BlackViolet Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Hey,my brother is currently in 10th Grade and he has to decide on his subjects soon. Hence, I would appreciate if you'd share your experiences.About him: He is a very strong student in all his subjects. He is highly interested in business & economics. However, our school does not offer these subjects before IB (so he has never studied it in school). He always scores top marks on Physics and Math exams. He is unaware if he should go into Business and Economics or Engineering (but it seems as he is likely to study Business later).His first choice would be:Economics HLBusiness & Management HLPhysics HLMath SLGerman A SLEnglish B SLGenerally, what do you think of that constellation a) when he defiantly wants to study Business later and b) if he wants to keep his options open for both Business and Economics or Engineering?(I am aware that HL Math would be advisable for Engineering - but SL Math will just be an easy 7 for him without much effort, leaving him more time to focus on his HL's. Also, I am taking HL Math and it is quiet challenging.)Taking HL Economics, HL Business & Management and HL Physics should be the easier option compared to taking HL Physics, HL Math and either HL Economics or HL Business?How much work is HL Economics ?How significant is the difference between Economics SL & HL?If you are taking both, HL Economics and HL Business & Management HL, what is your experience? Would you choose them again? Which of the two do you enjoy more? How much did you study for it?What do you think about taking English B HL, HL Physics and then either HL Economics or HL Business and the other one at SL? For me this sounds like a really easy option. English B should be super easy, right? If you like this option, which should he take at HL and which at SL?Personally, I can only speak for B&M HL. It is a lot of material and in the first year I was on a 5 in the beginning. Now close to the end of the second year we covered all the material and did a lot of practice questions. By now I have a good understanding of the topics and what is required and my teacher says I am currently on a low 7. The IA was also pretty straight forward. My teacher is confident that I will defiantly get a 6 and that I can aim for a 7. Generally, I loved the subject- but I have to admit that I put a lot of work in to it as well. I appreciate your help. Thank you :-) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabz Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Hey,my brother is currently in 10th Grade and he has to decide on his subjects soon. Hence, I would appreciate if you'd share your experiences.About him: He is a very strong student in all his subjects. He is highly interested in business & economics. However, our school does not offer these subjects before IB (so he has never studied it in school). He always scores top marks on Physics and Math exams. He is unaware if he should go into Business and Economics or Engineering (but it seems as he is likely to study Business later).His first choice would be:Economics HLBusiness & Management HLPhysics HLMath SLGerman A SLEnglish B SLGenerally, what do you think of that constellation a) when he defiantly wants to study Business later and b) if he wants to keep his options open for both Business and Economics or Engineering?(I am aware that HL Math would be advisable for Engineering - but SL Math will just be an easy 7 for him without much effort, leaving him more time to focus on his HL's. Also, I am taking HL Math and it is quiet challenging.)Taking HL Economics, HL Business & Management and HL Physics should be the easier option compared to taking HL Physics, HL Math and either HL Economics or HL Business?How much work is HL Economics ?How significant is the difference between Economics SL & HL?If you are taking both, HL Economics and HL Business & Management HL, what is your experience? Would you choose them again? Which of the two do you enjoy more? How much did you study for it?What do you think about taking English B HL, HL Physics and then either HL Economics or HL Business and the other one at SL? For me this sounds like a really easy option. English B should be super easy, right? If you like this option, which should he take at HL and which at SL?Personally, I can only speak for B&M HL. It is a lot of material and in the first year I was on a 5 in the beginning. Now close to the end of the second year we covered all the material and did a lot of practice questions. By now I have a good understanding of the topics and what is required and my teacher says I am currently on a low 7. The IA was also pretty straight forward. My teacher is confident that I will defiantly get a 6 and that I can aim for a 7. Generally, I loved the subject- but I have to admit that I put a lot of work in to it as well.I appreciate your help. Thank you :-)First thing: You "need" HL math for engineering in UK, full stop. If he wants to do engineering in UK, tell him to forget about it if he wants to go with SL math no matter if he gets those 7 points because the topics taught in HL maths are not taught in SL math which would be required for the engineering in UK. New syllabus for economics HL is just easy 7. Paper 3 which is HL paper is all about math so if your brother's good at math, he can get 90% on paper 3 and then get 60% on paper 1 