IB SL Math for Engineering

Pre-College Issues International Baccalaureate (IB)
1

I’m an IB DP student hoping to study engineering whose school policy is that IB students can only take the 6 IB courses in their junior and senior years of high school. Right now I’m taking the following courses:

HL English Lit (the school doesn’t let us take both HL Math and HL English)
HL Chem
HL Physics
SL Math
SL French
SL History

I heard that you can just register for AP exams and get the credit, without taking the courses (which my school doesn’t offer anyway). Because I took SL Math (I like English, and HL Chem/Physics/Math seemed a bit daunting), I want to know if there are any AP subjects with similar material as IB that I can take exams for in junior year (2015), like Physics/Calc. Or, do the really selective engineering programs in the US not care whether you take SL or HL Math?

Thanks :))

2

SL math won’t be adequate, so you want to get BC calc in, do you mean you can’t take any other classes? My kid did SL math finished in JR yr, does 4 HLs and has BC calc and AP stats as a sr so I can’t see it being scheduling conflicts? maybe you will have to self study or dual enroll for the math? Coursera will have ABC calc https://www.coursera.org/course/apcalc.
You must be a reasonable math trajectory to be doing the HL physics, so it should be doable. The SL math doesn’t count as any credit, selective schools will have applicants who will have HL or BC calc plus.

3

The way my school does it only allows for 3 HLs (3 semesters each subject) and 3 SLs (2 semesters each subject) for all 2 years without any possibility of fitting another course into my schedule thanks to TOK. I spent a long time debating between HL Math and English as a result, and I’ll definitely have to self-study.

I’m a bit confused with the last sentence: “The SL math doesn’t count as any credit, selective schools will have applicants who will have HL or BC calc plus.” By credit do you mean HS credit going into uni? What do you mean by “BC calc plus”?

Thanks so much though.

4

I mean it won’t be like AP credit, Sl’s don’t count for college credit. By BC plus I mean BC plus AP stats and/or whatever math comes after BC calc. Selective being the context here. Less selective schools will probably take kids with no AP math at all.