Econ SL- Difficulty/ Amount of work/ introduction

[Guest]

Short intro: 10th grader, planning on doing Economics SL, definitely don't want to do 'Business and Management' SL/HL

So I just have a few questions about the Economics SL course.

1) Is the course overall difficult?

2) How much work do you have to do? (eg. writing commentaries, portfolio, etc.)

3) Is there a big difference between the difficulty (or the amount of work) of the SL and HL course?

I am not planning on doing HL as I want to take Math, Physics, English A LangLit as HLs. But in case (lets just assume) that I hate my Physics course, I could take Economics HL as my "backup".

4) *This question is probably difficult to answer

I started the Khan Academy "Microeconomics" 'course' (or however you want to call it) which covers a variety of topics (https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics). Is this sort of similar to the SL syllabus???

I might start the Macroeconomics videos as well (since I really enjoy learning/watching the Microecon videos).

5) I may want to study Business or something Economic related at University. Do the universities want the IB Economics HL course as a prerequisite? Or is Economics SL fine?

If you can answer any of these questions, please do so (every little answer helps)

Thanks

PS: In addition to 5) I also know that some universities want the Math HL course as a prerequisite, but as I want to take that course, that should be no problem.

My other HLs: Math, English A LangLit, Physics (to be honest, I dont really want to drop any of these, as I love Math and science and want to do one HL Language course)

PPS: In addition to 4) I am totally aware that these videos are just a simplified explanation and in no way equivalent to the IB course, but at least I would get an introduction and background knowledge, right?

Edited November 16, 2013 by dvirchow

[by.andrew]

1. I think IB Economics is fairly easy compared to other subjects. If you get familiar with how to write a proper response to the questions, it's quite easy to score at least a 6. I advise you to take diligent notes in class and try to familiarize yourself with the calculations involved in the course.

2. Honestly, not much work here. I'd say subjects like the sciences or math require homework to be done. Commentaries are fairly short (~750words) and easy IMO, especially compared to other IAs (1000+ words).

3. I'm taking HL, and it covers additional topics. I wouldn't say HL is more challenging though; we have one whole semester on top of the SL course to learn these additional units.

4. I can't speak for all the Khan Academy videos, but there are certainly relevant ones up there. You just have to search for specific topics on the syllabus. The ones that I watched were pretty thorough too; they cover the material in depth so you'll be prepared for the course.

5. Depends on the university. The ones in North America usually don't require them.

Just my two cents. Hope this helps!

[ctrls]

1) It depends from person to person of course, but for me it's been rather straightforward. Concepts are generally logical and easy to understand, plus they tend to be connected between topics so it's not particularly content-heavy either.

I personally am not very good at writing essay so I struggle a bit there, but it's still possible to do well regardless. As mentioned above, one you know how to properly approach a question it becomes fairly straightforward.

4) Not really, since Economics in the IB has 4 main topics - microeconomics, macroeconomics, trade and development. As the name of that video series suggests, it focuses on micro only, going into a little more depth than necessary.

The first three topics (supply/demand, elasticity, computer&producer surplus) areall part of the microeconomics part. There's also an additional topic on government intervention, but for the most part it follows the syllabus rather closely. Topic four covers PPC which is part of another unit, but comparative advantage is a HL topic in trade and I don't think marginal utility is part of the syllabus - at least not to that depth. Topics 4&5 are HL only topics and 6 isn't on the syllabus.

There's also a microeconomics course if you are interested, of which topics 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 follow the syllabus fairly closely (with a few HL-only topics, like the Philips curve). The last topic covers trades ideas (5 is a mix of HL and off-syllabus stuff).

That said, why are you planning on learning so much before you start the course? It's not a bad thing of course, but it's not by any means necessary either - I personally took Economics HL without any prior knowledge on the subject, but am still coping fine.

5) It's generally not an issue, but for the UK it may be a bit of a disadvantage when applying to top uni's. Generally speaking Economics as a subject is usually not required by universities since it's not offered everywhere, but they may be curious why you decided to take SL instead of HL. If you score well in Maths however, I'm sure you'll be fine either way.

[Guest]

1) It depends from person to person of course, but for me it's been rather straightforward. Concepts are generally logical and easy to understand, plus they tend to be connected between topics so it's not particularly content-heavy either.

I personally am not very good at writing essay so I struggle a bit there, but it's still possible to do well regardless. As mentioned above, one you know how to properly approach a question it becomes fairly straightforward.

4) Not really, since Economics in the IB has 4 main topics - microeconomics, macroeconomics, trade and development. As the name of that video series suggests, it focuses on micro only, going into a little more depth than necessary.

The first three topics (supply/demand, elasticity, computer&producer surplus) areall part of the microeconomics part. There's also an additional topic on government intervention, but for the most part it follows the syllabus rather closely. Topic four covers PPC which is part of another unit, but comparative advantage is a HL topic in trade and I don't think marginal utility is part of the syllabus - at least not to that depth. Topics 4&5 are HL only topics and 6 isn't on the syllabus.

There's also a microeconomics course if you are interested, of which topics 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 follow the syllabus fairly closely (with a few HL-only topics, like the Philips curve). The last topic covers trades ideas (5 is a mix of HL and off-syllabus stuff).

That said, why are you planning on learning so much before you start the course? It's not a bad thing of course, but it's not by any means necessary either - I personally took Economics HL without any prior knowledge on the subject, but am still coping fine.

5) It's generally not an issue, but for the UK it may be a bit of a disadvantage when applying to top uni's. Generally speaking Economics as a subject is usually not required by universities since it's not offered everywhere, but they may be curious why you decided to take SL instead of HL. If you score well in Maths however, I'm sure you'll be fine either way.

Thanks for the feedback

Regarding your question why I start studying all this now... well, I actually don't know. It is just a mixture of curiosity, interest in the subject and also the fact that the first view videos really appealed to me.

Also, thanks for telling me about the Macroeconomics 'course' and the topics which are (not) covered in the IB. I wont spend too much time on these now.

Thanks

Edited November 16, 2013 by dvirchow