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Saraa22

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Can you help me choose my subject combination? At uni I might study international relations, law, economics, political science or something like this. I was also thinking of a second major in a foreign language... I'm really confused.

Eng LAL HL
French HL
Global Politics HL

Spanish B SL (online)
ESS/Biology SL
Maths SL

Instead of the Spanish online course, I can choose psychology, economics or philosophy (all of them are offered online). What's the best combination?

I must score +40 and therefore I wouldn't want to have too many hard subjects but at the same time I don't wanna choose ESS, Maths studies and Spanish AB because they could ruin my future chances since they are very much considered "soft subjects".

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Hey! I'm super familiar with Pamoja courses! I took Econ HL, and I know people in Econ SL, Psych HL, Mandarin AB, Spanish AB, ITGS and Business Management.

If you know Spanish quite well and you think you can do a good job, take it! From my experience the course is decent if you know what you're doing.

I would suggest taking Economics though. I found it really easy and quite relevant to today's society and current events. I got a 7 no problem and a girl I know got a 5 even with extreme procrastination and slacking. The online courses typically have TONS of assignments (up to 8 a week) and frequent tests so you will be totally prepared for the exams. You don't need IB Econ to study Econ in university, but it is a great introduction to what you will be learning.

Also, I know there is an option to take a 1 year Econ SL course instead of a traditional 2 years. If this is available to you, take it! You will want to have fewer exams in your final year of IB. The SL content is pretty simple (absolutely no math, just concepts).

As for the 'soft subjects' part, I think you're overexaggerating it. You don't want to study math and science in university, so who cares if you're taking ESS or Math Studies? Most universities care about you HL marks and the courses related to your program (in your case, L&L, French and Global Politics). If you like environmental systems, take ESS and if you want to learn a broader range, take biology which includes human anatomy and genetics and stuff like that. If you take courses that you like, you will probably get a higher mark.

Edited by VeronicaG
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Take a HL science subject. Whether its Physics/Biology/Chemistry (Chemistry is best paired with another science subject though), take one of them as a HL. Not only will it actually get you to be motivated to do well in it, but it looks good on your application no matter where you go as they're some of the relatively harder subjects in the IB. From my experience with all my friends and peers, having a single science subject at SL only causes them to not work hard on it as they need to. Everyone I know who takes a HL science are my grade level's best performing students; most of them even have their HL science subject as their best one. 

Even trying to get into political science, having a solid background in Science sets you far apart from so many other candidates who solely focused on social science & languages only. 

For law though, I vaguely remember that several universities around the globe require English Literature, though you should double check to be sure. 

Edited by IB`ez
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5 hours ago, IB`ez said:

Take a HL science subject. Whether its Physics/Biology/Chemistry (Chemistry is best paired with another science subject though), take one of them as a HL. Not only will it actually get you to be motivated to do well in it, but it looks good on your application no matter where you go as they're some of the relatively harder subjects in the IB. From my experience with all my friends and peers, having a single science subject at SL only causes them to not work hard on it as they need to. Everyone I know who takes a HL science are my grade level's best performing students; most of them even have their HL science subject as their best one. 

Even trying to get into political science, having a solid background in Science sets you far apart from so many other candidates who solely focused on social science & languages only. 

For law though, I vaguely remember that several universities around the globe require English Literature, though you should double check to be sure. 

Hey, thanks! If I were to take a science at HL wouldn't it just be a waste (since I don't want to pursue a scientific degree) and a way to drag my final score down  (since I don't really like sciences and therefore I won't study for it as much as I would for other subjects)? What do you think of this combination? 

Eng L&L, French and Global Politics HL 

Economics, Maths, Biology SL 

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53 minutes ago, Saraa22 said:

Hey, thanks! If I were to take a science at HL wouldn't it just be a waste (since I don't want to pursue a scientific degree) and a way to drag my final score down  (since I don't really like sciences and therefore I won't study for it as much as I would for other subjects)? What do you think of this combination? 

Eng L&L, French and Global Politics HL 

Economics, Maths, Biology SL 

That's the thing actually -- taking a science HL would force you to actually focus on it more and be motivated to do well at it since it's, well, one of your HL courses. Still from my own experience only though, but the majority of my friends who take a science SL usually only get 4s and 5s -- one person got a 7 at Physics SL, but still nobody else getting more than a 5 at either biology or physics SL.

