Subject choice

[Sophie.w]

Hey

I'd like to take next year Maths HL, Chemistry HL and Physics HL, Italian A Literature SL , English A Lang/Lit SL and Geography SL 

Is this impossible ?????

[nina101]

From my own experience I know that Math HL is hard on its own, so I'm pretty sure that with physics HL (which is super-hard) and chem HL (which I don't really know about), it would be hardly manageable. But if you feel really strong at these subjects, give it a try

[Guest]

Are you really sure? Do you know what you are gonna do at college?? I think that combinations of subjects will be extremely tough. SO be prepared, and nothing is impossible. Once you decided, you have to work !! one of my classmate has a similar combination of subjects like yours and he just keep complaining about the workload and not work and keep  finding excuse for his FAILURE . Good luck.

[Sophie.w]

Thank youu!

I'd like to study medicine or something related to sciences and I the majority of colleges want Maths HL and two other sciences HL. Is Biology HL easier? Should i take it instead of Physics??

[veregudmen]

Most certainly not an impossible combination, don't worry.

 

Well if you want to do engineering then you will need Physics HL. If you're set on Medicine, Biology may be helpful but isn't always essential, while Chemistry HL is.

If you're interested in medicine with certainty then you should keep Chem HL and take Bio HL instead of Physics. If you aren't sure about medicine it may be useful to keep physics, you'd have to look at which scientific fields you're specifically interested in and decide between Physics and Bio based on that but Chemistry HL is essential for medicine.

[Guest]

Are you good at memorising or are you good at maths( calculating ??)

[Sophie.w]

Calculating, I guess

[TDgen47@IB]

If you are good in calculating go with you current combination. The combination is always doable if you are interested in it and have good teachers for it. However if you feel the combination will be too much for you I suggest you to take English Lang/lit at HL and take physics or chemistry at SL. Reason - the difference in the amount of content between SL and HL for English is not too much but for physics and chemistry it's a lot. Don't replace math HL With English HL since you are good in calculating and also because it will help you better in physics and chemistry and your university application will seem better.

[rosewar]

Well, I'd have to disagree with (some) of the previous comments. Last year, I did HL Physics, Maths, Chem and SL English A Lit, French B and History. I got a 42, with 7/7/7 at HL, so I can say that it's definitely manageable.

 

However, this doesn't mean I'd generically recommend this subject combination. Ask yourself, what are your favourite subjects and what would you LIKE to do? If it's HL Maths, Chem, Physics, then I would recommend you do it, unless your teachers seriously doubt your ability or something. In 9 times out of 10, you will do better in the 'hard' subjects that you enjoy and that you will do extra work in than in 'easy' subjects you are less motivated in. My HLs weren't a relaxed ride; I did extra work beyond the set homework and the like, but I wanted to because I found the content interesting and I didn't see it as a task to do the homework, exams, etc. Conversely, I found some of my SLs less engaging and did less work for them, and hence got worse marks. 

 

I can tell you I had lots of fun challenging myself and had a wild, largely positive ride. HL Maths, Chem and Physics really push beyond the SL content, and I found it all fascinating. Good luck with your choice and IB journey.  

[kw0573]

Big thumbs up for doing two language A's!

There are more studying on one's own in Math HL, Chem HL, and Physics HL than some of the other subjects I would say. I took the same three courses but Physics in SL and the three were quite demanding. Statistically (not necessarily accurate portrayal of individual habits), many people in my grade who took both Math HL and Chem HL often could only handle one at a time. So do remember that success in all three subjects demands lots of work!

Also consider the resources your school and teachers provide. For example in my school we don't use Cambridge or Oxford IB course companions instead just local textbooks (for almost all subjects except French B, HL History, and SL Math). However, we get lots of past papers for both physics and math, which makes chem most challenging out of the three. There are lots of resources available here and elsewhere on the Internet. 

EDIT: (I didn't see your question about HL Bio until later)
I have a friend who's top of the physics class but is going into bio / med / life sci.
While I have not taken biology at IB level, I can attribute to the appearance of physics students at our school are more successful than bio student to these reasons
1) Aforementioned, we get a lot more resources in physics than in biology.
2) Some bio friends have claimed that bio is mostly memorization. Though certainly there is a decent amount of memorization in physics, as you work through more problems some memorization in physics becomes your own knowledge rather than what you regurgitate. 
3) Most people who also do well in math (HL) chose to take physics rather than biology. These people can transfer what they use to study in math to help them in physics, while bio is just a beast on its own and is less related to math in terms of ways to study/review.

Edited June 12, 2015 by kw0573