Take our quiz to find out what your revision personality is! >>

This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

The "Which IB subjects should I choose" Thread

Scroll to see replies

Sara236

Thanks to both of you.

I think am gonna take English SL, French SL and Geography HL.
Is psychology a good subject?
Do I have to memorize a lot for Biology? Or is it better Chemistry? I am taking Bio because it's more interesting but im better in chemistry coz im very good in math,so i dont really know. What do uni prefer?
Should I take Geography HL??
My school doesn't have economics and nor the B&M.
And thanks again :P

I'd recommend you to take chemistry if you are good at! This is because many careers require chemistry. I want to take chemistry but I am not good at it and I find it horribly boring, so I am taking biology instead. Chemistry does not require that much memorizing as it does in biology. BUT BIOLOGY ROCKS CUZ ITS INTERESTING SO HAHA if you don't want to be a doctor or study medicine, take biology. If not, take chemistry.

Geography is really boring, don't take it. It's easy, but boring. Take history instead. If you like biology and find it interesting, it's more likely you'll find history interesting too :smile:

Reply 181

fakeplastictrees

s-j-123

Curently i have

math Hl
physics Sl

i wanna change math but i heard physics is really hard.

how about chemistry HL, is it as difficult as math or phys

difficulty is subjective

Reply 182

missnogood

Hello. I am in year 11 and in the next month or so I will have to fill in a form and decide which subjects I would like to take for IB. I have an interest in studying law or business in unis, and here are my subjects:

HL Chinese
HL English
HL Business & Management

SL History
SL Biology
SL Maths

All advice is needed please! For my IGCSES I am taking: math, english, science, chinese, music, economics, and geography :smile:

If that is of any help!

Reply 183

Sara236

I thought a lot about my subjects and i just came up with this:

HL : Math, Economics and Geography
SL : English A, French B and Biology

Do you think this are good subjects? Im thinking about taking french HL instead of geography but im not quite sure. I am fluent in french, but im bad writing.
What do univ prefer?
Thanks a lot

Reply 184

ps_iloveyou

Sara236

In IB, math is considered the hardest subjects out of all. I don't know if it's true, as if I am not in IB yet, but my math teacher told us about that. Then it is the sciences like physics and chemistry.

I find economics genuinely quite interesting :smile:

I am planning to take it, but also heard that business is an easier option. But apparently it is a soft subject. I do geography too and I am also thinking about that...except geography can be quite boring sometimes. It's not very hard, but there's not a lot of career options for geography unless you want to be an environmentalist or a geographer x

Universities prefer math, sciences, economics, history and any other academic subjects. Subjects like theatre, media, philosophy are considered "soft" if you want to do something like business or finance. Hope I helped! x

Reply 185

ps_iloveyou

Ever since I joined TSR, I have learned quite a few things: colleges have requirements. Most prefer hardcore subjects like HL Math, Science and Economics. But how about if we're just not that good at math or sciences? What if we do subjects like math studies and environment and business? Does that mean that we won't be able to compete?

For me, I would like to study law in college. I am not really aiming for top unis like Cambridge or Harvard. But do I still stand a chance in University of Sydney/Melbourne, Edinburgh, LSE even, with the Option 1 subject combination?

OPTION 1
HL Chinese B, English, History
SL Math Studies, Business, Environment

Or should I stick with Option 2 knowing that I will have to work harder at?

OPTION 2
HL Chinese B, English, Economics
SL History, Biology, Math

I've also learned another thing. In the end of the day, what you choose for IB isn't everything. It isn't your life (well, not directly!) Thanks, all advice is appreciated! x

Reply 186

paradise_lost

I don't think it's very relevant to speak generally about which subjects are looked better on by universities. Ultimately it all comes down to taking subjects which are relevant to what you will take in uni, and prepare and put you in good standing for your future course. so you have to check with the universities and see the specific requirements for their courses.

Since you'd like to study law though, I don't think you have to worry too much about subject requirements since law usually only requires a good english grade and a decent overall score. Hmm but I'd take a pure science instead of environmental systems though.. It really does look better IMO. :wink:

Hmmm regarding those australian unis you mentioned, I don't think you'd have trouble getting in. Their international requirements are really lax for the IB. I think melbourne has higher requirements than sydney though. But if you're looking at law then I guess the entry score would be a fair bit higher. I'm not sure. Haha.

Reply 187

SuicidalLemming

You generally need higher history for law btw.

Reply 188

beatleboar

SuicidalLemming

You generally need higher history for law btw.

BS.

Reply 189

SuicidalLemming

beatleboar

BS.

