Physics HL - Difficulty/Comparison

[Guest]

Hi there,

I am currently in grade 10 and also planning on doing Physics HL in the IB. I heard that this course is supposed to be very difficult/demanding. So I took a look at some youtube videos made by an IB Physics teacher (MitchCampbell : http://www.youtube.com/user/CampbellMitch?feature=watch , many thanks to you sir btw). The videos that I watched are about the 'IB Physics HL Topic 13: Quantum and Nuclear'. I honestly didn't find them too difficult and basically understood and learned all of what Mr Campbell was talking about. Hence, I don't really understand why people are "complaining" about this course.

So my question is: Is this 'Topic 13' just comparably easy topic (in contrast to the other topics)? Or is the amount of work you have to put into this course the difficult part ? Was the stuff that Mr Campbell was talking about just a brief overview of this topic (I honestly don't think so, as he uploaded/I watched 21 videos à la 10 min each)?

Or was it just a "coincidence" that this topic made sense to me without further questions?

Thanks

PS: I already did the basic stuff (a bit more than the presumed knowledge for this topic) in my earlier school career. This may have had an influence on my quick grasp of the topic. + I always was good at sciences (esp. physics) and have a sort of strong background in this subject, so...

[Ipekt]

I take HL Physics as a part of my IB. All I will tell you is that don't let the fancy Nuclear and Quantum words fool you. They are the easiest subjects of the course (I mean HL Physics). I assure you that the combination of your HLs will be a very slow and painful death. I never Economics however Math and Physics combined is the most challenging, difficult and deadly of them all. Think it through look at all the other subjects in the Physics, don't let the names fool you and try to look at previous IB question to see if you can solve them. Its not only about understanding the topic, its also about being able to solve IB questions.

[Guest]

I take HL Physics as a part of my IB. All I will tell you is that don't let the fancy Nuclear and Quantum words fool you. They are the easiest subjects of the course (I mean HL Physics). I assure you that the combination of your HLs will be a very slow and painful death. I never Economics however Math and Physics combined is the most challenging, difficult and deadly of them all. Think it through look at all the other subjects in the Physics, don't let the names fool you and try to look at previous IB question to see if you can solve them. Its not only about understanding the topic, its also about being able to solve IB questions.

Yeah, i heard that about HL math and physics... but thats what interests me, thats what I am good at and thats something I may want to do at university... If it doesnt work out, i still have the chance to drop something to SL and get another HL.

But yeah, I know exactly what you mean with about the names of the topics but i think i sort of got a great part of it covered already... (and in the end, isnt the IB supposed to teach me the topics I dont know already?!). and yes, i also totally agree with you on the challenging IB questions, i didnt understand a lot when i first took a look at them but now i am sort of getting behind the ideas/ concepts (and in the end, as stated above, i still have 2 years in the IBDP to get the hang of it with past papers and stuff and my teachers)

Thanks

PS: I think I got 6.5/8 core topics figured out already and 2/6 additional HL topics (AHL). But as I/you said, the real 'problem' is probably going to be to fully be able to solve IB questions.

Edited December 22, 2013 by dvirchow

[Ipekt]

You can endure the combination if you have some sort of passion for them. Be careful though, because as far as I have heard from my teacher there are no numbers in Paper 3 of Math HL and its all like I don't know how to call it but you get what I'm trying to say. Right?

[maroctam]

dvirchow, I also think Quantum and Nuclear physics is the easiest topic along with Digital Technology. And I wouldn't worry too much about your subject choices even though the things lpekt might be worrying. I currently take HL physics and math, and I suppose it's alright. You really seem to have a passion for physics since you've studied a large amount of the content on your own so you'll be fine. As for math, I can tell you that it's a challenging course, but it's also really interesting, especially the option (we did calculus).

