<p>I took 2 SL exams this year, Philosophy and Mathematics (Calculus). Will be taking 5 HL exams next year: English, History of the Americas, Mathematics, French (will have taken 6 years), Biology. And of course I'll be doing TOK. </p>
<p>I dunno what area you're interested in (Math/Science or Humanities) but definitely look up the course offerings at your school. I just found out yesterday that another WA area school has IB Anatomy, I was so surprised, I didn't even know the subject existed. Funny, because the girl who goes there had never known there was IB Philosophy.</p>
<p>Practically every IB subject can be HL or SL, but schools might offer only one or the other. </p>
<p>Oooh, warning about testing because I was almost totally screwed over this year: IB lets juniors take only 2 SL exams maximum, no HLs nor more than 3 SLs. So keep that in mind when you sign up for classes. I wanted to take Fr. HL this year so I would only have to do 4 HLs next year but it's not possible.</p>
<p>nice advice about IB as ever.......
but Ealgian, like we can appear in exams for SL after the first year as well,,,,,or does it depend on the school if it lets us...
and secondly.......are you taking visual arts as the Group 6 sub?</p>
<p>Yes, you can definitely do SLs in your second year. It depends on how you set up your schedule, Just remember that for the Diploma, you need at least 3 HLs or at least 2 SLs. Even though you may take more than 6 classes, earning the diploma is calculated using point values from your IB Exams and Internal Assessments (a total of 42 points). Outstanding work on the Extended Essay and TOK essay can earn you a maximum of 3 extra points, so the maximum # of Diploma points is 45. Very few people earn that, though one person at my school earned a 44 seven years ago. For really, really detailed info: IB</a> Diploma Programme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>I took Philosophy SL as my Group 6. Senior year TOK is my Group 6. I had already finished my school graduating art requirements and they only just began Visual Arts SL. </p>
<p>I'm glad to help. I do IB counseling at my school and wish I had someone explain IB to me before I dived in.</p>
<p>i have a question...
i have not studied arts or anything even close to that in 6 years...my IB school offers it as the only group 6 sub...
should i take it as an SL>,,will i be able to do it?</p>
<p>IB Art in my opinion is easy. I mean, I like art and I'm good at it, but some of my friends aren't, they took the class and they did well. Basically, you just have to put the effort out there, follow directions, ask for help when you need it. The "exam" is some artwork that you complete during the year which is then judged by someone from outside the school. They might ask you questions about your art and so you have to understand the concepts and have an explanation for your work. The IA is an art journal you keep over the course of the year.</p>
<p>It's definitely doable. I don't know the stats for exam grades because it's new at my school, but IB Art, esp. SL, isn't designed specifically for artists. IB is about learning, and the cool thing is that IB always gives you credit for what you CAN do, not what you can't do.</p>
<p>i hope by IB Art you mean Visual Art. I have as such no passion for art, but that's partly because i've never had a chance. also how many SL subjects can i appear in at the end of the first year of IB</p>
<p>Yes, IB Visual Art. As I said earlier, for the Diploma you need to take at least 2 SLs, so you will probably take them the first year unless you are not going to do IB Math HL.</p>
<p>another question bro, how about biology. i havent studied it in grade 8,9 and 10. Basically havent studied specialised biology, will i be able to do it?.and at what level</p>
<p>It's more like "sister," but that's ok. lol</p>
<p>Does your school only offer Physics and Bio? If you are good at math, do Physics. You don't even have to be great at math, just good. Physics is hella easy. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, even though I'm good at math I took Biology, which sucks. It's because I'm very bad at blatant memorization, and on top of that, we had 4 different Bio teachers over the course of one year. The other thing is, though, that year two of Bio is much easier than year two of Physics. Year one of Physics is way easier than year one of Bio. It's because you memorize all the concepts in year one of Bio, then you get to dissect goat hearts and stuff the second year. Physics, you start out with the basics, and then keep digging.</p>
<p>sorry sis :D
the school i'm at offers only bio and chem in the sciences.
i want you to please guide me regarding the level of subjects that i should take...</p>
<p>group 1) English A1 level ???
group 2) Chinese- ab initio(SL only, that's set)
group 3) Comp sciences level???
group 4) Chemistry- (HL, that's set)
group 5) Maths (HL, that's set)
group 6) Visual Arts/Bio.. considering i have no base knowledge of either, and neither any passion.level:???</p>
<p>i'm quite good at learning the facts(cramming:D)</p>
<p>Group 1: HL. I admit I'm a humanities person but it's seriously not difficult. Takes time, but once you get in the groove it's actually calming.</p>
<p>Group 2: I guess you've figured it out! I would suggest that you have at least 3 yrs of another language though, or test for another language with AP or SAT II because most selective colleges want to see that. Ab initio is only 1 yr, right? Or is it two...</p>
<p>Group 4, 5: Cool. So you've got at least 3 HLs, which is good.</p>
<p>Group 6: I would say go with Visual Arts unless you are interested in doing 2 sciences. I think it'd be much more of a relaxing, exploratory class, and people who are good at Math/Sci seem to enjoy it a lot, too. Whether HL or SL, I'm not certain. Group 3 seems like it has to be HL, though.</p>
<p>Thanks Ealgian...
