Which Schedule is Better?

[ThePageHendrix]

At the moment I am in the MYP program but am already thinking seriously about DP. I've considered what classes I should take and basically I've narrowed it down to two options.

1.

HL - English A

HL - Biology

HL - Chem.

SL - Spanish A (I've been taking it for 11 years)

SL - Math

SL - Psychology

2.

HL - European History

HL - Biology

HL - Chemistry

SL - Spanish A

SL - Math

SL - English A

Later in life I want to become a neuropsychologist, which is why I want the bio and psych (only offered at SL at my school), but I'm wondering if HL English is the right choice. I'm not the best at analyzing but I still usually get 6s in the class. I've also heard that HL English isn't much more difficult than SL - thoughts?

Also, which one of these two schedulees do you think would be easier - HL English and SL Pyschology or HL European History and SL English?

Thanks for the help : )

[Guest]

If you feel confident with your ability as a writer, I'd go with schedule 1. Unless you really like history you might regret having all the memorization it entails.

To me, it seems like doing well on the English exam is whether or not you have a certain skill set (truthfully, that probably involves lots of analysis, but you'd have two years to hone those skills) rather than knowing lots of little details.

[mechnight]

Same as Ruthadactyl said, if history's not your thing, stay away from it, there's no point in struggling memorizing whatever gets on your nerves rather in the long-term memory As far as English A goes, well, my school offers A1 (HL und SL), and it's a ton of reading, constantly, but everything you need for analysis & exams you learn in class, so if you're ready to put some work into it, you shouldn't have any problems. And good luck with the IB!

[lizzo426]

If you're reasonably good with English, I would recommend that. History is great, but it requires a lot of time. Also, it seems like you don't want to go into a history-related field, so English would probably be more useful in the long run.

[John Hoose]

Option 1 seems better attuned to what you want to pursue.

 

HL English is a lot more difficult than SL English in terms of getting a 7 - the workload is obviously more but still somewhat manageable

 

But if you like history, why wouldn't you take that SL instead of SL Psychology? History is a lot of fun if you are into the subject - Paper 1 is just test strategy, and if you take History SL, then you basically spend 2 years preparing for 2 essays.