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MATH HL and choices dilemma !


Ter T

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Hey everyone I'm currently a 10th Grader already in an IB school. (Yes I still have my personal project to work on!)

Anyways, to get to the point my course choices are going to be due in two weeks but I'm still not sure about what courses should I take yet!

My initial choice are:

HL: Physics, Chemistry, Math

SL: English A1, Thai A2, (Either Business and Management or Environmental Systems and Societies)

Now the problem I have for either BNM and ESS is that I'm an OK math student but I want to pursue engineering career, the counsellor suggest I choose BNM because if I fail to do Math HL I can do BNM on HL instead since I don't want to do my languages at HL. Now, I think ESS is also an interesting subject and the teacher said that there is less workload than BNM. Other than that many people say I could take a Business course in University.

I wouldn't want to sacrifice my Math at HL and even though I'm not a great math student I'm willing to work my @$$ out this year to be able to get ready for the work that's coming. Does anyone have any suggestion on what I should do to get prepared for MATH HL?

Any suggestions about what I should do between BNM or ESS?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

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Wellll I can't be -too- helpful as I did neither BNM or Systems and Societies (I actually have to admit I thought/think this was/is a science, not a humanity! XD) and have little knowledge about getting into Engineering, buttt what I would say is that your HL options are going to be ABSOLUTE DEATH.

Honestly, those're the three hardest subjects for which you'll need to work and revise the most, and if you're not naturally mathematical, Physics and Maths are going to be a major bitch. You may think it'll all be easy to do the work and try really hard throughout IB, but from experience with my friend (who maaaajorly underperformed in the IB :D ) when it comes to exam time, it's hellish to know and practice ALL your Maths, Physics and Chemistry at HL simultaneously and that is the undoing of people, as opposed to not putting the effort in as they're going along ('cause they do). You have to be VERY focussed, proactive and organised in advance about revision. So! I think you're either brave or foolhardly (I don't mean to discourage you, but there is an aspect of realism alongside the exaggeration here xP) to do those three HLs and, if you're set on them, my advice is to pick whichever additional subject will give you the least additional load of work. Less time spent revising whatever it is = more time cramming Physics, Maths and Chemistry. You want any subject requiring little revision. For instance Philosophy is a brilliant humanity to take if you don't want to revise much for it during your exam weeks ;O Or if you're definitely after one of those two original options, if your teacher says ESS has less work, do that (:

You will thank yourself when your time comes :P

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Wellll I can't be -too- helpful as I did neither BNM or Systems and Societies (I actually have to admit I thought/think this was/is a science, not a humanity! :D) and have little knowledge about getting into Engineering, buttt what I would say is that your HL options are going to be ABSOLUTE DEATH.

Honestly, those're the three hardest subjects for which you'll need to work and revise the most, and if you're not naturally mathematical, Physics and Maths are going to be a major bitch. You may think it'll all be easy to do the work and try really hard throughout IB, but from experience with my friend (who maaaajorly underperformed in the IB :D ) when it comes to exam time, it's hellish to know and practice ALL your Maths, Physics and Chemistry at HL simultaneously and that is the undoing of people, as opposed to not putting the effort in as they're going along ('cause they do). You have to be VERY focussed, proactive and organised in advance about revision. So! I think you're either brave or foolhardly (I don't mean to discourage you, but there is an aspect of realism alongside the exaggeration here xP) to do those three HLs and, if you're set on them, my advice is to pick whichever additional subject will give you the least additional load of work. Less time spent revising whatever it is = more time cramming Physics, Maths and Chemistry. You want any subject requiring little revision. For instance Philosophy is a brilliant humanity to take if you don't want to revise much for it during your exam weeks ;O Or if you're definitely after one of those two original options, if your teacher says ESS has less work, do that (:

You will thank yourself when your time comes :D

Thanks for pointing that out. I should have thought about how much work it would be to revise all that when EXAM comes. I was having my head up in the clouds earlier I guess. I'll have to think about my life more and the things I would wanna do in the future. I'll be looking to choose better choices :D

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I'm in Math, Physics and Chem (we learn everything at HL level in my school) but there was no way I was testing all 3 HL. The amount of material to review for Math & Physics is enormous and those are at the top of the hardest HL exams. I would take at least one SL if I were you. Also, I'm not really "math-minded". I mean I got As in SL1, but from IB1 onward Math had to become my number one class (in terms of work-wise) so if you don't need, don't do it, because my IB1 Physics grade definitely dropped because of math. If you still are deadset on taking the class, I guess pick the one science you like the most to take HL, because all three if you're not naturally inclined will be difficult.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wellll I can't be -too- helpful as I did neither BNM or Systems and Societies (I actually have to admit I thought/think this was/is a science, not a humanity! XD) and have little knowledge about getting into Engineering, buttt what I would say is that your HL options are going to be ABSOLUTE DEATH.

Honestly, those're the three hardest subjects for which you'll need to work and revise the most, and if you're not naturally mathematical, Physics and Maths are going to be a major bitch. You may think it'll all be easy to do the work and try really hard throughout IB, but from experience with my friend (who maaaajorly underperformed in the IB :) ) when it comes to exam time, it's hellish to know and practice ALL your Maths, Physics and Chemistry at HL simultaneously and that is the undoing of people, as opposed to not putting the effort in as they're going along ('cause they do). You have to be VERY focussed, proactive and organised in advance about revision. So! I think you're either brave or foolhardly (I don't mean to discourage you, but there is an aspect of realism alongside the exaggeration here xP) to do those three HLs and, if you're set on them, my advice is to pick whichever additional subject will give you the least additional load of work. Less time spent revising whatever it is = more time cramming Physics, Maths and Chemistry. You want any subject requiring little revision. For instance Philosophy is a brilliant humanity to take if you don't want to revise much for it during your exam weeks ;O Or if you're definitely after one of those two original options, if your teacher says ESS has less work, do that (:

You will thank yourself when your time comes :)

I think this really varies from person to person, but I'm afraid I will have to slightly disagree with you here (at least based on my personal experience). I started the IB this August and so far its actually been quite easy (except for somewhat recurring brain-numbing problems in Further Maths which can be dealt with). I have Maths, Physics, Chemistry and English A1 at HL and I too was highly discouraged from this combination by our counsellor at my school. However, things have been going quite well so far (with 95% or above on our tests and past exam papers) so yes, you need dedication and perseverance but it isn't as impossible as some would make you think (again, we are all different and we work in different ways).

I'm positive that I would have regretted it had I taken something else, so if you think you can do it, then go for it!

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You know I said this earlier, but HL: PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND MATH is a terror trios..lol.

So since you're thinking of going to engineering, these may be necessary, so bare in mind that your SLs need to be very easy, because as Alice said, you have to think about the revision periode before you think about the course of the 2 years, it's going to be so stressful revising for your HLs only, Math HL and Physics HL are NOT easy at all. Even if it is, it needs a lot of work.

I would ask an engineer or your IBC if Chem HL si vital, otherwise take it as SL, and take Thai A2 HL.

for the last group, I wouldn't take BNM because seriously it's about business and economical stuff which aren't going to be that useful for you as an engineer. Whereas ESS is an area that is researched by all domains even engineers, my dad is electrical engineer prof yet his interest is revolved around the enviroment this period because it is very demanded. Think about the future before you think about passing IB exams only. :blink:

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