Are you taking IB courses? If so, don’t waste all your hard work! Now as a second-year student at UBC, I’ll now tell you how doing IB has impacted me and the mistakes I’ve made in choosing my courses as a first-year student.
Introduction to the IB
If you have never heard of the IB program, here’s a brief explanation from the Calgary Board of Education:
The IB programme is an internationally recognized enrichment option for high school students. The program develops "internationally minded people, who recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world" (IB mission).
The programme encourages participation in creative and service-oriented actions, as well as personal and academic reflection, addresses intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being and covers the curriculum required by Alberta Education and the IB programme.
In the IB programme, there are two levels of courses you can take: standard level (SL) and higher level (HL). Most SL courses cover your standard curriculum while HL courses cover some first-year university content. You must take 3 HL courses and up to 4 and then the remaining courses being SL courses. That is of course for full IB students - you take 6 courses total. Of those 6 courses, you must take one language, two sciences, literature, history, and math (at my high school). Full IB students must also take a Theory of Knowledge Course and submit an Extended Essay.
There are also partial IB students who just take a few courses (at least one humanity and one science/math at my high school). They do not need to take a Theory of Knowledge Course or submit an Extended Essay.
This guide will be most aligned with students interested in computer science! But you can general points in the TLDR.
I took: - Chemistry HL, English Literature HL, History HL - Physics SL, Mandarin SL, Mathematics SL
I’ll go into deeper detail about each course and the impact it has had on my two years at UBC.
Courses I’m glad I took:
-
Chemistry HL
-
English Literature HL
-
History HL
-
Theory of Knowledge
-
Physics SL → I don’t regret taking Physics SL, but I would have liked to take Physics HL (however I would take Mathematics HL over Physics HL, and that’s why Physics SL is here).
Courses I regret taking (and what I would replace them with): * Mandarin Ab Initio → literally any other language * Mathematics SL → Mathematics HL
Chemistry HL
By taking Chemistry HL, you can fulfill the lab and science requirements for the BSc. Additionally, if you are planning to major in life sciences, taking Chemistry HL will help you prepare for the university-level chemistry content, which is very different from what you learn in high school. With my credit from Chemistry HL, I skipped CHEM 121 and I went straight into CHEM 123, which was a breeze for me.
English Literature HL
For many people, English can be a demanding course, which can have the negative effect of also lowering your GPA. If you take English Literature HL you can skip 6 credits of the first year ENGL courses - that’s your comminations requirement. For this meant I did not do any ENGL courses in university!
History HL
As a BSc. student you need 12 art credits in addition to communications courses. Since I took History HL, I got 6 credits worth of HIST courses - that’s already half of your required arts credits!
Physics SL
I got 3 credits for PHYS 100, but I didn’t need credits for PHYS 100. I would have preferred not to get credit for PHYS 100, but UBC takes all your transfer credit for IB or none. The 3 credits added towards my total credits taken which you can read about here. If you took Physics HL, then you would be able to replace PHYS 100 (3) and PHYS 1st-year level (3), with exemption from PHYS 101, which would also complete your lab requirements and allow you to register for higher-level physics courses.
Mandarin Ab Initio
This is more of a personal reason for me. I’m pretty white-washed, so I speak Mandarin at the level of a preschooler. But the thing is, learning Mandarin at the high school level is just really hard for me. I wish I choose a language that used the alphabet instead, as I just couldn’t grasp Mandarin fast enough. I still speak Mandarin at the level of a preschooler. You don’t get any credit for taking an ab initio language.
Mathematics SL
This is probably the course I almost wish I took at the HL level. Math HL teaches you how to write proofs, which is something the standard high school curriculum is missing. Knowing how to write proofs gives you a leg up as a math or computer science student. Additionally, you can skip MATH 100 and MATH 101, and go straight into MATH 200 and MATH 221 (for computer science students)! But be warned that MATH HL is no easy feat. If you decide to take MATH HL you will need to put in the work. You don’t get any credit for taking Mathematics SL.
Theory of Knowledge
For full IB students, we are required to write a TOK Essay. You can read about that here: http://www.howtoib.com/writing-tok-essays/. I think TOK essays are super interesting, and if you get above a B on your essay, you can get transfer credit for 6 credits worth of PHIL courses. And with those 6 credits, I was already done my arts requirements as a BSc. student.
Overall
Due to my choices, I took only 7 courses in my first year. But even with such a light load, I was already done my arts requirements, lab requirement, and communications requirements. The downside to taking IB courses is that you can go over your credit limit(48, I think I had 47) due to transfer credits, which means you could not be able to be promoted to the second year. You can read more about that here: https://science.ubc.ca/students/requirements/promotion.
However, make sure to check your university’s policy on IB credits. UBC allows you to use all of your IB courses for transfer credit, whereas U of Waterloo has limits. But make sure you realize the hard work you will have to put in if you decide to choose HL courses. You are learning standard high school and first-year university content at the same time that other students are learning just the standard high school content. IB courses, whether they are SL or HL, also require IA (internal assessments) which are research-like papers.
Am I glad I took IB? Of course! If I were given the chance to do high school again I would choose to do IB.
TLDR
Check here for all the credits you can get for your IB courses: https://you.ubc.ca/applying-ubc/applied/first-year-credit/
You’re a student who does not to want to take any arts electives:
-
Take History HL, English Literature HL, any HL language course. If you are a full IB student, score well on your Theory of Knowledge essay (at least a B) and you can get 6 philosophy credits (that’s two courses).
-
If you’re a BSc. you will have fulfilled all your arts requirements (including communications)
You’re a student who does not to want to take any science electives:
-
Taky any HL science in high school and you will get at least 3/4 credits if you score well on your IB exams!
You’re a student is okay with arts electives, but you don’t want English to drag down your GPA:
-
Take English Literature HL or English Language and Literature HL. As a BSc. student you will have fulfilled your communications requirement.
You’re a student who does not want to take any science electives with a lab components:
-
Take Physics HL, Chemistry HL or Biology HL in high school and you won’t need to do a lab science in uni!
You’re a student who loves X (and you want to get straight into the higher level X courses):
-
Take the HL version of X and you will be able to register into second year courses!