6ix god Posted December 12, 2015 Report Share Posted December 12, 2015 I need some help deciding on my group 3. My school only offers History HL and Psychology HL, so I'm basically being forced to sacrifice one of my HL's to group 3. I'm interested in both, I like learning about history, and I also find Psychology fascinating. Ultimately, the deciding factor for my will be the IA. Which IA is easier? The IA for History HL or Psychology HL? Also workload and what you do in the class. Is there more work in History HL or Psychology HL? What kind of work Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted December 12, 2015 Report Share Posted December 12, 2015 If I were you, I would drop Sports, Exercise and Health Sciences to accommodate both History and Psychology with Psychology at SL. Your programme will turn out to be a tad more challenging but better rewarded and personally enriching. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6ix god Posted December 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2015 I wish I could take psychology or history at SL, but unfortunately my school only offers history and psychology at HL. also, I'm taking sports, exercise, and health sciences because my school only offers three sciences at SL: chemistry, sports, exercise and health sciences, and physics. Physics SL isn't a requirement for university, so I don't need to take it at the IB level. I'm going to be taking regular curriculum (Canadian curriculum) physics during summer school. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellie Posted December 21, 2015 Report Share Posted December 21, 2015 I'm (extremely) biased, but I recommend History. History is amazing, interesting, challenges you and makes you see the world differently. Your curriculum is rather loose, so in the papers you'll have a wide selection of essay topics. You need to be detail-oriented for HL, but if you're really interested, it's not hard to do. Your classes will depend on the teacher: mine principally gives lectures, with some homework essays and a few practice papers in both years. Discussion is encouraged. My teacher's asked to do very little at home, but to give yourself an advantage, you could read History books. Psychology, however, is highly structured, and (for me) all too scientific. You need to be precise, concise, use scientific language, memorize researchers, studies, know about a wide variety of topics (including Biology--the brain has some seriously messed up stuff going on in it), and include it all in rather short essays in a very limited amount of time. There's a lot more of 'ugh, was XY's study between-subjects or within-subjects? ****, what was the independent variable? or was it qualitative???' than 'yass, I understand how humans function now' going on. For the IA, I'd say History is easier. If you have access to scientific journals and are prepared to learn a new language (i.e. psychological scientist), you'll lucky, but for most of us, it's very hard to access proper scientific articles (of which you need at least 4 for your IA). You also need to conduct your own experiment, i.e. do a replication of a published study; again, less 'let's see what happens if we make two strangers kiss each other' and more 'value of U is 108.5, which exceeds the critical value of 27 for p≤0.05' (what are U or p, I couldn't tell you.) In the History IA, you need to investigate something historical (e.g. the success of a general in a battle in your hometown; how French Revolution influenced fashion; my classmate's comparing The Imitation Game's Alan Turing to the real Turing). It's not an essay and it's cut into rather small parts, so it's not hard to find (and you can choose a topic that is covered in your syllabus. In example, I now have extensive knowledge of Leon Trotsky, and if he ever shows up in my exams, I'll do very well. Yet both History and Psychology 7s are elusive: if you get one, you're either very lucky or very well-prepared (and lucky). But both have interesting contents; the workload is big, as common in IB, that's given in any subject. I think I wrote a bit too much, but now you have one side of this. Two years of studying something at HL means a lot of time with the subject, so choose wisely. 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Noh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I don't take Psych, so I can't offer any insight on that class. History, in my case, is the class that I get the most work in. I don't know if this is just my school, but THE WORKLOAD IS RIDICULOUS. THIS CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED. Some of that might have to do with my teacher though (he is very demanding, but unanimously recognized as one of the best teachers at our school). I almost regret taking history because of how much work is involved. I say almost because I still love history (its my favorite subject) and because my teacher still makes it worth it. Despite the drawbacks, I do believe that history is worth it though (but like the poster above me, I am also biased). So, consider who your teacher will be as well, not only which IA will be easier. In my case, taking history was an easy choice because I knew that I would have a great teacher. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hiddleston Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I don't take Psych, so I can't offer any insight on that class. History, in my case, is the class that I get the most work in. I don't know if this is just my school, but THE WORKLOAD IS RIDICULOUS. THIS CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED. Some of that might have to do with my teacher though (he is very demanding, but unanimously recognized as one of the best teachers at our school). I almost regret taking history because of how much work is involved. I say almost because I still love history (its my favorite subject) and because my teacher still makes it worth it. Despite the drawbacks, I do believe that history is worth it though (but like the poster above me, I am also biased). So, consider who your teacher will be as well, not only which IA will be easier. In my case, taking history was an easy choice because I knew that I would have a great teacher. I can second this on the workload. History is probably second in workload to biology and biology only has more homework due to more frequent tests in biology. X Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
machu1538 Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 I am taking up math hl so should I take history hl with it or psychology hl Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
machu1538 Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 It is extremely urgent can someone please hurry reply Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateAndVanilla Posted January 16, 2021 Report Share Posted January 16, 2021 11 hours ago, machu1538 said: I am taking up math hl so should I take history hl with it or psychology hl what is your 3rd HL subject? and what do you plan in the future? do you need any of those subjects? if not, psychology HL is probably easier than History Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibflossing22 Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 On 1/15/2021 at 9:03 PM, machu1538 said: It is extremely urgent can someone please hurry reply listen idk abt psych but im doing history hl and ITS SO FUN!!! you do have to do a lot of work (i have to write an essay every 2 weeks, a book review every 6-8 and have 2 reading seminars every week) but if you enjoy the subject, it doesn't really matter. it's so rewarding and fun, and honestly its pretty easy to get a high grade in it all you have to do is be explicit and remember the historic events (just the order and the main idea). i also wanted to do psychology (because thats what i wanna do as a career) but my parents didnt let me, and also the workload is more or less the same according to a friend of mine you guys have to study a lot of experiments and you have an end of the year exam in g11 and 12 so yeah thats that i hope this helps!!! also if youre past the deadline i think you have like a week to fully commit to a class but it depends on your school. good luck! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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