ChocolateAndVanilla Posted February 9, 2019 Report Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hey, I'm going to start IB in September 2019 and so far my subject choices are: English B HL Geography HL Biology HL Chemistry HL Maths SL Polish Lit SL I was wondering if choosing English A SL and dropping English B HL isn't a better option. I would love to study medicine in the future but I'm taking Geo HL because I love this subject (and I've heard it's relatively easy) and then I still have the possibility to change my mind and study a course connected with Geography at the university. Do you think that English A SL is 'harder' than English B HL (that's what my English teacher says but I'm not sure if she's a reliable source)? Or is it considered worse by the universities (because it's SL, not HL)? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyserbest Posted March 3, 2019 Report Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) English A SL is better than English B HL (even though you don't have to get a 6 or 7 in EngA for universities). I do not do English A in order to get better grades and save time (that's what my teachers say). I also think 3 HLs are better than 4 HLs. English A is a combination of language and literature (you do not just need to read books, you have to analyze them as well). English B HL is easier because you won't have to analyze books and most of the students in my class take English B (23 students in both SL and HL, 13 students taking HL) compared to English A (14 students). You can do EngASL if you're good at analyzing. I would recommend English B HL in order to not do another language A (because all the other LangA students (not English) take EngBHL), but I'm too bad to talk about it sry Edited March 3, 2019 by lilyserbest Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
George2004 Posted April 16, 2020 Report Share Posted April 16, 2020 Some people think that choosing English A SL will be much more competetitive comparing to English B HL,it is true? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateAndVanilla Posted April 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2020 6 hours ago, George2004 said: Some people think that choosing English A SL will be much more competetitive comparing to English B HL,it is true? I finally chose English B and in general it's fine if you don't want to study very "humanities" course at the university. I want to study medicine and decided that it English A (even at SL) is more work than English B and it's hard to get a 7 at. I also have to take Polish A (it's school's requirement so I would have to have 2 A languages). And I know people who got into law (or similar courses) at some of the best unis in the UK and had English B. But if you like literature and don't have to take Chinese A (if you prefer to have English than Chinese), then go for it! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
George2004 Posted April 17, 2020 Report Share Posted April 17, 2020 7 hours ago, ChocolateAndVanilla said: I finally chose English B and in general it's fine if you don't want to study very "humanities" course at the university. I want to study medicine and decided that it English A (even at SL) is more work than English B and it's hard to get a 7 at. I also have to take Polish A (it's school's requirement so I would have to have 2 A languages). And I know people who got into law (or similar courses) at some of the best unis in the UK and had English B. But if you like literature and don't have to take Chinese A (if you prefer to have English than Chinese), then go for it! So how about choosing 2 language A courses? Will it be very busy, or difficult to get the time balanced? Since my school required every students to take Chinese A. And, could a student take only English B and study in all fields of studies excluding humanities(including social sciences)? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haileyjung Posted April 17, 2020 Report Share Posted April 17, 2020 two language As would give you a Bilingual diploma so it won't harm you Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateAndVanilla Posted April 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2020 16 hours ago, George2004 said: So how about choosing 2 language A courses? Will it be very busy, or difficult to get the time balanced? Since my school required every students to take Chinese A. And, could a student take only English B and study in all fields of studies excluding humanities(including social sciences)? I believe you can study even humanities without English A, especially if you have any essay based subject (such as History or Economics) at HL because they usually require an essay based subject, however, I'm not sure about that. You can choose 2 A languages, in my class there are like 10-15 people out of 40 who take both Polish A and English A lang&lit. Is English offered by your school lit or lang&lit? If it's lang&lit, then it should be fine, if lit, it may be more demanding. 5 hours ago, haileyjung said: two language As would give you a Bilingual diploma so it won't harm you It's not true actually and I don't think bilingual diploma gives you any kind of huge "benefit" unless you study langauhes or sth related. But in general, if you get a grade 3 or higher (so the requirement is not really high) in 2 languages A, you get a bilingual diploma OR if you get a 3 at least in your language A and at least a 3 in a subject from group 3 completed in a different language than your language A. So you don't need to have 2 A languages to receive a bilingual diploma Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboyiu Posted October 9, 2021 Report Share Posted October 9, 2021 On 4/17/2020 at 7:41 PM, haileyjung said: two language As would give you a Bilingual diploma so it won't harm you english b at sl/hl and another language a would still give you a bilingual diploma Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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