<p>Is anyone in here in the IB program? I'm a rising junior. I was wondering whether you guys think colleges like to see Higher level math more or AP Calc. BC. If I take Standard Level Math next year, I can probably take Calc BC senior year. Do you guys know if collges prefer one over the other. Higher level math is a harder class according to my teacher. She told me that I could handle it, but I don't know if I want to if colleges don't really care about HL Math and they like Calc BC a whole lot more. I would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!</p>
<p>Do things for yourself, not for adcoms. Don't find that out the hard way.</p>
<p>Most adcoms know that math HL is challenging class. I myself am tkaing IB Math Hl. I've spoken with various college reps and they all were extermely pleased and impressed when I told them I was taking that class, so I guess they do like it. I can't really talk about AP becuase I've never taken it, but I can tell you that Math HL is an amazing class, to the point where its made me love math so much that I wanna double major in math and econ ( my other great passion).</p>
<p>I myself am taking Math HL...it's not an easy course. I don't know AP Calc BC, so I can't help ya there.</p>
<p>Depending on where you apply, many schools are more familiar with AP than IB. Honestly though, it probably doesn't make a difference. No adcom will turn you away because you took one difficult math class over the other. Do what you want.</p>
<p>It probably doesn't make that big of a difference. Both classes are regarded as difficult/challenging. HL will cover Calc BC topics and more, so it comes down to a) how much do you want to learn and b) can you handle it. I don't think it will make a big difference which one you choose, so do what you want. I took HL, but my school doesn't offer Calc BC.</p>
<p>If you are also looking at England, Canada, or Australia, or any other countries, I would imagine that IB is more respected as harder than AP. I can demonstrate this to you by an example. I have two friends, both having been accepted to Cambride university (in England) under conditional offer. The person doing IB has a condition of gettin at least 40 points (and at least level 6 in all HL), but the other person doing AP has a condition to get straight As, otherwise they would reject him.</p>
<p>As for applying to american universities, I think both would be fine. The IB Math HL isnt dat hard really. The key to getting high scores is the practice from past papers, since the same kind of questions come up year after year. I do not know about AP, since I am not taking it.</p>
<p>im taking HL myself and its really a challenging class. you need commitment. </p>
<p>but like my teacher said, HL will not only focus on calculus but go in depth on everything from matricies to complex numbers to probabilities to vectors. overall, it gives you a better handling and understanding of mathematics as a whole. as nerdy as it sounds, it really makes you happy when you see the connection between one topic area to another. </p>
<p>as for your concern about college admission... i personally think having an IB Math HL will look better on the resume because its less common. it makes you stand out. (and i believe its harder than AP calc BC... but ive never taken it myself and im in love with the IB program and therefore im biased lol)</p>
<p>oh, and i dont know if its true, but my teacher said only 6% of the entire IB student body world wide takes IB Math HL. that should mean a lot (of course, further math SL students are even more advanced... but theyre just crazy)</p>
<p>but yeah. i think youll like the program a lot if you like being challenged. </p>
<p>btw i have my math final tomorrow wish me luck!</p>
<p>I had it today. I think I did really well. The only problem I left blank was becuase I still have no idea how to get my calculator to solve long equations for me ( it was like a fifth degree equation and I didn't have time to start working it out). Yeah..but it was all good...it was fun lol. The induction ones were tough but in the end I solved them. Same for probability and discrete random vars.</p>
<p>lhh421- what is this further math sl that you speak of?</p>
<p>long equations? graph it? and find the intersection with y=0? sorry if im totally off lol</p>
<p>final went very well. i was surprised at how slow i processed the problems. of course, its been a looong while since the last time i did related rates problems so... good job for me :)</p>
<p>further math SL is this crazy math thats one level above HL (yes, it existed). basically its for those super smart kids who finished IB Math HL in their junior year and have an extra block in their schedule. youll basically self-study all the option topics. ALL of them. and take an SL test and keep the math HL as an extra certificate. there are only about a couple hundred kids (?give or take a hundred or so?) that take this course. i know one in my grade. and theres one more in the grade below me. and there are three more in the class of 09 in my school. crazy kids.</p>
<p>yeah. I knew I had to graph it. But i graphed it and kept pushing calc zero, and it didn't work....I hate my calculator haha</p>
<p>Holy ****..thats advanced. Wow, how can they finish HL in one year?!?!? thats amazing, seriously. I don't think thats even an option at my school....wow.....mth Hl in one year...all the options....WOW</p>
<p>lol nono i should have put it more clearly</p>
<p>normally if you wanna take HL at my school you take one year of Methods SL during your sophomore year and then go ahead and move on to 2 years of HL. but some people are so advanced even when entering high school that they take Methods SL during their freshman year and HL during soph/junior years. and since HL is the highest my school can offer... so the senior year is their self-study further math period.. </p>
<p>its really scary if you think about it. how can a middle schooler know all the Hon. Algebra 2 and pre-calc stuff? i mean, im pretty sure that kid in my grade was from a normal public middle school too...</p>
<p>oh btw for the calculator thing... dont know if it applies to your situation, but when the intersection is so small that the calculator cant detect it (happened when calculating the equilibrium in chem), adjusting your window size can help you sometimes.</p>
<p>O I understand. Yeah, I see how they do it, but still that seems like a really hardcore decision, definitely a hard load. We actually start taking Math HL in our junior year, although a year of SL isn't a prerequiste for us. But 7 out of the 8 people in my HL course took math 125 ( basically math SL at out local university).</p>
<p>On the calc issue: Thanks. I'm just awful with my graphing calc. When we started using it I hated having to go through like 2 different menus just to press factorial or the permutation functions that I stuck with my casio scientific calc. I really have got to get the hang of the graphing one becuase I'm sure I'm gonna need it for next year (BTW today was my last day of junior year!! yay hehehe)</p>
<p>Dammit, my school doesnt offer further math SL, otherwise i would have tried it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the opinions everyone! I think I'm going to take HL Math next year. That's also partly because I now have a choice of whether or not to make my Latin HL or SL. Truthfully, I'm much better at math than latin so...
Thanks again!</p>