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Psychology vs Economics


FreakinOut

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I am starting the IB in 7 months - AHH! 

The problem is that I need to decide between Psych and Econ.

My other subjects are as follows:
English A HL

Modern History HL

Bio HL/SL - still haven't decided

Latin SL

Math SL - or studies am still unsure about that one too

 

So what I'm asking is whether to take Psych or Econ. I was top of my class when I took Commerce for one year. Is that similar to Econ?

Is Psych similar to Bio in that it's mostly content?

Which one is harder? - I tend to stress myself out A LOT!

...and what's the difference between studies and Standard level.

My dream schools are either Oxbridge, UPenn, or Dartmouth

HELP?!

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do you know what you're interested in studying? 

 

both economics and psychology are very much content based. I do psychology and I don't find it too hard, but I don't know anyone taking economics so I don't know how they compare.

 

In maths, the difference between studies and standard level is quite large. SL is a calculus based course where studies is very much a begginers maths course and it is not hard to maintain a high mark. i take studies and have a comfortable 7, but I'm not planning on studyng anything that requires maths in the future so that shouldn't affect me getitng into uni. If you're interested in maths or engineering then I would recommend sl but otherwise studies.

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I take both economics and psychology HL - I personally would choose economics if I had to pick between them. They are both really interesting courses (IMO at least) so I can understand why it might be difficult to choose between them.

 

Both of them are content heavy courses but economics is less taxing in that it's a quite conceptual subject so you don't need to rote memorize everything like you do for psychology- if you understand the concepts/graphs, you can figure out what to write in an exam if you haven't studied properly. You can't really do that in psychology if you're aiming for a 7 - you really need to have all the theories and studies memorized word for word so you don't loose marks on detail. 

 

The most difficult thing in both subjects is writing an evaluation, it definitely separates the 6s and 7s from the 4s and 5s (my economics teacher said you can get a 4 or 5 at most if you memorize the entire textbook). With practice you'll get the hang of it. 

 

I wouldn't say one course is easier than the other. I'm very good at memorizing so psychology is easy for me and so is economics. If you aren't the best at memorizing a ton of information then economics will likely be easier. Objectively speaking economics is far easier to get a 7 in (according to the IB statistics bulletin) as 12-13% of applicants got a 7 in it and only 4-5% got a 7 in psychology. Take that as you will. 

 

I recommend you pick the course that interests you more and/or the one that has a better teacher. Another word of advice: Take economics or psychology at higher level instead of biology. There is very little difference in content and difficulty between SL/HL economics and psychology where as there is a HUGE difference between SL/HL biology (you literally learn double the amount of content in HL), so by taking biology SL you'll be reducing your workload quite a lot. However if you are more interested in biology by all means take it as a higher level subject. 

 

I would recommend you take maths SL instead of studies if you're capable of coping with it. US universities don't really like it when student take maths studies (it's less frowned upon if the your intended major isn't maths based i.e. not economics, business, psychology, STEM etc.) If you plan on majoring in anything that requires a maths class or two, definitely take maths SL. It'll provide you with a solid base to progress to a college Calculus I and Introductory statistics class. 

 

Hope I helped! 

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I also have both subjects (but Psych SL, which honestly isn't wildly different from Psych HL) and my personal recommendation is Psych. It's so much more interesting (and all the people in my school with both Econ and Psych agree with me). It is more difficult but that's because IB economics is fairly easy, the only real challenge you have in it is getting everything on paper within the allotted time. Psych isn't terribly difficult either; once you figure out the format in which to write the essays it becomes a question of making sure you know the content reasonably well. It's worth noting that psych has more room for error; if you don't remember the details of a particular study, depending on what you can't remember you can just omit or summarise details (eg leaving out the year if you can't remember, saying "research has found that..." instead of "Baddeley's experiment found that...", etc) while in Econ if you can't remember a particular detail you will be penalised for it and a fair amount no matter what. 

