Chemistry HL or SL

[mmmt2012]

Hi,

I am thinking about doing Chemistry HL in year 12, however i have heard myths about people dying and slaving over the work, and the pressures associated with the final exam. It is said that Chemistry HL is one of the hardest HL's to do in IB. Is this true? I definitely plan on doing chemistry for year 11 and 12, as I plan to study medicine (hopefully) during university. Does anyone have any tips on tackling Chemistry HL or SL? I have no problem in studying hard, however science does not come as naturally to me compares to others so none of this information would come very easily. I find chem really interesting but i'm worried that the extreme work load with put me off the subject.

[ChocolateDrop]

If you want to do Medicine, most if not all Universities require Chemistry HL. In the UK all institutions ask for Chemistry HL in order to study medicine with another out of Biology, Maths and Physics, I'm not sure about other countries so I can't speak for them. If you want to do this course you really should have HL because of the chemistry content. However there is an option of premedical or foundation year at most medical schools if you have the grades but no scientific knowledge in which you are taught the equivalence to A level maths, biology and chemistry. However this option is more money and time, and if you have the chance I'd suggest you take the required subjects.

Edited August 3, 2012 by ChocolateDrop

[SerUmbras]

Look, I do HL chem and to be completely honest Find it much easier than something like HL Physics. The workload is reportedly difficult, but I found that it wasn't much more than the SL course. HL Physics is a much harder subject than Chem (in my opinion, I can't speak for you though). If you're doing Chem, then your teacher might just do the SL stuff in year 11, which will give you a bit more time to decide whether you're ready for it. And CD is right - in Australia as well, the Uni courses also demand HL Chem and another science (or maths, if you're an arts person).

So, yeah, have a go at SL and if you find it easy do HL. If you find it hard, then maybe you'll need to do a 1 year uni course to get you up to speed and get you into medicine.

GL HF DD

[CkyBlue]

If you have plans to study medicine, definitely go for Chem HL. In my opinion, Chem SL is reserved for students who need an easy Group 4 course to get around IB, because they are not interested in pursuing a career related to the natural sciences. There is a lot more material in HL yes, but the SL syllabus basically skips over many of the difficult topics that you would be otherwise studying in university. And yes, as my fellow members have stated, universities will not consider Chem SL as an acceptable prerequisite during the admission process.

I didn't think Chemistry HL was very difficult during my studies. It was quite doable even, so much that I even thought Physics SL was harder than it! Things will make sense to you when you take your time to read through the coursework and do the problems. To tell you a bit about myself, I'm not a very science orientated person but more of a maths person. And I was struggling through physics...

Yeah, I know my life makes no sense.

[mmmt2012]

Thankyou! Im studying in Australia and i dont think HL chemistry is mandatory for medicine, its probably encourage through.. We only pick our HL's in year 12 so i would have to do SL in year 11 anyway. Do you have any tips to get a perfect score? a lot of my friends' siblings did HL chem and whilst they all got 7's, they said that a lot of the work they did in class not even their private tutors knew about so i'm a little freaked.

[SerUmbras]

Hrmmm.... Okay, I don't have a tutor, so i don't know about the validity of those claims. Nonetheless, you should be okay with SL (it really isn't that difficult). I guess my only advice would be this;

1) Annotate everything - once you've finished a topic, go through the syllabus and write out flash-cards with each syllabus point. Be as detailed as you feel neccessary. Doing this gives you a great reference point come Yr 12 and also helps to 'lock it in' to your brain.

2) Do lots of past papers - best way to test whether you know a topic is to do as many questions related to it as you can.

3) Ask questions - best lesson i ever learnt was to ask for help when i had no clue about something. Ask questions, don't make assumptions.

Plus, this site itself has all sorts of help for various questions - have a look, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Oh, make sure you do well in your IAs (practical reports). If you get 6s or 7s in those, life suddenly becomes a whole lot easier come exam time. Make sure you do test runs before the date of the practical and make enough time to get duplicate results - helps a lot come conclusion time.

And that's it! I think that's about the extent of my advice, though other people may add something i've overlooked.

GL, HF, DD

[Tony Stark]

If you can't make it through HL Chemistry, you'd likely struggle with Med. And the difficulty is exaggerated, in any case - it appears that the difficulty of Maths and Sciences courses often are, particularly in Australia. In my opinion it's not overly difficult in terms of the depth, there's just a lot of content as it being a 2-year course is far broader than a VCE (and presumably HSC) course. The fact that tutors didn't know it just means they haven't taught IB before and/or didn't do their homework re: knowing what's on the course.

In terms of advice to do well in it, download the syllabus and read the assessment statements and teacher's notes pertinent to each section after having read the chapter, that way you know exactly what you need to know (and I mean exactly - those seemingly-random examples the teacher's notes suggest are the only ones assessed, and relatively often at that).

[yomanyomo]

I participated the OSC Pre-IB summer course in Oxford, and they told me that if you want to study medicine in the UK YOU NEED HL Chemistry. because:

1. To give yourself a head start

2. It is probably one of the most challenging classes in Pre-med and because it is mandatory, the university wants to see if you can cope with it at HL.

I think if you're sure that you want to go into Medicine (in the UK) then you should definitely take HL Chemistry.

however, it is a different deal in the states. you don't have to take HL chemistry if you're going to University in the US. Still, it is highly recommended to take chemistry at HL. I heard that you don't even need to take Biology in the IB to go into Medicine in the states, because biology is just about spending a lot of time with it. Chemistry on the other hand, requires higher skill of understanding and universities want to see that.

IMO, if you're not sure of what you want to do in the future, you should take the subjects that you enjoy. Do what you can do, not what you should do.

because trust me, in the end of the day you would want to major in something you enjoy and something you're good at, not something you hate.