and 2 and get away with a 6 or a 7. HL physics is my best subject due to the fact that the options we've chosen are Astrophysics which everyone loves, and medical physics which is like a couple of hours only and the smallest option for HL level.If i have to choose economics or B&M, i would choose economics because economics is considered highly when applying to university for related courses.English B is indeed very easy. I think that's a very good option: English B HL + Economics HL + Physics HL (wish i could take english B HL instead of english A2 lang+lit )Generally about economics, i would say that you do have a lot to study but it's not like chem or bio where you just learn. Most of the concepts are easy to grasp because they make "sense". You have loads of diagrams to memorize indeed but again, if you're getting 90% in paper 3 which one should be able to then it gets really easy to free style in paper 1 and 2 and get away with a 7. I would highly recommend economics HL if he's thinking of taking business. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackViolet Posted February 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Thanks for your response, shad0wboss Well, from what you say HL economics will be a much better option than SL because then he would not have paper 3 to balance his grade. Are you taking Math HL or SL? If you take SL - is it sufficient for HL Physics? If you take HL - how is the work load for both of them and how do you balance it? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowhead Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 (edited) Generally, what do you think of that constellation a) when he defiantly wants to study Business later and b) if he wants to keep his options open for both Business and Economics or Engineering? I think he should drop B&M HL to SL and take Maths HL because (a) Maths HL is highly regarded and sometimes necessary (in the UK at least) to study Engineering (b) for top universities (in the UK), Maths HL is a prerequisite to study Economics and even in the US, Maths HL is highly regarded for Economics applications.(I am aware that HL Math would be advisable for Engineering - but SL Math will just be an easy 7 for him without much effort, leaving him more time to focus on his HL's. Also, I am taking HL Math and it is quiet challenging.) That's silly logic. If Maths is a subject he's good at, he will do well in Maths HL. Much like if English is a subject someone struggles in, then no matter A1 HL or B SL, they'll probably end up working extra hard on it anyway. Dropping time consuming and, in the end, useless subjects like B&M HL will give him more time to focus on subjects such as Maths HL which would help him in the future much more anyway (in terms of a strong subject selection for universities AND meeting prerequisites for both Engineering and Economics).Taking HL Economics, HL Business & Management and HL Physics should be the easier option compared to taking HL Physics, HL Math and either HL Economics or HL Business? Nobody can answer that question for you! What will be good for your brother is fantastically different than what will be good for you or me. The best you can do is tell him the statistics so he makes an informed decision about his subject choices. Yes, people don't always do well when they take Maths and Physics HL, just as some people get 3s and 4s in Economics and English HL. That's because some people are stupid/disorganised/can't handle it. Others take Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology HL and get a 45 in the IB. It all comes down to interest in your subjects and how intelligent/dedicated you personally are to your studies.How much work is HL Economics ? Hardly any if (a) you're good at Maths, (b) you're good at memorising graphs/definitions/explanations, and © you're good at memorising current affairs that relate to your chosen topics.How significant is the difference between Economics SL & HL? Not much. It depends on your school. In my school, SL students attended HL classes and were held to HL standards, so they might as well have studied the HL course.If you are taking both, HL Economics and HL Business & Management HL, what is your experience? Would you choose them again? Which of the two do you enjoy more? How much did you study for it? Don't take B&M HL with Economics HL, that's just a silly thing to do since you're narrowing your options and choosing a generally frowned upon subject such as B&M for one of your HLs.What do you think about taking English B HL, HL Physics and then either HL Economics or HL Business and the other one at SL? For me this sounds like a really easy option. English B should be super easy, right? If you like this option, which should he take at HL and which at SL? I don't know, everybody has a different skill set. Yes, this sounds fairly easy to me (but I would've dropped Physics personally). Everybody's different and generalising doesn't help. If you give us more of an idea of your brother's interests and strengths (and don't say he does well in all subjects, he's in Year 10, everyone does well in all subjects in Year 10, it's super easy), we will probably be of more help in advising on possible future subject selections. Edited February 6, 2013 by Arrowhead Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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