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Original post by Tammybee
Hi, I need to choose my IB subjects soon, and I'm planning on HL: History, English Lit, Spanish B
SL: maths,chemistry, Classical Greek and Roman studies
I don't really know what I want to do in life, but I love history! Do you think These are good choices and: 1)is englishlit higher pointless 2) is HL history REALLY hard 3)should I do higher chemistry and 4) opinions on classical Greeks and Roman studies????
Also I am aiming for Cambridge, Oxford or ucl
Thank you x


Hihi :smile:

1) HL English Lit is a really good way of prepping yourself for essay-based subjects at uni, so take it!

2) I do (and absolutely love) HL History. It's a huge jump from iGCSE, particularly when it comes to writing essays. It's just vastly different, and doing my EE in it actually helped me improve a hundredfold. Content-wise, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. At my school we learn two units simultaneously; this year, we've studied Russia, Weimar and Nazi Germany, Italy, the League of Nations, and Japan. That's not even the entirety of our syllabus - we've still got the Cold War and Spanish Civil War to cover next year. Other than that, it's an amazing subject to take, so don't be put off by the large amount of work that you'll need to do. I think it's relatively similar to what studying history at university is sort of like, so take it!

3) If you're thinking of doing Classics or History, don't take HL Chem. Do it at SL instead. HL Chem is -- as per all of my Medicine friends -- "absolutely and positively deathly"

4) One of my friends wants to do Classics at uni, too. If you're interested in Ancient History, do it! History degrees -- which is what I'm applying to do at uni -- are more generalised; you study a range of units in different areas.
Original post by Tammybee
Hi, I need to choose my IB subjects soon, and I'm planning on HL: History, English Lit, Spanish B
SL: maths,chemistry, Classical Greek and Roman studies
I don't really know what I want to do in life, but I love history! Do you think These are good choices and: 1)is englishlit higher pointless 2) is HL history REALLY hard 3)should I do higher chemistry and 4) opinions on classical Greeks and Roman studies????
Also I am aiming for Cambridge, Oxford or ucl
Thank you x


Hey, since you're not sure what you want to do in life, I'd suggest taking a higher science. The Russell Group universities published a guide last year (or recently but I can't remember when), and they said that it's a good idea to take facilitating subjects at higher if you're not sure what you want to do.

History and English lit are considered facilitating subjects, but bear in mind that if you go with these two HLs with Spanish B, you're basically closing up all your science/maths options. However, if you take a higher science (in your case, higher Chem), you still have a shot at studying science in uni if you decide humanities aren't your thing.

To answer the questions you asked though, taking English lit isn't pointless. It'll prepare you a lot if you want to study humanities subjects in uni - in particular, any English-related subjects (so like journalism or whatever), history, philosophy, law and any other essay-based subject. Also, it's considered as a facilitating subject, which is useful, seeing as you don't know what you want to do in the future.

Not quite sure about the difficulty of HL History, since I'm starting IB next year, but I've heard that the content is a real pain in the ass to memorise at times. However, I do know that it's quite interesting - as long as you're willing to put in a lot of time in training yourself how to write history essays + memorising the content, you should be fine.

I already covered taking Chem above, so I'm just going to move on. Classical Greek and Roman studies are rather "old" languages to study, so I think if you're wanting to go into a history direction, it'd definitely be useful. However, if you're not 100% you want to be translating old texts or studying anything Greek/Roman/history related, I'd suggest you drop one of the subjects?

EDIT: HL Chem is not as hard as most people make it out to be. Again, as long as you do your work, you'll be fine. There's quite a high percentage of people scoring an A* in HL Chem, compared to, say, HL English and HL History.
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi, I need to choose my IB subjects quite soon and I'm a little indecisive.

