<p>I think you’ve over estimated virtually every college if you think Math SL eliminates you from admission.</p>
<p>I doubt I over estimated MIT and the likes.</p>
<p>I didn’t say it completely eliminates you, it just decreases your chances drastically at schools of the same caliber as MIT.</p>
<p>Again, you’re overestimating schools.</p>
<p>I did some research in my school about Gtech and it seems that Maths SL worked out fine. However, I found the stats really surprising:</p>
<p>Av. GPA = 3.71 (4.3 scale)
SAT = 1926 (!!!)
ACT = 28
IB = 30 (mixture of IB certificates and diplomas)
Accept = 13/22 (decent)</p>
<p>Now you can see where I am coming from with that information. For MIT, the average GPA is around 3.85 or so unweighted on a 4 scale and around 4.5 weighted on a 5 scale. The average SAT is around 2270 (higher for internationals, most of the people who do IB) or so and they find a 39/42 for IB, impressive. On that scale, it should be fairly obvious that HL will be much better than SL math. Looking at the information for GTech though, I can say, I was wrong about the SL math, however, I hold firm with my opinion for MIT.</p>
<p>“The average SAT is around 2270 (higher for internationals,”
Where did you get this? Or does it simply sound “right.” International students presumably score lower because they’re weaker in English. An average of 2270 would be more appropriate for Caltech rather than MIT.</p>
<p>International students are much more competitive when compared to domestic students, especially when looking at the Asian demographic. I got the information by using this website for the past year.</p>
<p>Tech also took a huge jump in stats from 2009 to 2010. The Average SAT is now mid-2000 to 2100. Also, average GPA was something like a 3.92 if i remember correctly. I’ve never seen Tech report their average IB exam scores. In fact, I’m fairly certain Tech does not collect that data[1].</p>
<p>[1] Total scores would come in after the admissions decision and SL scores are not needed for credit, so only the HL scores would be submitted.</p>
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<p>I don’t see how you can make that statement based solely on the information provided. Clearly, Math HL is better than Math SL in the admissions process, but you could also say that Further Math is better than Math HL. I don’t get where you draw the conclusion that one leads to a “massive” difference or disqualifies one from admission.</p>
<p>It’s also likely dependent on the school. If you had Math HL as an option and took Math SL, that’s one thing, but many schools (particularly smaller schools) only offer Math SL. Our local IB school only offers 3 HL classes and every single student is required to take the same HL exams. The only difference is the SL second language you can take.</p>
<p>"International students are much more competitive when compared to domestic students, especially when looking at the Asian demographic. I got the information by using this website for the past year. "
I would certainly like to see “this website.” Yes international students are much more competitive, especially in the MIT applicant pool, but it’s not because of their SAT scores. From your post, it seems that you’re making this assumption. In fact, colleges don’t seem to weigh SATs that heavily for international, given their circumstances. International applicant usually possess other qualities and accomplishments, namely, international olympiads, for example etc. Indeed, course difficulty is often judged in context. Hence, weighted GPA is often misleading.</p>
<p>^
That sounds absurd. SATs are standardized, they come in and make up for fluctuations in score predictions based on grade inflation/deflation. It is one of the biggest parts of the application.</p>
<p>If you browse the chances section, you will see that almost everyone agrees that international applicants should have a higher score, and do have a higher average.</p>
<p>I agree about SAT being standardized and are useful for comparing applicants from different high schools. However the assertion that " It [SAT] is one of the biggest parts of the application." is quite simply absurd. Grades are paramount compared to SAT, and doing well in both is far in gaining admission in selective schools</p>
<p>Just a quick curiosity question:</p>
<p>How much MORE difficult is Maths HL than Maths SL?</p>
<p>In my school, the Maths HL students get average C-D grade in their tests and quizes and the tests and quizzes are freaking hard!! They have already done 14-15 chapters in like 30 days (Grade 11 started on August 9th) and today finished Mathematical induction (watever that is, but it is supposed to be crazy hard).</p>
<p>And about Maths SL…the average grade in my class is I think A-. It is soo easy! :D</p>
<p>But this all depends upon the teacher and school I guess. So I want to know the difficulty comparison on IB exams for Maths HL and SL, is someone has any remote idea about it.</p>
<p>I have Math HL right now, and I can tell you that it’s the hardest math class I’ve taken so far. As far as for difficulty, the curriculum is more in depth compare to AP in some areas. The IB Math HL test is WAY Harddder than AP calculus. Furthermore, the IAs are totally insane, at least for some of them. However, it must be noted that the difficulty also depends on you teacher. Good teachers usually prepare you well for the exams. One thing is certain, IB Math HL is much harder than IB Math SL, even if you don’t include the extended concentration (stats, series and…)</p>
<p>If you are getting 2s in Math HL, you will get 95-100% on all Math SL tests. That is what happened to my friend.</p>
<p>One last thing. The average grade for the students in Maths HL in my school varies between C+ to B- (76%-82%). However for the IB exam in 2009, 7 students got 7s and 11 got 6s out of a class of 24. So, 18 of 24 students got 6 or 7. The school tests for Maths HL are insanely hard!</p>
<p>And for Maths SL, 33 of 39 students got a 6 or 7! I am glad, I am “stuck” with Maths SL. woooot :)</p>
<p>@RishabhB</p>
<p>“The average SAT is around 2270 (higher for internationals, most of the people who do IB)”</p>
<p>That may be true, but most of the internationals just use TOEFL and subject tests to apply to MIT. This is because most of the international applications do not have English as their first language so it is more advantageous to use TOEFL for them. So the only people who will be applying using SAT will be people who aced the SAT so obviously the average for international would be much higher. </p>
<p>Second of all, people who got 2s in MATH HL do not, and I repeat do not get 95% in Math SL. Math HL is hard but people who get 2s (this is ridiculously hard to get) just means they didn’t study at all for the test. SO if they don’t study they WILL not get 95% in Math SL. Math SL is easy compare to Math HL but not that easy so you can breeze through it without studying.</p>