i have done my O-levels (grade 9 and 10) and did Urdu as a foreign language (got an A),,so would that be enough, wouldnt it?</p>
<p>and by comp sciences i meant ITGS </p>
<p>Group 1, you're saying i should do HL,, a couple of things
a) i havent studied poetry since grade 5..
b) umm..so it's just the one thing...
what should i do!>?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure O-levels/Urdu would count. I mean, "Urdu" just sounds awesome, doesn't it? :D</p>
<p>Eng SL/HL mostly centers around plays and world literature, not poetry. Schools individually decide what they want to teach from a master list. </p>
<p>You must have at least 3 HLs for Diploma, so if not English then ITGS or Visual Art HL are your only options, it seems. I will admit it's very difficult to get an A in Eng HL, about 15% of the students in IB at my school do, and that's adding in one teacher who I think is a slacker-grader. But Eng HL is still one of the most popular classes (History of the Americas is the other). I don't know anything about ITGS, though, and there's only Visual Art SL at my school, so...</p>
<p>why doesnt Urdu count, it's the national language of my country Pakistan :S??</p>
<p>And as for the English HL, so it really depends on the school what they teach... btw i also have an A grade at English in O-levels if that helps</p>
<p>I didn't say it wouldn't. I was it would. (Because it just sounds awesome.)</p>
<p>Yeah, Eng HL can vary a lot. But plays are always the most important. 2/3 of the exam revolves around the second year, where you basically just study plays, so everything is very fresh in your mind when you take the exam. There is some poetry, though.</p>
<p>The thing about Eng HL is that it's all analysis. If you have difficulty with dissecting texts, recognizing themes, organizing ideas, then it is not the class for you. I don't know if plays are easier to analyze than novels; I'm an English nerd and I just love literature. </p>
<p>So, I guess if you are not into reading (and there is a lot of reading) it isn't the class for you, although with the internet it's much easier to do research online, and in my school class discussions are also a great source of information (cuz I talk the most lol!) The way my teacher has it structured is that we start out with two novels where we analyze every sentence (I am not exaggerating); then we start doing presentations/commentaries on our own; then we really have to read them on our own and do commentaries which are IB grades (IAs); then we have two weeks to write two 1500 word essays on what we've read (was a v. stressful time for me because these were the same two weeks before IB exams). Throughout this time there are in-class exams (about 3 to 4 essays/exam, and last anywhere from 45 to 75 minutes) which, in combination with semi-daily reading quizzes, count for about 70% of your grade. So, the presentations don't count for that much and we've never acted out anything in class. With Eng HL, it's definitely about analyzing the literature, not necessarily "seeing it in action."</p>
<p>I am certain my teacher is a hard teacher. The other teacher is easier by far because she does many more "fluffy" projects, which essentially inflate grades.</p>
<p>In conclusion: Not really into reading (novels, plays, poetry); not really into analyzing literature; not really into writing long essays into the night; = do Eng SL. I mean, you can definitely get a B or above in Eng HL if you try (the cool thing about IB Eng is that there isn't any mundane stuff, like stupid vocabulary tests) but if you want to maintain a 4.0 or something, go Eng SL to be safe. Just remember you need at least 3 HLs total.</p>
<p>EDIT: If you feel like your Eng class, whether SL or HL, seems hard, it's a good thing. The "hardness" totally prepares you for the IB exam. At my school people who do well in Eng HL ace the exam; one year, the poem on the exam was a poem they'd analyzed in class (this was just luck, but at least the teachers are good at selecting poems!) Practically all of English revolves around commentaries, and that is what the exam is all about.</p>
<p>thanks Ealgian... you have been such a help, bro..i mean sis :D
so for the remaining HL subject, it would have to be from Group 3.... any advice regarding that?</p>
<p>Group 3... so Economics, History of Asia (I'm guessing it's this because it has to be from the region you live in), Psych, ITGS, Geography. </p>
<p>The only HL Group 3 my school offers is History of the Americas. It's definitely the easiest class I have. There's a ton of reading, but I like to read about History so it's no big deal for me. The essays aren't bad either, as long as you remember the key terms (people, places, dates, bills); again, IB isn't incredibly memorization-oriented, it's much more about analyzation, so for History you find causes, effects, evaluate the origins of sources... The class is super-easy to get an A in (99.8% 1st and 2nd semester) but the exam can be a little unpredictable. The other IB History teacher cried after reading the questions on this year's exam... the students said it wasn't that bad, but in general any HL exam is difficult.</p>
<p>There's also SL Psych at my school but the teacher sucks and I don't know that much about it, other than the fact that you need to memorize certain studies for the exam.</p>
<p>Sorry I can't be of much help on this subject. I don't know anything about the other classes.</p>