IB Psychology

I've just finished IA NatSci and i'm trying to decide what options to take next year. This year I did maths, physics, geology and mms and next year i will take both geology modules plus one other and pyscology sounds really interesting.

Will it matter that i haven't done biology since gcse, how biological is it?
Would i be much better off taking something like minerals science since it will help me with geology, which is the subject i will specialise in?
Does it have any entry requirements/grades?
How common is it for a PhysNatSci to do phychology?

Reply 1

Supermerp

None of the geologists I know do minerals and I don't think they consider it a handicap. I've been told by several people that minerals is really really really really really boring. And one of them was a Materials graduate student, so she obviously tolerates a lot of boredom.

I think it's quite common for phys natscis to do psychology as lots of people go into it because they want to try something different.

Reply 2

DC_1234

I can't comment on anything to do with geology, but no, IB Experimental Psychology involves very little of what I'd call 'biology' - the more biological psychology course is IB Neuroscience. It's certainly not uncommon for physicists to take psychology (though the majority of those taking it tend to be biologists and chemists, I'd say there was a fair range - even a few SPSers and philosophers such as yours truly) and in fact one of the supervisors I had, Hugh Greenish, was a physicist who became interested in hearing and is now one of the department's PhD students - go figure.

If you're on facebook you might want to send a message to Martin Smith of Sidney, who is a geologist that took experimental psych last year (after changing from both Plant Science and HPS) so can probably give you a fair response in terms of reassurances/regrets about combining geology and psychology.