Choosing IB courses for Oxford PPE

3

Hello everyone! I am now appling for IB and choosing my subjects. Here are two options I have in mind:
1)
Economics HL
English Lang&Lit HL
History HL
Mathematics AA SL
ESS SL
Spanish
2)
History HL
English Lan&Lit HL
Psychology HL
Mathematics AI SL
ESS
Spanish
Since I'm not really interested in psychology, if by any chance I choose the latter option, I will ask my school whether I could switch psych HL to Econ HL. The one thing that worries me is the math. I'm afraid that I won't have good enough chances of getting in if I choose the "easiest" type of math (AI SL). I've read quite a lot about this topic in the internet, what do people who study at Oxford recommend but I am still unsure. Or would it be better to take up Math AI HL?

Reply 1

undisciplined-au

5

The Oxford website says that they recommend studying higher level maths, so that's something to consider.

They also say that history could be useful, so definitely keep that.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by kjgdaad4

Hello everyone! I am now appling for IB and choosing my subjects. Here are two options I have in mind:
1)
Economics HL
English Lang&Lit HL
History HL
Mathematics AA SL
ESS SL
Spanish
2)
History HL
English Lan&Lit HL
Psychology HL
Mathematics AI SL
ESS
Spanish
Since I'm not really interested in psychology, if by any chance I choose the latter option, I will ask my school whether I could switch psych HL to Econ HL. The one thing that worries me is the math. I'm afraid that I won't have good enough chances of getting in if I choose the "easiest" type of math (AI SL). I've read quite a lot about this topic in the internet, what do people who study at Oxford recommend but I am still unsure. Or would it be better to take up Math AI HL?

Just take HL Maths plus any other subjects you are interested in. The structure and scope of IB is such that basically any combination will be an academically rigorous programme, so really the only thing you need to do is take HL Maths, as statistically the vast majority (>90%) of successful applicants will be taking A-level Maths or equivalent. If you struggle with maths you may want to reconsider a course in economics or PPE in the first place and consider alternatives better suited to your strengths.

Reply 3

kjgdaad4

OP

3

Original post

by undisciplined-au

The Oxford website says that they recommend studying higher level maths, so that's something to consider.
They also say that history could be useful, so definitely keep that.

Thank you! Yes, I definitely would like to keep history :smile:

Reply 4

kjgdaad4

OP

3

Original post

by artful_lounger

Just take HL Maths plus any other subjects you are interested in. The structure and scope of IB is such that basically any combination will be an academically rigorous programme, so really the only thing you need to do is take HL Maths, as statistically the vast majority (>90%) of successful applicants will be taking A-level Maths or equivalent. If you struggle with maths you may want to reconsider a course in economics or PPE in the first place and consider alternatives better suited to your strengths.

Thank you for your answer! The thing is that HL is only available at our school in math AA, which I think would be too much, taking into consideration that oxford did not explicity say that AA HL is needed. But there is this feeling lurking inside me that maybe SL won't be enough (that's why I posted this question in the first place). Even if I take for example math AA SL and write really good TSA won't it compensate it? I really want to study PPE.

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by kjgdaad4

Thank you for your answer! The thing is that HL is only available at our school in math AA, which I think would be too much, taking into consideration that oxford did not explicity say that AA HL is needed. But there is this feeling lurking inside me that maybe SL won't be enough (that's why I posted this question in the first place). Even if I take for example math AA SL and write really good TSA won't it compensate it? I really want to study PPE.

They say maths is recommended at HL which is the strongest language Oxford uses short of "required". Also statistically at least for A-level students it plays out such that the vast majority who are successful will have taken A-level Maths. I think not taking HL Maths will make you considerably less competitive, potentially even non-competitive.

Besides the admissions picture, it's important to bear in mind this is not an arbitrary requirement - it is there because economics at degree level is necessarily mathematical. If you struggle with maths you will probably struggle with a degree including economics. Getting onto the course is meaningless if you are essentially limiting yourself to graduating with a 3rd class degree potentially due to picking a degree requiring skills you aren't good at, and also you will probably find the degree unenjoyable to boot...

This is the fundamental point I'm getting across. If you don't like like maths you probably aren't going to like PPE. So examine if you're picking it just due to some perception it's "better" than other courses, without considering the realities of what's involved in the day to day of the course. Any other course is just as good as PPE and you could well do e.g. politics or philosophy or both at other unis (e.g. HSPS at Cambridge, politics and IR at LSE, political economy at KCL, history and politics at Oxford) without taking the economics element which you don't seem well suited to in the first place.

Try and focus on picking subjects in your IB course that play to your strength, and follow those to your degree course in order to maximise your success later on :smile:

Spoiler

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 6

thegeek888

18

Original post

by kjgdaad4

Hello everyone! I am now appling for IB and choosing my subjects. Here are two options I have in mind:
1)
Economics HL
English Lang&Lit HL
History HL
Mathematics AA SL
ESS SL
Spanish
2)
History HL
English Lan&Lit HL
Psychology HL
Mathematics AI SL
ESS
Spanish
Since I'm not really interested in psychology, if by any chance I choose the latter option, I will ask my school whether I could switch psych HL to Econ HL. The one thing that worries me is the math. I'm afraid that I won't have good enough chances of getting in if I choose the "easiest" type of math (AI SL). I've read quite a lot about this topic in the internet, what do people who study at Oxford recommend but I am still unsure. Or would it be better to take up Math AI HL?

"Of the applicants offering A-Levels, 855 had A-Level Maths (or Maths and Further Maths).

Of the 451 applicants offering A-Levels who were interviewed, 417 (92%) had A-Level Maths.

Of the 178 applicants offering A-Levels who were awarded a place, 171 (96%) had Maths."

Microsoft Word - PPE_admissions_2023-24_further_statistics_final

Reply 7

thegeek888

18

Original post

by AngelikaK

And we don't know how many of the remaining 4% had another quantitative A-level

Presumbly, they would have had Physics or Chemistry as they're often taken alongside History, Economics, Politics and Philosophy.

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

I’m at oxford and at my college basically everyone who did IB did HL Maths. I’ve been told that people who didn’t further maths for a-level struggled a lot with econ.

Reply 9

kjgdaad4

OP

3

Wow! You are living my dream 🙂 What if I take Econ HL in IB?

Choosing IB courses for Oxford PPE

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