Difference between Biology HL/SL and between History HL/SL

Is there a large difference for these two subjects between HL and SL?

For double science GCSE I am predicted AA/BB, but it will probably be BB because of my appaling coursework and physics exam... :s-smilie:

Would I be capable of Biology HL with this grade?

Also, I did not take History GCSE, but am seriously consideirng taking it for IB (as I really enjoy it and it is extremely relevant to RS - which I want to take at Uni...)
I posted a different thread about the History issue... but I was wondering, like Biology, if there was a large difference between the levels? Ideally, I would take History HL, as I would prefer to keep my current SLs as SLs, but if I have to do some switching, I will switch Biology - but only if there isn't a huge difference...

Reply 1

Osmosis

I'm afraid in my experience there's quite a large difference between Bio SL and Bio HL.

Bio SL seems to be the Group 4 subject of choice for non-sciencey people who won't be using it later on, whereas Bio HL is much more geared towards students who want to study bio/biochemistry/medicine/vet. med./zoology etc at uni level, in that it goes into much more depth, with a much, much more extensive syllabus.

Having said that, I'm studying philosophy and politics at uni next year, and still quite enjoyed Bio HL and came out with a 7 in the end -- so it's definitely doable, even if you're the type of person who's more comfortable with humanities/arts subjects. It's mostly just memorisation of facts/processes/diagrams/graphs, etc, rather than intense scientific formulae and conceptual stuff.

As you say though, History would probably be considerably more useful at HL if you'd like to study Religious Studies at uni. I haven't taken IB History though, so I can't say how large the difference is between SL and HL (nor how hard it would be to study IB History without having taken it at GCSE).

Reply 2

lavalse

i dont think there is a big difference between history hl and sl. i take hl, and some of my friends take hl without having done the gcse and theyre fine, so dont worry about that.

for history you need to be good at analysing and have a good memory for remembering all the facts/historiography.
you also need to be a good essay writer.
those skills are relevant at both sl and hl, so i if i were u i would take hl, especially if you want to take RS at uni

Reply 3

HMSChocolate

AT HL you just have to know more material, study more events, and do one more paper than SL. Depends on what options your teacher/class choose, you may find that your HL stuff could overlap with the rest of your paper 1 and 2 stuff.

Reply 4

sofa_king

I take both subjects.

Frankly, for History in my school, there is no difference in the expected standard of answers you are supposed to provide for both SL and HL.

For Bio, Sl is MUCH easier, u have less topics to learn (and bio topics at IB level are huge)

my advice? Bio SL, History HL (unless you want to do medicine or some science profession infuture)

Reply 5

afua12

thanks for all the replies!
I was reeally hoping that people would have roughly the same opinions, as I have read so many other threads where no one can agree about subject difficulty at all!

It's good to hear that History HL would be do-able! (sp.?) Now I just have ot persuade my school...hmm...it's our first year of IB, you see, so they may want to keep thigns as simple as possible whilst they get used to the new system...

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Difference between Biology HL/SL and between History HL/SL

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