On the other hand, people taking Physics/Biology HL usually get 6s or 7s depending on how much effort they put into (which is already considerable in the first place, but rewarding as hell). Also despite the fact that I take two science courses, I still plan on pursuing business as a major in university -- they might be somewhat useless in uni, but I enjoy them a lot and they're also what brings my grades up

Again though, it would depend from people to people and you should take my anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt. If you really don't like science, then an SL would be fine provided you still put in time and effort into it.

Your subject combination looks pretty solid overall I'd say, although I have little clue about what kind of course Global Politics is, other than being a Group 3 subject. English LaL is manageable for the average student, easy for someone with a strong affinity with english, and downright mental torture for someone who learnt it as a third language (like me :( ); Economics SL is ridiculously chill so you'll have no problems with it. The SL content in Biology is also damn simple enough that the only thing you need to perform well at it is just to avoid forgetting too many things too frequently -- you can avoid that by even just 10 minutes of looking back at your notes each day. And as VeronicaG said, you might not need Maths SL going into where you want to go so if you feel like it becomes too much, you can always reconsider taking Maths studies (my school even offers students the choice of dropping to Maths Studies halfway through Semester 1 of DP2). 

All in all, your subjects look fine as they are -- good luck in the DP! :) 

 

Edited by IB`ez
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On 26/06/2016 at 0:30 PM, IB`ez said:

That's the thing actually -- taking a science HL would force you to actually focus on it more and be motivated to do well at it since it's, well, one of your HL courses. Still from my own experience only though, but the majority of my friends who take a science SL usually only get 4s and 5s -- one person got a 7 at Physics SL, but still nobody else getting more than a 5 at either biology or physics SL.

On the other hand, people taking Physics/Biology HL usually get 6s or 7s depending on how much effort they put into (which is already considerable in the first place, but rewarding as hell). Also despite the fact that I take two science courses, I still plan on pursuing business as a major in university -- they might be somewhat useless in uni, but I enjoy them a lot and they're also what brings my grades up

Again though, it would depend from people to people and you should take my anecdotal evidence with a grain of salt. If you really don't like science, then an SL would be fine provided you still put in time and effort into it.

Your subject combination looks pretty solid overall I'd say, although I have little clue about what kind of course Global Politics is, other than being a Group 3 subject. English LaL is manageable for the average student, easy for someone with a strong affinity with english, and downright mental torture for someone who learnt it as a third language (like me :( ); Economics SL is ridiculously chill so you'll have no problems with it. The SL content in Biology is also damn simple enough that the only thing you need to perform well at it is just to avoid forgetting too many things too frequently -- you can avoid that by even just 10 minutes of looking back at your notes each day. And as VeronicaG said, you might not need Maths SL going into where you want to go so if you feel like it becomes too much, you can always reconsider taking Maths studies (my school even offers students the choice of dropping to Maths Studies halfway through Semester 1 of DP2). 

All in all, your subjects look fine as they are -- good luck in the DP! :) 

 

I'm not a native speaker, that's why I didn't choose English Lit😊

Since I'm weak in maths, do you know what I can do to prepare before beginning the Maths SL course? I really don't wanna drop it because I'm afraid unis will think I'm a weak student (my ideal choce would be International Relations at LSE so I must be competitive haha). If you have any other advice, thanks☺☺

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5 hours ago, Saraa22 said:

I'm not a native speaker, that's why I didn't choose English Lit😊

Since I'm weak in maths, do you know what I can do to prepare before beginning the Maths SL course? I really don't wanna drop it because I'm afraid unis will think I'm a weak student (my ideal choce would be International Relations at LSE so I must be competitive haha). If you have any other advice, thanks☺☺

I wouldn't suggest trying to self-study the Maths SL course over a summer as there is a lot of content, a large portion of them being pretty difficult too (at least for me). I'd only suggest consolidating your strengths in basic Algebra & functions -- are there still any common errors you make when factorizing quadratic equations? Are you familiar with the 3 different ways of solving for x in a quadratic equation?

You'd still be fine if you don't do them this summer though. The most important thing is to have a good study habit for practicing the content taught in class regularly and constantly. If you do textbook exercises (Haese Mathematics SL is the one I use) everyday and understand why the correct answer is what it is, you're well on your way to getting a 7 already. If you don't understand something, ask your teacher straightaway or even look at Khan Academy videos that are pretty helpful.

The first year of DP1 in Maths SL wasn't easy for me because I didn't practice enough, but its also only going to get harder. Several people in my class dropped to Maths Studies after seeing their results in our latest mock exam.

At the end of the day though, you can definitely do well in it provided you pay enough attention to it and avoid slacking off too frequently. 

 

 

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