Course Selection!

[Mahdi7]

Sup, I'm in Pre-IB right now and wanted to know about selecting the right courses for grade 11, I want to go into something in sciences, possibly med. So what courses should I take and which ones should be HL and SL? I am currently taking grade 11 physical geography which is an IB 1 course and I must take it as a standard level.

[__inthemaking]

I'm in pre-med in first year uni right now.

DEFINITELY take chem HL, bio HL too if your school offered it (my school only offered bio SL ). You'll also need at least maths SL.

[Mahdi7]

I'm in pre-med in first year uni right now.

DEFINITELY take chem HL, bio HL too if your school offered it (my school only offered bio SL ). You'll also need at least maths SL.

Thank you! BTW, have you done HL English? If so, how was it?

[__inthemaking]

Yeah I did, if you look in my sig, I have all the courses I took in IB there .

I was actually really disappointed with English because I was predicted a 6 and got a 5 instead. For some reason everyone did poorly at my school in our year..only 2 people got a 6 and there were 6 of us predicted at 6's. There was a lot of reading to do, but I read all the books the summer between grade 11 and 12 so that was fine. Overall, I would say English was probably the most difficult subject for me but I've always been a maths/sciences person, hence why I'm in sciences now heh.

[r a i n b o w stardust]

DEFINITELY take chem HL, bio HL too if your school offered it (my school only offered bio SL ). You'll also need at least maths SL.

Chem HL?! I didn't take that course, but I might want to go into a med field. I thought Bio HL was the most important o.o

Is chem hl very hard? I was afraid to take it since at my school most people got extremely low levels. I'm Pre-IB also.

...And from what I hear, English HL is fairly easy for native speakers and if you like the subject. I'm not going to be too worried about that one.

Of course it depends on the school and teachers right?

[__inthemaking]

I'd say chem HL is definitely more important because chemistry is the foundation of all sciences. The MCAT is mostly based on chemistry (organic chem, to be more exact) and some on bio and even less on physics (pretty much grade 12/first year uni physics is all you need). I'm not a fan of organic chem though so I'm definitely going to need to brush up on it before writing the MCAT. I found chem HL to be okay, not too difficult but again it depends on where your strengths lie.

I was never a huge fan of English due to my dislike of writing essays on the spot haha. I'm not an English native speaker (English is actually my fourth language, though I moved to Canada at a fairly young age) but I did better than some people who were native speakers so it just depends.

And thanks Mahdi7!

Edited March 9, 2009 by __inthemaking

[biochem]

When I selected my courses I was told to do Bio, Chem and English HL. Didn't think I was honestly cut out for math alongside the sciences. I would have taken it under other circumstances.

Chemistry is involved in a lot of the stuff you will do, however Bio in some cases more so. Its a undulating and sensitive concept to really talk about.

If you have the chance take Hl Bio, SL chem - just because HL chem won't really give u any specific advantage unless your teacher does something like further organic chemistry + Biochemistry for the extra topics. Even then, the advantage is not as great, in my opinion, as being exposed to the extra course items in HL bio (heavy in Genetics, what i am doing right now).

I can tell you from personal experience from taking both at HL, that a lot of HL chem has really nothing to do with medical studies. HL bio for genetics, asks that you identify disorders and health parameters. But this is just my take on it.

As for the third subject After Hl chem + bio (what we all would agree on are the 2 courses essential to med school), it is debatable.

you would be looking at the following options:

1. Physics - a lot of it doesn't go over really what is needed for med school, and mostly focuses on studies in other fields like astrology.

2. Math HL - I think this would help either way, but at times I feel like your doing too much work if you only want to study a field heavy in mathematics. Like Brain surgery, anesthesia. Surprisingly, my career choice (oncology) doesn't really require much math, just heavy on biochemistry.

3. English - a superb understanding and development of language is required of med students. This is coming from several doctors I asked before signing up for HL classes. They advised me, since 3 HL sciences were not feasible at my school, to take up English. Also, they mentioned it showed colleges a variety-filled command of subjects. One of the schools near-by forces you to take 4 HL classes, if 2 of them are really similar (like 2 sciences).

[greaterthaninfinity]

Definitely take chemistry HL, as above posts have suggested. I'm in IB1 currently and I've chosen chemistry. To be honest, I don't particularly enjoy the subject but it's a certain fact that chemistry is akin to the "language" of the biological sciences. Even if you aren't doing microbiology, aspects of biology simply will not make sense without chemistry. Personally, I find that - if you're doing bio and not doing chem, most of bio will be purely memorization-based and not based on your actual understanding. If you do know chem, however, a lot of bio does begin to make sense and you don't have to memorize as much. So yeah, shoot two birds with one stone and take chem!

[Zongora]

hi guys... I am an international student and would like to study in America. currently I am in IB 1 and they are already telling us of SAT exams for studying in America. does anyone know what these are? and also how do i obtain good marks in them?

