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fabgigglegiggle
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I'm soon going to start my international baccalaureate and I need to finalise my choices but I'm very stuck. Plus, the most annoying thing is I don't really know what job I'd like to have when I'm older, however I've always wanted to go along the lines of being a teacher or a profession similar. (working and helping people)
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college
but I really love and enjoy history
- Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too oh im so confused!
What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college
but I really love and enjoy history - Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too
oh im so confused! What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
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username1464313
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#2
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#2
(Original post by fabgigglegiggle)
I'm soon going to start my international baccalaureate and I need to finalise my choices but I'm very stuck. Plus, the most annoying thing is I don't really know what job I'd like to have when I'm older, however I've always wanted to go along the lines of being a teacher or a profession similar. (working and helping people)
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college but I really love and enjoy history
- Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too oh im so confused!
What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
I'm soon going to start my international baccalaureate and I need to finalise my choices but I'm very stuck. Plus, the most annoying thing is I don't really know what job I'd like to have when I'm older, however I've always wanted to go along the lines of being a teacher or a profession similar. (working and helping people)
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college
but I really love and enjoy history - Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too
oh im so confused! What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
Well as a person who has just finished the IB, I can feel what you're going through as I went through it myself 2 years ago. I think that it's great you've chosen to study IB (it's been the best 2 years of my life) so hopefully this info will help you. What's great about the IB is that it allows you to go into so many jobs because you get to study a variety of subjects so don't worry about not having an idea of what to do.
Now, the easiest way to sort out your choices is to break them down by the group they fall in. I'm assuming you know about the different groups but if not, there are 6 different groups in IB each containing different subjects. So let's go through each group and try and help you out shall we?
Group 1: Literature: English Higher Level - DONE! (P.S. I did English HL and I loved it!)
Group 2: Languages: French B Higher Level - DONE! (Best to have a good grade in French if you want to study it at higher. Same goes for all these subjects really).
Group 3: So your options are History HL, Psychology or Philosophy. Before you make any decisions, check with your college which ones can only be done as part of Group 3 and which ones are electives in group 6 (I know that sounds confusing but if you would like more info, just reply with a question). Anyway, if you can, I recommend doing History and Psychology. Psychology in the IB is a lot of stating facts but it is very interesting. I did psych and loved it. My only regret is that I didn't do it at standard purely because higher level students have WAY more studies to learn. History is also sort of like this
The reason why I say do history is because philosophy is kind of like Theory of Knowledge in a lot of ways. So you wouldn't be missing out Group 4: Sciences: Biology Standard Level- DONE! (I did Bio SL, great course! There's this site called bioninja which has the entire spec on there)
Group 5: Maths Studies/Higher: I did studies and got an A in GCSE. Studies is basically very statistics based and you'll do all sorts related to finance and graphs. Higher is notoriously difficult, but don't let that put you off. I would ask your college whether they would allow you to try higher and go to studies if you find it way to difficult
However, unless you want to do something maths related at uni, you may be wasting your time in Higher anyway.Hope this helps
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pbunny
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#3
(Original post by fabgigglegiggle)
I'm soon going to start my international baccalaureate and I need to finalise my choices but I'm very stuck. Plus, the most annoying thing is I don't really know what job I'd like to have when I'm older, however I've always wanted to go along the lines of being a teacher or a profession similar. (working and helping people)
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college but I really love and enjoy history
- Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too oh im so confused!
What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
I'm soon going to start my international baccalaureate and I need to finalise my choices but I'm very stuck. Plus, the most annoying thing is I don't really know what job I'd like to have when I'm older, however I've always wanted to go along the lines of being a teacher or a profession similar. (working and helping people)
I'd like to do:
- English Higher (always loved English)
- French Higher (always loved French)
- History - but if I want to take it I'm only able to do it at higher at my college
but I really love and enjoy history - Maths - I can either do maths studies or maths higher at my college and since I got an A* in GCSE I want to take it further or stretch myself more than just doing it as maths studies (which is easier than standard so only slightly harder than GCSE I expect). Although they have given an option to take 4 including maths then change to maths standard if need be but this doesn't apply to History
- Psychology I've always found the subject interesting but if need be I'd do it at standard
- Philosophy - I have a GCSE in Philosophy and really enjoyed but could do it at standard
- Biology Standard
So I have 7 subjects I want to do so what 6 subjects would work best together bearing in mind I'd like to have at least maths/psychology higher too but I really want to do history higher too
oh im so confused! What do you advise I take and which subject should I drop??
Maths: Why doesn't your school offer standard level (not studies)? It's extremely odd. But anyways, I'd recommend studies over HL any day because of the sheer difficulty of HL maths. Students really aren't recommended to take it unless they are interested in related careers such as engineering, maths, economics, material sciences etc. You seem like a humanities oriented student based upon your subject choices so I'm going to assume you don't intend on applying to anything science/maths related which instantly means you really shouldn't take HL maths unless you are some sort of maths nerd. I'd avoid HL but if the course you intend on applying to requires you to take SL (non studies)/HL maths then you HAVE to take it because you obviously won't be given an offer to study the course. Also, keep in mind that success (Read: A* at GCSE) before IB in maths DOESN'T translate to success in IB maths. GCSE isn't an indicator of how you'll do in IB - this applies to ALL subjects and not just maths.
History/Psychology/Philosophy: I recommend taking history and psychology. History because you seem to love it and psychology because it's more interesting (obviously this is subjective). Also, you'll be taught some philosphy in TOK (albeit very little) so it may seem quite repetitive. However, if your more interested in philosophy and are considering law or something of the sort philosophy may serve you better than say psychology. I recommend you choose based on interest since neither will probably effect what you intend on studying later.
*Btw I recommend you take SL French over HL because taking two languages at higher level will narrow your options down quite a bit and this is something you want to avoid considering you don't know what you'd like to study at university. I'd pull up biology if you are good at it which will allow you to keep open the option of studying psychology (which you seem to be interested in). Or if psychology is something you don't intend on considering I'd pull up either psychology/philosophy to keep the option of studying humanities/social sciences more open.
So either of these combinations would be good:
(Appropriate for psychology - HL Science is always needed)
English Literature HL
Biology HL
History HL
Maths studies SL
French SL
Psychology SL
(Appropriate for most humanities/arts/social science courses)
English literature HL
Philosophy/Psychology HL
History HL
Maths studies SL
French SL
Biology SL
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