Should I drop to Maths SL?

[Guest]

Hey!

I need urgent help on this topic. Currently I'm in Year 1 of a new IB school in Kolkata, India. My subject combinations are English Language and Literature SL, French ab initio, History HL, Biology HL, Maths HL, and Chemistry HL.

I am capable of scoring a 7 on all my subjects apart from Maths HL (I stand on a 5 after my first semesters). I want to go for biochemistry oor microbiology later in college.

My confusion is regarding the best approach, on whether I should drop to Maths SL. In general, I don't need a Maths HL for biochem in any of the colleges I'm looking at. But would a student with a 7 in HL Math have an advantage over me?

Or rather is a predicted of 40/42 with my current subjects better than a 42/42 with a Math SL?

I'M COMPLETELY, ABSOLUTELY CONFUSED! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

[YellowSpider]

Hey!

I need urgent help on this topic. Currently I'm in Year 1 of a new IB school in Kolkata, India. My subject combinations are English Language and Literature SL, French ab initio, History HL, Biology HL, Maths HL, and Chemistry HL.

I am capable of scoring a 7 on all my subjects apart from Maths HL (I stand on a 5 after my first semesters). I want to go for biochemistry oor microbiology later in college.

My confusion is regarding the best approach, on whether I should drop to Maths SL. In general, I don't need a Maths HL for biochem in any of the colleges I'm looking at. But would a student with a 7 in HL Math have an advantage over me?

Or rather is a predicted of 40/42 with my current subjects better than a 42/42 with a Math SL?

I'M COMPLETELY, ABSOLUTELY CONFUSED! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

Hi,

I don't know much about the courses, but if you're sure that it's not required at higher level by the colleges and that you can perform better without HL math, drop it.

However, a 5 in your first semester is alright. if you're willing to put in the extra effort and push your grades high, stick with it.

I started off with HL math in year 1, but I knew for a fact, that it would mess up my overall grade because I would mess up the other subjects while trying to push up my math grade so I dropped to SL after a few months. In fact, I do need math for the course I wish to study but many colleges are fine with me doing it at standard level.

So, just go on various college websites and take a look there. Also, have a back-up plan in case you choose to study something else later.

Hope it works out for you.

[Guest]

Hey!

I need urgent help on this topic. Currently I'm in Year 1 of a new IB school in Kolkata, India. My subject combinations are English Language and Literature SL, French ab initio, History HL, Biology HL, Maths HL, and Chemistry HL.

I am capable of scoring a 7 on all my subjects apart from Maths HL (I stand on a 5 after my first semesters). I want to go for biochemistry oor microbiology later in college.

My confusion is regarding the best approach, on whether I should drop to Maths SL. In general, I don't need a Maths HL for biochem in any of the colleges I'm looking at. But would a student with a 7 in HL Math have an advantage over me?

Or rather is a predicted of 40/42 with my current subjects better than a 42/42 with a Math SL?

I'M COMPLETELY, ABSOLUTELY CONFUSED! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

Hi,

I don't know much about the courses, but if you're sure that it's not required at higher level by the colleges and that you can perform better without HL math, drop it.

However, a 5 in your first semester is alright. if you're willing to put in the extra effort and push your grades high, stick with it.

I started off with HL math in year 1, but I knew for a fact, that it would mess up my overall grade because I would mess up the other subjects while trying to push up my math grade so I dropped to SL after a few months. In fact, I do need math for the course I wish to study but many colleges are fine with me doing it at standard level.

So, just go on various college websites and take a look there. Also, have a back-up plan in case you choose to study something else later.

Hope it works out for you.

Thank you! I'm sure your advice will help me a lot!

[YellowSpider]

No problem

[flinquinnster]

I took Maths HL and I really enjoyed it, so I am strongly biased towards recommending that you keep it. Personally, looking at your HLs and future plans, I would advise that you drop the History HL and go to SL - for me, I found history far harder to study for than maths. Also, I think that you can definitely improve your grades - with practice of questions, textbook and past papers, I believe that it's completely reasonable to train yourself to a 6 or even 7 standard in Maths HL.

However, if you don't need Maths HL for entry, then why take it when you have the easy path, I suppose is the question. I'm not familiar with the colleges you are looking at, so I can't give advice as to whether they would "prefer" Maths HL or SL, assuming that you can get a 7 in either. I know that here in Australia the universities are completely blind and don't even know what subjects we took in the IB, so if I were in your situation I would take SL. However, even if they don't say they require Maths HL, some colleges might "prefer" HL as indicative of a stronger dedication to maths/science - the only way really to check this is to explore their websites more or directly ask the university whether such a preference exists. Also, perhaps you want to take Maths down to SL to "balance" the heavy science load of Bio/Chem, so that's another consideration.

Whatever decision you make, good luck!

[Forester]

Drop it.

[ChocolateDrop]

Hey!

