Help with IB course choises?

[Sangam Shrestha]

Hey guys,

I am currently in grade 9 and I found out that I was accepted into the Pre-IB/IB program. In september I will be going to grade 10 Pre-IB. I was thinking about the courses I will take in the real IB program (which starts in grade 11), and I decided to take the following courses:

Group 1: English HL

Group 2: French SL

Group 3: Economics HL

Group 4: Chemistry HL

Group 5: Mathematics SL

Group 6: Biology SL (I will substitute Biology SL for Group 6).

I wanted to take English, Chemistry, and Biology as my HL subjects and French, Economics, and Mathematics as my SL subjects but my school doesn't offer Economics in SL. So, I will have to take Economics HL instead of Biology HL.

So, what do you think of my course choises? Is it manageable enough? I want to go into pharmacology/pharmaceuticals and I know that this isn't the best choice of subjects. From what I know, Math HL, Chemistry HL, and Biology HL is the standard choice for medicine. But the thing is, my school is cheap. There is only English HL for Group 1. There is also only History HL, Psychology HL, and Economics HL for Group 3.

So, two of my HL subjects are already pre-decided and as a result, I ca't choose Math HL and Biology HL.

But anyways, please tell me what you think of my choices. Should I change anything that would prepare me better for my career choice of pharmacology/pharmaceuticals?

Thanks

Sangam

Edited July 10, 2012 by Sangam Shrestha

[Emmi]

Your subject choices look fine, and if you were considering medical school or something related to a sciences course, you would be on the right track. Just be advised that IB courses, especially HL ones, can be a bit challenging.

But you won't be in the IB for two more years and are just starting high school! You really don't have to worry about IB subjects, etc right now. Just enjoy your summer, get good grades in your Pre-IB classes, and have fun before IB starts and takes over your soul.

(it won't take over your soul if you keep procrastination to a minimum though )

[Sangam Shrestha]

(it won't take over your soul if you keep procrastination to a minimum though )

lol that depends on how you define minimum procrastination.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Sangam Shrestha

[Babydolleyes]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

[twilight]

I think you should look up on the requirements of the various universities you are interested in, and see what are the subjects you will need to be qualified to study pharmaceutical. From what I know, usually they will require Chemistry, Biology/physics and mathematics at HL for science based majors.

For example, Nottingham university's entry requirements for pharmaceutical science:

We look for grades 6, 6, 5 at higher level including Chemistry plus one from biology, physics or maths plus three further subjects at subsidiary level. Maths with further maths counts as one higher and one subsidiary. You'll also need bonus points to bring your diploma to a minimum of 34 points.

It is quite dangerous to only have chemistry as a science subject at HL when you intend to do a science major. But then again, check out the universities you are interested in. Some may not even have subject specific requirements, like most universities in USA.

[Sangam Shrestha]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply!

I want to take 4 HL classes but my school doesn't allow that. It says only 3 HLs + 3 SLs.

[Guest cac]

Hey guys i have chosen to take:

Spanish B HL

Geography HL

Economics HL

English A1 SL

Maths SL

ES & S SL

Any advice, on what i could do at university because i have no idea, and any suggestions as to my subject choices - whether to changed or amend?

Thanks!

[Sangam Shrestha]

I think you should look up on the requirements of the various universities you are interested in, and see what are the subjects you will need to be qualified to study pharmaceutical. From what I know, usually they will require Chemistry, Biology/physics and mathematics at HL for science based majors.

For example, Nottingham university's entry requirements for pharmaceutical science:

We look for grades 6, 6, 5 at higher level including Chemistry plus one from biology, physics or maths plus three further subjects at subsidiary level. Maths with further maths counts as one higher and one subsidiary. You'll also need bonus points to bring your diploma to a minimum of 34 points.

It is quite dangerous to only have chemistry as a science subject at HL when you intend to do a science major. But then again, check out the universities you are interested in. Some may not even have subject specific requirements, like most universities in USA.

Thanks for reply twilight!

The thing is, my school doesn't allow students to take 4 HL classes (Students MUST take 3 HLs + 3 SLs). Also, there is only English HL for group 1 and all the Group 3 subjects are at HL. So, two of my classes are going to be at HL and I can only choose 1 more HL class before the school requirement of 3 HL classes is met. I thought that chemistry HL would be more useful than Biology HL but I'm not sure. Is it better to choose chemistry HL than Bio HL for pharmacology/pharmaceuticals?

