IB Schedule

[jmsloderb]

This is my first year in IB and I'm finalizing my schedule for this year. I'm planning on majoring in computer engineering or electrical engineering in college. My favorite/strongest core subject is math and just behind that is English and sciences. So, I was wanting to know your opinion of my schedule at this point:

IB English HL (My school doesn't offer English SL)
IB German SL
IB History SL
IB Chemistry HL
Calculus (Taking Math HL next year)
IB Physics SL (Teacher will let you do HL if he thinks you can handle it)
TOK
AP Music Theory

Other students say Chemistry HL is really hard and that people just get 3's and 4's on their exams. I find chemistry pretty interesting and think it would be good to have if I become an engineer, but I'm a little scared about taking it now. Also, do you think I should take Physics as a (maybe fourth) HL if I get the chance? I've even thought about becoming a physicist before, but it's kind of the same situation as Chemistry HL. Obviously, I'll either be taking Physics or Chemistry as an HL (or both) since German and History aren't my strong subjects. So, I'll probably at least leave Chemistry as HL until I get accepted to do Physics HL. Mainly, I was just wanting your opinions about Physics and Chemistry SL and HL, also bearing in mind that I plan on becoming an engineer. Just a side note, I took AP Music Theory last year and it was my favorite course in high school (even better than math) and I'm looking forward to taking it again so I can focus on the more advanced side of musical composition. Sadly, I don't think there's many career opportunities (in the U.S.) for composers. Anyone know? Anyway, I was just interested in your opinions about my planned schedule. I'm sorry about all the questions. Thanks!!!

[Xerox]

i think it depends on what kind of engineer you want to become, but from what i know physics is usually the one that uni looks more on.
Also the difference between chem HL and SL is bigger then physics SL and HL, so i would argue that taking chem sl and phy HL might
give you better grades in the end. (i have chem sl and phy HL so i am not very objective, but i am also planning on becoming an engineer)

[__inthemaking]

Chem HL isn't THAT bad. I got a 7 in it, and I would consider myself an average-good chem student, not excellent.

I think taking chem HL and physics SL would benefit you more as an engineer than chem SL and physics HL, simply because chemistry is the basis of ALL sciences. My friends who are going into engineering all took chem HL and physics SL and got 7's in both subjects and they got accepted into a very good engineering university.

[jmsloderb]

Thank you for your advice! I think I'm going to do 4 HL's, both Chemistry HL and Physics HL, because I'll have the option to drop out of one of them if there's too much workload or if one of the teachers suck. Thanks again!

[cereja]

I took AP Music Theory last year and it was DEFINITELY my favorite class.

About Physics, I couldn't take the HL because my school doesn't offer it. In case you don't want to take 4 HLs, you have the option to take AP Physics C, which is the closest thing to Physics HL. That way it's not as strict as IB, and you still get the curriculum. *Also, there's not as much pressure when it comes to exam time.

[iTmanforLife]

That's a pretty good schedule actually, if anyone looked at my mines they would laugh. I've managed to work my way around the system. For my first year, I took

IB History HL I
IB Spanish SL
IB English HL I
Advanced Math, which is basically a Trig class.
IB Chemistry HL I
IB Anthropology SL
Symphonic Band, which they should make music classes IB

well, I pretty much did great in all of my classes except for Chemistry, which I'm just horrible at Chemistry, like the teachers teaching style didn't make any sense to me and I just struggled all year, managed to end up with a D+, I ended up trying to figure out some way for me to back out of Chemistry without losing my IB diploma. Which I figured out that, I needed a required number of HL courses, and there weren't many 1 year HL courses left. So I figured out a way to drop Chemistry and pick up IB Spanish HL. I mean I loved SL so much I thought why not take HL, it's not harder they just require a little more from you. So for the next year, I've got

IB History HL II
IB English HL II
IB Spanish HL
IB Math Studies SL
Advanced Computer Math
IB Environmental Systems SL
and TOK.

So I've spoken to the coordinator and he thinks it's genious how I've worked my way around having to take chemistry and destroy myself.

[imaginelifeless]

[quote name='__inthemaking' post='21626' date='Aug 6 2008, 01:40 PM']Chem HL isn't THAT bad. I got a 7 in it, and I would consider myself an average-good chem student, not excellent.

I think taking chem HL and physics SL would benefit you more as an engineer than chem SL and physics HL, simply because chemistry is the basis of ALL sciences. My friends who are going into engineering all took chem HL and physics SL and got 7's in both subjects and they got accepted into a very good engineering university.[/quote]

hmmm actually, i was thinking that for engineering courses, its best to have physics HL because a lot of the universities i've looked at, they're asking for physics HL with at least a 6. well i guess it all depends on the university...