IB Qualifications?

I'm currently in Year Eleven and choosing my IB subjects. My mum's got me thinking about applying to top universities in the UK and I was wondering what kind of qualifications I'll need. I'm looking at taking a course in either English, Law or History and I know you need something along the lines 0f 7,7,7 or 7,7,6 in your highers.

But, for the courses I'm thinking of taking, do you need to take Maths Standard Level? Or is Maths Studies Standard Level alright? Also, is Visual Arts HL a good idea for applying to Oxbridge, ie. is it seen as not "academic" enough?

These are my subject choices so far:
English HL
History HL
Visual Art HL
Spanish SL
Chemistry/Biology SL (haven't decided yet)
Maths Studies SL

Reply 1

Fred Basset

Maths Studies SL is good enough . . . people have been made offers with that. I think Visual Arts should be fine too as the rest of your subjects are fairly academic (Visual Arts itself isn't though I seem to remember, but don't quote me on that one as I have just woken up!!!).

You'll be asked for something between 39 and 42 normally including bonus points. Also when you get nearer to knowing exactly what you want to do at University, consider doing your Extended Essay on something related. For example, I applied for Russian and Spanish, so did my Extended Essay on the Russian-backed invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and my History coursework on Peter the Great and his Grand Tour.

Good luck and good luck in your GCSEs too :-)

Reply 2

Azer

Math studies is not a good idea. You can be made offers with studies, but they will be in spite of you having taken studies. SL is much better.

Visual art will be 'ok', yes, but I can't see why you would take it. It is far too much work and no one ever gets good grades in it :smile:

.

My offer is 40 points with 7 in Economics, 7 in German and 6 in Business. The offer is for Philosophy.

My subjects are: Econ, Business, German and Biology Higher, Math and English SL.

Reply 3

AnonyMatt

Don't take visual arts to HL, and don't take maths studies at SL. Take at least maths SL.
I don't know if the IB has English and English literature, but if it has literature, you should take that at HL.

Out of your current combination, I would say just swap visual arts and Spanish around. :smile:

Reply 4

Pantoufles

Maths studies for your proposed subject at Cambridge is absolutely no problem. I've PM'd you

Reply 5

The West Wing

You don't need to do maths. A girl I know doing English here got a C at GCSE Maths as her highest maths qualification.

Reply 6

saskiamcc

Wow, I've got quite mixed answers here and in other threads I've posted. From the general thoughts I've recieved, I'll probably stay with Maths Studies SL and possibly think about swopping my Visual Art HL to standard. Thank you everyone for your help.