Hi all- I posted this in the wrong forum so I’ll try again here. I’m trying to figure out my senior year schedule and would appreciate any feedback. I am a junior in the IB diploma program and have one elective for next year. I am leaning towards AP Gov/Econ (instead of AP stat or AP chem). If I do that though I will not have a math or science my senior year. My senior schedule will be:
HL English
HL History
HL Psychology
SL Spanish
TOK
AP Gov/macro econ
1 “fun” elective
This year as a junior I took SL calc and SL Bio. I started Algebra 1 in 7th grade so I will have completed 5 years of math by the end of this year. I’ve also taken Pre-IB bio, Pre-IB Chem and Physics.
I am not planning on going into a STEM field in college so do you think colleges will look down on not taking either math or science next year if I still have a rigorous course load? I am much more interested in Gov/Econ. My counselor seemed ok with it but he’s retiring this year and I don’t think he really cares much at this point! Thanks
Only 1 semester of physics? Hmm… I don’t know then. Unless the class was super fast paced and was like a 2 semester physics class squeezed into 1 semester.
If you complete Calc junior year you’re good. Your senior schedule looks strange (typically, IBD schedules have 3HLs, 3SLs, EE, TOK, CAS) but it looks like your school has SL completed junior year and focus on HL senior year? I suppose so that you can take subject tests and AP tests at the end of junior year (BTW, SLs do not bring credit, but match APs fairly well, so you can take AP Calc AB, AP Bio).
Have you taken SAT Subjects already or will you do that next year?
@MYOS1634 yes, my school allows us to do up to 2 SL exams junior year if we got on that track early enough. I am taking subject tests this Sat in bio and history. I took math 1 last year after pre-calc.
I would really be wary of not taking a math class senior year, especially after only taking SL junior year. If it was HL it would be a different thing. At the very least I would say take AP Stats. It’s easy, and directly relatable to the social sciences you’re interested in.
I agree ap stats would directly relate to your future studies (although you’d really want to take two semesters of o on college, one intro course that would overlap with ap bit fi more into depth, and one advanced and applied to social science).
Butif you take the ap exam at the end of junior year you’d be considered covered.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Sounds like AP Stats, although not as interesting to me, would be a “safer” class to take and not raise any red flags on my transcript.
I didn’t take any math courses in my senior year, even though I applied as an engineering major to a few schools and as other hard science majors to others. My school offered AP Stats, but I opted out because it’s rumored to be a ‘joke’ AP, at least at my school. On the Common App, I explained my situation (there’s a little section where you can add details and explanations), and there didn’t seem to be a problem. That’s just my experience, but I daresay it would apply to others, as well - especially if you’ll not be majoring in STEM.
Because students take math SL OR hl, and a p stats is considered “lower” than ls/hl, adding that SL is supposed to be completed senior year I think he’s fine
Yes, the only reason I 'm in this situation is because I started taking high school algebra in 7th grade. If I waited until 8th grade I would be taking SL calc next year and no one would care. It’s just that I finished it early that I have this issue.