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Can Choosing Maths Studies Limit My Choice in Universities


RossTony

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Hi,

I'm currently at the end of my first year in IB and possibly be predicted for a grade of 27 only! All because of Math and Physics(not really important at this thread). I originally chose Maths HL but soon downgraded to Maths SL and now I'm thinking of Math Studies. I'm just not good with numbers as in any other subjects I excel in it e.g English or Geo or Business. I chose Maths SL to ensure my choices aren't limited to only a few choices(University courses). I'm only really interested in the following courses:

- Business Management

- Finance and Accounting

- Geography/International relation

- Politics/law

 

Thank you,

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I can't speak for all unis, but for all Australian (and I'm guessing a fair few US/UK ones), math studies will hinder you in Busines Management and Finance and Accounting. I would try to understand where you're going wrong and try to work on that. Perhaps look into getting a tutor.


For politics and/or Int relations, you should be OK. I can't imagine they would be too picky on the math aspect.  A close friend of mine tells me that Geography actually involves a fair amount of statistics. Therefore, I'm not sure if unis would let you join with math studies.

Certainly there are universities that would accept Math studies for commerce based subjects, but they would be fewer.

 

Hope this helps.

Best of luck

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2 minutes ago, King112 said:

I can't speak for all unis, but for all Australian (and I'm guessing a fair few US/UK ones), math studies will hinder you in Busines Management and Finance and Accounting. I would try to understand where you're going wrong and try to work on that. Perhaps look into getting a tutor.


For politics and/or Int relations, you should be OK. I can't imagine they would be too picky on the math aspect.  A close friend of mine tells me that Geography actually involves a fair amount of statistics. Therefore, I'm not sure if unis would let you join with math studies.

Certainly there are universities that would accept Math studies for commerce based subjects, but they would be fewer.

 

Hope this helps.

Best of luck

Hi, yes Geography does have a fair bit of stats e.g Spearman's/Pearson's. My main concern really is, are they only going to be looking at the overall grade? Because only Math and Physics are pulling me down.

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Yes. Most unis look at the overall. They have a cutoff (at least UK/Australian) unis do, and often requirements in that cutoff. 
So for example, Uni X says "we need 32 points with a  566 at HL with Physics HL" (just an example). So then they will look at the overall grade and the specific requirements.

It is possible, and I'd say likely, that if you meet the requirements they will look at the other grades too. So let's say a uni needs 27 points, and you meet that, then they will look at individual scores. Depends on the uni though.

Hope that helps.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/11/2018 at 5:29 PM, King112 said:

Yes. Most unis look at the overall. They have a cutoff (at least UK/Australian) unis do, and often requirements in that cutoff. 
So for example, Uni X says "we need 32 points with a  566 at HL with Physics HL" (just an example). So then they will look at the overall grade and the specific requirements.

It is possible, and I'd say likely, that if you meet the requirements they will look at the other grades too. So let's say a uni needs 27 points, and you meet that, then they will look at individual scores. Depends on the uni though.

Hope that helps.

Quite fitting, I got a 27 and I really don't understand how

I got 6's for all His and 432 in SL when I should've got 434 on the basis of my last final exam

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Grades like 234 could be easily improved if you work more efficiently. Math and Physics are about studying regularly, asking questions when confused, and doing a variety of problems. The best way to ensure that you get into a university is by working smarter and getting better grades. Otherwise as year 2 gets harder than year 1, lower grades are not looking promising with risk of even not getting diploma (you need 9 points in SL). If you just get to 31 ish (with ToK/EE) you should get multiple offers.  

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17 hours ago, kw0573 said:

Grades like 234 could be easily improved if you work more efficiently. Math and Physics are about studying regularly, asking questions when confused, and doing a variety of problems. The best way to ensure that you get into a university is by working smarter and getting better grades. Otherwise as year 2 gets harder than year 1, lower grades are not looking promising with risk of even not getting diploma (you need 9 points in SL). If you just get to 31 ish (with ToK/EE) you should get multiple offers.  

I'm planning to move to Math Studies because I'm dead serious, I worked hard and yet this is what I got. Physics was very very hard. I chose these subjects on the basis of my IGCSE grades where I got all A's on them but apprently I'm not good on them 

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24 minutes ago, RossTony said:

I'm planning to move to Math Studies because I'm dead serious, I worked hard and yet this is what I got. Physics was very very hard. I chose these subjects on the basis of my IGCSE grades where I got all A's on them but apprently I'm not good on them 

Most universities do not accept Math studies for finance and accounting. I am neutral with dropping to Studies. You have to improve on your physics grade anyways. 9 SL points is the minimum to get the diploma. 

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7 minutes ago, kw0573 said:

Most universities do not accept Math studies for finance and accounting. I am neutral with dropping to Studies. You have to improve on your physics grade anyways. 9 SL points is the minimum to get the diploma. 

Do I have any other options? I'm really terrible

Could I study law with this? Physics I can push it up but maths is a given. And yes I got a 9 for SL while for HL 18

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7 hours ago, kw0573 said:

You may possibly study law (or pre-law) with Studies, but you need higher overall grades.

Me again. I saw your reply to an earlier comment regarding the same topic. I honestly only chose SL because I thought that I had a chance with engineering somehow if I could get that 6 in there. However, seeing my last result I don't see how that's possible. I was advised by my counsellor to go Canada for some reason and so:

What are the requirements for Canadian universities if you were applying for: Political Science, Law, Geography and International Affairs?

I'm almost on my last year and haven't even reached that 35 points.

Also if you could answer: Are the overall points all that matters?

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I don't have the numbers memorized but I think for the majors you mentioned they need minimum 31-32 out of 45. Engineering is often higher because school needs to make sure students know basic science, and good at math. Overall points matter more in UK, where competitive schools may ask for 40+. US and Canadian schools also look at your extracurriculars (including CAS). Basically you cannot take weak subject choices like Math Studies AND get poor grades and expect to get into these majors (as an international student). I think you should take this summer to catch up in some subjects (like physics and math) because once you find the way to study you can improve pretty quickly. 

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1 hour ago, kw0573 said:

I don't have the numbers memorized but I think for the majors you mentioned they need minimum 31-32 out of 45. Engineering is often higher because school needs to make sure students know basic science, and good at math. Overall points matter more in UK, where competitive schools may ask for 40+. US and Canadian schools also look at your extracurriculars (including CAS). Basically you cannot take weak subject choices like Math Studies AND get poor grades and expect to get into these majors (as an international student). I think you should take this summer to catch up in some subjects (like physics and math) because once you find the way to study you can improve pretty quickly. 

Alright. Thanks for the help. 

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On 6/11/2018 at 5:29 PM, King112 said:

Yes. Most unis look at the overall. They have a cutoff (at least UK/Australian) unis do, and often requirements in that cutoff. 
So for example, Uni X says "we need 32 points with a  566 at HL with Physics HL" (just an example). So then they will look at the overall grade and the specific requirements.

It is possible, and I'd say likely, that if you meet the requirements they will look at the other grades too. So let's say a uni needs 27 points, and you meet that, then they will look at individual scores. Depends on the uni though.

Hope that helps.

And so it's not only the overall. It can be individual subjects.

So in your opinion, would you consider moving to math studies if you were in my position?

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