psychology SOFT?

[max25]

if I were to do Psychology, Economics and Spanish at HL, would they be seen as 'soft subjects'?

Or would doing Philosophy, Biology or French instead of Psychology be a better choice?

[timtamboy63]

That's ddefinitey soft, do Bio HL instead.

[blindpet]

I haven't heard that psychology has been branded as soft like, say, Business and Management. Are you concerned about subject softness because of Oxbridge? What do you plan on studying at uni?

I would say that the new syllabus is far more rigorous than the old one, I wouldn't consider it soft but of course I'm bias

[max25]

I haven't heard that psychology has been branded as soft like, say, Business and Management. Are you concerned about subject softness because of Oxbridge? What do you plan on studying at uni?

I would say that the new syllabus is far more rigorous than the old one, I wouldn't consider it soft but of course I'm bias

No I am thinking about going to one of the Russel group universities... so wasn't sure if it was too soft? as apparently Spanish is aswell?

[Sandwich]

Psychology and Spanish are both generally considered 'soft' options, yep (Although it's true, not as soft as B&M etc.)

Really it depends what subject you think you'll want to study at Uni. If you want to do Spanish then it doesn't matter if you do Spanish HL, in fact it makes sense, but really you should be picking the harder subjects considered related to what you want to do, if you can.

[JoeG]

If you still want to take Psychology, do you have the option to do it at SL?

[max25]

If you still want to take Psychology, do you have the option to do it at SL?

yes i do, but im not sure what i would then take higher:S as the remaining highers all seem very hard!!

[JoeG]

I would choose a science at HL. It looks nice on college applications.

Or maybe, your A1 language.

Biology HL isn't that bad, it just involves some memorization.

[12santiago3]

Go with Biology high level, Im doing it haha and its pretty darn good. Im taking Spanish A1 high level as well and Enlgish Language A2 HL with chemistry, economics and math at standard level.

[Matthew Sinclair]

I take both Bio HL and Psych HL. They are two of my favorite subjects =)

I wouldn't say psychology is soft, but it's not exactly hard if you find it interesting. It's a good subject for those who are good at understanding concepts, memorising facts about studies, and writing essays (and evaluation!!). It'd probably be a 'soft' SL subject.

If you need to choose between psych and bio at HL, I'd say bio is harder. The only really hard thing about bio was chapter 8 (cells and respiration - yuck! but still, it's not too hard).

It all should depend on what course you want to do and what you're interested in.

Personally, I find that they are both great subjects (I'm in the old psych syllabus keep in mind).

But, in answer to your question, others probably perceive psych as soft. And I'm pretty sure that that's how it is seen at some universities, too. A lot of people see it as just 'mumbo jumbo bs common knowledge'. In IB, they try to make it scientific and as far from the stereotyped perception as possible

=)

Also, having another language can be great for colleges, but language classes are generally regarded as soft, too, I'd say. French is great though! I don't think philosophy would be regarded as much more than soft but i have no idea so my opinion isn't really valid.

Out of your list, bio would be the best to replace it with if you want a harder subject

Edited November 8, 2010 by Matthew Sinclair

[Costello]

Well for example UCL for it's psychology course accepts HL Psychology if you're not taking any HL Science, even though for example Economic courses usually don't require HL Economics at all. So I wouldn't say Psychology is much softer than Economics. Take whatever you like better or whatever is suitable for your future uni course.