The Student Room Group

Your own experience in differences between the HL and the SL of the same subject?

What differences have people noticed between the HL and the SL of a subject? What have you heard from people who take the same subject as you, except at a different level? How are their perceptions of the difficulty, courseload, etc. of the subject different from the perceptions that you have of that same subject that you take at a different level? I've found English and History do not have as much of a difference between HL and SL. For both subjects, the classes are actually a mix of HL and SL students, so students at both levels basically do the same work. The only difference is when we are doing work that counts for the final grade, like World Lit and History IA. Then, the teacher will simply notify the students that for SL students, the assignment will be worth more. Also, SL English students occasionally do not have to attend classes, because the class is studying the additional HL novels. Of course when students review the material for the finals, SL History students don't have to review as much. Biology is also taught in mixed classes. My teachers suggests that SL students should still take notes when he's teaching HL material because it overlaps with our provincial education system, which we also have to fulfill requirements for. From what I've heard from my HL Physics friends, the HL Physics course sounds a lot more intense than my SL Physics class. What do you find are the differences between the HL and the SL of the same subject, comparing what you've heard to what you've experienced?
Reply 1
We have seperated classes for Biology. The difference is that SL students do not need to know as much as HL do. They actually have a lot less work than HL. And they also have different options.
At Chemistry again, I think there is the difference in the amount of knowledge. Chemistry is thought in mixed classes, so we all attend all lessons. However, there are some quite complicated things that SL students do not need to know. And there is the difference in the time at the final exam: it is not easy to write a subject for almost 3hours and 15 together.
At language A1 SL students do not need to read the most difficul novel and at orals they didin't need to learn two quite complicated authors and their works again.
I don't really see the difference at language B. The only difference is that HL students have an hour more per week and they need to know more vocabulary.
Reply 2
In language B they also have one more World Literature assgmnet to write...an essay. They also have to read more books and basicly know more about each soubject. From all IB subjects I think there is the smallest difference betwenn HL and SL in language B.
Reply 3
I think the biggest reason for mixed classes in my school is underfunding haha.
are u doing french as a foreign language and as a native language, are you allowed to do that :O
Reply 5
i'm not doing that, i don't think you can.
Reply 6
In my opinion the biggest difference is between HL and SL MATH!! Also between HL and SL Economics... I agree that the smallest difference seems to be in Languages B, I have also noticed a small difference in Physics.. at least in my school .. but this may be due to the fact that the people taking HL Physics are not the sharpest knives in the drawer :wink:
Reply 7
ive found that the biggest difference is between physics hl and sl, and chem hl and sl. totally different worlds. in my experience, you can spend 2hrs trying to do 10 physics hl problems and get nowhere, whereas 2hrs spent studying physics sl will get you a perfect score on an exam >.< it largely depends on how the teacher teaches. my schools physics hl teacher is useless; ppl have to literally learn everything on their own. hes a very slow talker and only lectures about the very basic concepts for each lesson. students are forced to read the textbook and figure out the problems all on their own.
Reply 8
damn...i have the same physics teacher...only we have to correct him half the time...and we have terrible books...could you recommend any good physics book....especially with lots of numericals...
Reply 9
Physics, 3rd Edition by Douglas Giancoli is very good, it gives a lot of theory and its examples and problems are solidly based on algebra, diagrams, and numbers in general. We have to study off that book for physics; even my SL teacher isn't that great. His notes are not thorough enough to cover even 1/2of the material. But if you just read the appropriate sections in Giancoli and do the corresponding questions, you can succeed in both HL and SL physics :biggrin:
Reply 10
I B.S.
Physics, 3rd Edition by Douglas Giancoli is very good, it gives a lot of theory and its examples and problems are solidly based on algebra, diagrams, and numbers in general. We have to study off that book for physics; even my SL teacher isn't that great. His notes are not thorough enough to cover even 1/2of the material. But if you just read the appropriate sections in Giancoli and do the corresponding questions, you can succeed in both HL and SL physics :biggrin:


thanks for the info...i'll check it out...
Reply 11
History is pretty much THE SAME at my school..
its the same class and SL has to do Paper 3 revision!!! its ridiculous...
Math Hl and SL are completely different and Physics HL is extremely hard while SL is a joke.
Reply 12
paulabra
History is pretty much THE SAME at my school..
its the same class and SL has to do Paper 3 revision!!! its ridiculous...
Math Hl and SL are completely different and Physics HL is extremely hard while SL is a joke.


Yeah, exactly the same here! History has mixed classes and SL people therefore study the same stuff. Do you mean that SL people actually have to study for Paper 3 for the final? Because that's so unnecessary! Math HL and SL are very different at my school as well, different teachers teaching material at two different levels. Physics HL is very hard because you have to literally learn the entire course by yourself (see my previous post), but SL is reasonably easy. Does anyone have mixed Science classes? Biology classes for me have both HL and SL students, and they have to do exactly the same things. SL students have to learn the AHL and HL topics because they closely match the provincial curriculum that we also have to do, and because the teacher integrates the core, AHL, and options when he teaches. It's not like he says this is HL, this is SL, because the material is taught in a very meshed format :confused: