How hard is it to manage both Biology HL and Chemistry HL?

[6ix god]

The title explains it all. I'm a grade 10 student from British Columbia, Canada and I've decided to apply to the IB Diploma Programme. My school has a limited range of courses to choose from, so I have to do my group 1 and 3 at HL. I don't know how hard it would be to do Biology and Chemistry at HL along with my other two HL classes. My subject selection is:

English Literature HL

Spanish Ab Initio SL 

Psychology HL

Biology HL

Chemistry HL

Math SL

ToK

CAS

EE

Do any of you do 4 HL's? How much more difficult is it compared to doing 3? My school does offer Chemistry SL, but it runs with Chemistry HL. So I'm taking Chemistry at HL and if I find it difficult I have the option of switching down to SL. My main two questions are: how difficult is it to manage Chem and Bio at HL and is it doable?

Edited January 16, 2016 by 6ix god

[driqra420]

Hi 6ix god,

I don't take 4 HL's, but I do take bio, chem and English literature HL, and I think its pretty doable. I feel like bio is really just a lot about memorizing and understanding facts/processes etc. while chemistry HL also includes loooots of calculations and theoretical stuff. English literature on the other hand is a pretty fun class, that is, if you like books! A majority of the time all you do in class is analyse the books you're reading in each part of the syllabus and do the respective assessment tasks to them (you need to do a presentation on the option part, an essay for the translated texts and an oral exam for the poetry/2 other novels in that part). Once you have the prez, essay and oral exam out of the way, you basically focus on understanding everything about the last 4 books you read, because you need those for paper 2. And for paper 1 you should do a lot of practice commentaries on prose+poetry.

 

Anyways, sorry about getting carried away with English lit, but the point is that I think your choices are doable. I don't know what IB psychology is like, but if its an easy-ish class then I'm sure those HL's are gonna be great. In case you do get too stressed out, I would personally recommend dropping HL chem, because it can get really intense sometimes (not to scare you or anything, but that's what it feels like to me). 

But don't forget to keep an eye out for entry requirements for courses that you might be interested in studying for university, for medicine/science courses for example, many universities prefer HL bio and chem/any 2 sciences as HL.

 

Good luck with your choices!!!

[guanemo]

Not hard at all. the first year is rough for many students as they're till adjusting to it, but aftr a few tests it all becomes easier. Take into accoudn that you will be very familiar with the language and register used to explain biology and chemistry HL. By the time you're in DP2 (especially semester 2) all you'll have to do is read through your book - which has to be a good one from the beginning ( i recommend hodder's education's books), and you will be fine. You can read through an entire book once in a week-2 if you just focus on chemistry- so 1 week and a half for bio, 2 for chem and you will be fine but you HAVE to be confident in your abilities and time management to make it through. i have heard from many that english lit HL is tough and they are very picky when grading your tests- but dont worry and just start reading the chem and bio books now and youll be fine

[batool]

Hey you're from BC! That's where I'm from I used to live in Richmond and Surrey, so that's pretty cool.

 

Anyhow, I often times wish I took Chemistry HL because it's fascinating and I think it would have been doable if I had dropped another HL. Due to the sheer amount of memorization that is involved with Biology and Psychology though, it might do your head in. English HL is definitely an interesting and fun course; so, you should be able to enjoy it despite the amount of practice you'll need to do to get your skills on track. However, Biology and Chemistry coupled together should be no problem. You might instead have trouble with just the four HLs and may need to drop one or the other later on if you feel you cannot balance them. BUT, you might be able to enjoy and balance all 4 of those HLs (which is also totally cool! Don't feel pressured into dropping to 3 HLs). Just a gentle reminder though: taking 4 HLs doesn't really give you any perks besides getting more material (for your own personal ambition) and bragging rights in front of your friends.

 

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose to do!! Xx

[footballfan12]

Yo I was literally in the exact same situation as you as I was forced to take 4 HL's with Chem HL and BIo HL being part of my course load. I am, however, going to test out in May in Bio SL instead of Bio HL though because studying for four HL's would just be too much. Anyways, that being said, I actually found Bio HL to be very, very doable.... like not that hard at all. Chem HL on the other hand.....watch out, it's really difficult and moves extremely fast. All in all though, doing four HL's and taking both Chem HL and Bio HL really wasn't too, too bad, you should be fine.

[Siddhakshi]

I take bio, chem and psych HL, and while the syllabus is fine, the IA's are what get to you, especially because we're the first batch with science "explorations" and not simple lab reports. Honestly, I find chem HL more scoring that bio HL, but all three are really good subjects. What I did was drop English lit to SL. I LOVE English, but there wasn't really any point in taking it at HL. The syllabus is nearly the same, just a few less books, and an slightly easier paper. You'll probably get the same quality of coursework in English SL as you would have at HL. 

 

Two sciences at HL aren't bad at all, and I don't think English lit at HL and SL is that different, even if you want to take lit HL. Even psych HL isn't much different from SL except for having to choose one more option, and of course, the expectations from an IA. I'm sorry for ranting about IA's, I'm in DP2 and I have deadlines coming up... All in all, you won't face much problem. Just a small advice: If you DO take both at HL, choose your chem option as human biochemistry. It drastically reduces your workload.

 

Best of luck!

[GitteVermeer]

Hey,

 

I started out doing four highers: Math, Bio, Chem, and Physics, and after a year I dropped to Physics SL, simply because I needed the free periods to focus on my IA's and EE's. I also spoke to some admissions officers at universities in the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and they all said that they do not see taking an extra subject as an advantage, since very often, you don't do as well in the other subjects you take. Having said that, Bio and Chem HL are wonderful subjects to take together at higher level. You can really make connections between them and doing Chem really helps in your understanding of biological processes and vice versa. You can be that kid in the class who goes "we already did this in Chemistry I know all of it already!" Everyone loves that kid Haha ok just kidding, but in all seriousness, Bio and Chem HL are very good. If I were you I would drop English or Psychology to SL, depending on what you want to study after school. 

 

 

Hope this helps!

[ibsurvivors]

You might find reading this article helpful:

 

http://www.ibsurvivors.com/new-blog/2016/1/24/secrets-steps-to-7s-in-hl-chemistry-and-hl-biology

[Teresa123]

I've done Chemistry and Biology HL and I have to say...it's too much!! If you're looking forward to get a good grade then try to focus on one HL in the experimental sciences..:!!