Biology HL or SL?

[Guest]

Hi everyone

 

So far, since I'm very interested in languages as well as Economics as well as Biology (I love them, actually), I've been trying to handle 4 HLs...

• English Language and Literature
  
• Vietnamese Literature
  
• Economics
  
• Biology
  

As I've asked on this forum before... it's not a very good idea to study 4 HLs since universities don't really place emphasis on that and that I might get very stressed out, which is the last thing I want to experience. So I'm considering dropping either Biology or Vietnamese into SL.

I've just received my semester report yesterday and it was better than I thought. I got 7 for English, 6 for Vietnamese, 7 for Economics but only 5 for Biology…

 

All my friends recommend me to go to Biology SL instead. However, a part of me says Vietnamese should be SL… even though I admit that Biology is much harder.

 

As for what I’m going to do in university, I was very sure that I wanna study Psychology or Education, but I’m not anymore… I was thinking, though, that if I study two languages in HL, that wouldn’t be very versatile, right? 

 

PLEASE HELPPP!

[Sandwich]

It depends where you want to apply, partly, as to how much it matters what your HL subjects were. If you want to apply to the UK then you'd almost certainly want a science subject like Biology at HL. In other countries like the USA they don't really care.

 

Do you think you could bring your grade up for Biology? I suspect so - Biology is mostly just memorising so you obviously didn't know enough to answer the questions if you got a 5. That's all there is to it. It's harder to get a 7 in than languages, but then it also may be more valuable to you in the future.

 

The only person who really knows the right answer to this is you - because you're the person it will affect and who knows how much you can cope with either subject But in terms of things which would influence your decision, I would certainly look into requirements in whatever place you want to study for Uni.

[SallyShariff]

The difference between Vietnamese A HL and SL is hardly much , and I doubt you will be able to tell the difference in workload if you do decide to drop it. 

 

The difference between HL and SL biology on the other hand, is heavily significant, and will definitely cut a chunk of your workload and stress.

 

And since you are doing well in Vietnamese Lit, it wouldn't be the wisest decision to drop it if you are feeling comfortable with it. So my honest recommendation to you is that, If you feel like you can handle 4 HLs, and particularly HL Bio with some extra effort and hard work put into it, than continue on with it. However if you feel like its too difficult, ( and HL Bio isn't an easy subject, trust me) and the workload from 4 HLs is too much, drop Bio down to SL. 

 

Whatever you decide, good luck

[Guest]

It depends where you want to apply, partly, as to how much it matters what your HL subjects were. If you want to apply to the UK then you'd almost certainly want a science subject like Biology at HL. In other countries like the USA they don't really care.

 

Do you think you could bring your grade up for Biology? I suspect so - Biology is mostly just memorising so you obviously didn't know enough to answer the questions if you got a 5. That's all there is to it. It's harder to get a 7 in than languages, but then it also may be more valuable to you in the future.

 

The only person who really knows the right answer to this is you - because you're the person it will affect and who knows how much you can cope with either subject But in terms of things which would influence your decision, I would certainly look into requirements in whatever place you want to study for Uni.

We had teacher - parent - student conference today and my Biology teacher says that my knowledge is very good, it's just that I don't know how to answer the question in such a way that the IB examiners prefer. She really thinks that I'm capable of getting a 7.

 

Before IB, I was sure that I wanted to study Psychology... but now I'm not anymore. 

 

Ahh, all these decisions of life!

 

The difference between Vietnamese A HL and SL is hardly much , and I doubt you will be able to tell the difference in workload if you do decide to drop it. 

 

The difference between HL and SL biology on the other hand, is heavily significant, and will definitely cut a chunk of your workload and stress.

 

And since you are doing well in Vietnamese Lit, it wouldn't be the wisest decision to drop it if you are feeling comfortable with it. So my honest recommendation to you is that, If you feel like you can handle 4 HLs, and particularly HL Bio with some extra effort and hard work put into it, than continue on with it. However if you feel like its too difficult, ( and HL Bio isn't an easy subject, trust me) and the workload from 4 HLs is too much, drop Bio down to SL. 

