IB HL Physics

[FlyingPiggies]

I am in 11th grade and I have took IB HL Physics in the beginning and then dropped down to SL since i found HL too hard. How much different is SL from HL? I have been an A student throughout highschool, but i am worried i will do really bad in Physics since everyone says its a very hard subject and i myself find it quite challenging.

[MinaDoan]

=( I will start mine in next February =( I think in Physic you need to be good at Maths and formulas. =( What are you studying now??

[Drake Glau]

Think my physics teacher has the best motto for this. "The point is not the points" and physics I feel is just understand...well...physical science, sure there's equations and math, but it kind of makes sense if you physically know what is happening? Ohm's law for example, V=IR, so I=V/R, the more resistance the less current, physically makes sense (this is not saying that electricity makes sense, because it doesn't...)

[ShineeLikeMe]

Like on what alex has to say.

It' s really difficult to get out of the straight A persona because that's what your culture expects of you. Especially the asian one. But once you do it feels so much better and you get to focus on learning just for the sake of learning.

[Sublime Sunshine]

To be honest, at the beginning HL isn't that different from SL. I have just completed IB1 and all of the stuff that HL physics is done, most of the SL students could do, I'm sure with the option topics etc that will change and HL will get harder though. I find physics to be a subject where you can be completely lost one minute and then understand a lot of it the next minute, so especially seeing as you've only just begun IB1, keep at it. It doesn't come easily but it's important not to get too overwhelmed by the difficulty of it, this has happened to a lot of people in my class. If you don't understand concepts, ask your teacher and just keep trying to figure it out, don't just say that it is too hard. So my advice is just to keep pushing through with all of the work, I can say from my own experience that it doesn't come intuitively and easily to most people.

[IB-Adam]

If you're taking Physics HL then you should take Math HL. That's all I can say.

[MinaDoan]

@ IB-Adam: hehe, your subject selection is nearly the same as mine including the SL and HL, except that I chose Vietnamese for A1.

[Mattqat]

If you're taking Physics HL then you should take Math HL. That's all I can say.

I wouldn't necessarily say this. The IB physics curriculum is designed to be not very math-intensive - it doesn't use any calculus at all, unlike the AP C Physics test we have in the US. A large part of the course is, like others have said, a solid understanding of the physical processes that are occurring, and how they change. This often involves symbolic manipulation of formulae; many questions I have seen are of the form "If [situation] and [X] [increases/doubles/etc.], what happens to [Y]?" Much of the difference between HL and SL comes from extension of concepts, but the extensions are logical - for instance, if you have an intimate understanding of how waves work, the Doppler effect isn't conceptually difficult. I agree with those who say you shouldn't worry about it too much yet; sometimes it just takes time for concepts to "click" and then they're second nature. I don't know if my teacher had even made my class decide on a level when I was where you are.

[Drake Glau]

This is true about the calculus part, its usually the AP calc physics test that uses that stuff (and according to my phys teacher most univeristies in the US will only accept the calc physics AP test though I have not checked myself). We just took a test over electric current, questions taken from old paper 1s and 2s and there was very little number usage honestly except one part where they wanted us to use a graph given to us to deduce a few things.

[timtamboy63]

Don't fret, If you study, you;ll do well. As long as you are good at Maths, especially algebra, you;ll be fine, as the other part is just understanding the theory

[jose.a.]

If you're taking Physics HL then you should take Math HL. That's all I can say.

What?? nooo thats taking it too far, the maths at physics HL are not hard AT ALL, the same level as SL,what makes the course challenging is understanding the concepts. If you are not passionate about physics do not take it HL it'll be PURE suffering , however if you do like physics it'll be a lot of fun

[IB-Adam]

If you're taking Physics HL then you should take Math HL. That's all I can say.

What?? nooo thats taking it too far, the maths at physics HL are not hard AT ALL, the same level as SL,what makes the course challenging is understanding the concepts. If you are not passionate about physics do not take it HL it'll be PURE suffering , however if you do like physics it'll be a lot of fun

oopps, i mean the opposite way:

if you are taking math HL, then you should take physics at HL, sorry