My current thinking is:
1- English A HL (decision between literature or Language&Lit
2- Spanish B HL
3- Maths SL
4-Environmental Systems and Societies SL
5- Business Management/Art History SL
6-Visual Arts, design/ French B HL

I don't know for sure what I want to study at university but I know I will definitely not be doing anything science related. Languages, Psychology,
Law, Fashion Design or Property were always my main options and economics sounded very appealing in case I decided to work in finance but to do economics at IB, one needs to take Maths HL and for personal reasons, I missed a lot of school during GCSE's and decided SL maths would be more suited to me which rules out economics.
I'm also struggling with the decision between English Literature or Literature&Language and really wanted to hear about people's experience with both.
Also I don't know how highly business management is regarded and am unsure if I should take it.
My final dilemma is whether to do visual arts (which opens up the possibility of studying design at university) or French which I am very interested to proceed with as languages has always been a passion of mine.

I'm essentially very lost and would appreciate anyone's help and personal experiences with the aforementioned subjects.

Thank you in advance
Hi, I would definately take English literature, it is considered more of a 'pure' subject, and is preferred by universities as it is much more analytical writing.
I would also take visual arts over French, as if you want to continue with arts this is important and later in life it would be easier to continue learning.
Finally I would advise to definately not take business management, as it is a 'soft' subject and you are already taking another 'soft' subject (environmental systems) , therefore I recommend you take a subject such as geography, history, psychology, philosophy
Good luck
Original post by Help.A.A
Hi, I need to choose my IB subjects quite soon and I'm a little indecisive.

My current thinking is:
1- English A HL (decision between literature or Language&Lit
2- Spanish B HL
3- Maths SL
4-Environmental Systems and Societies SL
5- Business Management/Art History SL
6-Visual Arts, design/ French B HL

I


Hi :smile:

So to answer your questions:

- I currently take HL English L&L. If you want to do something like Law, go ahead and do literature. But since you're interested in languages, L&L is a good option for what's essentially a crash course in linguistics and language in a modern setting; it's not just about analysing books. Sure, lit is revered as the more 'useful' course by universities but bias aside, putting English into a real-life setting away from all of the books has really helped improve my writing and speaking significantly. Another plus is that it's coursework intensive; Year One consisted of getting all of my Further Oral Activities (FOA) and Written Tasks out of the way. All that's left for me to do in Year Two are my exams and Internal Oral Assessment (IOA).

Unit-wise, we studied language and gender, language and change, and language in power. My teacher decided to orient our studies around linguistic theories, psychoanalysis, and historical settings since that helps by allowing up to approach texts through a wide variety of lenses. Since there's no one way to analyse a text, so studying all of these new ideas certainly helped my class understand and become excited about putting something under scrutiny. As for lit, we're going to be studying Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale, The Bloody Chamber, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Othello, and The World's Wife. Three of those texts will be used in the exam, and the other three in the the IOA.

- If you're going to do Law, you should also take a humanities. Whilst History seems like the obvious choice for this, don't bother doing it if you're not interested in History; the workload is insane, and I'm currently trying to revise for five different units lol. Philosophy, whilst initially demoralising, is actually really interesting. You find yourself slipping into a philosophical worldview at inconvenient times. I mean, did we really start out as tabula rasas, or have our lives always been predetermined??????

- Don't take SL Maths if you don't need it for University. But since you're thinking of going into design, keep it as it is in the meantime. If you're finding it too difficult, don't be ashamed to swap to Studies. I'd rather get shunned for taking a soft subject than get shunned for working the life and soul out of me and only scraping a 4 or 5 in SL. You learn quickly that you'll do anything for easy marks ...
Thank you so much for your detailed answer, I've decided to take Maths SL for now and if it gets too hard to drop to Maths Studies.

The school I'm going to doesn't unfortunately offer philosophy (although that did always sound appealing) and I haven't done history as a GCSE so I'm a bit wary of taking it at a higher level... Also heard about the enormous workload- good luck

I'm leaning towards literature only because the books studied are ones I've wanted to study for a while.