 

Whatever you decide, good luck

Yes, the difference between VN HL and SL is not much at all, while for Biology, it's a whole different matter. 

 

I'm doing well in Vietnamese, of course, but even though my performance in it is a bit better than that of Biology, I'm not that passionate about Vietnamese. However, I could spend hours reading about Biology. 

 

But it'd be unwise if I follow my guts, right? 

[Vioh]

We had teacher - parent - student conference today and my Biology teacher says that my knowledge is very good, it's just that I don't know how to answer the question in such a way that the IB examiners prefer. She really thinks that I'm capable of getting a 7. Before IB, I was sure that I wanted to study Psychology... but now I'm not anymore. 

Ahh, all these decisions of life!

I'm doing well in Vietnamese, of course, but even though my performance in it is a bit better than that of Biology, I'm not that passionate about Vietnamese. However, I could spend hours reading about Biology. 

But it'd be unwise if I follow my guts, right? 

 

I don't think it's unwise to follow your guts in this case. There are a few reasons to this, and the most important one is that you are really really passionate about biology. The IB doesn't aim to let students choose a safe way to reach a 7, but it aims to encourage students to do something that they are really passionate about. If you follow your friends' advice to drop to bio SL, then I'm afraid that you might regret it later on. This is because you would have nothing to be proud of since you've chosen an easy way out. Besides, a 5 in bio HL is really really awesome, i tell you! And adding a little bit more effort, who knows? maybe you would even get a 7. Yes, it might be stressful. But I bet that you can remove all these stresses in IB as long as you feel proud that you've actually challenged yourself in trying something as hard as bio HL. Unless you have no other choice, I'd say that a HL language is really a *waste* of HL subjects

 

Since you're not passionate about Vietnamese, then I guess you wouldn't want to do anything with the language in the future (like being a teacher who teaches Vietnamese, or being a writer/poet, etc). Hence, Vietnamese HL is totally uneccessary to any future that you might possibly take. On the other hand, biology HL opens a huge possibility for you to do something with psychology (I'm aware that psychology is a social science, but like bilogy, it's still a science anyway ). Thus I would say that taking Bio HL is really your best choice given your current situation.

[Guest]

 

We had teacher - parent - student conference today and my Biology teacher says that my knowledge is very good, it's just that I don't know how to answer the question in such a way that the IB examiners prefer. She really thinks that I'm capable of getting a 7. Before IB, I was sure that I wanted to study Psychology... but now I'm not anymore. 

Ahh, all these decisions of life!

I'm doing well in Vietnamese, of course, but even though my performance in it is a bit better than that of Biology, I'm not that passionate about Vietnamese. However, I could spend hours reading about Biology. 

But it'd be unwise if I follow my guts, right? 

 

I don't think it's unwise to follow your guts in this case. There are a few reasons to this, and the most important one is that you are really really passionate about biology. The IB doesn't aim to let students choose a safe way to reach a 7, but it aims to encourage students to do something that they are really passionate about. If you follow your friends' advice to drop to bio SL, then I'm afraid that you might regret it later on. This is because you would have nothing to be proud of since you've chosen an easy way out. Besides, a 5 in bio HL is really really awesome, i tell you! And adding a little bit more effort, who knows? maybe you would even get a 7. Yes, it might be stressful. But I bet that you can remove all these stresses in IB as long as you feel proud that you've actually challenged yourself in trying something as hard as bio HL. Unless you have no other choice, I'd say that a HL language is really a *waste* of HL subjects

 

Since you're not passionate about Vietnamese, then I guess you wouldn't want to do anything with the language in the future (like being a teacher who teaches Vietnamese, or being a writer/poet, etc). Hence, Vietnamese HL is totally uneccessary to any future that you might possibly take. On the other hand, biology HL opens a huge possibility for you to do something with psychology (I'm aware that psychology is a social science, but like bilogy, it's still a science anyway ). Thus I would say that taking Bio HL is really your best choice given your current situation.

 

 

Alright, thank you very much!  

 

Merry Christmas!