Deciding between HL History or Economics

[Vvi]

I'm taking 4 HL's right now. I just switched French SL to HL because I checked university requirements and in order to study International Relations and French, some wanted French HL. I'm in my 2nd year of IB, but still have time to change.

However, I know that 4 HL's is hard work and I want to get the maximum no. of points possible. My other HL's are English, Economics and History. I can't drop English A1 (for obvious reasons).

So I'm trying to decide right now between dropping down to SL in history or economics. Which one is harder, and in which one do people get better marks in? Both of them are relevant to international relations so it doesn't really matter which one goes.

I heard that in economics HL you have a better chance of getting a 7 because there are less people doing HL than SL. True or not?

[__inthemaking]

History HL is harder to get high marks in than Economics.

I chose to do economics HL instead of history HL and I ended up getting a 7 in econ. Nobody that did history HL at my school got better than a 5.

However, if you really enjoy history, then take it. But if it doesn't really matter to you and you just want an easier course, take econ.

[stylusdef]

That's interesting, because people seem to have very different opinions on whether or not history is harder than economics. According to the statistics, the mean grade for Economics is slightly higher than that for History. However, the difference between the mean grades is so small that it is not really worth paying attention to.

Since I was not sure whether to choose Economics or History for IB, I talked to numerous people who took both subjects. Some say History is easier than Economics, while others say History is harder than Economics.

I ended up doing History, as I find it really interesting.

Good luck with your choices!

[babakren]

go for history srsly, i regretted taking econ instead of history.. history i think is more acknowledged by the colleges in the US so yea take history because for econ, hl and sl are pretty much the same lol.

[Vvi]

I'm not applying to any universities in the States, all my choices are in England and Scotland.

In terms of quantity, economics would have less material to learn than history, right?

Thanks for all the replies I'm getting, these should help me out a bit at least. I'm going to decide on Monday, so I have a day left to think about it.

[__inthemaking]

There is way less material in econ HL compared to history HL.

Econ is all logic, understanding the concepts and being able to draw graphs and explain yourself. History is all memorization and writing essays.

So depending on which one you're better at, one of them should be easier for you. But I'm good at memorization and I chose economics because I also have english HL and I didn't want to write so many essays for both english AND history. It ended up being a good choice on my part.

[deissi]

Drop economics to SL, the difference between history HL and SL is minimal, and people tend to score higher on HL exams (source: http://www.ibo.org/facts/statbulletin/). However, for economics, and especially microeconomics, the SL material is very easy, and the harder material is included in the HL material. Not having to worry about the theory of the firm should be something you'll appreciate when studying for your finals

[Bee =3]

it also has something to do with your teacher.. but unless your eco. teacher sucks or some other drastic reason, i'd go for economics..

Because:

1. it's much closer to daily life than history, so you might find it easier to understand

2. There's much less to study for than history. in history, there's no ONE book that gives you the WHOLE syllabus, so it's a mixture of sources..

3. You've gotta write much more in the essays..

really, unless you're a huge history fan and have a huge memory, eco's a tad bit easier.. (imo)

cheers,

B

[Vvi]

Thanks everyone for your help and comments, I decided to take Economs HL and drop History down to SL. There really isnt a fixed syllabus for Hitory, whih I don't like at all...

[Guest syrianstar]

Thanks everyone for your help and comments, I decided to take Economs HL and drop History down to SL. There really isnt a fixed syllabus for Hitory, whih I don't like at all...

Lol I was just going to reply to you and tell you to take Economics!

I'm glad you chose to take it; this is my second year of HL Economics and I can gurantee that you will enjoy the class immensely! After a while you will find that Economics is related to practically everything and taking the subject really opens your eyes to what is happening in the world around you and why. Also if you have a good teacher who helps you with understanding the main concepts, then from there you'll be able to use logical reasoning to analyse questions and draw graphs, as there is not much theory you have to memorise.

Good luck with it

Edited September 11, 2008 by syrianstar

[slatkodobola]

I say drop economics from HL to SL. Will maek the load easier, since French will be reading books from now on.