The "Which IB subjects should I choose" Thread

I am speaking about the subject itself, and not about acceptance of the subjects. subject is not easy at all and unless you plan to study economics or something related to economics i don't think that that would be a good choice

I also got A* (just barely I think) in French, and I've been having second thoughts on whether I should take Spanish Ab initio or French SL in IB.

I've decided early on that I'll be focusing on my HL's no matter what, cause that's where I'd like my career path to go. I feel I'm ok-good in French, but that I'd do terribly in IB, maybe like a 4 or 5. I've heard that Spanish is easy to pick up on the other hand, so which one should I pick?

The advantage I see of taking French is that I know the language, and I may not have to work too hard and I might be able to scrape a 5, which is ok for me. With less time devoted to the language, I could use that for concentration on my HL's.

On the other hand, maybe I have to work a bit harder in Spanish, but then maybe I could get a 6 or a 7? I guess I'm basically asking how difficult and time-consuming are both French SL and Spanish Ab Initio.

I'm currently doing AS level at my school, but I'm considering starting the IB - a month late - and I need some help choosing subjects. I want to study medicine at university, but my fall-back course is some sort of engineering (probably bio-medical).

I'm planning on taking English A1, French (probably B), Geography and Mathematics. My problem is my sciences: for Medicine, I would probably need Biology and Chemistry, but for Engineering, I would need Physics. Which sciences would be my best choice?

I'm getting very good marks at AS level in all my subjects, so I'm also lost as to what level I should take my sciences. Will anybody help me?

I want to study medicine and chose the following subjects,
Chemistry HL
Biology HL
German HL

Maths SL
English A1 SL
History SL
well i just wanted your opinion if these subjects are ok for medicine or if i should change any of these

I aim to do Medicine in the future and the subjects I am thinking of taking are -
HL -
English A1
Chemistry
Biology

SL -
Maths
Psychology
Spanish ab initio

Just wondered what people thought and should I change anything?
Trouble is I can't change the language as I studied Japanese at GCSE and my college only does French, Spanish and German :s

I'm probably doing Medicine/Dentistry and these are the subjects

Arabic HL
English HL
Bio HL

Business and Management SL
Math Studies SL
Chem SL

Does this have a massive amount of workload or an average one?

This is a less than average workload. I would say that you've taken the chicken's way out with these subjects because some of them are outright jokes.

The only appropriate choice is taking Biology HL. Why would you possibly take two languages as your HL subjects when you want to eventually study Medicine? That makes no sense. I would suggest you drop either English or Arabic to SL and bring Chemistry to HL. Granted Chemistry HL is really challenging, but so is Medicine.

Also, is your native language Arabic? And if it is, are you taking Arabic B HL? If your native language is Arabic and you're taking Arabic B, many Universities across the world might not even recognise your credit in Arabic because a credit in your native language (especially when it's taken at a lower level) is not considered a great challenge at all. Changing that to an SL Ab Initio class might benefit you more.

Maths Studies is a joke! Any good University is going to reject your application the second they see the Maths Studies there. Even if you think you're not good at Maths or it's not one of your strengths, switch Studies to SL. It might be more challenging, but you rather do SL and be respected than do Studies and make yourself and your course out to be a joke.

Business and Management SL is the most useless Group 3 subject you could possibly take. People are only encouraged to take B&M when they are sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going into Management of some sort after the IB, even then it is discouraged. Most Universities do not recognise a course taken in Business and indeed disregard it. In your case, you're already taking Studies and if Arabic is your native language and you're taking Arabic B, you're really setting yourself up to be screwed. I would suggest you drop B&M entirely because the class is a joke and anyone with a modicum of intelligence will tell you that that class is common sense and nothing more. Take History or Economics or even Psychology instead. Whatever else is offered for Group 3, take it over B&M.

Best of luck,
Arrowhead.

Just started IB, i wan't to go in direction of International Bussines. I chose these subjects :
Higher:
Economy
Geography
Maths
Biology

Standard:
English Lang and Lit
French

I am not sure these subjects are a perfect fit for my future plans.
What do you think?

