So I’m just entering my junior year and starting the IB. Initially I’m starting with the following subjects;
-Chemistry HL
- Biology HL
- English Lit&Lang HL
- French B SL
- Environmental Systems and Societies SL
- Maths SL
After having my first classes, I can see that Chem HL and Bio HL require a lot of hard work… Due to this i dont know if I should stick with Maths SL (im not bad at maths but im certainly not gifted at it either, i have to work quite hard to do well) and risk not doing extremely well in it due to my focus being on my HL subjects, or change to Math Studies, and maintain a high GPA overall (im a straight 6-7 student)…
The only thing that I’m worried about in terms of changing to Maths Studies, is completely damaging my chances of getting into a good university in the USA (i want to major in BIOLOGY, and later go to med school). I’m looking at unis such as UCLA, UC-berkeley, u-penn etc.
So, will doing math studies look bad on my transcript even if my other classes are very challenging?
Hello!
I’m not a math student and I’m in Math SL, now entering senior year. It is not that challenging as you would expect, with knowing the basics you’ll do well! Math Studies is more about memorizing some definitions and that stuff. I think that if you want to apply to those high level universities Math Studies might seem as an easy route. Good luck!
If you take the 1 year class it will a.) be a GPA boost b.)actually covers a good deal of stats so it is useful and c.)allow you to take AP Calculus your senior year if you decide you want another year of math.
I wish I could do that, but I dont live in the US so im doing the full diploma
Hi! I just finished my first year in the IB Programme and took my exams in Math and French SL. i’m also taking Lang and Lit HL and Chem HL right now. As someone who isn’t really gifted at math either and is definitely not motivated to do more math than required (I actually absolutely hate doing math), I thought Math SL would be hell for me, but it’s actually doable! As long as you make sure you understand the concepts as you learn them, since there are quite a few topics that have to be covered before you write your exams, you’ll be fine! I’m kind of a slacker, which is a pretty bad thing to be if you’re in the IB Programme, but I’m sure that if I had spent more time studying for my final and writing my IA I would have been able to get a level 7. However, I’m still pretty happy with my 6; I’m sure it is achievable with hard work but not so much hard work that you won’t be able to focus on doing well on your HLs. Hope I helped!
Math Studies SL is supposed to be for students who do not need to study math in college. Math SL is better preparation for college math like calculus and statistics (which biology majors and pre-meds often have to take).