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The "Which IB subjects should I choose" Thread

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Hello everyone! I'm starting the IB this year in February and still can't decide on the subjects I would like to take...
Currently, my choices are:
English Language & Literature HL
Spanish B SL
Economics HL
Maths SL
Physics HL
Chemistry SL
I would love to study Computer Science at University, however, the school doesn't offer Maths HL so I'm stuck on SL. With that said, I'm still very much unsure about my choices, what I want to do in the future. I could study something like International Relations, Law or perhaps... biotechnology? Since I am still making decisions, I want to keep my options as open as possible. Which science subjects would you suggest? Physics is the only one I like out of Physics, Chemistry and Biology so I would want to include that. Economics is a sure choice as well. I'm deciding on the last subject, wondering if I should take Chemistry, Biology or some humanities subject like Geography. I would like the take that subject at HL if possible because language is not a strong point for me.
I would very much appreciate any opinions, advices. Thanks a lot for reading this and for any help received!

Hello there!

I'm currently in my 2nd year of IB (exams in May) so I'll get you clued up.

The first thing I'd say is not to do chemistry unless universities specifically require it or you are good at maths. It's just a lot of learning, that if you don't need, don't take it (this is me speaking from personal experience). I also take SL Geography and I love it. It's quite an easy course (depending on the options taken) and its easy points in the bag. Biology HL isn't too bad but there's a lot to learn and 7s don't come without work! Spanish at SL is very nice and so is English at HL. Depending on the works you study, its quite easy to get 5s and 6s.

Hope this helps!

Reply 1421

goschowo

Hello everybody,

I am thinking of studying law somewhere in England, possibly applying to some selective Unis, and I have these subjects:

Bio HL
Psychology HL
English HL
History HL

Math SL
French B SL

I'm just wondering whether these classes will prepare me well for the demands of law school, and also if I should keep on going with 4 HLs or drop one down?

Thank you

Reply 1422

Ganglion

Original post by goschowo

Although I cannot speak from personal experience, I think that English, Psychology and History at higher level will certainly equip you with the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to study Law, as well as look good on your university application.

Oxbridge, for instance, do not have any subject-specific requirements (unless you want to do French Law, in which case you should take HL French), yet I would say that the only HL subject you could possibly drop is Biology. For a Law applicant, Biology HL or SL will not really make a difference.

To decide, you should consider the opportunity cost, in terms of time management, of doing Biology at higher level. In other words, whether the time spent learning plant science and the details of spermatogenesis will not impede scoring 7 in the more important subjects. If you have no problems memorizing some additional terminology and if you (at least moderately) enjoy Biology, I think you should be fine taking it at HL. However, if you do not really care about the biological processes, having to know all the additional stuff might become a burden.

Reply 1423

gilbertvincenta

Which subjects should I pick for group 3? Psychology or ITGS?
NB: I am planning to take engineering or business majors for university...

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Reply 1424

vking

I've only done GCSE equivalent Biology, Physics & Combined Science. I've never studied Chemistry on its own, however, I'd like to pursue HL Chemistry & Biology because I hope to study biomedical sciences. Am I at a big disadvantage in pursuing HL Chemistry?

Reply 1425

Romula

Hi guys! Sorry to bother you. I'm a Y11 student and I made my IB choices in February but I can still change them. I really want to study the psychology course at Cambridge and because the website said Biology and/or Maths, and I didn't want to do HL Biology because my school had already chosen ecology as the option topic, and I love Maths, these were my choices:

HL Maths
HL Physics
HL History

SL English Lit
SL Spanish B
SL Economics

But now the website has changed so that there aren't any "highly desirable" subjects, only "useful preparation", and those subjects are Biology, Chemistry, Maths and a humanity. I don't really like Chemistry that much at the moment because I have a really boring teacher, but I'm in the top science set in my school and predicted A* for the GCSE. (I know about HL Maths, by the way, and I love it and I'm fairly sure I can do it.) So now I'm thinking of changing it to:

HL Maths
HL Chemistry
HL History

SL English
SL Spanish
SL Physics

But the college I want to apply to, Sidney Sussex, hasn't changed its website, which still says Biology and/or Maths. I'd rather study the first set of options than the second, but I really don't want to do Biology and I want to improve my chances of getting in.

Should I change? (Also, would doing HL Physics and SL Chemistry do anything for my chances...?)

Thanks so much.
Rx

Reply 1426

DzanYNWA

I'm starting DP in September and I have some doubts about my subjects. Long story short, I am from Bosnia but I got an offer from Brentwood school and I plan on finishing DP there.
At this point I have already decided three subjects that I am going to study.
HL Math
SL English Literature
Ab initio Italian
Now the problem is that I need three more subjects from which two of them must be on HL. I would like to do something math-oriented in my future so I ask you which subjects should I take?
Physics, Computer Science, Buissnes, Economics...?
Heeelp :frown:

Reply 1427

Romula

Original post by DzanYNWA

If you're choosing three of those four, I would choose Physics, Computer Science and Economics. Universities don't like Economics and Business when taken together, and Economics, rightly or not, is more highly regarded. Doing Physics HL would probably increase your chances of admission for something maths-y. Apart from that, I don't think it matters.

