IB Biology HL vs SL

[slagathor]

Hey guys, I'm a rising junior that's going into IB and I have some questions. In my original plans, I wanted to take AP Chem and IB Bio HL, but there's no room in my schedule so I only got AP Chem. My IB coordinator suggests taking IB Bio my senior year but I was just wondering if colleges look down upon SL Bio. I would like to major in medicine and am torn apart between IB Bio HL and SL...

[Tribute]

I'm not from America so I don't really know about your AP system. However, they colleges shouldn't look down upon SL biology. They normally look at the scores, so if you might get in if you got a 6 in SL biology OR a 5 in HL biology. And if your doing AP Chemistry, (I'm guessing its the harder one) it should make up for the HL biology anyway.

I know when I'm applying for university, I need 5 is SL Biology/Chemistry or 4 in HL Biology/Chemistry for a Bachelor of Science.

[Bishup]

In America whether you do Bio, Chem or whatever HL will not do anything to help you get into medicine or meet the requirements. All that counts is pre-med and it depends what Bachelor degree you want to do whether an art or a science one like health sciences. Take which Bio you'd prefer to do personally. However if you were planning to apply abroad I'd got for Chem HL and Bio HL.

[Tsubaki]

Biology HL is, in my experience, are far more demanding course than Biology SL. With HL, you need to know things in much greater detail, the easiest options are not available, and there is a whole chapter (Plant Science) that is not even mentioned in SL.

With that said, SL is still a fine course, and it shouldn't put you at a disadvantage for applying to university. If there's a scheduling problem that will make it difficult or impossible to do HL, you should probably just stick with SL. It probably won't get you any credit, but you will be quite prepared for university-level biology.

[slagathor]

yeah turns out there's no IB chem because my school lost it's IB status. Luckily they're keeping the program until I graduate. So I think I'll just stick with SL or even take AP Bio next year if I really want the credit from colleges.

[JoeG]

Do you have any other options besides AP Chemistry? If you really want to take Bio HL, you can always take another course besides AP Chemistry so you can get Bio HL.

Also, I think that having AP Chemistry and Biology SL would be just fine. I know that AP Chem is a tough course, and combined with IB, (even Bio SL) should create a great image for you with Colleges. Also, as stated above, as long as you do well in the courses, you should be fine with Colleges. While HL is definitely favored in some schools over HL, SL would be fine. The schools you want to go to should have a chart with the credit they give for each AP/IB/AICE/whatever course based on what course you took, and what score you received. While more and more schools are starting to look at SL in a more favorable light (For example, University of Florida started to give credit for more SL courses), some schools will still not offer credit for SL courses. In other words, pick whatever courses you want. A school isn't going to reject you just because you took SL over HL.

[adletaY]

As far as getting credit for universities, AP Biology will almost certainly earn you more than Biology SL since most universities don't even give credit for SL courses (unfair!), but love AP classes. However, as far as admission is concerned, taking a combination of IB and AP classes is great, basically all they are looking for is if you took the most challenging courses at your school.

[joannac]

Hi, i just finish my IB nov 2010 exams (bio) last week and im a HL student.

If you want to major in medicine, Chemistry would be more important than biology

But if you have HL bio, it's seriously better.

For SL bio, you have to study 6 chapters + 2 options

whereas for HL, you have to study 11 chapters + 2 options. Though i find the IB bio course really interesting )

hope it helps!

[Mahuta ♥]

I have not heard of universities that only require SL Biology for medicine, so you need to make sure of that. If there's any chance you could take Bio HL, go for it. Trust me, you will need it in uni, IB bio HL course is very interesting and covers so many areas that you will RE-cover in uni.

Bio HL is much more interesting than SL, much more detailed and explained. Biology SL is mostly taken by those who just need to take 'a science' so they go for Biology SL. It is super easy, almost not detailed at all and the amount is less than HL by so many chapters.

Can't you change something in the Chem AP? Because I would say I am 99% sure you will need biology HL if you want to study medicine. Even if the universities don't require it, you will be in ease and everything will look so easy first year of uni if you take Biology HL.

[Matthew Sinclair]

It really depends on what prerequisites the college has, especially for that intended major. While score is most important, American colleges love to see that you took the hardest courses available, and that you excelled in them (hard I know!)

From experience, Bio is a great subject if you're passionate about it.

Out of all my subjects (excluding math) it has the biggest difference between SL and HL in my opinion. It's mainly due to content - there's A LOT more to learn/remember. I only realised this when I started doing my final revision for the N10 exams. It took hardly any time at all to get through SL but it took a lot longer to get through HL. At HL you still have to learn 2 options, but they have additional content, too.

The IAs are the same for both SL and HL - same criteria I'm pretty sure (thankfully!)

I think Bio HL would look best for an intended med major, but can you handle it with your current/planned schedule? you don't want to over do it if it means you get worse marks!

Have you considered taking a course at a local university/community college?? That will REALLY boost your application especially if it's a subject you're passionate about/an intended major related subject.

Good luck and make the right choice! =)

Also, in bio there's an options unit 'neurobiology and behaviour' that has some stuff about drugs and it's effects so that's good for med - I'm pretty sure it's in the HL/SL common part of the option. I think chem might have a med-related option, too.

I reckon psych would also be a good subject for a med major - can't hurt! There's quite a bit on the biological influences of behaviour and there's a 'health psychology' option. SL would be all you would need, except if you're looking to gain university credit cause they'd probs only take HL.

Bio HL is a nice subject though, I find It's just a lot of memorisation and more class time

Edited November 12, 2010 by Matthew Sinclair

[Guest ryuk1]

It really depends on what prerequisites the college has, especially for that intended major. While score is most important, American colleges love to see that you took the hardest courses available, and that you excelled in them (hard I know!)

From experience, Bio is a great subject if you're passionate about it.

Out of all my subjects (excluding math) it has the biggest difference between SL and HL in my opinion. It's mainly due to content - there's A LOT more to learn/remember. I only realised this when I started doing my final revision for the N10 exams. It took hardly any time at all to get through SL but it took a lot longer to get through HL. At HL you still have to learn 2 options, but they have additional content, too.

The IAs are the same for both SL and HL - same criteria I'm pretty sure (thankfully!)

I think Bio HL would look best for an intended med major, but can you handle it with your current/planned schedule? you don't want to over do it if it means you get worse marks!

Have you considered taking a course at a local university/community college?? That will REALLY boost your application especially if it's a subject you're passionate about/an intended major related subject.

Good luck and make the right choice! =)

Also, in bio there's an options unit 'neurobiology and behaviour' that has some stuff about drugs and it's effects so that's good for med - I'm pretty sure it's in the HL/SL common part of the option. I think chem might have a med-related option, too.

I reckon psych would also be a good subject for a med major - can't hurt! There's quite a bit on the biological influences of behaviour and there's a 'health psychology' option. SL would be all you would need, except if you're looking to gain university credit cause they'd probs only take HL.

Bio HL is a nice subject though, I find It's just a lot of memorisation and more class time

You are right about the SL/HL difference except one fact. The IA's are only graded the same way, they are not the same. SL IA's are quite shallow labs. (HL dropout experience)