[Vvi]

The SAT is the main test used for US universities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT has all the information you need. There are several books you can buy to prepare and there is a pre-SAT exam which you can take to get an idea of what it is like. Most students take the SAT at least twice to try and improve on their score.

Quoting from a school's guide to choosing subjects for medicine-related careers:

"For medicine and related degrees, 2 HL sciences and Maths SL is recommended. Only take Maths HL if your maths is very good. You can select any other SL subjects to show your breadth of interests."

I also think you should take English A1 HL for medicine. Language skills are needed.

[deissi]

...And from what I hear, English HL is fairly easy for native speakers and if you like the subject.

This, I can assure you, is not true. Being a native speaker will get you an easy 4 but it's going to get a lot more difficult after that.

[hanz]

Sup, I'm in Pre-IB right now and wanted to know about selecting the right courses for grade 11, I want to go into something in sciences, possibly med. So what courses should I take and which ones should be HL and SL? I am currently taking grade 11 physical geography which is an IB 1 course and I must take it as a standard level.

I'd definetly say you should take Chemistry HL and Biology HL as well as Math HL or it can be SL, it also depends on the uni. your applying for you dont know what are theyre requirements ! Good Luck anyways :-)

[moneyfaery]

Math HL is not helpful for med!! Math SL will suffice. Unless you enjoy the workload or the course, opt for something easier as your 3rd HL.

[Grixle]

As many have said HL Chem and Bio are musts and other topics don't really hold any role in med

[Ongfufu]

Math HL is not helpful for med!! Math SL will suffice. Unless you enjoy the workload or the course, opt for something easier as your 3rd HL.

I would think Math HL is more helpful than English HL. For any science math is essential. If you can take both that's fine. But my school only lets us take Eng SL/Math HL, or Eng HL/Math SL. So I chose Math HL. It is about twice the work as Math SL.

[moneyfaery]

I would think Math HL is more helpful than English HL. For any science math is essential. If you can take both that's fine. But my school only lets us take Eng SL/Math HL, or Eng HL/Math SL. So I chose Math HL. It is about twice the work as Math SL.

Eugh, I wish I could have chosen Eng SL. Yes, maths is essential, but SL is enough. Choosing HL for med is stupid when Chem HL and Bio HL are more beneficial (and easier).

Stupid me, stupid me, stupid me.

[hermine0817]

If you can manage it, take all three science subjects (physics, biology, chemistry), if not take at least biology and chemistry. It's of course the best to have Chem HL when your school offers it (our school pitifully didn't...) and Bio HL would help as well.

If you choose to do Maths HL, it's gonna look good as well.

But I would say that the most important thing is chemistry.

Some medical universities don't take you if you haven't studied chemistry.

[Zongora]

If you can manage it, take all three science subjects (physics, biology, chemistry), if not take at least biology and chemistry. It's of course the best to have Chem HL when your school offers it (our school pitifully didn't...) and Bio HL would help as well.

If you choose to do Maths HL, it's gonna look good as well.

But I would say that the most important thing is chemistry.

Some medical universities don't take you if you haven't studied chemistry.

woh! hold it there hermine, r u saying u r doing seven subjects? in my school they could only allow us six I wanted to do physics SL but i couldn't, so how do u cope, i mean with just these six there is just so much.

These are my subjects : BIology HL

Chemitry HL

Business management HL

Maths SL

English B SL

Sesotho A1 SL

with these subjects do U think i stand any chance to enter into a medical school or Biotechnology? at times i think i have made wrong choices and a lot of people say Medical schools consider English A more than English B how truthful is that.

[deissi]

Bio & Chem HL is fine for med school. Also, Eng B is fine for med school.

[hermine0817]

woh! hold it there hermine, r u saying u r doing seven subjects? in my school they could only allow us six I wanted to do physics SL but i couldn't, so how do u cope, i mean with just these six there is just so much.

These are my subjects : BIology HL

Chemitry HL

Business management HL

Maths SL

English B SL

Sesotho A1 SL

with these subjects do U think i stand any chance to enter into a medical school or Biotechnology? at times i think i have made wrong choices and a lot of people say Medical schools consider English A more than English B how truthful is that.

Yes, in my school, they allow you to take up to seven subjects and up to four higher levels. Therefore, I chose to do that because you get better chances in Germany with them. I think you get an extra certificate next to your diploma when you have done an extra course. They used to put the subjects together so that the candidate can get up to 52 points, but they don't do it any more.

About medical schools considering English more valuable than science.... I doubt that... Of course, universities differ in their preferences, but the universities I have checked up (they are in UK, USA and Germany) all prefer those who have done extensive studying in science subjects (i.e. chemistry, biology, maths, physics) even though it definitely is a plus for you when you have good grades in languages as well.

And, again, yes, I think you perfectly have good chance to enter into a medical school or Biotechnology with your subjects. I may not be the perfect judge as I haven't finished the IB myself, but I assume that many people would agree with me.