Thinking of doing anything (preferably something to do with psychology):

HL:
English Lang and Lit
ITGS
Biology

SL:
Chemistry
Maths
Spanish AB Initio

i take
higher: Bio, Chem, Business
standard: math, eng, french

well now, i took chem and i think it will be very difficult for me to understand and itll take too much effort if i take chem, so im thinking about taking art instead..

so if i take art, ill do standard art and make math higher..

say i wanna be a dermatologist (or any medicine courses) in uni, can i still do that course even without chemistry? because my teacher said its the points you get as a whole that counts and not too much on what subj you took.. is that true?

i really dont know what i wanna become..either something with business, i wanted to be a dermatologists but its like 10 yrs to be one so ye -.-
please give me your thoughts and advice

First of all, even if you want to study Business at University, taking B&M at HL is discouraged by most reputed Universities. I would not advise you to pursue it for two reasons: The University perspective and the practical benefit perspective (or opportunity cost if you will).

University perspective:
I checked out the prospectuses for all the top Unis in the UK before sending in my applications. Whether it was Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, or Imperial, Business Studies was always included in the 'non-preferred subjects' category. Universities clearly said that an A-Level in this course would not be considered when reviewing your application nor making you an offer. If you took more than one 'non-preferred subject' you were setting yourself up for instant disapproval from the tutors or relevant departments and there was a strong chance they wouldn't look twice at your application. For example, for some Universities: Business, Law, Computer Studies, Design and Technology, Accounting, Theatre etc. are non-preferred subjects. Taking one of these at HL, you could get away with it, maybe not at a top Uni, but you could. Taking two, you're done. Taking 2 non-preferred subjects at SL, you could get away with it, taking 1 at SL, nobody would look twice.

This is because as far as the UK is concerned, your HL subject choices matter the most, whatever you do for your SLs is ancillary and they just exist to boost your overall score. So if you take Business and Management at SL and the preferred subjects at HL, all would be well, but taking B&M at HL is instantly disqualifying what would be considered a possible A-Level subject grade.

Moving to the US, when I spoke to a representative from UPenn, she clearly told me that they would understand if a student took a Business class if he/she was interested and that was the only course offered in that subject area. But if an Economics course was also offered and they chose B&M instead, they would definitely question the student for their subject decisions because High School Business classes don't give you any foundation or perspective, high school classes at the end of the day, are merely introductory to the real stuff you will be pursuing at University. Most classes like History, Economics, Psychology (strictly referring to Social Sciences here) are giving you the bare minimum of information and testing that in your exams, it's about building a foundation which is to be made stronger and taller at University.

B&M gives you no suitable foundation, which brings me to my transition to Reason Number Two.

The practical benefit perspective:
Economics gives you a basic idea of how the markets of the world function, from microeconomics to macroeconomics, to international and developmental, you cover everything in the most basic of forms. Business is a course that teaches you marketing, consumer tastes, and all that jazz about how to run a business. The thing is though that you cannot study hardcore theories and ideas and work and do all those things you will inevitably do at University when you're in High School, so your High School classes are designed to fit that stage of your life. The B&M course is all basic ideas and common sense since you can't get into the real nitty-gritty of it like you would at Business school in future. The class turns into a complete waste.

Most of my friends who took B&M HL and applied abroad faced an endless amount of grief because of it. It was universally frowned upon. They took it anticipating an easy grade, which it was (the average for B&M at my old school was a 6.~something). One of them went so far as to say that someone with half a brain could scrape a 5 in B&M HL. The only Unis that didn't seem to look twice at it were the really shoddy, money-minded ones like Kingston and Richmond and Middlesex.

So that's my reasoning, I've heard many sides of this argument and this is what I propose: do not take B&M at HL. If you disagree with me, that's cool, that's your opinion and you're free to have it.

Now, to get off my soapbox and revert back to your queries: not having Chemistry HL for a Medicine application will hurt you at University. I don't know where your teacher gets her information, but as far as the UK is concerned, your HL subject choices (your SLs could be utter rubbish for all that the Unis care) do matter, quite a bit, for certain courses like Medicine, Economics, etc. Also, switching Chemistry HL for Maths HL in the hopes that it will reduce your workload is laughable. Unless you're some kind of Maths enthusiast/genius, Maths HL is not an easy substitution for Chemistry HL, in fact it is arguably more challenging. So really think on that and try to find more perspectives on those two HLs before making a final decision.

Also Art will not help you, neither for Business nor Medicine. Taking Art is just such a random choice. Two of my friends took Visual Arts at HL and for both of them it was a decision they came to after deep contemplation. One knew she wanted to go and study Art at University and the other is doing Fashion Management at the London School of Fashion. Art, in their cases, was beneficial for what they wished to pursue. It is not so for you, so really think twice about that one. Also Visual Arts is one of the most time consuming subjects in the IB (if you want a high grade in it of course).

Cheers,
Arrowhead.