thoughts on my ib subject choices?

so i’m an american student studying at an international school in london and im going to be starting the ib next year (so yr 11/grade 10). i’m looking to study a medicine/biomedical sciences/veterinary medicine course for uni, not sure quite yet.
i’m really strong in science, but im also really good at english/history and specifically spanish 😭 im not that strong in maths tho which you’ll see is reflected in my choices below
any feedback would be helpful before i start in august!!
hl biology
hl chemistry
hl psychology
sl maths ai
sl spanish b
sl english language/literature
thanks guys pls be honest <3

hi! i do spanish and english SL (they are a breeze btw) and i also do psych HL... just a word of warning that there's an awful lot of content in psych and bio.... if you strong at sciences though then you may find it okay but some of my friends do it and its defo a lot of work. It's obviously your choice but if I were you i would consider putting Math AI as a higher level swap with psychology,( i do math AI HL btw) as uni's for things like biomedical sciences will prefer higher maths... it's also relaly not too difficult and not much of a difference from teh SL so you'd definitely be able to cope with it... a few of my friends in my class were really not strong at maths but they're doing well in the course.... it's also easier to get a grade 7 for maths than it is for psych at HL, at least that's what i've seen.

thank you so much xx
i’ve heard a lot about hl psych and from what i’ve heard it’s mostly about learning how to write in the format the ib wants because there is a lotttt of writing (i think this is why it’s considered a social science instead of a regular science??) as well as memorizing a large amount of content so you know exactly what studies to associate with each question that you could be asked. i’m not too worried about bio, it’s my favorite subject and i find it super interesting, i genuinely have more fun with it than anything else. maths is something i really just do not enjoy, i really don’t know why from what i’ve heard and what i based my choices on i should pick classes that i know ill enjoy and be happy with for two years so i picked psych instead of maths. but i can always change classes at the beginning of the new year if there are any big issues with my choices
thank u sm again!!

hi! i do spanish and english SL (they are a breeze btw) and i also do psych HL... just a word of warning that there's an awful lot of content in psych and bio.... if you strong at sciences though then you may find it okay but some of my friends do it and its defo a lot of work. It's obviously your choice but if I were you i would consider putting Math AI as a higher level swap with psychology,( i do math AI HL btw) as uni's for things like biomedical sciences will prefer higher maths... it's also relaly not too difficult and not much of a difference from teh SL so you'd definitely be able to cope with it... a few of my friends in my class were really not strong at maths but they're doing well in the course.... it's also easier to get a grade 7 for maths than it is for psych at HL, at least that's what i've seen.

thank you so much xx
i’ve heard a lot about hl psych and from what i’ve heard it’s mostly about learning how to write in the format the ib wants because there is a lotttt of writing (i think this is why it’s considered a social science instead of a regular science??) as well as memorizing a large amount of content so you know exactly what studies to associate with each question that you could be asked. i’m not too worried about bio, it’s my favorite subject and i find it super interesting, i genuinely have more fun with it than anything else. maths is something i really just do not enjoy, i really don’t know why from what i’ve heard and what i based my choices on i should pick classes that i know ill enjoy and be happy with for two years so i picked psych instead of maths. but i can always change classes at the beginning of the new year if there are any big issues with my choices
thank u sm again!!

Am super grateful that Psych is categorised in Group 3 Individuals & Societies or I would not have been able to study it alongside HL Chem and HL Bio. Psych is very much a STEM subject when offered a BSc/MSci vs BA. In IB, Psych is alot of writing eg 800 words for SAQ. The length of writing for Psych SAQ is the length of Bio ERQ. This was how I saw it.

Hi ... Your selection of SL Math AI. I am not sure if this will be accepted by medical schools. I could be dead wrong here but could you please check with your school uni advisor or email a few of your prospective med schools to ask if SL Math AI as part of your IB Diploma course package will put you at a disadvantage.

Thought I should point out that 20K kids take Spanish SL and only about 10% get 7s. As for Eng LL SL, 25K and only about 5% get 7s. From what I know, you need to achieve very high marks in both of these subjects to obtain 7s (check their grade boundaries). So for this reason alone, quite a bit of extra effort is needed. Of all my subjects, I spent the most time on SL Eng LL! It is anything but a breeze for me to score a 7!
I did HL Chem / Bio / Psych and yes, Bio was the one that needed most effort because of the huge volume of content. Psych was manageable for me (I am doing Psych now at uni) and the key advice I have is to scaffold which studies can be used for which topics. eg I think I used Maguire et al for 5 topics! lol!

okok good to know. i'm taking a general psych course right now and my teacher is our school's ap teacher so i think she's preparing our class for more mcqs in terms of tests rather than saqs/erqs but i'm always taking the opportunities to write when we get a project for practice. but 800 words for an saq is really long!! how long did you usually get to write an erq?

hi! i checked with my course advisor, he said it was fine, and with the med school websites i would apply to and they have no preference of maths. from all the research i’ve done apparently unis say what they mean in course prerequisites…? but from all the comments i will definitely take into account switching to hl now 🥲

i am a bit worried about spanish more than english. my spanish teacher this year says the high majority of students who go from my class drop out from spanish b sl, but i've had conversations with her and she says with the results i've been showing and how i really enjoy the language she thinks i can do it. i also have access to tutoring if i do feel like i really need it, so there's always that to fall back on if i need it. english i'm not sure i can fix though, from what i know lang lit is the easiest class to take and im already taking the most advanced english class offered in terms of a general course (so i feel more prepared for english rather than spanish rn).

There is no MCQ for IB Psych though. But perhaps useful for helping you all learn content. So yes, you will be better off focusing on writing more. Make your notes. Hope you have the IB Psych textbook. 1 ERQ is 1 hour. On average, 4 to 5 pages of handwritten response.
Don't worry about the 800 words. It was for me. You'd also be fine with 600 words so long as they are well-developed paragraphs! If you have enough practice, you will soon see it's not hard to write this much.
Use this resource
https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/ - Travis Dixon is the GOD of IB Psych! Consider getting his book!

Yes, Eng LL was the best option, even for me. I didn't think I could do Eng Lit alone.

now that i’m thinking about it this is less than i write for my english essays in 40 minutes, so maybe it’s more doable than i thought. but i realize it’s a lot more based upon memorization/linking to main topics rather than literary analysis 😭 thank you for that link btw it looks like a great site for next year

hi! i do spanish and english SL (they are a breeze btw) and i also do psych HL... just a word of warning that there's an awful lot of content in psych and bio.... if you strong at sciences though then you may find it okay but some of my friends do it and its defo a lot of work. It's obviously your choice but if I were you i would consider putting Math AI as a higher level swap with psychology,( i do math AI HL btw) as uni's for things like biomedical sciences will prefer higher maths... it's also relaly not too difficult and not much of a difference from teh SL so you'd definitely be able to cope with it... a few of my friends in my class were really not strong at maths but they're doing well in the course.... it's also easier to get a grade 7 for maths than it is for psych at HL, at least that's what i've seen.