Hey, I'm sorry I can't read what aeyurttaser13 has written because the text-speak is doing my head in so apologies if this has been covered.
Firstly, let me start with saying that most myths about IB are not true, and IB is a really great programme. It can definitely be tough and sound daunting at first, however, rest assured, this need not be the case. IB largely, and much more than other qualifications, is a
manageable qualification – this means that if you learn how to approach it, how to do things, and what’s the best practice, you can succeed with relative ease while if you fail to understand and approach the IB properly, it can become the bane of your life. So work smart not hard, and you'll do well and might actually enjoy it!
Your subject choices look great, Mathematics at HL will suit you very well for a career/further study in banking or finance, together with Economics for grounding in economic theory. Physics at HL is also a great course, however, do bear in mind that all HL courses are difficult, so make sure you choose those that you actually enjoy - if you do that, you won't find them difficult, and won't mind the bit of extra work you have to put in. So make sure you do like Maths, Econ and Phys. This is also true about SL as well - subject choices make or break candidates - but choosing what you enjoy at HL is crucial.
Social life is easy to have when you're doing the IB, I definitely had one and 90% of my classmates did too. There's always a couple of people who don't get how to do things and get too bogged down in unnecessary work or detail and spend too little time sleeping and enjoying themselves but that's the exception, or it should be anyway.
The way aeyurttaser13 listed ways to fail I think is entirely unrepresentative - very very few people fail. To get an E in TOK or EE, for example you basically have to not do it at all - and to get 24 points means getting 4 or less in everything, which means doing practically no work and not listening in the lessons. So, as you can see, for vast majority of people whether they're going to get the diploma is never really a consideration.
As for the amount you write in exams - it can sound daunting, again, (if someone told me I'd write 18 pages in 2 hours before I'd done IB I'd tell them they need to get their head checked) but it's not really that big a deal. The reason why you write so much is because you
know stuff and just need to get it down on paper - surely not a bad thing!
When it comes to exams it really is just get the questions and write down the answers as quick and well-developed as you can - not rocket science, really!
As for coursework, each course has an Internal Assessment component - for English it'd be a few essays, for economics, commentaries on articles, for physics practicals, etc. These are spread throughout the 2 years usually so it's not all at once, however, most people tend to find they procrastinate at first and then suddenly need to pull a few all-nighters - but it's all good fun, and you can avoid it if you plan properly and are good with deadlines
These are the questions I noticed - again, I'm sure aeyurttaser13 has explained most stuff, just thought I'd weigh in, as I think IB gets a bit too much bad press around TSR. I really did enjoy it, had fun, and a social life - and am not a 'geeky' person, nor a genius, by any means. Let me know if you have any other questions (or any that I have missed and that you'd like answered).