IB Biology Vs. IB Chemistry

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
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<p>Ignore the other thread.</p>

<p>Anyways, I'm currently a sophomore and am planning on doing the IB Diploma. Starting next year, my school is changing IB Bio SL and IB Chem SL/HL to 2-year sequences, so at the end of the 2nd year, we get to choose whether we want to take the SL or HL tests. I'm planning on doing HL.</p>

<p>Last year, I took IB Prep Biology and got pretty good grades I guess: B, A-, & A-. I'm currently in Chemistry and am doing very well in it: I got an A- last tri and currently have an A.</p>

<p>IB Chem (mainly HL) is known for being very hard, and a lot of people say to take IB Biology. I talked to both my Chemistry teacher and my Biology teacher and they said that they think I would do well in both of them. My Chemistry teacher is also the IB Chem teacher and he said that students that have done well in Chemistry generally have done well in IB Chem. I guess I could probably think the same for Biology, too.</p>

<p>Idk. I'd just like to see other people's opinions and/or advice. Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Hi, I see that nobody is replying so I guess I could share some experience :slight_smile: I am currently a senior, doing both Bio and Chem on HL for my diploma. This is how it’s been for me.</p>

<p>Bio is easy :slight_smile: it is mostly about following your syllabus. As long as you can answer those objectives from the course syllabus you are going to do just fine at your mocks and eventually exams. Of course you need to practice analyzing graphs and charts, which are a significant part of your exam papers, however I’d say this skill can be acquired quite fast, most of my classmates at this point nail almost any given graph question. Since I’ve had some past with advanced biology prior to the IB, for me the majority of things we learnt were kind of a revision, so I might be slighlty biased in terms of assesing the level of difficulty, but as I again observe my class, hardly anyone seems to struggle with the amount of things to learn. If you are motivated and you enjoy biology, I am sure you’re going to be fine :)</p>

<p>As for IB Chem, I’d say it’s slightly more challenging. While the syllabus questions certainly aid with studying, they don’t really cover everything you need to know to nail your exams. In chemistry it is so much more to understand and really internalize to feel comfortable in solving problems. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not any near overwhelming or even very hard, however it does take time to put those laws and processes in your head and be able to use them. </p>

<p>At both classes labs are an interesting part, though, maybe surprisingly, I liked my Bio labs a tiny bit more :slight_smile: </p>

<p>If I were to compare HL Bio and Chem in short I’d say that IB Bio is training your ability to understand, memorize and recall and IB Chem requires you to understand, memorize, process and recall. I don’t know if you get what I mean :stuck_out_tongue: but for me in that one tricky word lies all the difference.</p>

<p>The decision is really up to you. Both Bio and Chem are doable with effort and engagement, and just try to think which one of those would be more enjoyable to study :slight_smile: To those who just need a science subject for completing a full diploma I always recommend Bio, because it is undoubtedly easier, but if you have been doing well in both just listen to your heart.</p>

<p>If you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer :)</p>