A Guide to IB Couse Selection

Underclassmen often view IB course selection as a stressful and intimidating task. It seems as if the courses you pick will affect the rest of your high school career, which will extend to your choice of colleges, which determines the course of the rest of your life… Long story short, there is a lot of pressure to choose the right courses, and with this pressure comes the inevitable urge to seek advice. To help you with this, here’s a guide to course selection (with a list of dos and don’ts), featuring advice from current upperclassmen.

This is what you shouldn’t do when considering what classes to take:

     1. Don’t just choose the same courses as your friends.

There’s not really a good reason to do this. Are you picking the same course as your best friend because you want to end up in the same class? There’s a chance this won’t happen due to scheduling conflicts, and when you’re actually in IB, you might be grateful your friends aren’t in your classes to distract you. If you and are your friend are genuinely interested in the same course, make sure you use your combined brainpower to study for tests together, or do group projects together, or generally influence each other in positive ways. You’re a different person than your friends, and you likely have different interests as well. This is not the moment to cave in to peer pressure.

     2. Don’t be fooled by common stereotypes.

There are certain stigmas surrounding different courses, and we all know what they are. Here are the common tropes: Environmental Science is known as the “slacker science“. Biology is the “mellow science“ that you take because you decided Physics and Chemistry were too intense, but you didn’t want to slack off either. HL Physics and HL Math are for geniuses and HL English Literature is for book nerds. Economics is for people who want to learn something that “will be useful in real life”. These are all common sayings you hear from people around you. It’s good to keep them in mind (stereotypes are often stereotypes for a reason), but don’t depend on them too much. To quote senior Manogya Chandar, “One of the things I regret about the classes I took is how I chose them based on what I heard from others, and the stigmas attached of them. It stopped me from taking classes I really think I would’ve enjoyed.” According to senior Tony Kuo, “It’s good to hear out other people’s advice, but in the end, you need to make your own decisions.” He regrets following his sister’s advice regarding one of his course selections, and says her advice wasn’t applicable because they’re “very different people.“

     3. Don’t let your parents tell you what to do.

Parents aren’t infallible. While they want the best for you, their misconceptions may negatively affect your course selections. Some parents may think they know you better than you know yourself, and since they think you’d make a great doctor, you’d better sacrifice HL Music in order to take HL Biology and Chemistry. Other parents think you need to take certain classes to get into elite colleges. While your parents mean well, it’s generally better to consult your counselors for course selection advice because they’re the experts in this area. According to Tony, it’s also best to have an open dialogue with your parents. “I told my parents to just trust me, and that I’d do my best.”

     4. Don’t take certain classes because you think it’s easier to get a high IB score.

A student is considering taking HL French. They proceed to:

• Google the percentage of students who get a 7 in HL French.
• According to that percentage, extrapolate the possibility of them getting a 7 in HL French. A common train of thought is: “Since 5% of HL French students get a 7, I have a 5% chance of getting a 7.”
• Proceed to choose HL Biology over HL French because 6% of HL Biology students get a 7.

The fact that more students get 7s in HL Biology than HL French doesn’t mean you would be better at Biology than Math. Don’t look at the statistics, and examine your own aptitudes instead.

     5. Don’t assume courses will be taught by certain teachers.

You can ask teachers if they’re going to teach something, but strike a balance between getting the teachers you want, and pursuing the courses you’re interested in. There’s also a chance that courses may be taught by different teachers next year, or a teacher you really wanted will transfer to a different school.

Here’s a list of things you should do:

     1. Consider what you want to do with your life.

Don’t take Math Studies if you want to do anything remotely related to math in the future. If you want to be an engineer, consider HL Math and HL Physics. If you want to go to medical school, consider HL Biology and HL Chemistry. Maybe you think you’re interested in getting an undergraduate degree in business, but you’re not 100% sure what that entails. Taking economics may help you figure that out. To quote Sabrina Chen, “Make sure to check the requirements for the major you want to pursue in university to ensure that your requirements are fulfilled.” Senior Dennis Liao agrees: “If you have a career in mind, think carefully about balancing what’s necessary for the major and what you personally think is easy.” If you’re not completely sure what you want to do with your life, taking a wide range of IB courses may help you figure out what you like and don’t like. According to Manogya, “As a sophomore, I was freaking out about not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. Taking a wide variety of courses opened my eyes to what I enjoyed.”

     2. Think about what you’re currently interested in.

In IB, where the coursework is so intensive, you won’t be motivated to work hard unless you enjoy what you’re learning. If a course you have taken since 6th grade still doesn’t seem interesting, you probably shouldn’t take it at a higher level. According to Sabrina, “Don’t take a class because you think it’ll be easy. Taking classes you don’t like will actually make it harder to pull through, as you will have minimal motivation to put in an effort to be successful.

     3. Talk to your teachers.

Your teachers know their subject areas better than anyone, and considering they have years of experience teaching students like you, it probably wouldn’t hurt to ask them for advice. If you can’t figure out whether you should take English Lang & Lit or English Literature, it might be a good idea to ask Mr. Webster or Ms. Barga what they think. Teachers know the general requirements for the classes they teach, and they can give you personalized advice depending on your situation.