Which HL to drop, Chem or Math?

[paul34]

Hey guys,

I just started my 2nd year in IB and am currently doing 4Hls - Bio, Chem, Econ and Math. I want to drop one of my HLs in the next week and i am confused as to which 1 it should be. I do not want to drop Economics or Biology simply because they are interesting and in biology, we are nearly done with the syllabus. I am debating between Chemistry and Math HL. In math, we have the 40hr option and 2 chapters left while in chemistry we have 1 option left and 6 chapters left - Acids and Bases, Redox and Organic Chem with the HL content. I am doing well in both subjects but my criteria for dropping are the following:

Difficulty - In terms of what content i have left, how much harder are they going to be and which one will be harder. the option we will be doing for math is the calculus one and i am pretty good in the chapter 8/9 calculus test (got a 7) but the content seems very hard especially with vectors and 3d modeling left. but what i also hear is the 3 main chapters of chem left are also the hardest so i would like to know what you guys think.

Time - how much time commitment will each take in terms of when we finish and how much time will i have to put into the work each time.

What i am particularly worried about is in the end, which one will be harder to do. I am a conceptual learner and also like application and then i think chem is the best option but math is more practical, and i did enjoy it with the calculus but the workload is getting to a point where i am not enjoying it and it just seems like a lot. also i feel like if i drop to math sl i will barely have to put in any work and i am struggling with my languages (i hate them) and i have barely put work into them so i will have to start.

Thank you in advance for helping me with my choice.

[Zahra Salehí]

Hi (:

I think dropping Math would be a better idea.

When I moved here I had to chose my subjects again since my school doesn't offer World History HL, and had to chose between Business HL or Maths HL. First my coordinator chose Math as my HL but I switches to Bus since Math HL (in my opinion, and what my teacher told me) is not really hard but rather takes a lot of time.

Still, in my IB classes everyone pretty much studies and gets almost straight As but only a few took Maths HL (since they didn't have any other options apparently). A lot of my classmates are HL in Chem and say it's way easier than taking Math HL.

That's all I can't really tell.So I think I'd go for Chem HL rather than Math HL. (I'd drop Math)

Edited September 3, 2013 by zahramber

[ib-dying]

I do both at the moment and personally I find the theory in maths easier but exam questions harder and the chem theory harder but exam questions easier.

I guess it's what you prefer but personally I would drop HL chem if I had the option.

[ctrls]

Will you be studying anything that'll require either of the subjects for university? By the sounds of things you would be going into a field that may require one of the subjects, so it's probably best to check that first.

Otherwise, I'd just go with whichever you enjoy more. Since you've taken both subjects for a year I'm sure you have a good idea of what they are like, I would imagine both subjects would be notably easier at SL too (maths especially, since you've covered so much of the SL syllabus). Workload-wise I can't imagine there being that much of a difference either, there's more topics left for Chemistry, but the same applies for taking it at SL.

[paul34]

Hey guys,

Thank you guys for your feedback. in the future i plan on majoring in finance, maybe economics but mainly something business related. Doing something in medicine/biochemical has never appealed to me but i do in fact plan on taking some courses in those areas to get a feel of how it is. i definitely think that i can get a pretty good grade in whichever one i drop its just maintaining a good, decent grade in the other with not excessively killing myself. I also have to agree in that conceptually chem can be harder but the application of it in terms of questions is comparatively easy as apposed to math where you think you understand it and then you see the question and think to yourself, WTF!! I've also heard that a 7 in math sl is equivocal to a 4 in math hl and i was told that many universities regard math HL as the hardest course and are happy with just a 4/5. Is this true for most universities and do you guys know how some top schools would react to this? Also i was told math SL is suitable for finance but maybe not economics so i am not to sure of that.

Once again thank you guys for your comments and suggestions

[Sofia.]

I checked oxford and cambridge's websites and they seem to require Maths HL for Economics. I don't know about the 4/5 points, but the "usual" offer is of 40-41 points with 776 at higher level.. But you should check the websites of the unis you're interested in! Or email them, if it doesn't say

[paul34]

Hey Sofia thank you for searching this information for me. i will definitely search this information and it looks like i will drop chem HL and stick with math. Thanks and if you guys do have any further advice, i am always open.

Thank you all