IB course selection help

Immanent

Immanent

Member
A'ight so I'm going to start my IB course next year.
So I would be very grateful if any who has completed it or in the middle of it would chip in with some advice.

A little bit about me: I like sciences + math. I aspire to be an engineer/architect.

Courses I might take:
Physics
Chemistry (probably HL)
Math (HL - teacher recommendation)
French (SL - required) <- not abinitio (taking for over 4 years.)
Econ (probably SL)
English (SL definitely)
TOK (required)

Haven't thought of any other subjects, but I still have 3/4 of a year to decide + (summer?)

So basically I plan on going to North America for my tertiary studies, and I'm very motivated (meaning I'm willing to minimize social life).

Post your experiences and advices!
 
Propkid

Propkid

Member
Before I will tell you anything (and I can tell you a lot :p) you need to give a bit more info:
Where do you live? Where/which uni do you plan to study at?
French ab initio/advanced/A2?
English A1 or A2?
Do you prefer dealing with a large amount of easy to understand but hard to remember information or with less but way more complex information? (this is the physics HL vs chemistry HL question)
How self-motivated are you for the IB?
 
X

Xtreme

shaska's bff
You said you're leaning toward to engineer/architect direction. Physics is a must and I actually recommend it to people who don't even plan to use it in the future because it involves more abstract thinking and creativity than most classes (too bad I dropped halfway because my teacher was anal and decided to do four internals in a month). Also, if you're thinking about architecture you may want to take art, from what I see and hear it's pretty amazing. If you take math hl just know from now that it's not as easy as trig or whatever you did in your previous years, as you'll be required to actually open a book this time rather than skim through other people's notes 10min before a test. Chemistry I have no clue but I do take economics and I'm regretting it slightly because I could've taken history instead. I recommend taking history instead of econ because everyone can tell why regressive taxation is bad or why governments pursue fiscal and monetary policies to pull an economy out of a recession or why trade among countries is beneficial. English/french are really just a joke unless you want to pursue lit (like me :p) and tok is definitely interesting but can even be mind blowing depending on your teacher. Voila, gl&hf <3
 
Immanent

Immanent

Member
XtremeSpeed said:
You said you're leaning toward to engineer/architect direction. Physics is a must and I actually recommend it to people who don't even plan to use it in the future because it involves more abstract thinking and creativity than most classes (too bad I dropped halfway because my teacher was anal and decided to do four internals in a month). Also, if you're thinking about architecture you may want to take art, from what I see and hear it's pretty amazing. If you take math hl just know from now that it's not as easy as trig or whatever you did in your previous years, as you'll be required to actually open a book this time rather than skim through other people's notes 10min before a test. Chemistry I have no clue but I do take economics and I'm regretting it slightly because I could've taken history instead. I recommend taking history instead of econ because everyone can tell why regressive taxation is bad or why governments pursue fiscal and monetary policies to pull an economy out of a recession or why trade among countries is beneficial. English/french are really just a joke unless you want to pursue lit (like me :p) and tok is definitely interesting but can even be mind blowing depending on your teacher. Voila, gl&hf <3
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I'm fine with subjects so far:
English and French at SL because those are mandatory haha
I've already covered much of some calc. to a certain extent (if you are in the british system they call it AS (advanced subsidiary, like the first part of their A levels or first part of their last 2 years of school syllabus))

But I'm not very comfortable with taking art and all. I'm not sure if it's a pre-requisite for architecture or design, but I haven't done any serious art courses so yeah... My doodling is *chocolate cookies*, but I thought architecture was more reliant on technology nowadays.... Guess I was very wrong.

GCSE Math is a walk in the park (I practically covered most of the syllabus a few years back entering GCSE year, and the topics that I haven't learnt yet are easy to pick up for me). I fully understand all the concepts, but it's the tiny errors that screw me over (reciprocating fractions, positive and negative signs etc...). Anyway, I'm planning on getting a head start on my HL Math course during the summer and after my external examinations, but I need to check out the syllabus first...

Did you like drop HL Physics or...? So like you went from HL to SL? I thought you needed at least 3 HL courses to fulfill the requirements of the IB diploma.

Anyway thanks for responding and the advice.
 
