cqubie Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 (edited) Firstly, I am aware there are a lot of similar posts around this time round, so thanks for all your time! Current choices:HL: SL:History English Lit ABiology Chinese AChemistry Maths So I am currently studying in the UK and I'm from Hong Kong hence ChineseSL. I will be taking my IGCSEs soon and really need to make my mind up on my sixth form choices. My school provides both A Levels and IB, I am fairly sure that I will be doing IB but here comes my problems: 1. I am aiming for PPE / History and Economics at Oxford, the Uni Page does say the bare minimum is Maths SL but from what I've read it seems I might be at a disadvantage if I opt for it. I am confident for an A* for Maths GCSE and am currently studying FSMQ as well. However my maths teacher did suggest that Maths HL might be too much for me. So should I try maths HL? 2. Should I do Economics HL instead of one of the sciences despite having not done GCSE Economics before? Would it help for PPE/ History and Economics? Any suggestions addressing the questions or my subject choices are greatly appreciated. Thanks! Edited February 19, 2016 by cqubie Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballfan12 Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 I highly suggest you take economics hl. It's not too hard of a subject and since you want to take economics in uni, it's probably a good idea to just get a background in IB. Honestly, don't even worry about not taking economics in GCSE. There are not prerequisites for economics hl. Taking economics hl instead of chemistry hl, for example, would make your life sooooo much easier. I wish I was able to take economics in my high school. As for maths, although taking Math SL may place you at an ever so slight disadvantage for Oxford, I have heard a lot of horror stories about math hl and it is considered to be one of the toughest course offered in the IB. Nevertheless, it really is up to you and how well you like maths and how good you are at maths. If you really like math and are good at them, go ahead and take math hl! This is your journey, my friend 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) 1. A tactic that has been somewhat frequently brought up in this forum is to take 4 HLs for a semester or so (typically a year) then drop your worst HL to SL (since you don't need two group 4s for history/econ maybe just drop one of them if hl math is ok). This works if there is somewhat of a big jump in difficulty (content-wise) in between your school's Year 1 and Year 2. 2. If you are serious about taking math hl, economics hl is not necessary if the admission office does not require it, because a strong math background will help. So i) try HL Math even if temporarily (few months or so) ii) if you think you can do HL Math drop one of your group 4s. I think an HL Math may look much more impressive than HL Economics provided that you score well on HL History iii) if it doesn't work your current subjects are fine but if you want switch one of the group 4s for a group 3 is also ok. I don't want to comment on the difficulty in any course as of yet because the average perceptions of difficulty may not apply to you, i don't know. Edited February 20, 2016 by kw0573 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cqubie Posted February 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks! I've decided to take Economics HL and leave Maths at SL for now. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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