WorkingHard Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Everyone at school seems to say that HL Mathematics is near impossible. My teachers tell me that i really need to love maths to be able to have a chance of getting above a 5 int his subject. What are your thoughts? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 those people are right. 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninety Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 In my opinion, HL Maths is not that hard. Once you understand how to do each type of question, you can do it again without difficulties. The challenge of HL Maths is that the 'understanding' comes from practising questions. I think practice is all there is to Maths. Of course talent can get you a long way, but even the smartest people in my class who are predicted to get all 7s in their subjects have difficulty doing the harder questions, like the ones about vectors. Gaining the understanding through practise can take a long time PLUS a lot of effort AND persistence, compared to other subjects in which you can just cram facts or definitions into your head. You see, not everyone is prepared or willing to invest so much more time into the subject. Plus, when you have a lot of work to do for your other subjects, you can't put so much time into Maths even if you want to. I'm getting a 5 right now in HL Maths, and I think it just comes down to my lack of practice. Whenever I've been practising a lot of questions, I'm in a good 'form'/'shape' and I find Maths relatively easy and straightforward. My problem is that I always give HL Maths the lowest priority, so I almost never practice questions. If you do take HL Maths don't follow after my example 4 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peanut Butter Jelly Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 the thing about math hl is in ib you dont really have that much time to devote to math alone. I mean sure, you can practice a lot but the amount of effort you need to put in is so much that it gets quite annoying. furthermore, even if you practice a ton of questions, u still need that 'creativity' to be able to combine all the topics in the way to answer the questions.i would say you could get a 5 if you consider yourself one of the top math students in the grade and actually enjoy doing math contests and extra problems. The 6s are reserved for those who put in more effort or are a little naturally gifted. The 7s are for the extremely gifted or those who get about 2 hours sleep per night. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkingHard Posted December 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Ah. Thanks for the general overview. HL Maths is definately not worth it now. It doesnt even get you into that many courses. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninety Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) Evan Xia, take HL Maths if you want to go into: physics, engineering, accounting, economics, actuarial science or any similar field. Otherwise take SL Maths and be a happy person Oh, there's something I want to add to my old post - simply put, in HL Maths, the time and effort you put in is not proportional to the grade you receive. Say, you put X amount of time into HL Economics and you get a 7. In HL Maths you probably need 2X or even 3X the amount of time to get the same grade! Edited December 10, 2011 by ninety Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Evan Xia, take HL Maths if you want to go into: physics, engineering, accounting, economics, actuarial science or any similar field. Otherwise take SL Maths and be a happy person and Computer Science and pure Maths Oh, there's something I want to add to my old post - simply put, in HL Maths, the time and effort you put in is not proportional to the grade you receive.Say, you put X amount of time into HL Economics and you get a 7. In HL Maths you probably need 2X or even 3X the amount of time to get the same grade! I don't believe such thing works. if a primary student spends 24/7 learning Maths, do you really think s/he could get a 7? it needs some natural talent, interest and enough logic. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Award Winning Boss Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Since Desy has said its difficult its impossible for normal people. Fact. I joke, from what I've heard only take it of it's necessary for your university course. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninety Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Oh, there's something I want to add to my old post - simply put, in HL Maths, the time and effort you put in is not proportional to the grade you receive.Say, you put X amount of time into HL Economics and you get a 7. In HL Maths you probably need 2X or even 3X the amount of time to get the same grade!I don't believe such thing works. if a primary student spends 24/7 learning Maths, do you really think s/he could get a 7?it needs some natural talent, interest and enough logic.Well, it's my view that nothing is impossible as long as you have the determination. A lot of determination can be drawn from interest, but I don't think interest is absolutely essential. Determination can come from other things, like wanting to achieve a certain grade or to wanting to enter a certain school. I think it's possible for anyone, let alone a primary school student, to achieve anything if he invests enough time and effort. For a younger student it may take more time and effort to achieve the same thing as an older student, but I don't think it's impossible. And of course talent and logic help, but I think a lack of any of them (or even both of them) can be made up for if enough time and effort is spent. When I was doing my GCSEs (UK secondary education certificates), I myself managed to jump from a D to an A in Music over one summer through intense studying and practising. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 well I don't believe it always works for example, I totally suck at History. no matter how hard I try, I never actually got good grades in middle school. life sucks. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aravind Addepalli Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 I don't think that this is true to be honest...I don't consider myself gifted in Math and as of now I have a predicted 7 in HL Math. I spend much less time on Math than I do in my other HL's Chem and Bio and am still pulling of a 7...My friends who have taken HL Eng are doing more work than I am and they are struggling to pull 6's in their course. That being said English in general is a very subjective course.So all in all, doing well in HL Math is really just a combination of how much you enjoy math and if you get it...it isn't a for sure "highest grade you can get is a 5 or else you never sleep and have to work 24/7". 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted December 16, 2011 Report Share Posted December 16, 2011 but noone can know for sure until they get their final IB results. predictions could be biased esp since all schools have different ways of teaching etc, some teachers might be leninent some too strict. we'll see how in the final exams! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flinquinnster Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Evan Xia, take HL Maths if you want to go into: physics, engineering, accounting, economics, actuarial science or any similar field. Otherwise take SL Maths and be a happy person Oh, there's something I want to add to my old post - simply put, in HL Maths, the time and effort you put in is not proportional to the grade you receive. Say, you put X amount of time into HL Economics and you get a 7. In HL Maths you probably need 2X or even 3X the amount of time to get the same grade! Wow, being a "happy person" sounds really enticing now. But I'm considering Economics or a science-based degree, and even though you don't have to do HL maths to get into that degree in Australia, it's different in countries like the UK (why, oh why?). My reasoning is this - there's not much point doing HL maths just to fulfil some course requirement if you don't do well in it anyway. I've started HL maths, and it's not too difficult yet, but it's sucking away my time - perhaps at the expense of other subjects. I think determination and interest is necessary, or at least a lot of hard work. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Stark Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I'd like to know the answer to this question, as well. I've always been a 90%+ student in Maths throughout school, and indeed in years 8-10 I was doing Maths a year ahead of the norm, despite putting in 0% effort, doing no practise questions and barely paying attention in class. The subject doesn't interest me like Groups 1-3 do, but comes naturally to me - I think it's because I see the logical relationships between theories and formulas and thus understand why they work and what the represent, instead of simply memorising them as most are wont to do. Hence, I wanted to undertake HL Maths over HL Chemistry, particularly as many of the uni courses I was looking at were Economics-based in the UK, thus requiring HL Maths. Unfortunately, my school has decided not to offer HL Maths as it is 'too difficult'. There's a precedent of students being allowed to individually learn HLs of subjects the school only offers at SL if our co-ordinator considers it both possible and necessary, but I was rejected from this as well. If it was due to a lack of passion for the subject, I'd understand (though I'm even less enthusiastic about Chemistry), but his justification was simply 'it's impossible'. So now not only am I stuck in Higher Level Chemistry with the most incompetent teacher I have ever met, half my uni preferences are no longer options. All because HL Maths is apparently 'impossible'. Yeah, I'm mad. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia. Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 I'd like to know the answer to this question, as well. I've always been a 90%+ student in Maths throughout school, and indeed in years 8-10 I was doing Maths a year ahead of the norm, despite putting in 0% effort, doing no practise questions and barely paying attention in class. The subject doesn't interest me like Groups 1-3 do, but comes naturally to me - I think it's because I see the logical relationships between theories and formulas and thus understand why they work and what the represent, instead of simply memorising them as most are wont to do. Hence, I wanted to undertake HL Maths over HL Chemistry, particularly as many of the uni courses I was looking at were Economics-based in the UK, thus requiring HL Maths. Unfortunately, my school has decided not to offer HL Maths as it is 'too difficult'. There's a precedent of students being allowed to individually learn HLs of subjects the school only offers at SL if our co-ordinator considers it both possible and necessary, but I was rejected from this as well. If it was due to a lack of passion for the subject, I'd understand (though I'm even less enthusiastic about Chemistry), but his justification was simply 'it's impossible'. So now not only am I stuck in Higher Level Chemistry with the most incompetent teacher I have ever met, half my uni preferences are no longer options. All because HL Maths is apparently 'impossible'. Yeah, I'm mad.Don't universities take that into account, that you wanted to read HL but couldn't? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdube Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I think when they designed the class, they forgot an 'E' and an 'L' in HL. 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MylakIB Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 HL Maths is not that bad - I'm from Poland, and in my group of 20 people on MHL there are about five 7s... I get over 90% on mocks without studying because I had nearly all this material in my middle school (I don't know how it in other countries) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 I think when they designed the class, they forgot an 'E' and an 'L' in HL.? i'm not getting the pun :/ Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Award Winning Boss Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 ? i'm not getting the pun :/ HL - insert E and L = HELL HL maths = Hell Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dessskris Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 ? i'm not getting the pun :/ HL - insert E and L = HELL HL maths = Hell OOOHHHHHHHHHH that makes sense now ~_~ haha thanks Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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