Propkid

Propkid

Member
Immanent said:
I'm fine with subjects so far:
English and French at SL because those are mandatory haha
I've already covered much of some calc. to a certain extent (if you are in the british system they call it AS (advanced subsidiary, like the first part of their A levels or first part of their last 2 years of school syllabus))

But I'm not very comfortable with taking art and all. I'm not sure if it's a pre-requisite for architecture or design, but I haven't done any serious art courses so yeah... My doodling is *chocolate cookies*, but I thought architecture was more reliant on technology nowadays.... Guess I was very wrong.

GCSE Math is a walk in the park (I practically covered most of the syllabus a few years back entering GCSE year, and the topics that I haven't learnt yet are easy to pick up for me). I fully understand all the concepts, but it's the tiny errors that screw me over (reciprocating fractions, positive and negative signs etc...). Anyway, I'm planning on getting a head start on my HL Math course during the summer and after my external examinations, but I need to check out the syllabus first...

Did you like drop HL Physics or...? So like you went from HL to SL? I thought you needed at least 3 HL courses to fulfill the requirements of the IB diploma.

Anyway thanks for responding and the advice.
Click to expand...
Don't take art (!), do take History instead of Economics (!!!) unless your school doesn't have a good history teacher. Maths HL is a whole new thing, GCSE and AS maths get nowhere near it and the actual A-level maths covers different things.
If you're looking for a 34+ points score then you are looking at the top engineering universities in the UK and Chem or Phy HL is a must, just like Maths HL. Not sure about architecture.

Just a thing: Physics HL isn't necessarily harder than Chem HL. Different people are good at different things, but Chem SL is definitely easier than Phy SL. Also Phy HL will get you more covered and ready for engineering studies (if you're good at it). You have to decide what you like to do more: deal with tonnes of info (chem) or deal with complicated info (phy).

Just so you understand where is this experience coming from, I took:
Physics HL
Chemistry HL
ITGS HL
English A1
Spanish SL
Maths SL + A-level maths (don't ask)
 
St3lth

St3lth

Backend Contributor
Meh, my subjects currently are:
Physics HL
Math SL
Econ HL
Jap B1 HL
English A1 HL
History SL

If you do want to pursue a career in architecture or engineering, Physics and Math are mandatory. Apart from that in our school we have an architecture elective, which teaches us how to design a building and what not. I'd recommend English A1, because it helps a lot, when you try to apply for universities. Picking History over Chem might be a better idea, but pick what you think your good at. Honestly, if you manage your time and hand work on time, IB isn't that hard. Pro tip, BS your way through ;).
 
Immanent

Immanent

Member
St3lth said:
Meh, my subjects currently are:
Physics HL
Math SL
Econ HL
Jap B1 HL
English A1 HL
History SL

If you do want to pursue a career in architecture or engineering, Physics and Math are mandatory. Apart from that in our school we have an architecture elective, which teaches us how to design a building and what not. I'd recommend English A1, because it helps a lot, when you try to apply for universities. Picking History over Chem might be a better idea, but pick what you think your good at. Honestly, if you manage your time and hand work on time, IB isn't that hard. Pro tip, BS your way through ;).
Click to expand...


4 HL really...? SO you can technically drop one HL subject to SL and still have your ass covered for the diploma?

I wanna see your predicted :D
 
St3lth

St3lth

Backend Contributor
Immanent said:
4 HL really...? SO you can technically drop one HL subject to SL and still have your ass covered for the diploma?

I wanna see your predicted :D
Click to expand...
Yea, I mean you can take 4 HL's but your only allowed to give 3 HL exams, so I think I'm gonna give the JAP B1 Sl exam.
 
Royalty

Royalty

The Aussie
Immanent said:
OP
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm thinking about doing IB too. (Even though I'm only in Yr 8)
Immanent said:
A little bit about me: I like sciences + math. I aspire to be an engineer/architect.
Courses I might take:
Physics
Chemistry (probably HL)
Math (HL - teacher recommendation)
French (SL - required) <- not abinitio (taking for over 4 years.)
Econ (probably SL)
English (SL definitely)
TOK (required)
Click to expand...
Wow we are more alike than I thought...
Immanent said:
So basically I plan on going to North America for my tertiary studies, and I'm very motivated (meaning I'm willing to minimize social life).
Click to expand...
Oh you poor thing... You'll be pinging 50 in a server that is constantly full!!! Lucky bastard...
Immanent said:
Yeah I go to a British International school, so all my vocabulary is mixed between American and English spelling, and people laugh at me because of my american accent :l
Click to expand...
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAH HA!
American accent! LOL
 
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