Economics, Psychology or History

[Andrew]

Hei, I'm currently an exchange student in Finland, aiming to continue my studies in this country after this year. I'm not new to the Ib, since I took the Pre-Ib and IB one in Mexico, before coming on an exchange. Hpwever, the school I most probably will study in doesn't offer quite the same subjects than my home school did, so I have decided to tweak my course selection a little. My old one used to look like this:

Spanish A Language and Literature - HL

English B - HL

Philosophy - HL

Biology - SL

Math Studies - SL

SaC Anthropology - SL

And these are thhe subjects I'm planning to take next year:

English A, Language and Literature - HL

Finnish B - SL

Economics/Psycho/History - SL

Biology - SL

Mathematics - HL

Swedish B - HL

Since I already know what to expect, I have decided to keep it realistic and take only 3 subjects at HL. However, I really want to go for the Maths at HL.

So, based on my other subjects, which group 3 subject do you think would be easier to start like from scratch? I of course have some knowledge of psycho (studied at philosophy) and financial maths, or general world history (studied at anthropology), but I know it will be nothing compared to the actual course. I really wouldn't like to invest to much time/effort on it, since I will have enough with Maths HL. Thanks.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Juho Andrew

[Award Winning Boss]

Pick whichever you think you'll be most interested in. None of them are really guaranteed 7s or something like that. if you enjoy the subject, you're more likely to do well in it.

[drserosa]

As Award winning boss said, no subject is easier than another per se, and it all depends on what your strengths are. History requires a serious investment in terms of essay writing and is literary intensive. Economics requires some financial and mathematical awareness. Psych requires memorisation of case study after case study. If you aren't much of a writing person, maybe you can rule out history. From there you can toss up (if history isn't doing it for you) whether the mathematical side of econ appeals to you more than the humanistic understanding that comes with psych.

[flinquinnster]

Wow, those look like completely different subjects. If you can handle the different languages, that's great, but going from Maths Studies to Maths HL is a huge decision. As long as you're pretty good at maths, and willing to work hard, which seems to be the case, you should be fine though.

History is a lot of writing, but if analytical study of the past appeals to you, it could be a good choice. History SL (I take the 20th century world history option, but I know that Medieval history is offered) is not that much content, though quite enough to get on with. Since at our school we studied SL in one year, I now have a spare year left to do my IA and revise. So History SL could be a good choice.

I don't take psychology, but it does appear to be quite a lot of work surrounding the memorisation of different studies/approaches etc. (though I don't have much knowledge of this). My friends seem to like economics and find it easy as they feel it is rather intuitive and requires less memorisation/analytical writing. However, based on philosophy and anthropology courses you took before, perhaps economics is more 'different' and might be harder to adjust to. Good luck.

[Arrowhead]

If you have a good memory, History can be mastered in 10 days. It's really quite manageable if you know how to study.

Likewise with Economics. If you have an eye for detail and can memorise all the graphs and definitions, the general writing technique in Economics will see you through to a 7.

[Gaby]

I take both History and Psychology, and I find both of them interesting, but History slightly easier to study. Psychology is a looooot of memorization of studies (including the name of the researcher(s) and a date), sometime some weirdish names like visuo-spatial sketchpad or acetylcholine. History has, I think, a bit more material, but it it forms a story, and with human natural story-telling abilities, it can be tad easier than Psychology, however, both are manageable and interesting, especially with a good teacher, and I don't see why you wouldn't suceed in either if you have interest in it. I can't comment on Economics.

As people before me have said: choose the one that most interests you/is required by the university you want to attend and you'll be a happy person.

[Sandwich]

When you say you're in IB1 elsewhere - does this mean you've already completed a year of the IB? I'm sure you've thought about this before, but I really would think hard about your decisions re: Maths.

In the Maths family, Maths HL is the superkeen, bright young spark who's been getting straight A grades since they could lift a pencil - Maths SL is the dribbling toddler busy throwing baked beans at the walls. Maths Studies has brain damage and negligible brain activity, possibly lying in a coma.

Essentially what I mean is that Maths Studies is a thousand times easier than HL Maths. It's a really big leap to make, especially if you've completed IB1 in Mexico and so have missed over half the course. So I'd make sure you know what you're getting yourself into and are definite it's the right thing for you (who, essentially, must be a closeted mathematical genius for this to be a smart move). Even going up to SL Maths when you're already a year in would be tricky.

[Andrew]

When you say you're in IB1 elsewhere - does this mean you've already completed a year of the IB? I'm sure you've thought about this before, but I really would think hard about your decisions re: Maths.

In the Maths family, Maths HL is the superkeen, bright young spark who's been getting straight A grades since they could lift a pencil - Maths SL is the dribbling toddler busy throwing baked beans at the walls. Maths Studies has brain damage and negligible brain activity, possibly lying in a coma.

Essentially what I mean is that Maths Studies is a thousand times easier than HL Maths. It's a really big leap to make, especially if you've completed IB1 in Mexico and so have missed over half the course. So I'd make sure you know what you're getting yourself into and are definite it's the right thing for you (who, essentially, must be a closeted mathematical genius for this to be a smart move). Even going up to SL Maths when you're already a year in would be tricky.

No, I'm not a year in, but actually going to start the IB all over again (from IB1). And as I tried to make it clear, My interest on deciding for a group 3 subject has more to do with leaving some time out for studing maths full time. I know it's going to be a lot of not only work, but of time, so since I don't really need to worry about the languages, and can read really rather quickly, then I just want to pick the easiest out of the group 3 and go staright to the big fish.

Thanks

Edited January 1, 2013 by Juho Andrew