[ChocolateDrop]

Chemistry HL is compulsory 'in addition two subjects from Mathematics, Physics or Biology.' However 'At the Standard Level, they would require English and Mathematics (if this was not one of the subjects offered at Higher Level).'

http://www.ibo.org/c...rent_country=GB

With this information I would advise you to speak to prospective teachers/ IB coordinator and see if it would be possible for you to attend the English HL lessons, but take the English SL exam and not do as many books as them. And swap Biology SL to Biology HL. The gap between English HL and SL isn't that huge and going to extra HL classes and taking an SL exam is easier than going to SL classes only and taking an HL exam... I would know. If push comes to shove, you might have to consider doing the IB at a different school.

[Award Winning Boss]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

Where are you getting this from? and what I've put in bold makes no sense at all.

[ChocolateDrop]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

Where are you getting this from? and what I've put in bold makes no sense at all.

I think this is in reference to Universities with the credits system. Credits are usually (if not always) given only for HL subjects.

[Babydolleyes]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

Where are you getting this from? and what I've put in bold makes no sense at all.

I think this is in reference to Universities with the credits system. Credits are usually (if not always) given only for HL subjects.

Yes exactly what I meant!

[Emmi]

I think your subject choice looks fine, but I would definitely take 4 HL's and not just 3, and add either Math HL or Biology HL because some/many universities don't really take SL subjects seriously. Good luck!

Where are you getting this from? and what I've put in bold makes no sense at all.

I think this is in reference to Universities with the credits system. Credits are usually (if not always) given only for HL subjects.

Yes exactly what I meant!

Guys stop with this four HLs argument, they can't even take four HLs at their school anyways even if they wanted to.

I think you should look up on the requirements of the various universities you are interested in, and see what are the subjects you will need to be qualified to study pharmaceutical. From what I know, usually they will require Chemistry, Biology/physics and mathematics at HL for science based majors.

For example, Nottingham university's entry requirements for pharmaceutical science:

We look for grades 6, 6, 5 at higher level including Chemistry plus one from biology, physics or maths plus three further subjects at subsidiary level. Maths with further maths counts as one higher and one subsidiary. You'll also need bonus points to bring your diploma to a minimum of 34 points.

It is quite dangerous to only have chemistry as a science subject at HL when you intend to do a science major. But then again, check out the universities you are interested in. Some may not even have subject specific requirements, like most universities in USA.

Thanks for reply twilight!

The thing is, my school doesn't allow students to take 4 HL classes (Students MUST take 3 HLs + 3 SLs). Also, there is only English HL for group 1 and all the Group 3 subjects are at HL. So, two of my classes are going to be at HL and I can only choose 1 more HL class before the school requirement of 3 HL classes is met. I thought that chemistry HL would be more useful than Biology HL but I'm not sure. Is it better to choose chemistry HL than Bio HL for pharmacology/pharmaceuticals?

If you're interested in pharmaceuticals/pharmacology, HL chemistry will be more useful to you than biology. Although it seems biology would be the obvious choice, in pharmacy you're looking at how chemical compounds, medicines, and drugs react with the body. It's a ton of chemistry, and having a background in it would be a lot more helpful for you.

Hey guys i have chosen to take:

Spanish B HL

Geography HL

Economics HL

English A1 SL

Maths SL

ES & S SL

Any advice, on what i could do at university because i have no idea, and any suggestions as to my subject choices - whether to changed or amend?

Thanks!

Well, what do you enjoy doing? What are you interested in? Unless your school picked these courses for you or your options were extremely limited, you had to have some sort of thought as to which would be HL and SL. From what I can see your subject choices look like you're interested in some sort of humanities course. Since I don't really know what you want to do, I'll just comment on overall toughness. Your subject combination is very doable and as long as you study you should be all right.

[yomanyomo]

When I first look at your combo I was like "yeah...medicine field". MANY MANY MANY people take Biology HL along with Chemistry HL because they want to get into Medicine, as I think is one of the most popular choices in college along with Engineering. I know that the UK requires you to take Chemistry HL (I heard its a MUST) if one wants to get into this sort of field.

So i'd say as long as you have Chemistry HL, then you should be good enough to do pharmacology/pharmaceuticals. It would be better if Bio was at HL as well..but I think SL is fine

I know as a fact that if you want to keep your doors open because you don't know (or don't care) what you take at HL then you should take:

HL: Any Humanities (Best would be History - for US)

HL: Maths or any Science (Best would be Maths)

HL: English (Best would be literature...actually I'm not sure about the Lang & lit course, so I might be lying)

SL: Anything left (doesn't matter)

And I can see that you're having 1. humanities (Economics), 1. math/science (Chemistry) and english at HL. So look at the bright side: you have your doors opened