Chemistry HL or Physics HL

[saunders is god]

ok guys, here is the situation

In our messed up school, you do all sl subjects in the first year and then at the start of the second year you choose which 3 hl subjects you want to do (except for maths hl lol which starts from the first year coz its so ****ing hard)

anyway, I have to choose one hl and one sl between chemistry and physics

the problem is that i really like chemistry and find it really easy however i have been warned by past students that the chemistry teacher is bad for hl content

on the other hand, the thought of physics hl gives me a headache with all that relativity and quantum stuff even though the teacher is excellent

Please Help !!!!

which one is the better option in your opinion'

EDIT: thanks guys

Edited October 31, 2010 by 2401 Tangents
don't thank post

[timtamboy63]

Whoa, that is messed up. I'd say its down to the amount of work you're willing to put in. If you really enjoy chemsitry, then do chemistry HL as you will want to do well and put more work in. However, if you want it easier, i'd say do Physics. Physics is actually a much harder subject, but if you have a good teacher it shouldn't be too hard.

[dessskris]

I used to take both HL and anyway in Chemistry, the HL and SL classes are combined so I still know what they do in Chem HL

I personally find Chemistry hard so I dropped it to SL. You need to be good at both memorising (which I am not good at) and calculation in Chem. I am also having a bad Chemistry teacher (I hope she would not read this) but 2 out of 5 students in here dare to do HL. And anyway we have other Chem teachers in our school to whom we could ask, so we do not need to worry so much about it. Do you have other Chem teachers? They could probably help you if your teacher sux.. And you can get study guides or refer to the net to help you studying. And since you are now finding it very easy, maybe by only reading your textbook, you would already understand! And it does not really matter whether you have a good teacher. Objectively, Chem is still easier than Phy.

I find Phy HL quite challenging but it is still managable. You only need to be good at calculation and understand the question, then you would be able to answer, because the formulas are just in the data booklet. If you know the right formula to use, you can answer then. A good teacher would surely help, but having a good teacher does not mean that every student that he teach would all get a 7 right? it depends on the student, too. If that teacher teaches 10 students who cannot do Physics, not everyone of them would be able to master it. Maybe 3-5 would succeed but who knows?

I would highly recommend you to do Chem. Why? Because you like it! And you do not like Phy. The most important thing to consider when choosing subjects is whether you love&enjoy the subjects you are doing or not. Why would you want to limit your geniousness in Chem by taking SL??? And then killing yourself by taking Phy HL??? Don't do that. Do what you like.

Now, the second important thing to consider is the prerequisites (I hope the spelling is correct) for the course that you want to study in University. Chem HL can get you into medicine-related courses maybe and chemistry-related ones (I am not sure what they are, but maybe Biochemistry, Pharmacy, Chem, etc). Phy HL can get you into Engineering for sure, and Maths, Comp Sci, and other Physics-related courses. What do you want to study in uni? If it is not related with both of them, just do Chemistry.

Past students are always like that. They will tell you bad issues to scare you, especially if you are new to it! You are good; why limit yourself? Do Chem HL and Phy SL.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Aboo
Just spaced between paragraph, much easier to read the useful post. :)

[Drake Glau]

^I believe Fizzy touched on this. Chemistry so far has been just the teacher giving notes (which we found out quickly are almost word for word out of our book) and forcing us to fill in the blanks which keeps us actively involved and we all kind of try and fill em in ourselves by figuring it out (clever way to teach in my opinion). If you find chem easy I would certainly do HL then, you get it, you like it, why in the world would you do HL phys if you dont get it as much as chem, and dont like it as much as chem. And don't be afraid of bad teachers, obviously you found this forum which has a ton of people who have a) done it, b) doing it, or c) taught it, or even d) have made their own notes and/or vids/resources that you can use.

And this thread is...12 days old, i dont know if you've picked yet but theres my input.

[chrypton]

I'd say choose the subject you're most passionate about, because then you will really want to succeed in it. Personally, I could not find myself doing Chem HL, because I find it really hard to REALLY understand the topics, even though I'm able to do the questions. Physics on the other hand I find much better, because I'm able to visualize many of the concepts and therefore understand them(well, in most cases anyways).

It would be stupid to go with either one solely because you have heard it is "easier".

[fan]

Go with your heart well If you really like a subject i really don't think anyone would be able to stop you from doing it. Especially not a teacher. My teacher is not that great for physics but i still love physics .. with the right spirit and mind set you will be able to get a good grade if you work hard. And hey sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the things we love