 

That being said, Psychology does have a fair amount of content, and you should seriously think about whether or not you can cope with that amount of content, taking your other subjects into account. 

I personally think that if you can handle History HL you'll have no problem with Psych; the information may be a lot, but they don't intersect a great amount and you won't get confused in one because of the other. 

 

If you'd like to know about specific topics you cover in Econ and Psych and what they're like, you can always PM me.

Good luck with your decision! :)

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This is my first post on the forum and I'm blown away by how kind and helpful everyone is - Thank you so much!  :D

As a new member, it sounds like I literally picked the hardest HL subjects, so that's great... :unsure:

 

 

do you know what you're interested in studying? 

 

both economics and psychology are very much content based. I do psychology and I don't find it too hard, but I don't know anyone taking economics so I don't know how they compare.

 

In maths, the difference between studies and standard level is quite large. SL is a calculus based course where studies is very much a begginers maths course and it is not hard to maintain a high mark. i take studies and have a comfortable 7, but I'm not planning on studyng anything that requires maths in the future so that shouldn't affect me getitng into uni. If you're interested in maths or engineering then I would recommend sl but otherwise studies.

No I have no idea what I'm interested in studying, but it won't be math so I think I'll do SL and if I find it too difficult, drop down to studies.

 

I love content based subjects (HL History for example) so that's great.

 

 

I take both economics and psychology HL - I personally would choose economics if I had to pick between them. They are both really interesting courses (IMO at least) so I can understand why it might be difficult to choose between them.

 

Both of them are content heavy courses but economics is less taxing in that it's a quite conceptual subject so you don't need to rote memorize everything like you do for psychology- if you understand the concepts/graphs, you can figure out what to write in an exam if you haven't studied properly. You can't really do that in psychology if you're aiming for a 7 - you really need to have all the theories and studies memorized word for word so you don't loose marks on detail. 

 

The most difficult thing in both subjects is writing an evaluation, it definitely separates the 6s and 7s from the 4s and 5s (my economics teacher said you can get a 4 or 5 at most if you memorize the entire textbook). With practice you'll get the hang of it. 

 

I wouldn't say one course is easier than the other. I'm very good at memorizing so psychology is easy for me and so is economics. If you aren't the best at memorizing a ton of information then economics will likely be easier. Objectively speaking economics is far easier to get a 7 in (according to the IB statistics bulletin) as 12-13% of applicants got a 7 in it and only 4-5% got a 7 in psychology. Take that as you will. 

 

I recommend you pick the course that interests you more and/or the one that has a better teacher. Another word of advice: Take economics or psychology at higher level instead of biology. There is very little difference in content and difficulty between SL/HL economics and psychology where as there is a HUGE difference between SL/HL biology (you literally learn double the amount of content in HL), so by taking biology SL you'll be reducing your workload quite a lot. However if you are more interested in biology by all means take it as a higher level subject. 

 

I would recommend you take maths SL instead of studies if you're capable of coping with it. US universities don't really like it when student take maths studies (it's less frowned upon if the your intended major isn't maths based i.e. not economics, business, psychology, STEM etc.) If you plan on majoring in anything that requires a maths class or two, definitely take maths SL. It'll provide you with a solid base to progress to a college Calculus I and Introductory statistics class. 

 

Hope I helped! 

You definitely helped, thanks so much! I am now positive I'll do SL biology haha! This post has me leaning towards econ as it sounds like it'll give me more time to work on my other subjects but psych sounds interesting too! UGH! But I'm better at rote learning, hmm.

 

I definitely am going to try out Math SL now - IVY DREAMS!  :wub:

The problem with teachers is that my school is fairly new to the IB and I don't think any of the teachers know how to teach it so that should be fun  :unsure:

 

So is it that you memorize a whole textbook for psych and you can get a 7, but you actually need to APPLY your knowledge in econ?

