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IB or A-Levels for Medicine?

sushhiii

1

Yo guys and girls.. IB or A-Levels for Medicine!? :eek:

thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks...!!

Reply 1

andymt

11

Dont think of it in terms of what subject you want to do at uni..choose IB or A level first because they are both great for medicine as long as you have chemistry and biology.
To answer your question im guessing you are a sciencey person, so you want to be asking yourself can you/do you want to do english and a language...
you will have more work with the IB compared to doing 4 AS levels. I think thats fair enough to say.
You need to ask some more specific questions if you want a better response..your post is a bit vague.

Reply 2

sushhiii

OP

1

andymt

Dont think of it in terms of what subject you want to do at uni..choose IB or A level first because they are both great for medicine as long as you have chemistry and biology.
To answer your question im guessing you are a sciencey person, so you want to be asking yourself can you/do you want to do english and a language...
you will have more work with the IB compared to doing 4 AS levels. I think thats fair enough to say.
You need to ask some more specific questions if you want a better response..your post is a bit vague.

Hey. To be more specific, yes i do enjoy my sciences [i love them to bits] but yeh i really enjoy physics at the moment! i'm totally into it but with IB i'm afraid i cant do tht! and yeh.. i dont mind english its kinda grown on me. Language? well lets say not tht keen but hey, it could be in use for the future? So yep.. im back to this situation.. i come to be sure of IB one stage then unsure again. i've been like this ever since the start of year 11! :s-smilie:

so in your opinion wht would you go for? cheers.

Reply 3

Donald Duck

15

Depends. Are you able to get the generally harder offers given to the IB? If so, take IB. Otherwise, take A levels.

Reply 4

sushhiii

OP

1

monagro

Depends. Are you able to get the generally harder offers given to the IB? If so, take IB. Otherwise, take A levels.

I reckon tht im pretty much an all-rounder.. and teachers recommend me to take IB so.. maybe i should take this chance [i only hope its the right one] :redface:

Reply 5

lilac!!

15

sushhiii

Hey. To be more specific, yes i do enjoy my sciences [i love them to bits] but yeh i really enjoy physics at the moment! i'm totally into it but with IB i'm afraid i cant do tht! and yeh.. i dont mind english its kinda grown on me. Language? well lets say not tht keen but hey, it could be in use for the future? So yep.. im back to this situation.. i come to be sure of IB one stage then unsure again. i've been like this ever since the start of year 11! :s-smilie:

so in your opinion wht would you go for? cheers.

Hay! im doing A-levels at the moment and chose chem, bio, maths and psychology. Chemistry is a must and you have to get an A. Some unis would like you to do biology and one other science. There is a preference is choosing a non related science subject as an AS. You can however do chem and bio (compulsory for most universities) + english language is u want and physics as an AS. or you can do english lang and do physics as A2 since u really like it.

Yes english language can be useful in the future, unis love it if you have a language as a A-level or AS.

If you feel you can do well in IB, with your physics however go for a-level's if you wish. Unis will accept you on doing IB or A-level as long as you meet what they want.

Hope that helped. Good luck!

Reply 6

josepharthur

A-levels - if you want to joke your way through high school.
IB - The knowledge they will provide you will change your life, for good.

Reply 7

Poltry

personally, if you're sooo sure on wanting to do medicine id do A-levels. The ib, although making you into a very alrounded person, is too broad i think and doesnt let you concentrate enough on the subjects you really want. Ill give you my example. I wanted to do economics and still do, and so took the appropriate subjects. However the difficulty and time that were required in the other subjects (french, english, physics and chem) that weerent directly related to economics, made me less able to concentrate on preparing msyelf for an econ undergraduate. this is just my opinion however.

Reply 8

sushhiii

OP

1

is maths really needed for medicine? coz.. although im alright at it, id like to do economics merely coz im interested in it. But i guess it would be better to focus and concentrate!

Reply 9

Donald Duck

15

sushhiii

I reckon tht im pretty much an all-rounder.. and teachers recommend me to take IB so.. maybe i should take this chance [i only hope its the right one] :redface:

Well, Its probably a hard decision, but if you are finding maths easy/logical and don't have a problem with languages, I don't see what would stop you from doing the IB. Just realize that the offers might be easier gained doing the IB, but are also requiring better grades (in difficulty compared to A levels usually).

Reply 10

lilac!!

15

No its not you can go for economics...make sure u get chem and bio for sure though + your physics. Normally they want 3 sciences.

Reply 11

sushhiii

OP

1

lilac!!

No its not you can go for economics...make sure u get chem and bio for sure though + your physics. Normally they want 3 sciences.

Okay. thanks!!

