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IB Physics or IB Biology?


Guest IMBATMAN

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Guest IMBATMAN

I have a chose of either next year but I don't now what to do, can someone please give some pros and cons of each class, I also don't know what career I'm going to take in the future so I don't know which would be more beneficial.

help?

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Physics HL is supposed to be tough. However if you're good at math and you enjoy it, go for it. Most people in physics HL at my school also take math HL ;)

Biology HL is probably the easiest of the HL sciences. It requires some understanding but it's more about memorizing concepts.

Which careers are you thinking of? At least if you tell us which fields of study you're interested in (and your other subjects) , it will be easier for us to help ;)

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It depends what kind of person you are in other subjects to which one you would find better. From what I have experienced and what friends have told me, biology is more just recall of facts and if you are more interested and better at humanities then the chances are you will be better with biology. However, if you are more mathematical then physics is definitely better. Of course there are exception to this rule but I would go with what you are most interested and which one suits you best.

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Physics is very calculation-based. You need to be good at calculating (i.e. Math). You don't need to memorise a lot, just a few definitions and probably some formulas that are not in the data booklet if you want.

Biology is very memory-based. You need to be good at memorising. You don't need to calculate a lot, you just need to know how to read a gas syringe, a measuring cylinder, a burette or all those scaled apparatus..

Physics HL (together with Math HL) can make you an Engineer or a Physicist.

Biology HL (together with Chem HL) can make you a doctor or a Biologist.

However if you are not interested in studying the sciency courses in uni, both Phy&Bio SL are good choices. If you are better at memorising than calculating, take Biology instead of Physics, vice versa.

If there is any more specified question just ask. I am taking IB Phy, I took IGCSE Bio and I studied both in years 7-9.

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Well as far as my school goes, Biology is a much more challenging class and has not had a very high success rate, probably due to the change in scheduling and class time the past few years. As far as physics goes, well for me personally it makes sense because as Desy said is very calculation based. Nearly everything you need is in your calculation packet. You just need to understand the question and how it applies to the mess of formulas you are given.

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I'm not personally taking IB Physics (although I wish I was), but I am taking HL Biology. I have to say, that even at the HL level, it isn't too hard of a course. It requires a lot of memorizing of terms, etc, and is completely achievable. HL Physics on the other hand (from what I hear) is much, much, much tougher, and a lot of it goes into theory. I find it all very interesting, but don't think I'd be able to handle it.

Like the people above me have said, if you're considering engineering, Physics would be a better choice. If you're considering more of a medical career, Biology is a good choice.

Just choose what you're more interested in, and what will help you better in the future :)

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I'm in Bio HL 2 and I absolutely love it. I reccomend asking the teachers which topics they have chosen specifically for second year and seeing if you have an interst in them. For example, at my school we are studying a lot of physiology and this has made it really enjoyable and interesting for me. I'm not sure waht the other topics are, but I know that the school can choose to teach specific things in the second year and my school teaches Human Physiology and Further Human Physiology. I believe that it's also very important to have a good teacher and, if you honestly have no preference, choose the class that has the best teacher.

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