[Bianca_acnaiB]

Hi everyone! I will start IB next week and currently I am thinking of choosing the following subjects:

Chinese A1 HL
Geography HL
Business Studies HL

English A2 SL
Mathematics SL
Environmental Science SL (or... I am not sure if it has changed into sth called Ecology and sth.)

I still have not got a firm decision about what I will do in uni... but it will be sth like languages, journalism, communication, management and even law and geography =.=

I will opt for unis either in UK or in Hong Kong.

Now there's a problem. I've read through this forum and found that the majority said many competitive unis in UK has strong bias towards Business Studies. Then should I still go for it? If I got a fine overall mark in IB and a good personal statement, how would my choice of taking Business Studies affect my application?

I chose Business Studies instead of Economics at first simply because I only got a D in my HKCEE Economics (a public exam in Hong Kong... HKCEE is more demanding than GSCE O-Level in Mathematics and Sciences, but I am not sure about Economics...) I was not paying a lot of efforts still I had spent quite some days in order to understand those demand and supply curves and graphs etc.

Moreover, I heard essay-writing is the main component of courseworks and exams in Business Studies, but since my first language is not English, I am afraid that I will be stucked on that...

Could anyone give some suggestions? Thanks a lot!

[kamie]

I'd suggest you take Economics - basically you've probably already covered a portion of it from the HKCEE, as the first two modules are very supply and demand curve based, and you will be taught it from scratch which will make it easier.

You should probably talk to a teacher about the weightings of Business Studies coursework - this is available on the A-Level, but I don't know about the IB. I can't help with exam format for this reason too - I've done A-Levels!

[loh742]

Originally Posted by Bianca_acnaiB

Hi everyone! I will start IB next week and currently I am thinking of choosing the following subjects:

Chinese A1 HL
Geography HL
Business Studies HL

English A2 SL
Mathematics SL
Environmental Science SL (or... I am not sure if it has changed into sth called Ecology and sth.)

I still have not got a firm decision about what I will do in uni... but it will be sth like languages, journalism, communication, management and even law and geography =.=

I will opt for unis either in UK or in Hong Kong.

Now there's a problem. I've read through this forum and found that the majority said many competitive unis in UK has strong bias towards Business Studies. Then should I still go for it? If I got a fine overall mark in IB and a good personal statement, how would my choice of taking Business Studies affect my application?

I chose Business Studies instead of Economics at first simply because I only got a D in my HKCEE Economics (a public exam in Hong Kong... HKCEE is more demanding than GSCE O-Level in Mathematics and Sciences, but I am not sure about Economics...) I was not paying a lot of efforts still I had spent quite some days in order to understand those demand and supply curves and graphs etc.

Moreover, I heard essay-writing is the main component of courseworks and exams in Business Studies, but since my first language is not English, I am afraid that I will be stucked on that...

Could anyone give some suggestions? Thanks a lot!

Econ HL REQUIRES A LOT OF ESSAY WRITING TOO. Coursework = 4* 750 words. Papers 1 and 2 are pure essay writing. You have to answer 4 (actually 5, cuz from current trends the paper 1 questions are usually split into 10 + 15 points instead of one grand 25 point question), and for paper 3 there are 3 data response questions, which the most notorious part is the 8 point evaluation questions. Just a very rough estimation, assuming you can write 600 words an hour under exam condition, you need to write another 2400 words in the written exam. Whether English is your first language or not is irrelevant. Fact is you need to do a lot of writing in both subjects.

While a D in HKCEE econ may say something about your general academic ability, it may not give you a specific disadvantage on doing Econ HL. Econ HL assumes no prior knowledge in economics. Knowing demand and supply is a plus, but is not a must. Even if you get an A in HKCEE, at max you will have a better kick off when you study demand supply elasticity short run long run LDMR, and later on unemployment and inflation. That's pretty much it.

Plus, other students may have studied business studies at IGCSE level, where there is no equivalence in HKCEE (closest relative is probably commerce). If your rationale for doing business studies is because you do not have a strong foundation in economics, then the fact that you have no foundation in business studies should make you think twice whether you should pick Business HL.

Btw, in Hong Kong, I'm afraid there are very few business management study materials. There are relatively more econ study materials in Hong Kong. So in case your teachers are bad and you need to teach yourself (which may not be surprising; i bet you're in one of the schools that have just switched from one system to IB), then it may be easier to seek help in Econ.

As for your subject combo, I think Environmental studies + not HL math + business management will put you at a disadvantage if you're compared with another candidate that takes SL biology + HL math + SL economics. But I think i'm very biased on this, better look for other people's opinions.