[Guest]

dvirchow, I also think Quantum and Nuclear physics is the easiest topic along with Digital Technology. And I wouldn't worry too much about your subject choices even though the things lpekt might be worrying. I currently take HL physics and math, and I suppose it's alright. You really seem to have a passion for physics since you've studied a large amount of the content on your own so you'll be fine. As for math, I can tell you that it's a challenging course, but it's also really interesting, especially the option (we did calculus).

Thanks nice to have someone who strengthens your back (concerning Ipekt's comments and the HL maths and physics stuff).

Btw, in my current physics class (a grade 10 one) our teacher told us that we will do approx. 60% of the IB Physics SL course already (so that we get some of the concepts... But the ib exam questions as stated above require something completely than simply understanding concepts... But i think that i am sort of getting behind that stuff). And also, i recently switched schools (i come from a completely different curriculum, not gcse,not IB, not A-levels... The german school sytstem) so things go around a little differently back there so i already studied quite some phyiscs back there (in my 4th year of physics right now). Tbh, we didnt really do rocket science in that school but i think that we atleast did some stuff (in grade 9 we even did som IB physics HL stuff like electromagnetics) and my ohysics teachers all these years werent that good (s/he probably knew what ss/he was talking about but couldnt reach the uncontrolllable minds of a bunch of 12-14 y/o kids) so i guess i "missed out" on some of that stuff back then and i think its good to have it refreshened this year in my new english school.

Plus, some of the scientific terms are sometimes different but i try to pick up as many as possible this year... The english isnt really the problem but sometimes (in math too) i just see a word (scientific expression) that i dont really know... But that doesnt happen very often (rather close to never)

Thanks for the replies

[maroctam]

(in grade 9 we even did som IB physics HL stuff like electromagnetics

Yeah that was part of the IGCSE syllabus as well. But please keep in mind that just because you've done it in the past doesn't make it easy... I've struggled with that personally cause i always thought that electricity and induced currents and stuff were easy because we learnt them in IG, but the questions on the content in IB are significantly harder in my opinion. With that said, you still shouldn't worry too much, you seem really determined to do well and I think you'll succeed

The english isnt really the problem but sometimes (in math too) i just see a word (scientific expression) that i dont really know.

That's another thing with IB physics, you need to know a lot of definitions, usually word by word which is really annoying!

[forlackofabettername]

hmm. your subject choice is interesting. to be honest, if i were you id avoid taking economics HL (SL is way easier, HL is basically just SL+calculations and the boring part). If i were you I'd go for German b higher level as a third higher level subject and drop to economics standard level. Or you could always take Chemistry Higher level instead of Economics Higher level (chem is comparably easier than econ)

As for the physics part, as a physics HL student myself, I'm finding Physics HL difficult to tackle due to the calculations it requires (which i didn't take, being a Math SL student) so i do recommend you take Math HL if you're planning on taking physics HL.

or you could choose a less demanding program instead of the IB ._. i wish i did.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[Guest]

hmm. your subject choice is interesting. to be honest, if i were you id avoid taking economics HL (SL is way easier, HL is basically just SL+calculations and the boring part). If i were you I'd go for German b higher level as a third higher level subject and drop to economics standard level. Or you could always take Chemistry Higher level instead of Economics Higher level (chem is comparably easier than econ)

I think im going to stay with econ hl, as it interests me, i have already studied quite a bit and i heard that the calculations are a bit of a joke (the "interest part" tales out the "boring part" and thene the only difference = calculations which appearantly are easy)

Concerning German B HL...no... Just no... Iget your point about the easy 7 points and stuff but i am going for the bilingual diploma and as my school offers German A LangLit SL, i ll just take that (to ease things when/if i want to apply for a german university)... So it's no from me...

And about the chem hl part... I am currently thinking about taking four HLs: Math, Physics, Chemistry, Economics

I know that 4 HLs = agonising death, but as i am still not sure about what i want to do at university and since these 4 subjects are the ones that interest me (aka sth. That i want to study at uni), i think taking these four classes will hold most doors open... And if it gets too difficult, i can still simply drop one (probably either physics hl or chem hl) to SL.