Which IB Sciences course should I take?

[kristinamontinola]

I'm still in pre-IB right now, so I'm trying to decide which of the IB sciences course I should take in my first year of IB. I know there's IB Biology, IB Physics, Environmental Sciences, (I'm not sure if there's IB Chemistry?). I'm pretty open to suggestions right now. Sciences hasn't necessarily been my strong point, so I don't really have any idea where I wanna go in terms of IB sciences. I guess it's pretty ironic, since I'm planning on majoring in biomedical engineering and instrumentation.

 

Anyway, I'd really like to get an idea on what each of the IB science courses have to offer and which one you'd recommend. Thanks in advance!

 

 

EDIT: I see some people taking two IB Sciences courses in the same year. Is it required to take two science courses in one year?

Edited January 23, 2016 by kristinamontinola

[ShootingStar16]

I'm still in pre-IB right now, so I'm trying to decide which of the IB sciences course I should take in my first year of IB. I know there's IB Biology, IB Physics, Environmental Sciences, (I'm not sure if there's IB Chemistry?). I'm pretty open to suggestions right now. Sciences hasn't necessarily been my strong point, so I don't really have any idea where I wanna go in terms of IB sciences. I guess it's pretty ironic, since I'm planning on majoring in biomedical engineering and instrumentation.

 

Anyway, I'd really like to get an idea on what each of the IB science courses have to offer and which one you'd recommend. Thanks in advance!

There is IB Chemistry, yes. If science isn't your strong suit, I recommend either ESS (environmental sciences) or biology. I take biology and it's actually a bit humanities-oriented compared to the other sciences. For biomedical eng, I recommend IB chem and IB bio. 

 

I take IB chemistry and biology and I personally find chemistry to be the tougher science usually. My friends tell me IB physics is brutal as well. For IB sciences, you cannot study for your exams the night before or you will probably crash and burn. It's always great to study bit by bit. For biology, you learn about a bunch of things such as genetics, human physiology, plant science and the options are really interesting. My option was neurobiology and it was a bit like psych. For chem, you learn about stuff like atomic theory and periodicity, organic chem, gases etc. Bio doesn't have a lot of math compared to chem, so if you're not that great with math avoid physics and stick with bio. The math in chem isn't too hard though. 

 

Anyways, hope I helped! 

[Rosalina]

Off topic but 5 Hl subjects?!

Back on topic, I'd be against taking Environmental Science because it is regarded as a "soft" subject. As you'd like to go into engineering, I'd go with Physics. I'm not taking it but friends who are taking it say its not bad. Biology is not a bad idea to take and it isn't that bad if you spend a few hours reviewing every week. But if you have the option between Biology and Chemistry, I'd say take chemistry. But if its biology and environmental science, go with biology.

Hope I helped.

[IbTrojan]

Simply based on the courses you've taken, I would suggest going with the most theoretical/content-based science (I don't know much about ESS but biology fits that category the most) since you want to play up your skills here. Even if you're not good at the sciences, take the course that you think you could improve your strong skills on. I hope that makes sense - It sounded better in my head....

[kristinamontinola]

Thank you so much! At least now I know for sure I'll be taking IB Biology.

 

There is IB Chemistry, yes. If science isn't your strong suit, I recommend either ESS (environmental sciences) or biology. I take biology and it's actually a bit humanities-oriented compared to the other sciences. For biomedical eng, I recommend IB chem and IB bio. 

 

 

 

I take IB chemistry and biology and I personally find chemistry to be the tougher science usually. My friends tell me IB physics is brutal as well. For IB sciences, you cannot study for your exams the night before or you will probably crash and burn. It's always great to study bit by bit. For biology, you learn about a bunch of things such as genetics, human physiology, plant science and the options are really interesting. My option was neurobiology and it was a bit like psych. For chem, you learn about stuff like atomic theory and periodicity, organic chem, gases etc. Bio doesn't have a lot of math compared to chem, so if you're not that great with math avoid physics and stick with bio. The math in chem isn't too hard though. 

 

Anyways, hope I helped! 

 

 

Off topic but 5 Hl subjects?!

Back on topic, I'd be against taking Environmental Science because it is regarded as a "soft" subject. As you'd like to go into engineering, I'd go with Physics. I'm not taking it but friends who are taking it say its not bad. Biology is not a bad idea to take and it isn't that bad if you spend a few hours reviewing every week. But if you have the option between Biology and Chemistry, I'd say take chemistry. But if its biology and environmental science, go with biology.

Hope I helped.

 

Simply based on the courses you've taken, I would suggest going with the most theoretical/content-based science (I don't know much about ESS but biology fits that category the most) since you want to play up your skills here. Even if you're not good at the sciences, take the course that you think you could improve your strong skills on. I hope that makes sense - It sounded better in my head....

[Siddhakshi]

I originally wanted to go for biomedical engineering as well, and my school counselor told me I needed to take Maths HL, Bio HL and Chem HL. While I could cope with two science HLs, maths wasn't my strong suit, and I eventually dropped to SL and decided on medicine. What I'm trying to say is, don't look career-wise right now. take the subjects you can take, and THEN look at career paths. You mentioned that science isn't your strongest area, then why are you interested in engineering?

 

You can take two sciences, or even three (irregular diploma) but after the changes introduced in IB, I would suggest you think over what you really can handle. I'm saying this from experience: the IA's now are intense. I've been up three nights in a row working on the explorations. Once again, the HL level of exploration is much higher than the SL level expected, and I took both bio and chem at HL. A little off topic, but I think maths HL is really important for you. And if you're sure about your career I suggest both bio and chem HL if you can handle it. Otherwise, take chem at SL, because SL chem is much easier in terms of syllabus than HL. Another good combination is Bio HL and ESS SL. 

 

But what I'd really like to say is that you shouldn't take any subject solely for your career. I have a friend who takes physics and maths HL but wants to go into medicine. You can always change your interests later on, it doesn't matter as much as if you get a 6 or a 7 in the subject you take. You can change your subject in college as well. 

 

If you have any questions about bio or chem in terms of coursework, or anything else, feel free to message me. Sorry for the long rant, I've just been telling my juniors the same thing. I hope I helped, and good luck!