[jhomie]

Take it from me... do business studies a.k.a business & management?

why? B&M is much easier than economics, and if you want to do economics in university, you dont need to have done economics before so why not get an easy 7?

[trm90]

Statistically more people get 7s in Economics than B&M.

Economics is probably easier than Geography and B&M, provided you have an above average teacher and you don't fall behind on concepts at any point.

[atoms4peace]

Originally Posted by trm90

Statistically more people get 7s in Economics than B&M.

Economics is probably easier than Geography and B&M, provided you have an above average teacher and you don't fall behind on concepts at any point.

cause more dummies do B&M

[jhomie]

Originally Posted by trm90

Statistically more people get 7s in Economics than B&M.

Economics is probably easier than Geography and B&M, provided you have an above average teacher and you don't fall behind on concepts at any point.

Originally Posted by atoms4peace

cause more dummies do B&M

i did B&M HL because i did business studies for GCSE, so i find it rather easy and it is almost similar except with more essay writing and a few more topics. I'm not sure if i want to do economics in university, but if i do, universities don't require you to have done economics.

So why not do somehting you've done before and get a 7 with out trying as hard as if you were to take on something new and get a 5 or 6.

[__Ryll]

I'm taking economics right now and I'm finding it a pretty easy-to-handle subject especially with two fab teachers and an okay textbook. In my school, econ teachers also teach Business and one of them always tell us how it is harder to get a seven in business unlike econ cause of a really difficult last section (or something of the sort). If I remember correctly, statistics for getting seven are something like 60% for Econ and 6% for BS - according to that teacher.

But of course, these are just from one person's view and I'm not actually sure about the reliability of the stats. There's also the common saying that 'smarter' people take econ (though I know that's not true for all cases)

[Aloysius]

Business and Management is, for some reason, more demanding than Economics. Many of my friends find Business their hardest subject. Universities also prefer Economics, so it's doesn't help an already hard subject...

Being familiar with the HKCEE Econ exam, I'd say a 'D' isn't very encouraging. But then it depends on what you grade you want in the end. If you're looking for a '7', Economics is probably not the subject to take. It is a LOT of essay writing, evaluating and applying theory. If you just want a '5', then it's doable, but you'd need to put in effort. But a '5' at Economics is probably easier than at Business because the Grade Boundaries are lower. Business is also a completely new subject, so do take that into account!

If you plan on applying to HKU or ChineseU, then I would personally avoid Business as it is frowned upon, especially as you are doing Enviro. Studies which is not an orthodox science. if you plan on going to CityU, Baptist, Lingnan, PolyU, etc. then it should be fine with either. HKUST I'm not sure about. It's best to check with them by calling. But remember, it's the points that count! Do what you feel you would excel at.

UK Universities follow a similar trend. Traditional Universities don't like Business, other Unis don't mind.

[Bianca_acnaiB]

Thanks for all of your kind advices =]

[Razzories]

hey bianca..you're from HK ar? are you in year 12, studying in Yew Chung?

[Bianca_acnaiB]

Originally Posted by Razzories

hey bianca..you're from HK ar? are you in year 12, studying in Yew Chung?

Yes, you too?

[Razzories]

Originally Posted by Bianca_acnaiB

Yes, you too?

of course

[TI-84]

I would recommend you do Economics.
Economics is a subject where if you memorize a few diagrams, the concepts behind the diagrams, and how they affect this that and the other - you can get a good score.
Another thing with economics is, for the 1st two papers you can have a decent guess as to what could be on the topic - Paper 3 you have to have good all around knowledge.
The coursework(s) are also quite easy and shouldn't really pose a problem.
I would say take economics, as it is a highly regarded subject, and in my opinion the easiest HL I took (other 2 were Math & Physics).
If you do take economics buy this book:
http://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780199151240.html

It covers everything you will need to know, is concise (around 400 pages) compared to other books that seem to ramble on and ONnnnn, while that book above tells you exactly what you need to know.
How to study from this book?(unfortunately, I only bought this book 4 months before my exam so my study process was a little different, still got a 6 though , remarked to a 7 )

Let your teacher discuss a topic in class, lets say Demand & Supply. Dont take any notes, just listen and try to absorb as much as he/she says. Go home and read that topic and make notes for yourself, memorising all the diagrams.
Also as you go along keep a note of all the definitions that you come across.
Economics definitely

[chang9121990]

I think you should do economics.
B&M, as others here have said, is sort of a 'soft' subject.
It might put you at a disadvantage when applying to uni because your science is another 'soft' subject.

As long as you have a good teacher it's really easy to get a 6/7 in econ.
Our teacher rocks -> last year's econ average was a 6.5...(around 80 econ students last year)