m.k.2015 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi everyone, I am currently taking chemistry Hl and I don't really like it. I am not sure whether I should drop it to sl or not. My current subjects are: Math Hl, Chemistry Hl, Physics Hl and English B HlArabic Sl, business Sl I am not sure whether I want to do engineering or medicine tho. I can still go to medicine if I keep my chemistry Hl.So is there a big difference? What should I do? Please helpThanks Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 I am at the half of IB1 and I don't think that the extra HL Chemistry topics make that much of a difference but I would suggest you to drop something at SL because 4 HL's are unnecessary extra work..unis are OK with 3... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.k.2015 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 The thing is that I want to keep my medical option valid. However, periodicity has made me doubt my ability in chemistry as I did not try my best but found it hard. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 don't give up so quickly, HL chem is my favourite subject! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 The thing is that I want to keep my medical option valid. However, periodicity has made me doubt my ability in chemistry as I did not try my best but found it hard.Math or Physics maybe because having Chem SL isn't really sensible (the difference isn't huge) and English B is an easy HL. I've heard that HL Physics's additions are really hard compared to SL. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Award Winning Boss Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 If you want to keep medicine open, keep chemistry. Drop a different HL subject if the workload is a bother. But you'll also need HL maths for engineering. This is for the UK by the way. I'm not 100% for other countries but I imagine they're similar. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.k.2015 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 The workload is not the problem. What I am worried about is the difficulty of the subject. How difficult will chem hl get? Ryuk1, my chemistry teacher said that the difference is huge so I am really confused Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmi Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 The workload is not the problem. What I am worried about is the difficulty of the subject. How difficult will chem hl get?Ryuk1, my chemistry teacher said that the difference is huge so I am really confusedIt will get very difficult, and your teacher is right, it is a big difference. Some of the concepts will be very abstract/hard to imagine actually happening. In addition, most topics will now have math involved with them, whereas SL has practically none apart from stoichiometry. It's not impossible to score well if you study, but you'll be doing a lot of work to score well. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 The workload is not the problem. What I am worried about is the difficulty of the subject. How difficult will chem hl get?Ryuk1, my chemistry teacher said that the difference is huge so I am really confusedI might be biased The workload is not the problem. What I am worried about is the difficulty of the subject. How difficult will chem hl get?Ryuk1, my chemistry teacher said that the difference is huge so I am really confusedIt will get very difficult, and your teacher is right, it is a big difference. Some of the concepts will be very abstract/hard to imagine actually happening. In addition, most topics will now have math involved with them, whereas SL has practically none apart from stoichiometry. It's not impossible to score well if you study, but you'll be doing a lot of work to score well.My teachers said that the difference isn't that big and the course itself is mostly Math. I didn't find the HL additions difficult but Chemistry is my strongest subject and I find Chemistry Math easy..I might be biased Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 I agree, chemistry maths isn't very difficult to understand and apply Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 I agree, chemistry maths isn't very difficult to understand and applyYou're doing IB2 this year right? I wouldn't want to have a bad influence on the person because I only did the half of IB1 (the easy subjects) while Emmi is a graduate and finished the whole curriculum, I do have previous knowdelge about the upcoming subjects through, the math shouldn't be hard. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Yes I'm in IB2 and we've almost finished the course (we have redox left to finish and one more option) I genuinely think chemistry is easy to understand, but for others it might not be. I have seen people struggle in chemistry, but honestly if you understand a concept you can apply it when needed. This is unlike biology (which I personally find more difficult) where you have to memorise the processes and names off by heart and basically write all you know in the exam. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryuk1 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I am actually also looking forward to chemistry i am still not sure about whether i should take it as a 4th HL or just as a SL. are all the Additional HL topics really as much work as everyone says on here?Your HL's are all hard work. I'd suggest you to start with 4 HL's and decide which one to drop to SL after IB1. I don't know about Physics but Chemistry HL/SL difference is nothing compared to Maths HL/SL difference. I wouldn't suggest you to drop Economics to SL either because we do all group 3's with HL students, the syllabus difference is very little and paper 3 is the only easy part of economics. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Yes, I've heard people complain about how much work Economics is. It's up to you in the end (remember you can still change your mind during the early stage of IB1), and it is important to note that you will encounter difficulties and stress in each subject, no matter what people say about them. So go ahead and do what you want, the IB is designed to challenge you, but in a way that you still be able to handle the workload if you're organised. Good Luck! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.k.2015 Posted January 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 From someone that has done IB chemistry Hl, would you suggest that I drop the subject to Sl if I do not have a good foundation in chemistry? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmi Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 From someone that has done IB chemistry Hl, would you suggest that I drop the subject to Sl if I do not have a good foundation in chemistry?I wouldn't say drop it immediately. You can still do well with a weaker background, you'll just have to work harder at the beginning to catch up. I'd say try it. And if you still want to do medicine, you'll likely need HL chemistry anyways. If you find you can't handle HL chemistry, there's no shame in dropping it to SL. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.k.2015 Posted January 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Emmi, Thank you so much. If anyone else has any advice's about the subject, please share them Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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