Hope that helps! :smile:

(Please will someone answer my q on the last page?)

Reply 1428

DzanYNWA

What about chemistry SL? So the final choice would be something like this:
HL Math
HL Physics
HL Eco/Buisness

SL English
SL ab initio Italian
SL Chemistry

Do you reckon it will be hard?

Reply 1429

Romula

Original post by DzanYNWA

What about chemistry SL? So the final choice would be something like this:
HL Math
HL Physics
HL Eco/Buisness

SL English
SL ab initio Italian
SL Chemistry

Do you reckon it will be hard?

HL Maths is hard, but if you're mathsy enough for that you should be able to manage everything else. Ab initio language courses are apparently quite difficult- I wouldn't choose it as an easy option. But you'd have to talk to someone more experienced than me- I did a lot of research for my own choices, but I'm still only in Y11.

Good luck!

Reply 1430

michele394

Original post by Romula

i'm in my final year of IB and did Spanish ab initio and i loved it! its fun to learn a bit of a new language and if you keep up to date revising vocab/basic grammar you can do well :biggrin:

Reply 1431

michele394

Original post by vking

i'm in my 2nd year of IB and about to start biomedical sciences in september at edinburgh, pm me if you have any questions :biggrin:

i take bio, chem and geography HL, maths, eng lit and spanish ab initio at SL.

HL chemistry is difficult! but if you set aside the time to revise you should be okay, you just need to be focused about it. most Biomedical sciences courses at uni actually require Chemistry grades as well as/instead of Biology grades.

Reply 1432

k.asdx

Hi. I'm about to enroll in the IB program soon. I'm from a small int'l school somewhere in Southeast Asia. I do not have a specific university in mind, however, I'm planning to move to either North America, Europe, or Singapore after I finish.

I'm not quite sure about what I want to have as my job for when I'm older, based off the aptitude tests I've taken, I am not particularly drawn to any category unlike most of my peers, who are interested in things like Law, Medicine, etc.. Though, I do sort of think I'm interested in psychology. However, my parents want me to be involved in business, which I'm not particularly interested in, but I told them I'd give it a try.

A subject I'm good at is English. The IB coordinator told me that I was particularly good at English & Science (based off the IB Competency Examination).

I'm not quite sure about what subjects I should be taking. My school, as opposed to other bigger int'l schools in the country, does not really offer a wide selection of subjects per group.

Here's what I initially thought I would take -

HL
Lit&Lang
Business & Management
Psychology

SL
Mathematics
Biology
French AB initio

Is this a good selection of subjects? What if I wanted to focus on psychology more, which ones should I take? If I wanted to focus on Business more, what should I take?

I'll be enrolling mid-April, so I need to know what your opinions are soon. Thank you so much.

Reply 1433

DzanYNWA

If you plan on studying in Europe I'd recommend taking economics instead of buisness. 90% of Univeristies are rating econ higher than buisness. Also if you are not planning to be a writer, english teacher ect. I'd recommend droping English HL to SL

Reply 1434

thirdcultureteen

Original post by DzanYNWA

What about chemistry SL? So the final choice would be something like this:
HL Math
HL Physics
HL Eco/Buisness

SL English
SL ab initio Italian
SL Chemistry

Do you reckon it will be hard?

HL Maths and Physics together is notoriously difficult.

Reply 1435

thirdcultureteen

Original post by vking

Hey there,

I can't really give you a concrete answer because I'm unclear on what your school's course covered. If you are going to study IB in your own school, I would suggest asking your teachers for advice.

If you're transferring, ask your new school. I'm sure that they would be able to give you some sort of sample test that you could try out (maybe at the higher level of their Year 11 Chemistry course).

If none of these are viable options, check out some past chemistry papers online. If you've covered enough chemistry, you should be able to do at least some of the questions or understand what it is that they are asking.

Or you could go buy an IB HL Chem textbook and flip through to see what you'll be doing.

Hope this helped!

Reply 1436

DzanYNWA

Original post by thirdcultureteen

HL Maths and Physics together is notoriously difficult.

I thought so also but all unis require both of them at HL for engineering.. :frown:

Reply 1437

thirdcultureteen

Original post by DzanYNWA

I thought so also but all unis require both of them at HL for engineering.. :frown:

Ah that is true. I'd recommend getting an IB textbook and having a head start. My school kind of does this (everything we're learning at the moment is IB stuff even though we only start next year), and I'd recommend doing practice with any areas you haven't studied in school yet. Some people found projectile motion and circular motion extremely hard, but it generally depends on what kind of a physics person you are. You might find those easy but find momentum really tough.

It might seem a bit too early to be doing prep, but from what I've been told, the two years of IB are going to be way too hectic for you to have enough time to learn and understand IB Maths and Physics HL fully in time for the tests (unless you're amazing at Physics and Maths and love them to bits. If you do, ignore everything I've said haha).

Reply 1438

thirdcultureteen

English HL can also be really useful for law

Reply 1439

k.asdx

Original post by DzanYNWA

Thank you for your response :smile:

Unfortunately my school doesn't have a wide selection of subjects, the only subjects available for group 3 are History, Psychology, B&M, and History. So if that's the case, would my subject selection be alright already? Which subject should I have as HL instead of English? ^^ Thank you!