Physics SL vs. Chem SL

[loki]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a huge dilemma at the moment and I hope posting something here might help. For the past two weeks I've been thinking about switching from IB Physics SL into IB Chem SL. I just started my IB D courses and as my Physics course began to pick up I began to worry about the the final IB exam (I've never had a good track record with science exams). All my HLs are in the Humanities type area (English, History, and Art) and I'm taking science only because it's part of the program. The main reason I chose Physics was because of the Astrophysics option that was available and I'm a big astronomy fan, other than that I think Physics is pretty confusing for me as a subject. However, I'm marginally better and more confident in Chemistry and understand the concepts better, though I do not want to face stoichiometry and bond angles ever again. I want to achieve at least a 6 in science and I am torn between Physics and Chemistry.

I know this is highly subjective and depends on the individual, but for a very un-maths and science person, I've been told that I would achieve higher marks in Chem than in Physics. Any and all thoughts/comments are appreciated, I would like to reach a decision by tomorrow before I fall behind on course material.

Thanks!

[forlackofabettername]

I just started my first IB year as well, and tbh i've never quite understood chemistry and i find it really complicated and unnecessarily difficult. in my opinion, if you just focus you could really ace the physics external. (im taking physics higher, and so far, it aint that difficult)

[ctrls]

I can't really give much of a judgement, so I'll just list various differences about the two subjects,

First things first, in case you haven't seen it yet this post would probably be worth reading through:

http://www.ibsurvival.com/topic/15851-the-sciences/

Overall, I seem to find that there's notably less maths involved with Chemistry, though it's not too bad with physics either..There's still a lot of questions in physics about defining terms and explaining concepts, but there's also a fair number of questions where you rearrange formulas and plug in values. The first topic or two with both subjects (mechanics and quantitative chemistry) are both very maths-heavy relatively speaking, but with Chemistry it would mostly be qualitative stuff from there. Physics on the other hand tends to have a new set for formulas for each topic, though the calculations themselves aren't going to be any harder (for the most part anyways).

In terms of difficultly, I don't really think they are that much different. With physics a lot of the really complicated stuff tends to be with the HL topics and while I don't take chemistry HL, I do often hear that's it's the same. Both courses are really designed to go over a lot of topics in the two year span, so you don't go into too much depth which is nice (for getting marks, anyways). Physics will probably have a few more newer topics, but since you've learnt both before I don't think it'll be too bad. Overall I'm tempted to say chemistry is a bit easier in terms of content, but that's probably just my opinion.

With either subject however, I'm sure you can do well if you practice and all. Make sure you understand the concepts fully and practice doing past-paper problems, those are the two things I've found to be the most helpful.

One a side-note, I found revisiting topics I struggled with to be a lot better than I expected. I had found quantitative chemistry and waves in grade 10 to be rather difficult, but going over it again seemed to help a lot. For a lot of these topics, once you grasp the concepts if becomes rather easy.

[by.andrew]

Yeah, Chemistry would be easier than physics if you are not as strong in the maths. A lot (if not all) of the concepts in physics are math related while chemistry deals with more of the qualitative stuff along with memorization. Quantitative chemistry is a bit tricky because it is more focused on smaller scale and getting decimals right. But if I were a student that had mediocre math/physics marks, I would try chemistry. Otherwise, physics all the way.

[ib-dying]

I do Physics SL and Chemistry HL and I find physics pretty difficult to get my head around in some topics! Just the way you go about calculations.

However, I guess the same goes for the calculation topics in chemistry too...

[cricketcrazynerd]

SL Chemistry - I don't do Physics but I do HL chemistry and it's my favourite IB subject by a mile! And if you enjoy it and understand the concepts, you should definitely do it!

[IBfreakingout!]

The calculations in physics will not be easy, even if only at standard level. I suggest go with chem if you have done it before (And it sounds like you have). Unfortunately you will have to deal with Stoichiometry and bond angles but seeing as you even knew what that is before doing IB is a good sign.

Chem involves a lot less calculations compared to physics...obviously it stil has some in topics like Stoic but overall, the amount of maths is very little/much easier compared to Physics (even the math studies kids in my class do really well so its not like u need to have a strong math base).

I reckon from what you have said, chem sounds like a good idea!

[Dasza]

Hi, I would say that Chemistry SL might be easier for you than Physics. I'm doing Chem HL, but I heard from people doing SL that the topics you need to cover are not very broad and you are learning the basics without going deeper into the problem. I doesn't involve a lot of maths, too. I know people, who are not very good at Maths, doing well on Chemistry. Unfortunately, it is important to know good Stoichiometry, as it tends to return in other topics, like Energetics for example. But don't worry, it's not so hard to learn, it only involves a little bit of logical thinking (and personally I really hate bond angles )

[mm8888]

Chemistry will be easier since it involves more reading and memorizing