what kind of person you are. Some people are naturally better at language/humanities, while others find sciences/mathematics much easier and more interesting. Judging from your career aspirations I'd assume that you are one of the latter, but if it's not the case then you should probably reconsider the career choice.

But then, no one knows what you'll think two years later--probably you would decide to do something else instead, so that still depends on what your situation is.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately, due to lack of students interested, HL Math is not being offered. I am quite sure I will go for for HL Physics and if required, switch it up with Psychology if it is too challenging.

[elaifyanre]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately, due to lack of students interested, HL Math is not being offered. I am quite sure I will go for for HL Physics and if required, switch it up with Psychology if it is too challenging.

If you are not sure, consider taking both physics and psychology at HL and then drop the harder (or less interesting) one to SL if you feel you couldn't handle the courseload, because changing from SL to HL would be quite difficult.

[George2004]

How about computer science HL?