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SL Econ vs HL Econ


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Hello,

I am currently taking the following courses: 

  • HL Mathematics
  • HL Physics
  • HL English Language & Literature
  • SL Music
  • SL Japanese Ab
  • SL Economics

I am considering changing my SL Economics course to HL; this change will leave me with 4 HL and 2 SL subjects. How large is the difference in difficulty between HL and SL Economics? I'm aware that, for instance, the difference in difficulty between HL Maths and that of SL Maths is relatively large. Currently, I am able to maintain full grades in SL Economics, and after comparing the textbooks of SL and HL, it seems as if there is not much of a difference in the two courses.

Should I make this transition from SL to HL? 

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Well, HL economics includes math which is not covered in SL. However, if you have a decent grasp of math like calculating the gradient and use a bit of common sense and don't let the wording trick you, its not a huge problem.

 

The next bit covered by HL is Theory of the Firm. This is a little tricky, but again, its something that you can understand pretty well provided you pay some attention. 

 

Although, the thing I would urge you to consider is the fact that 4 HLs is not easy, and does not really give you any major advantage. Also, Physics and math HL are notorious for being incredibly difficult. I personally did not find English Lang/Lit HL to be very hard, but it is time consuming (perfecting your written tasks, practicing for the IOC and FOA etc.). So if I were you, I'd stick with the subjects you have, unless your uni wants Econ HL, but then you should consider dropping a subject to SL.

 

Hope this helps.

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I regret so much dropping English A to SL instead of Economics. 

There's a crap load of content in Economics HL that makes the waste dump in the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository look like a fleck of dust.

Since you already take Physics and Maths HL, it's not going to be easy. Several of my friends got full grades for the first semester in DP1 when still covering Micro, but then a lot of people had their grades falling once we moved on to Macro and International Economics. One of the primary reasons being with so much content to cover, you're stretched thin in really trying to maintain/improve your scores.

Lastly, there still really is a significant disparity between HL and SL, one of the big difference being a total of 90 recommended teaching hours, not taking into account the much more extra time you'll have to spend at home to work it through. 

But, it really is your own choice though. If you really have the passion for it (this is ridiculously important -- I strongly recommend you not to take Economics HL if you don't have even the slightest passion for it, as I'm finding out...), then by all means do it. It'll be difficult, but nothing is undoable. And as @King112 has pointed out, it really won't make your application more competitive, and may only serve to make getting good grades more difficult. 

 

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