Have a look on the UCAS requirements for places like cambridge and that :rolleyes:

Reply 190

beatleboar

SuicidalLemming

Have a look on the UCAS requirements for places like cambridge and that :rolleyes:

I meant Brilliant Stuff.

Reply 191

beatleboar

God everyone takes everything the wrong way these days.

Reply 192

angie45

SuicidalLemming

Have a look on the UCAS requirements for places like cambridge and that :rolleyes:

If you are sure you want to go and read law, taking history HL isn't a bad idea. But it is in no way a requirment, many people go to places like cambridge to study law having taken mainly science based subjects.

Reply 193

paradise_lost

I have a friend doing law at warwick who only took history at SL. even then I don't think it was a requirement. ;P

Reply 194

bemusedcapybara

option 2 is much better. they both look equally the same difficulty. math studies is not even worth looking at, in my opinion. stick with the harder stuff, if you decide to apply to the US they will appreciate you more for it. good luck!

Reply 195

JamesHoKS

Hi all, I'm currently studying in Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), and going to embark on their 2-year long IB Diploma Programme next year, afterwhich I shall proceed to university. I may not go to the UK to pursue my university studies, but I decided to ask my question here because of the good advice many have received.

I have a problem. My subject tendencies are very unconventional, and my principal has said that scattered subjects in IBDP give you a difficult university and career path and is an ultimate waste of time on the studying part. For example, some conventional choices include Chem and Bio HL/SL, which guarantees you a Medicine Course in Uni if you do well. Law would be something like Eng Literature & Economics or B&M HL, Engineering maybe Chem and Physics HL/SL...these are all very standard choices that many of my friends have chosen, but none of these outlined paths seem to interest me. I tend to like subjects here and there, like a bit of Law, a bit of Medicine, a bit of Math? My subject choice is below:

Group 1: English Literature HL
Group 2: Chinese B (basically SL)
Group 3: Economics HL
Group 4: Biology OR Chemistry HL
Group 5: Math SL
Group 6: Spanish/French ab initio (i.e. SL)

It doesn't seem to fall into any particular category for university requirement. For example, I quite like Medicine, but most universities require at least 2 Sciences (HL/SL levels vary). I could drop my foreign language, but I really would like to study it too. I am thinking of Psychology, but requirements of different universities vary.

What I need to ask of you now is:
1) With this weird combination, what courses can I study in future and what universities may provide? links would be helpful...
2) If this combination ultimately leads me nowehere, what are some of the subjects that I should take up/let go from those 6 so that there is a clearer direction implied by my subject combination?

Many thanks if anyone could give good advice.

P.S.
Regarding question 2) - I may have alternative combinations that I have considered but obviously am not so enthusiastic about.

1-English sl
2-Chinese B sl
3-Econs hl
4-Bio hl
5-Math sl
6-chem sl
with this combination, i am inclined to the 'medicine' circle, but sacrifice a foreign language which would make me really sad :frown:

but desperate times call for desperate measures

OR

1-English hl
2-french/spanish ab initio sl
3-Econs hl
4-Bio hl
5-Math sl
6-chem sl
with this i study both foreign language and ensure a medicine degree, but chinese sl is really hard to let go, as I am fluent in Chinese and it guarantees a direct 7 pts.

please don't tell me the 'follow your heart' thingy, because it's precisely because I am hopelessly indecisive that I came here :o:

Reply 196

SuicidalLemming

Please stop talking like you've stuck a golf ball down your throat srsly.

If you're applying for med in the UK you must have chem at higher. SL bio is fine with it.
Just pick what you want to do. I'd say if you'd rather do languages then sciences then medicine probably isn't for you tbh.

Reply 197

Natasha_c

Do what you like doing and it will probably lead onto something you like, as the person above said if you dont like the subjects then you probably wont like a degree that requires them.
Alot of degrees dont have any specific requirments anyway, but maths is a very good subject to open you up to alot of things. If you like language's so much you could carry that on to uni?

Reply 198

JamesHoKS

Natasha_c

If you like language's so much you could carry that on to uni?

Can u enlighten me on some of the common language-inclined courses that universities offer? :smile:

Reply 199

Beckettrose

I'm afraid i dont know that much about IB, one of my friends did it but im no expert. but to me it looks like your favoured choice of subjects would be pretty good in terms of further study in economics or a business based course. Obviously economics is good for that, and maths (though possibly at HL) and they LOVE languages - especially chinese.... and english is a great one to have in there too - shows your not purely maths and science based. for a-level i did economics, maths and english lit and im applying to various unis to do economics, economics and politics and economics and philosophy... so those may be possibilities?

sorry if i havnt been much help!