<p>I will begin my IB diploma program next fall. My current GPA is 3.48 (up from 3.35 in 9th grade). I want to achieve a steady upward trend in my GPA each year of high school. I am planning to major either in finance or international business at a top liberal arts college. Here are my course choices for my junior year next fall. How difficult and demanding is my selection considered?</p>
<p>HL Economics
HL Business
HL Physics</p>
<p>SL Math
SL English
SL Arabic</p>
<p>I was also considering switching HL Physics to SL and switch SL English to HL because English at higher level might help my profile as an applicant to a liberal arts degree. Plz let me know what you think. Thanks!</p>
<p>HL Economics is very simple, especially if you’ve taken any sort of Economics course before. However taking both HL Econ and HL Business is a little redundant because some of the syllabuses for both overlap. If you’re planning to major in finance it would be helpful to switch HL Business or Physics to SL, and take HL Math. </p>
<p>You won’t really need to take HL English if you want to do either Finance or International Business.</p>
<p>we took my son out of IB for fulltime college when it came to the insanity of junior year which leaves no time for ACT SATI and II test prep. stay there but forget the diploma. they don’t care, they only care about the scores and IB and AP are six of one and half a dozen to the other.</p>
<p>wow. Arabic. get a congressional nomination to West Point! you’re in.
Arabic, Swahili, Mandarin, Farsi, Russian = hot property to the US Military academies: go to the front of the apps!</p>
<p>@corneliasusie I am a junior this year and I am taking SAT and ACT and things like that, but my school does 2 year SL and HL so it isn’t as crazy as you think. Yes IB demands lots and lots of time in and out of school, but it’s not impossible to do everything. It just requires really good time management and a very good idea of what you can do personally. For OP, I agree with Truust, switch HL Physics to SL and change the SL Math to HL</p>
<p>Regarding English, were you thinking of taking Literature and Language or just literature? For those who don’t love analyzing text and writing lots of essays, I would recommend taking literature and language. The course work seems to be less tedious/stressful than that of the literature class.</p>
<p>Also,given you business interests I’m assuming you intend to take standard math and not standard math studies?</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies!
I would LOVE to take HL Math (right now taking Algebra 2/trig and acing it easily), but i have heard horror stories about HL Math difficulty and since i am trying to continue to raise my gpa i decided to go with SL Math instead. </p>
<p>As long as i am doing IB, my school counsellor will agree that i am taking “the most rigorous coursework” at the school, regardless of the courses.</p>
<p>I hope i can manage my time to allow me to take my SAT/ SAT2/ACT tests!</p>
<p>Well Math HL is a little hard, but it’s certainly manageable. On the other hand, you’re considering taking Physics HL which in my opinion is far more difficult. A lot of us at my school consider it as the hardest HL you can take. Besides, if you’re taking Physics HL you’re going to encounter a lot of math anyways in the curriculum which may be even harder to understand if you don’t take HL Math with it.</p>
<p>I say this out of experience because i’m currently a junior taking HL Math and SL Physics (after dropping from HL since the syllabus is overwhelming). </p>
<p>Also you might find that if you take Math HL you’ll be able to apply a lot of what you learn when you study a Finance/Economics/Business degree since you’d be studying a lot of differentiation,integration and statistics. A lot of universities do in fact waver courses if you get a 7 in Math HL.</p>
<p>Also about your standardized tests, I recommend taking them (or at least just 1) early-mid junior year if possible. That way you can get them out of the way and focus on Extended Essay research, commentaries, design and dcp/ce labs, the IOP, the IOC and the world lit essay.
(Haha it all sounds more complicated than it actually is)</p>
<p>I would take HL B&M, Math, and Physics. SL English, Econ, and Arabic.
Senior over here who takes HL Physics! Definitely take HL physics. It’s a demanding course but it really prepares you for college no mater what you major in.</p>
<p>IB exams in three weeks, what am I doing still on CC? STUUUDYYYY!</p>
<p>It seems manageable, but HL physics is a bit difficult if you are planning to get a 6+ and a bit of work is required. I do English Literature HL and I think it’s okay, it just gets quite hectic before exams because there’s so much to memorize!</p>
<p>Oh and by the way, I want to major in Economics, Engineering, or something to do with Design.
Unfortunately my school does not offer a course Economics
Anyhow, good luck on your choices. They seem quite good!</p>
<p>@emiliaval yes I’m talking about English and History. I can say that English gives me the most hw this year. And you get to the point that you could write a page long essay of bs in 15 minutes if you have to. But usually you should spend more time than that.</p>
<p>Oh my. I will be prepared to die, haha. Good thing my school lets us change subjects for any reason at the beginning of the 2nd semester… Maybe I’ll change to SL History. I’m really freaking out!</p>
<p>HL History of the Americas I
HL English I
HL Bio I
SL Math II
SL Spanish IV
SL Chemistry/Psychology (Undecided between these two, at this point)
Theory of Knowledge</p>
<p>I didn’t have a choice in selecting HL vs. SL; this is what the school automatically picked for us.</p>
<p>@midnightgurl Well, I clearly can’t tell you from experience, but I’ve heard you have to do a lot of writing for the exams and coursework (investigations), but everyone, who I know are in History, say it’s awesome.</p>