Reply 12

andymt

11

id say a levels. ib is too broad. i dont really like it.

Reply 13

josepharthur

andymt

id say a levels. ib is too broad. i dont really like it.

You suck.

Reply 14

jay8

sushhiii

Yo guys and girls.. IB or A-Levels for Medicine!? :eek:

thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks...!!

Well, in our school I know 2 IBers who applied for medicine. One just didn't have good enough grades even to get interviews (he only applied to UCL and Imperial, a bit silly if you ask me :p:

), the other has good enough grades to get interview, but must have not impressed in interviews: he's been rejected from Cambridge, Imperial and UCL, and is waiting for a reply from Liverpool. Ouch! It may have been his BMAT though. Bear in mind that, even if you get an offer, decent medical courses will ask for at least 36, probably more, with good grades in Chem and Bio HL. I don't know how well the A Level medicine applicants fared, but once they get an offer, AAA is much easier than the kind of IB score you would need.
But don't base your decision too much on what you want to apply for. I know loads of people (including me!) who wanted to apply for medicine when they chose the IB. Some still do, but others now want to study things like Economics, English Literature, International Relations etc. It's likely that your preferences might change, and from that perspective the IB is nice because it doesn't restrict you as much as A Levels.

Reply 15

TI-84

18

as i said earlier.
for your sake do A-levels.
not only because it will mean less work for you but there is another reason.
IB stands for International Baccalaureate.
International.
This word annoys many Brisith Universities as it's not "British". There is a proper shortage of Doctors in this country - they want to make sure that all the doctors who come to study at their universities will be practising in this country. A-level students are simply more likely to be staying in this country once their done - because of the fact that they do not carry that "international" risk - that risk of leaving the country.
My friend (btw i study in the UK) who was predicted 40 points was rejected from Brighton for med !
Brighton!
Seriously.
Do A-levels :redface:

Reply 16

sushhiii

OP

1

TI-84

as i said earlier.
for your sake do A-levels.
not only because it will mean less work for you but there is another reason.
IB stands for International Baccalaureate.
International.
This word annoys many Brisith Universities as it's not "British". There is a proper shortage of Doctors in this country - they want to make sure that all the doctors who come to study at their universities will be practising in this country. A-level students are simply more likely to be staying in this country once their done - because of the fact that they do not carry that "international" risk - that risk of leaving the country.
My friend (btw i study in the UK) who was predicted 40 points was rejected from Brighton for med !
Brighton!
Seriously.
Do A-levels :redface:

Why i was thinking IB? well.. merely because IB differenciates candidates where as A-level doesnt so much? Anyway.. with my year they are going to introduce A* to the A-level grades so it could change. And what i've heard is that IB will beef you up for uni and because med would be rather rigourous, the IB could make the transfer much easy going in terms of work load? I've never had to think so hard in my life. It's tough :frown:

Reply 17

jay8

sushhiii

Why i was thinking IB? well.. merely because IB differenciates candidates where as A-level doesnt so much? Anyway.. with my year they are going to introduce A* to the A-level grades so it could change. And what i've heard is that IB will beef you up for uni and because med would be rather rigourous, the IB could make the transfer much easy going in terms of work load? I've never had to think so hard in my life. It's tough :frown:

I think the IB makes the transfer easier once you're there...but makes getting there tougher. And the differentiation between candidates at the top is I think a disadvantage for us because unis can ask for point scores that are much harder than the top they can ask for A Levels (AAA).

But I like the IB because I feel like I'm receiving an education as well as a qualification. I think A Levels would feel a bit more pointless ie. only working for some silly certificates.

Reply 18

sushhiii

OP

1

jay8

I think the IB makes the transfer easier once you're there...but makes getting there tougher. And the differentiation between candidates at the top is I think a disadvantage for us because unis can ask for point scores that are much harder than the top they can ask for A Levels (AAA).

But I like the IB because I feel like I'm receiving an education as well as a qualification. I think A Levels would feel a bit more pointless ie. only working for some silly certificates.

Do you have any tips for surviving the IB? :smile:

Reply 19

jay8

sushhiii

Do you have any tips for surviving the IB? :smile:

Well, to be honest anyone can survive Year 12: it's a bit of a doss for IB students, or at least was for my year, especially because of the HLs I do - 2 sciences and maths = minimal homework.
In Year 13 you just need to keep up with work, and get things in on time. The students who keep missing deadlines are the ones I think won't fulfill their potentials in the end. I think it's manageable as long as you're prepared to work hard, and are motivated even if you're not the top of the class all the time...or ever.
The main tip if you do the IB is work hard - the more you put in, the more you will always get out. :smile:

IB or A-Levels for Medicine?

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