 

 

I also have both subjects (but Psych SL, which honestly isn't wildly different from Psych HL) and my personal recommendation is Psych. It's so much more interesting (and all the people in my school with both Econ and Psych agree with me). It is more difficult but that's because IB economics is fairly easy, the only real challenge you have in it is getting everything on paper within the allotted time. Psych isn't terribly difficult either; once you figure out the format in which to write the essays it becomes a question of making sure you know the content reasonably well. It's worth noting that psych has more room for error; if you don't remember the details of a particular study, depending on what you can't remember you can just omit or summarise details (eg leaving out the year if you can't remember, saying "research has found that..." instead of "Baddeley's experiment found that...", etc) while in Econ if you can't remember a particular detail you will be penalised for it and a fair amount no matter what. 

 

That being said, Psychology does have a fair amount of content, and you should seriously think about whether or not you can cope with that amount of content, taking your other subjects into account. 

I personally think that if you can handle History HL you'll have no problem with Psych; the information may be a lot, but they don't intersect a great amount and you won't get confused in one because of the other. 

 

If you'd like to know about specific topics you cover in Econ and Psych and what they're like, you can always PM me.

Good luck with your decision! :)

Thanks for this, I think you're right about choosing subjects that fit your learning style. 

The consensus I'm getting here is that Psych is more interesting but Econ is easier. I'll chew on that for a while.

I may take you up on that PM offer btw haha!

Also do I need to be good at math to do econ would you say?

 

:blink:  :P

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It honestly depends on your interest and enthusiasm for the subject. I've seen people struggle with psychology but another person excelling at psychology but not so in economics.

 

Psychology does involve memorization of experiments, results and requires evaluation. But again, the extent of this memorization depends on people. I've seen a girl who was so interested in the experiments that she didn't have to revise them, it just instantly imprinted in her brain (don't know if this is the right way to describe it but...)

 

Hope this helped and good luck in ib!

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@FreakinOut

You honestly don't need to have a great maths teacher to do well in SL maths, my teacher sucks and most of my class is doing fine. Just do the practice problems in your textbook on a regular basis, make notes on the main concepts w/a few sample worked out problems and do some past paper questions on each topic before you start the next chapter in class. If you put in some effort, you'll be fine!

 

Sort of, but not really. You need to be able to evaluate the study and related theory/theories really well to get into the highest mark band. You can't evaluate effectively if you don't have solid knowledge on the study and theories. You'll need to apply your knowledge in a similar manner in economics as you'll need to write an evaluation for the longer essays. 

 

You don't need to be great at maths to do well in economics. If you're going to take SL economics, you won't need to do the maths component of the course. Higher level students need to take paper 3 (the mathematical paper) - the calculations are pretty basic so you don't need to be amazing at maths to understand how to use the formulas and what not. There isn't much else maths on the syllabus. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello my fellow Ib-doers!
I am seriously thinking about my subects now, just to reiterate they are:

HL English

HL History

HL Psych/Econ (one of them is running on the same line as history but my school hasn't decided yet)

 

SL Latin

SL Biology

SL  Math

 

I'm worried about math and latin as I'm quite rubbish, but I'll drop to studies if necessary - I just don't want to but I don't think US Unis mind (hopefully not even my dream schools!!??) 

Anyway is this list too easy?

Any advice on math/latin?

Thanks!

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Hello my fellow Ib-doers!

I am seriously thinking about my subects now, just to reiterate they are:

HL English

HL History

HL Psych/Econ (one of them is running on the same line as history but my school hasn't decided yet)

 

SL Latin

SL Biology

SL  Math

 

I'm worried about math and latin as I'm quite rubbish, but I'll drop to studies if necessary - I just don't want to but I don't think US Unis mind (hopefully not even my dream schools!!??) 

Anyway is this list too easy?

Any advice on math/latin?

Thanks!

SL math is really easy, don't worry about that one. Latin then, you cant take AB Initio if you feel you aren't good at Latin?
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