HL English or not?

[Pink97]

I'm really indecisive about whether i should take HL English lang/lit. I'm good at english but i really dislike the subject so i don't think it'd be the best idea for me to take it as a higher level subject. However, the english teacher at the school i'll moving to is really good .I plan to major in finance in the US, so all I need is sl/hl maths. My other subjects are:

HL: Economics, Chemistry, ?

SL: Maths, Spanish Ab initio, Psychology (will bump this up to HL if i don't take english)

Technically English would be more useful because you write a lot in finance jobs (my dad works in the finance sector and has informed of that). But i'm not sure. Do you think i should take HL English?

[Blackcurrant]

Don't do it because you want a job later.

[Pink97]

Don't do it because you want a job later.

I don't get what you mean?

[Blackcurrant]

Take Lit. because you want to learn it for its own sake. Not enjoying a subject interferes with learning. You'll need plenty of internal motivation to get through the course.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Blackcurrant

[Pink97]

Take Lit. because you want to learn it for its own sake. Not enjoying a subject interferes with learning. You'll need plenty of internal motivation to get through the course.

Well i haven't taken IGCSE Literature so i doubt doing literature would be a good idea (for my grade at least). Or does the course not require prior experience?

[ultimateone]

Hello pink97,
I'm doing IGCSE right now and I'm also not sure on the English A1 course and whether i should take SL or HL, because I don't really like the subject but I am good at it. I would say I'm in the same stance at you and I'm really indecisive right now.
My school offers English A1, which is a literature-based course. Which course does your school offer?
I guess HL English would be useful for Western Countries, I want to study Medicine in Australia. But I wan't to get a really high score (7s in most/all subjects) and I've heard that HL English is pretty demanding.
Please keep in touch with me as I'd love to hear from you!

[Blackcurrant]

You need plenty of motivation to do A1 Lit. You don't need "prior experience" but you guys seem to be talking about English in terms of job portfolio rather than a desire to learn something new. If you can " get through" or " manage" courses and learning this way, then there is nothing to stop you from from adding English A to your future portfolios. So do whatever suits you. I am just not enamoured of the instrumental approach to learning and education.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Blackcurrant

[Sandwich]

I didn't particularly enjoy English, the lessons are super dry, but if you're good at it and need a third HL which doesn't require much work, I'd highly recommend taking it. Especially if you have a good teacher because they'll make sure you're saying the right kind of stuff.

It's really not difficult to score highly if you're decent at it, and because it doesn't need much revision prior to the exams, it'll help you score higher in those subjects like Chemistry and Economics where you'll need to do hours and hours of revision. Come exam week, it makes a big difference to have a whole HL's worth of extra time. Psychology would be a lot more work than English. So really it's just about securing higher marks overall to take a subject like English, if you're capable.

Adding something to your portfolio (as Blackcurrant pointed out) is not really that relevant. Nobody will look back and see you did HL English and give you a big pat on the back for it, you could equally do it at SL and it's fine, you've proven proficiency. The main reasons to do HL English are that it's an easy 6/7 if you've got a history of being good at English (which you say you do) and you'll be very, very happy that you did a revision-light subject come the exams, so you're more likely to score highly in your other HLs. On account of being able to revise more - which is certainly a concern for Chemistry where there's loads of memorising, and I suspect Economics too. So regardless of whether it fits your portfolio or you love/hate English, there are some strong reasons to take it at HL.

[Pink97]

I didn't particularly enjoy English, the lessons are super dry, but if you're good at it and need a third HL which doesn't require much work, I'd highly recommend taking it. Especially if you have a good teacher because they'll make sure you're saying the right kind of stuff.

It's really not difficult to score highly if you're decent at it, and because it doesn't need much revision prior to the exams, it'll help you score higher in those subjects like Chemistry and Economics where you'll need to do hours and hours of revision. Come exam week, it makes a big difference to have a whole HL's worth of extra time. Psychology would be a lot more work than English. So really it's just about securing higher marks overall to take a subject like English, if you're capable.

Adding something to your portfolio (as Blackcurrant pointed out) is not really that relevant. Nobody will look back and see you did HL English and give you a big pat on the back for it, you could equally do it at SL and it's fine, you've proven proficiency. The main reasons to do HL English are that it's an easy 6/7 if you've got a history of being good at English (which you say you do) and you'll be very, very happy that you did a revision-light subject come the exams, so you're more likely to score highly in your other HLs. On account of being able to revise more - which is certainly a concern for Chemistry where there's loads of memorising, and I suspect Economics too. So regardless of whether it fits your portfolio or you love/hate English, there are some strong reasons to take it at HL.

Thanks for the insight! I'm definitely going to go with English and work my butt off.

Edited March 30, 2014 by pink97