indiankid Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Well, I'll be going into IB next year and I want to do two sciences at HL, and I was just wondering how much work is Chemistry and Biology HL? Will I be swamped with homework every weekend studying? The teachers said we'll be doing a lab once every four classes, just how much work will this add for me to do? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBdoc Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 I take both Bio HL and Chem HL and honestly I feel that the workload is manageable. In IB1 at least. You just have to be organised and work on a daily basis. For Bio HL, you need to memorize/know a lot of material and you have to keep up with the pace of the teacher and study to know what she is talking about. Our teacher gives us a lot of tests but I don't know if it's different for others. For Chem HL, although there is not a lot of memorizing to do, you have to study constantly so that the material doesn't accumulate. Make sure you understand the lesson. In chemistry, everything is related to each other. These two classes are more about studying than doing homework. You may get homework occasionally (depending on the teacher) but most of time spent will be to study and review. You will get lots of lab reports and there will be weeks where you will have lab reports due for both subjects at the same time but again, it's all about organization and time management. I don't think you will be swamped with homework every weekend but honestly it depends on the teachers you get. Keep in mind that it will definitely get tougher in IB2 and the workload will increase greatly. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 The amount of lab work you're swamped with depends on whether your teacher spreads them out over the 2 years (like yours is doing), or leaves them until the last minute. We did a lab approximately twice a month and then ahd about 2 weeks to do the write up. Our teacher wasn't big on homework (as in, doing questions from the book) but we had tests at the end of each unit which we had to revise for. We finished the SL Biology syllabus in November of IB2 (we did options only in IB2), and the teacher is still going through the HL syllabus. My classmate has several labs left to do, and I feel bad for her because there is a lot more material to cover for HL than there is for SL (13 topics altogether in comparison to 5, plus options then). We didn't have class from November until the end of last month, and now we have several mock exams to do in preparation for the finals. You do have to study a lot for Biology due to the amount of material you need to know, but it's not rocket science and you can get a good grade by memorizing things (unlike in English, where you have to apply material). I found Biology interesting, and I'm glad I took it even though I had to suffer through boring labs like food tests and measuring plant respiration. The modern topics like stem cells and cloning are great to study and the syllabus covers a lot of areas like plant science, human science and ecology. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahuta ♥ Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Hello, I'm doing Chem and Bio HL and finishing this year as well. From my point of view, Biology is really interesting and i loved everybit of it(except for ecology and evolution, and plants, lol). It cover so many things that are undergoing researchs all over the world. If you can learn things easily, then go ahead and do biology. You will love it. My teacher last year was a very good one, we finished most of the syllabus last year, as we did things simultaneously: Human physiology (SL stuff HL stuff and options all together). As for the practicals, you only need to have 2, but students tend to do more to give themselves a chance to imporve. Like Viivi said, the distribution of labs depends in the teacher. That shouldnt be a problem because there are so many easy and very simple things for biology practicals( I'm doing my final ones now ). Homeworks is up to the teacher really, any subject could get you homeworks, not just sciences. Besides, as an IB student, you should be revising the materials reguraly anyways. As for chemistry, for me, its more of understanding. Practicals arent really as easy as biology, but a lot of things you can do. Chemistry is quite interesting as well once you understand it. Options are amazing also. I dont have anymore to say, because im finishing the course now. But I would strongly advise you to take these two things. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanz Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 actually i was really confused about chemistry and Biology Higher Level. the only difference in Standard and Higher level is the courses which are not alot harded than standard and the amount of lab hours ! i dont see anything hard in Higher and Standard Bio or Chem but u need to put more effort to get a 6 or maybe a 7 =D good luck Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.