Choosing Courses (Abnormal Situation)

[pattrickk]

I'm currently in a really sticky situation with my School. Basically I am just beginning my first year of the IB, and I loved all my classes and teachers and was extremely excited, etc. Unfortunately however, because of a law that was passed last year, I was forced to drop IB German SL into IB Biology SL, because I have never taken Biology before and it is a requirement to graduate from my high school. So, now this is what my courses look like:

IB Biology SL

IB French B HL

IB Chemistry HL

IB History Route Two SL

IB Math SL

IB English A HL

The problem with this is that I REALLY want to take German. I have never taken German before, but my whole entire CAS project was to prepare myself to take IB German B SL. So, needless to say, I was a little more disappointed when the IB coordinator at my school pulled me out of my class to give me my new schedule without any prior notice.

In addition to this, my dream university major would be LÉA (Langues étrangers appliquées - Applied Foreign Languages) at a French or Québecois university, and this would naturally also be my career path. However, I am also really interested in chemistry, and although not ideal, I wouldn't mind becoming a chemical engineer or something like that either.

In addition to this, since I have absolutely no experience in Biology, I am slightly worried that this might impact my overall score, and therefore potentially whether or not I get my IB Diploma.

So, I have a few options,

1) Take out IB Chemistry HL and stick IB German B in its place. However, the problem with that is that I would need to take it as an HL course, which I am not entirely sure I could handle because I had been preparing myself for an SL workload. Although, in my school the SL and HL language courses are mixed, so technically it won't be too much harder than the SL course. My main problem would just be acquiring more vocabulary.

2) Leave the schedule as is. This could be a potential problem, because I may not get the same training I need in German to study it in University (unless I find the money to pay for a distance course at the Goethe Institut), I may not get a good enough score on Biology, and might even have a problem with applying for LÉA or a similar formation because of the fact that my studies in high school would be more geared towards science.

3) I take out Biology and replace it with German, like my schedule used to be. This means I would forfeit the diploma from my high school, but would still keep the IB one. I don't know if they would let me do this, but at the same time I don't think it would affect my studies at a foreign university because American diplomas generally aren't accepted there. Does anyone know if it would?

What are your thoughts?

I know this is a lot; thank you all for your time in advance. All and any information anyone can provide to me is helpful. I really just have no idea what to do.

Thanks again,

Patrick

[Emmi]

This is just my opinion.

I think the best option for you would be to take Option 2. Honestly, biology is not that hard, and even though you've never taken it before I don't think it would be completely impossible for you to score high. You can take German lessons outside of school (and this counts as CAS!) to learn German for university.

DO NOT choose Option 3. You still need a high school diploma. Even though the IB diploma is a "diploma" it is not like the American high school diploma. And what happens if you were to fail the IB diploma for some reason? Then you're left with nothing. And your school probably wouldn't let you graduate without a diploma.

Option 1 could be a possible option depending on how hard you're willing to work and if you feel you can handle it. See if you can try chemistry out for a little while and if it's too hard or you don't like it very much, switch into German B HL. Languages typically are a bit easier than sciences (especially HL chem) so it might be easier for you, and you seem to have an inclination towards languages.

Good luck with whatever you choose

[Babydolleyes]

Biology SL is not a big problem its all about memorization. Why not add German as your 7th subject and choose option two? Dont worry about SL bio its mainly bio HL people struggle getting good grades in. You can do this!

[Guest HayashiEsme]

I'm surprised you're taking German as a Language B even though you said that you've never learnt the subject before. Perhaps the Ab Initio option would work if you're worried about stress.

I actually think Option 3 could work. It'll be trouble when you look for work locally for awhile, but with explanation I think you'll be fine going through that route too