Again, thank you very much
so.. im starting IB on august and im still thinking about my sub. choices
for now:
HL: Biology, psychology and geography
SL: Eng A L&L, Chi A L&L, Math SL (not studies)

im still indecisive about my future career path but im thinking about doing psych/geo in uni

1.can someone tell me whether doing a bilingual diploma helps for uni application? is it doable?
2. are my HLs tough since theyre all memorization based subjects.
3. i **suck** as maths so will SL be tough for me?

im aiming for UCL!! *thanks in advance!
I don't think that combination looks hard. I've heard that bilingual diplomas are a waste of time and you're better off going for language A + language B. And I found Math SL quite easy but if you don't need Math for what you want to study, you might as well take Studies.
Could I do Geography, Music, Physics HL and English Lit, Maths, Spanish Ab Initio SL and have a decent chance to get into Cambridge (for instance) to do AMES (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies)? I do Japanese GCSE, but the sixth form I want to go to only does Japanese ab initio.
Original post by ravenclaw_
Could I do Geography, Music, Physics HL and English Lit, Maths, Spanish Ab Initio SL and have a decent chance to get into Cambridge (for instance) to do AMES (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies)? I do Japanese GCSE, but the sixth form I want to go to only does Japanese ab initio.


Hi, for that aim I would advise doing history HL and English HL as they would both be the most similar subjects, and show good essay writing. Also, out of interest, are you sure you want to continue with AMES, just as it is a very narrow field to study about, however if that's your dream go for it :smile:
Original post by nerdcry
so.. im starting IB on august and im still thinking about my sub. choices
for now:
HL: Biology, psychology and geography
SL: Eng A L&L, Chi A L&L, Math SL (not studies)

im still indecisive about my future career path but im thinking about doing psych/geo in uni

1.can someone tell me whether doing a bilingual diploma helps for uni application? is it doable?
2. are my HLs tough since theyre all memorization based subjects.
3. i **suck** as maths so will SL be tough for me?

im aiming for UCL!! *thanks in advance!


Hi, honestly I wouldn't bother doing a bilingual diploma, most universities in the Uk don't even recognise it! Your HL are fine, if you're good at memorisation and don't mind it, then you should find it really good! I have a friend who's doing those HLs and they are finding it fine, as (apparently) geography is one of the easiest HLs. For maths, I'd advise, start off at standard, and if you struggle at all drop down to studies. It's much better to get a 7 in studies than a 4 in standard!!!
Good luck !
Original post by Tammybee
Hi, for that aim I would advise doing history HL and English HL as they would both be the most similar subjects, and show good essay writing. Also, out of interest, are you sure you want to continue with AMES, just as it is a very narrow field to study about, however if that's your dream go for it :smile:

I don't do history GCSE so can't do it HL. I'm not sure if I could handle HL English - I'm predicted an 8/9 in my GCSEs, but it's probably one of my weaker subjects. I thought if I did the IB I wouldn't have to do English at a really high level, but would still do enough essay writing for the uni s to like me - maybe this isn't the case ? Id like to do AMES as I like Japabese and want to be fluent + I think it's a unique selling point. I'm considering going into the diplomatic service, or doing a law conversion and be a solicitor. Thanks :smile:
Well its not 100% certain yet whether I'll be studying these subjects at the following levels but here they are:
Higher Level
Maths - will be very difficult i know
Chemistry
Physics
Standard Level
English Lit & Lang
Dutch- language B
Economics

Feel free to give me tips and advice, many thanks
Reply 1613
So I'm new in IB, I'm gonna take

Hl:
History
English
Psychology ? Geography ?

Sl:
Biology
Spanish
Math Studies

I never took psychology or geography, could someone please tell me which one to choose and why? Do I need a lot of previous knowledge for any of them or is it like from the beginning? Also what do you think of my other subjects? Please give me advice.
Original post by edy739
So I'm new in IB, I'm gonna take

Hl:
History
English
Psychology ? Geography ?

Sl:
Biology
Spanish
Math Studies

I never took psychology or geography, could someone please tell me which one to choose and why? Do I need a lot of previous knowledge for any of them or is it like from the beginning? Also what do you think of my other subjects? Please give me advice.


