Taking 6 HLs + 1 SL?

[EbiAl]

Hello, yes I do realize how insane this is. My school, because of the Soccer World Cup, is closing earlier. Our last exam is June 9th and our school opens September 21st, ergo we have 103 days of summer. I was thinking in all these days I could study IB HL 1 courses by myself so I'd be ahead my other classmates. Do you think it would be possible to get sixes and sevens in these HL courses if I study something live 8 hours a day + school?

Math 1 HL

Bio 1 HL

Chemistry 1 HL

Physics 1 HL

French SL

Economics 1 HL

English 1 HL

I usually study less than 3 hours a week usually but I still maintain a average of over 90%

Thanks for your help guys!

Edited May 24, 2014 by EbiAl

[Emmi]

Unless you were planning to do the certificates, this isn't a valid subject list for a diploma. A diploma consists of 3 HL and 3 SL subjects, or 4 HL and 2 SL subjects. Some people at my school got around this by taking the SL exam for a subject to count for their diploma, and then the following year taking the HL exam as a certificate. But I think that's a waste of time to be honest.

Whether this is physically doable, who knows? We don't know your work ethic, what your strengths are (are you good at math/science, or are you more of a humanities person), etc. Would you be able to handle all of that work? You are going to need very good time-management skills in order to do that, and to score very high on top of that. I have only heard of one person doing 6 HLs with 2 SLs with 6s and 7s predicted in all subjects, but that was a very very unique case of a very capable person. Every other time I've heard someone try this, it didn't work out.

As for studying, are you studying effectively in those three hours? Or is your studying just staring at a page? Either way, you will likely have to study a bit more, especially with subjects like HL math and physics. These subjects are difficult for high school students, and you will need constant practice to do well. In high school I skated by with very good grades without really studying, and never developed really good study skills because of that until I got to uni and then I had to. It's probable that you'll need to do the same with these subjects if you want to do well.

[elaifyanre]

There are people who take 6HLs+2SLs on this forum and even at my school (the latter is taking the same course as you are except no economics HL but philosophy SL and visual arts HL), so it's doable, how hard it will be is depending on how good you actually are.

I'm assuming that most people who take IB wouldn't need a huge amount of study time to ace their regular courses (if they didn't do IB).

[Ryoika]

Hello, yes I do realize how insane this is. My school, because of the Soccer World Cup, is closing earlier. Our last exam is June 9th and our school opens September 21st, ergo we have 103 days of summer. I was thinking in all these days I could study IB HL 1 courses by myself so I'd be ahead my other classmates. Do you think it would be possible to get sixes and sevens in these HL courses if I study something live 8 hours a day + school?

Math 1 HL

Bio 1 HL

Chemistry 1 HL

Physics 1 HL

French SL

Economics 1 HL

English 1 HL

I usually study less than 3 hours a week usually but I still maintain a average of over 90%

Thanks for your help guys!

I don't think it is allowed. It's not legal to do so.

That sounds way too burdensome, in my opinion.

[Bude]

Not worth it imo. And don't underestimate HL Maths.

[ctrls]

if I study something live 8 hours a day + school?

I usually study less than 3 hours a week usually but I still maintain a average of over 90%

These two lines worry me, to be honest. You schedule may be doable with a good work ethic, ability, etc, but extending study times is a lot easier said than done. 8 hours + school is a ridiculously long time, that essentially means you come home from school, study, then go to bed. Having no free time really isn't possible to maintain for long periods of time, you'll end up crashing at some point. During the last few weeks before my final exams I tried doing around 7-8 hours/day (without any school) and I couldn't sustain it even for a few days - and I've grown used to doing a lot more than three hours of studying every week.

I suppose you can go ahead and try it, but I would recommend dropping down if it becomes unmanageable. I do feel you are overly underestimating the difficultly of those subjects, though you'll probably figure that out soon enough.

[I3lackAngel]

It's too much work that you are not even required to do. It is possible to take 7 subjects and more than 3 HL's, but unless you really have to do all these HL's (for university) you shouldn't. I used to take 5 HL's at one point (maths HL included) but I realised that it was too much work that I didn't even have to do and that it would make it harder to get the good grades that I need. I don't know you, maybe you are super-smart and capable, but I still don't recommend it. However, it would be a good idea to start with what you have and then later drop down a few subjects if you want to. Then you will not miss anything and may get good grades.

[_corrina_f]

Yes, it could be possible if you are extremely good at time management and top notch in all those subjects. Not to mention convincing your teachers to allow you to bend the rules in order to get the diploma.

But it is unnecessarily giving yourself so much stress that I think it to be unwise to choose this course load. If you want to be smart, stick to your few best subjects as HL and get sixes and sevens, you will thank yourself later!

Think about about it, all those HLs are university level hard.

Good luck!

[au785]

To be honest I think taking these subjects will be painful for your human, social and academical life.

as they mentioned correctly above, you may as well take them and drop them if they seem too much of a burden. But else you may end up looking like a fail to other people if you just underestimated the difficulty of the ib (which is pretty tough) and first thing drop out subjects.

in terms of university acceptance, to be honest having 4 HLs wont necessarily help you. Universities have a major focus on which are your actual HLs and no university for any career will ask you to have 3+ HLs. Some may ask for Physics and Maths HL for example, for engineering. Others may ask for Biology and Chemistry HL for health sciences. But no career will ask for Philosophy, Maths, Biology, Art, History and Language HL ... if you catch my drift. Having more than 4 HLs might even be bad for your apps since if unis see that all you do in life is study, then the social profile may lack. Again, I do not know how much you do outside of school so I may be wrong here

I also get 85%+ on my subjects but my study time is prolly about <30min/week average. I take HL Math/phy/geo and SL englishA/SpanishLangLit/ComputerScience. Of course it is easier to get 85% + when I'm taking a "normal" IB but still it has not been something easy. Especially when I got HL Math. I dunno what many people say when comparing math and physics but in my opinion math is WAY, WAY harder than physics, considering both in HL. If you're really really a big big star in math then you may not have much much trouble but I bet HL Math is a challenge even if you're the best person in math on the planet. So I would never underestimate HL math.... if virtually every other subject you got is HL you wil have to dedicate way more time than usual so maybe math time may start lacking.

Also take into account that you will need to do 180 practical experiment hours for your three sciences in hl... (And that I believe you cannot do at home by yourself)

Remember that you're an adolescent that also needs to take their mind off school stuff for good amounts of time!! you don't wanna be studying like hell durying your vacation nor you want to be studying for 3 hours a day after school everyday once you get back to classes... You would live with far too much stress ;p and I believe the outcomes would not outweigh the costs of choosing to take 6 HLs and 1 SL. Sure, you will have demonstrated that you can withstand a LOT of stress and that you have great organizational capacity but enjoy your life... we're still young bro.

[Phoenix of the IB]

The other responses in this thread should answer why you probably shouldn't do this considering how little it benefits compared to how much of a hassle it will be. Here are some ideas for other stuff you could do instead that may benefit you much more. (I'm always a fan of extracurriculars and so are universities/everyone)

List of things you could with your time:

1. Learn some computer programming
2. Do some interesting internships (online or in real life)
3. Enter in some competitions (academic or sports depending on what you enjoy)

Take this time to develop yourself as a person rather than just getting a little advantage by killing yourself with that much learning that you will never need again in life.