Balancing 4 HL's? How difficult is it?

[lmaoslastdancer]

Dear all,

 

I am currently in year 10 and am experiencing difficulty finalising my subject choices.

Currently, my choices stand as follows:

HL ENGLISH

HL ECONOMICS

HL BIOLOGY

HL CHEMISTRY

SL MATHS

SL CHINESE

 

I plan to study medicine after I graduate, however, in Australia, HL chemistry and HL biology is not a requirement, as the other option apart from the IB, the HSC, does not include extension sciences.

In my most recent school report (last week), I received A's across the board for my 8 subjects: extension science, extension maths, history, Chinese, French, extension English, RaVE, PDHPE.

The IB coordinator at our school stated that it was wise to star off with 4 HL's, especially chemistry, as it is more intellectually satisfying and covers university topics. Moreover, he stated that if it became too hard, I could drop it down at the end of year 11 to SL.

Despite these benefits, I am still hesitant as I could possibly waste time focusing on this HL in the first year, and then drop it down, meaning that precious time I could've spent on other subjects disappears. 

I was just wondering if any of you had started with 4 HL's (especially chemistry) and how hard you found it to manage.

Moreover, if any of you have taken HL chemistry, could you please tell me how you've found it, and it's level of difficulty, and any tips on how to manage it. 

Thanks a lot!

[SC2Player]

It may be recommended to study chemistry/biology at HL for application to Australia (I know the University of Queensland used to require chem HL, before it changed to graduate-only applications), but AFAIK no universities require one or both at HL anymore for direct entry.  It can still help you be more competitive, however, seeing that medicine can be quite a difficult course to get into.  Check university websites for more specifics.  

I myself started with 4 HLs, then dropped English HL for Further HL.  4 HL's aren't that hard if you're motivated, but it mostly doesn't seem to actually help much in applying to university.  

In terms of HL chemistry, I found it fairly simple, and one of my friends who takes both HL bio and chem finds HL chem easier.  It's apparently more conceptual than bio (but not so much as physics), and requires only some memorisation.  

[shellziess]

I balanced 4 HL's up until mid Grade 12. It is not as hard as it seems especially if you take HL English as there is no big difference between HL and SL but yes I would recomnend to drop one before it is too late.