lat77

Hi, I'm a rising Junior in highschool right now and I'm wondering whether I should be taking IB Chemistry or IB Biology in order to have a better chance of getting into Pre-Med. I'm much better at chemistry, but I'm not at all bad at biology either. If I take biology, I can only take it in 11th grade as the biology students continue on to Physics in 12th grade (there is no 12th grade IB biology class). Alternatively, if I take chemistry, I can take the class in both 11th and 12th grade. So... which would be better to take?

smart.cookie

Take chem for two years. I am an IB student and I have been able to take both Chem and Bio. The chem curriculum is much more advanced, meaning that it will give you a big advantage when you are in orgo in college. Further, if you take it HL and do well you will get more credit than you would get for bio.

As a side not, you don't "get into" pre-med, unless you're talking about a BS/MD program. You simply apply to the schools you are interested to and they admit you. You can apply with an intended major, but there is not a "pre-med" major.

My advice: take chem because you like it and get the best grades you can. There is no set high school curriculum that will make you more competitive for majoring in a premed type major.

GoldShadow

Doesn't really matter what you take. That said, your wording is ambiguous. Do you mean that option 1 is to take biology in 11th, then physics in 12th with zero IB chemistry, and that option 2 is to take 2 years of chemistry but no biology and physics? Or is it possible to take biology in 11th, and chemistry and physics in 12th? If you mean the latter, then it doesn't matter what order you take them in. If you mean the former (ie, option 1 vs option 2), then go with option 1; that way, you get some more exposure to both physics and biology as opposed to just chemistry.

You'll have to clarify a little, I'm not all that familiar with how IB courses are set up.

Also, based on what I've seen of the IB HL chemistry curriculum, given the amount of time you actually spend on the topics, I seriously doubt it would help you at all with organic chemistry. You definitely will not be able to learn anything substantial in the time frame of a high school IB class. It will definitely help with general chem, though, should you choose to take it again in college.

lat77

Thanks for the answers. Sorry I wasn't clear enough... option 1 is to take IB Bio in 11th grade then Physics in 12th. Option 2 is to take IB Chem in 11th and 12th with it being HL in 12th. Physics is a hard ass course in 12th grade... so I wouldn't take that HL.

smart.cookie

^ Then definitely take chem. I am actually taking all three over the course of two years (insane, I know) and physics is definitely the hardest IB science. It would be impossible to cram that course into one year, and you would be dying at the end of senior year (Not good).

Take my advice and stick with chem. You'll be glad you did.

xotriish

I'm doing HL Bio. I'm good at chemistry, but I like bio more and my school wouldn't let me do both. >.<

thirstylemonade

Im doing HL Chem (actually have done-feels great to say that!!) but I think either stand you for a good chance pre-med

BeautifulNerd219

IB Chem is a lot harder esp. if you're doing HL. The HL exam this year was pretty easy for them, but paper 3 covered stuff they had never even went over. It all depends on how good you are in chem, but a lot of the kids were in IB chem and IB bio...and they preferred IB bio since it has more to do with the med courses they'd take in college and it was much easier.

I'm not going into medicine or anything like that, so I just took Chem SL and tested out. It was easy if you studied and knew how to do the work, but HL has a LOT more work. It's a lot more advanced, and a lot of the kids in HL complained how Chem had nothing to do with what they wanted to go into.

grayfalcon89

I don't know about IB because my school never had it, but based on my personal experience with General Biology, taking IB Biology will be very beneficial to you in terms of grades at undergraduate. I frankly don't know which path is better for admission into undergrad, but I highly recommend that you take a high level of Biology before your General Biology in undergrad. Remember, General Biology I and II count for your prerequisites for medical school, so if you can prepare for that in high school, hey why not?

Now, Chemistry is bit different. I think that in many cases, General Chemistry was easy for many students while Organic Chemistry was terrible.

Taking Physics will help before just taking it the first time in undergrad.

BeautifulNerd219

^ Agreed. Organic chem is killer for most. If you do take chem, I would suggest that your class choose human biochem as one of the options you wanna study, but other than that, most people feel that IB bio is more helpful for pre-med. even if it is easier (it's still more related to the study).

IBfootballer

is this SL or HL?

but either way, I'd prolly say Bio. The IB focus, I believe, is sufficiently molecular-based that it's good prep for pre-med stuff

BeautifulNerd219

She wants to do HL. SL is wayyyy easier lol (well that's a given), but still, I'd say go for Bio.

IBfootballer

If your class sticks strictly to the SL curriculum, it won't exactly prepare you for AP, if you're looking to take that.

bessy dacow

hey i am having roughly the same problem. I am interested in both biology and chemistry and would like to take one of these at SL for IB. But I don't know which one to take? Any advice? I have done better in exams for Biology but i think that might have to do with the fact that the exam was simply much easier. I think i am pretty good at both. I really can't make up my mind

pm89

The whole point of IB is to challenge you, so you shouldn't avoid a course because it's hard.
That said you should still do what you think you will get 7's (A's) in.

IB Chemistry