HL Economics OR HL Chemistry?

[Jennasaurus]

Hello everyone!

I'm currently a student in first year IB (in grade 11 with 2 years of pre-IB), taking both economics and chemistry (required & chosen for us).

For next year, we have a choice of taking either HL Economics or HL Chemistry. If I choose HL Economics, then I have take SL Chemistry. However, if I take HL Chemistry, I can no longer continue with any economics course.

Even though economics is generally an easier course therefore a higher chance of achieving a 7, I chose chemistry because to get accepted into areas of science in universities, chemistry is required. Even if you're looking into business or economies in universities, there is no prerequisite of an economics credit (from what I heard). I was fine with my choice because writing, analyzing and explaining stuff has never been my strong skill, and there is a lot of that involved in economics. But I'm starting to realize that chemistry is not my strongest subject either, and I'm doing terrible in it, and it is not even higher-level yet!

So my question is, is it better to take HL Economics and get that 7, or HL Chemistry which is the harder path but will probably be more useful in university.

Thanks for your time!

-Jen

Edited November 23, 2009 by Jennasaurus

[Feist]

I was doing both HL Economics and HL Chemistry, but I have recently switched to HL Biology and SL Chemistry. My teachers encouraged me to make the switch so my best advice would be to ask them because they know a lot about the IB course and your capabilities.

Looking at your situation from the outside, I would recommend switching to SL Chem and HL Economics because it a) opens more doors for you because you have more courses, especially if Economics boosts your marks as you are expecting and b) lots of universities look at your overall IB mark so that might be important.

[Sandwich]

If not having Chemistry means you won't get into university, obviously go for that. If it's not a limiting factor and simply "useful", I'd definitely pick Economics. An easier 7 is ALWAYS going to help you... that and of course you'd still have SL Chem, so you would have done some science still.

[__inthemaking]

I did both HL chem and econ. Econ HL was way easier than chem HL, I pretty much taught it to myself using the syllabus and course companion because I was the first year econ HL was introduced at my school and my teachers had no idea what was on the syllabus, what IAs were, etc.

If you don't need chem for uni, take econ. If you do need chem, then take that.

[greaterthaninfinity]

Haha, I have a weird feeling you go to a school in my city... but in any case, I'm in HL Chemistry now and I regret it terribly. Economics was very self-evident in many cases and on many occasions, my classmates and I would be able to "get it" on the first try. HL Chemistry is an entirely different story.

If you're talking about Canadian universities, I will tell you right off the bat that ABSOLUTELY NO CANADIAN UNIVERSITY -REQUIRES- HL CHEMISTRY. This is a common misconception that people have but it's simply not true. Yes, if you want to save a thousand bucks by getting the first-year chemistry credit, then yes, I would recommend HL Chemistry. Otherwise though, if getting into the university of your choice is your TOP priority, I would not recommend HL Chemistry if you are already struggling.