I need urgent help on this topic. Currently I'm in Year 1 of a new IB school in Kolkata, India. My subject combinations are English Language and Literature SL, French ab initio, History HL, Biology HL, Maths HL, and Chemistry HL.

I am capable of scoring a 7 on all my subjects apart from Maths HL (I stand on a 5 after my first semesters). I want to go for biochemistry oor microbiology later in college.

My confusion is regarding the best approach, on whether I should drop to Maths SL. In general, I don't need a Maths HL for biochem in any of the colleges I'm looking at. But would a student with a 7 in HL Math have an advantage over me?

Or rather is a predicted of 40/42 with my current subjects better than a 42/42 with a Math SL?

I'M COMPLETELY, ABSOLUTELY CONFUSED! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

Maths HL is a very demanding subjects, it depends on whether you enjoy maths enough to [dedicate vast amounts] of time to it. The four HLs you are taking are demanding in their own right as well, you'll have to decide for yourself whether you'll be able to handle 4 HLs first. If not, drop the one you enjoy least, don't need and will probably spend less time on. As long as you meet the course requirements or take the "desirable" subjects don't worry too much about looking competitive compared to students with Maths HL. Unless your desired institution specifies that you must take the hardest available subjects, then meet that requirement. I personally feel it is better to focus on extracurricular activities which are related to the course you want to study, then studying a non-required subject just because you feel it would give you more of an advantage.

[Guest]

Drop it.

I took Maths HL and I really enjoyed it, so I am strongly biased towards recommending that you keep it. Personally, looking at your HLs and future plans, I would advise that you drop the History HL and go to SL - for me, I found history far harder to study for than maths. Also, I think that you can definitely improve your grades - with practice of questions, textbook and past papers, I believe that it's completely reasonable to train yourself to a 6 or even 7 standard in Maths HL.

However, if you don't need Maths HL for entry, then why take it when you have the easy path, I suppose is the question. I'm not familiar with the colleges you are looking at, so I can't give advice as to whether they would "prefer" Maths HL or SL, assuming that you can get a 7 in either. I know that here in Australia the universities are completely blind and don't even know what subjects we took in the IB, so if I were in your situation I would take SL. However, even if they don't say they require Maths HL, some colleges might "prefer" HL as indicative of a stronger dedication to maths/science - the only way really to check this is to explore their websites more or directly ask the university whether such a preference exists. Also, perhaps you want to take Maths down to SL to "balance" the heavy science load of Bio/Chem, so that's another consideration.

Whatever decision you make, good luck!

Actually I find History pretty easy to score in. And the SL students put in an almost equivalent effort. The colleges I am looking at are highly selective like Harvard, Cornell, NUS etc. The problem is even my school counsellor is confused. But I'll try to take the best possible choice. Thank you.

[ChocolateDrop]

Drop it.

I took Maths HL and I really enjoyed it, so I am strongly biased towards recommending that you keep it. Personally, looking at your HLs and future plans, I would advise that you drop the History HL and go to SL - for me, I found history far harder to study for than maths. Also, I think that you can definitely improve your grades - with practice of questions, textbook and past papers, I believe that it's completely reasonable to train yourself to a 6 or even 7 standard in Maths HL.

However, if you don't need Maths HL for entry, then why take it when you have the easy path, I suppose is the question. I'm not familiar with the colleges you are looking at, so I can't give advice as to whether they would "prefer" Maths HL or SL, assuming that you can get a 7 in either. I know that here in Australia the universities are completely blind and don't even know what subjects we took in the IB, so if I were in your situation I would take SL. However, even if they don't say they require Maths HL, some colleges might "prefer" HL as indicative of a stronger dedication to maths/science - the only way really to check this is to explore their websites more or directly ask the university whether such a preference exists. Also, perhaps you want to take Maths down to SL to "balance" the heavy science load of Bio/Chem, so that's another consideration.

Whatever decision you make, good luck!

Actually I find History pretty easy to score in. And the SL students put in an almost equivalent effort. The colleges I am looking at are highly selective like Harvard, Cornell, NUS etc. The problem is even my school counsellor is confused. But I'll try to take the best possible choice. Thank you.

If you're looking at the US, albeit they may not have specific course requirements some universities simply state that you must take the "most challenging course available" talk about ambiguity. Depending on the context this can have different meanings; it could refer to taking the most challenging subjects individually e.g college level advanced maths or simply taking the hardest high school curriculum e.g taking IB at a school which offers vocational subjects. It's essentially up to your coordinator to decide this upon completing the high school reference section.

[Guest]

Haha!

Well that was really helpful. Thanks. I'll make sure to talk to her. Hopwfully she can help. Thanks again.

[Erudite]

Hey!

Just to add a little to the brilliant advice given to you above. I spoke to a Harvard rep a while back at a college fair and she said to me that while they expect students to take the hardest courses available, they also expect students to do well. Especially if Maths is superfluous to your future degree, I would drop it down to SL because SL is a perfectly acceptable level of Maths to be studying alongside a load of other hard HL subjects.

Cheers!