The Universities I plan on applying to in the next year or so do not currently take credit for IB SL exams. I am currently enrolled in IB Pre-Calculus and IB Environmental Systems and Societies. Taking the exams in these classes would involve a decent amount of work for the Internal Assessments and such, but would yield me no benefit because I am not fulfilling the IB Diploma. My question is will universities want me to/care if I take the SL exams?
There is no need to take them. If, however, you are a junior and you do well on them, you can self-report your scores on your apps. Some schools will view high scores positively. They either validate a high grade or show that the grading at your school was hard when in fact you had mastered the material on the exam.
With that said, I am unfamiliar with the pre calc exam. At our school, the SL math was a 2 year sequence of which pre calc was the first year, and the only exam was at the end of the second year (and corresponded with AP calc AB).
There is no exam called IB pre-calc
^^that would explain why I am unfamiliar with it @vickisocal!
I am not sure then, I am currently enrolled in a class titled “IB Math Standard Level” but from what the teacher has explained to me the first semester curriculum is pre-calc and the second semester curriculum is calculus and it is a one year course with an IB exam at the end of it. From what I understand, the next course in my pathway is AP Calc.
That is IB Math SL and that is the name of the test you will take. There is not really a good reason to take this exam if you are.not getting a IB Diploma.
Thanks!