I think those are fine I personally suck at english and I heard history requires quite a bit of mugging but if you're planning on taking history go straight for the HL because from what I know, SL history is basically HL minus 1 topic or so, so it's really wasted effort to take it as an SL.Math studies on the other hand err... Well I don't know how proficient you are at math but from where I come from (not UK/US), math studies is like what we learn in 8th Grade/Secondary 2 which is REALLY easy like honestly a 7 in math studies is worth jack I would strongly recommend at least pushing that up to an SL math which is a kinda of mediocre to good level of difficulty that is more openly recognised for any degree you want to pursue. I know it may seem irrelevant but from what I heard q a lot of schools look at not just your HLs but your SLs too when considering you for a position so keep that in mind!!
DO NOT TAKE IB FOR MATHS/SCIENCE courses

It kills

TAKE IB FOR ENGLISH, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, other BS subjects (any offence is not intended)
Original post by DamyanP12000
Well its not 100% certain yet whether I'll be studying these subjects at the following levels but here they are:
Higher Level
Maths - will be very difficult i know
Chemistry
Physics
Standard Level
English Lit & Lang
Dutch- language B
Economics

Feel free to give me tips and advice, many thanks


MATE... consder your chemisty/physics options if youre really determined taking HL maths. v risky with 3 sciences

Why the IB life?
Original post by kimberry50
DO NOT TAKE IB FOR MATHS/SCIENCE courses

It kills

TAKE IB FOR ENGLISH, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, other BS subjects (any offence is not intended)


Hi, I've just chosen my IB choices for next year (HL history, economics, french, SL maths,English,ESS). And I'm interested in studying international relations at LSE. Out of interest, what makes you say it is BS? Curious because obviously that's the degre of my choice. Also how do you think my subjects look for pursuing this?
Original post by Tammybee
Hi, I've just chosen my IB choices for next year (HL history, economics, french, SL maths,English,ESS). And I'm interested in studying international relations at LSE. Out of interest, what makes you say it is BS? Curious because obviously that's the degre of my choice. Also how do you think my subjects look for pursuing this?


When I say BS, i dont mean it in a demeaning way. Rather with english, and politically related subjects, one can manipulate language in a way to support your point, whereas in the sciences, its obviously slightly challenging to argue an interpretation (Math laws, newton's theories, etc) :P (also im not saying that they are easy subjects either- speaking from a HL english and econ perspective)

Have you investigated LSE's course requirements yet? They would help define your option blocks, but from my perspective, your highers stand you in a good place when you compete at such a high ranked uni. Also UCL like languages so you'd probably have an offer there too if you applied with excellent grades.

Careful that you dont get into economics though, becasue UCL, LSE Warwick and oxbridge require HL maths, in addition to a number of modules at other places that dont explicitly require HL maths at point of entry.
Original post by DamyanP12000
Well its not 100% certain yet whether I'll be studying these subjects at the following levels but here they are:
Higher Level
Maths - will be very difficult i know
Chemistry
Physics
Standard Level
English Lit & Lang
Dutch- language B
Economics

Feel free to give me tips and advice, many thanks


Hi,
I noticed a few people were warning you about your HL subjects so I thought I'd pitch in with my thoughts. I myself take Chem, Bio, and Econ HL, and I am finding it challenging and rewarding at the same time. The work load it heavy, but its IB and to be honest, what's the point of studying something that's easy?! If you're going to do the IB you might as well choose the subjects you know you're going to enjoy, because HL goes into quite a lot of detail.

In terms of your particular choices, I have a friend that takes the same HLs and he is finding it perfectly manageable (although it must be said that he is one of the most organised and efficient human beings I have ever met). Anyway, if you're committed and you're IGCSE/GCSE grades are good enough to take those subjects at HL I wouldn't see any reason not to. Just make sure you get your IAs done quickly, and stay on top of your work. I know that goes without saying, but the work can get out of hand very quickly.

Oh, and something to keep in mind is that if you already know what you want to study at uni you should look at their subject requirements.

Best of luck with all your choices!

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