6 Important Questions For Choosing IB Subjects

So you have decided to do the IB Diploma. You must be familiar with all the benefits that the IB Program offers its students. By now, you must be convinced that IBDP will be worth the effort, and you must be excited to choose your subjects. How to choose IB subjects? That is a question asked by every IB student about to embark on his IB journey. This article gives 7 questions that narrow down the six subjects you should take.

Oh! Before you go on reading this article, make sure to check out this video to avoid the mistakes that people make while choosing their IB subjects.

It is often best to look at your past experiences when deciding for the future. The same principle can be applied as you choose your IB subjects. This question is the most important one and will help you put on your thinking hat. Reflect upon the most crucial decision that you have made academically. Did you decide to attend a rigorous course for your middle school (like IGCSE), or did you only bother a little with the curriculum? While neither has any hierarchal value attached, evaluating the most crucial academic decision of your recent past helps you understand your natural inclination and the ideal pathway for the future.

Having said that, one also needs to consider that priorities change over time. Your past decision should be a mere aspect while factoring in your decision to choose your subjects. It is only to give you a hint about the academic endeavors on which you want to embark. Asking this question will also help you highlight if you are biased toward becoming an athlete, forging a  creative career, or conquering the corporate world? Look for clues where you have prioritized one thing over the other. For instance, look at your past and see if you were willing to skip multiple classes to attend sports meets or were more excited about debate night than your homecoming? 

This one is relatively straightforward. Ask yourself the feeling that you dread the most. This could include attending a math lecture or analyzing a poem by Willian Fancywords. Think about the courses in middle school that you absolutely did not look forward to. This will help you identify the subjects to drop or at least opt for your Standard Levels (SL). Trust me, the last thing you want to do is specialize in a subject you hate studying! However, you should be aware of the origin of this feeling of resentment. Did you despise the topic, or was it something to do with the lecturer? It is common for middle school students to not be fond of a particular subject simply because they do not vibe with the professor teaching that subject.

Following up on the above question, if you did not like attending a lecture because of its professor, consider how rewarding it was to do well in that subject. This will help you analyze your affinity towards that subject. Let us take the example of Mathematics. Most people need help wrapping their heads around complex mathematical concepts. Yet some find it rewarding when they can crack the code and understand what took them a lot of time, effort, and brainstorming. The subject then becomes a challenge. Choose your challenging topics for your Higher Levels (HL), provided you have the right motivation for the challenges that they will pose. 

Ah. This question is an easy one. Every student has one subject that they find interesting. It is the one that they enjoy studying the most. They are okay with reading more about it in their free time. They might often find themselves contemplating what they learned in that particular subject. Identifying your subject in such a manner will also help you narrow down your HLs. For example, if your favorite subject happens to be Economics, then only should you take Economics as one of your HLs, but you can also take Business Management HL to complement your interest. Similarly, suppose you are interested in Visual Art and want to opt for another HL that enhances your craftsmanship and creative knowledge. In that case, you may also want to take Design Technology as one of your other HLs.

Your favorite subject should be the one in which you should write your Extended Essay (EE). Doing your EE in your favorite subject will allow you to do in-depth research and let you pick up a significantly related topic for your university. On the flip side, studying that subject intensively for two years will help you judge if you genuinely like it. After in-depth research on your ‘favorite subject,’ you may conclude that it is not something that holds your interest. It will save you from pursuing it in the future! Either way, it will give you a good insight into your academic self.

This is a particularly important one. You must notice if your brain is inclined toward theoretical learning or logical reasoning. For instance, do you prefer understanding and memorizing the concepts of whatever you are studying, or are you more interested in deducing the essence of a specific topic and reaching the gist of it logically? This nuanced difference will make you familiar with your studying practices. It will also help you decide the subjects you will most likely enjoy. For instance, if you are a student who likes to understand and memorize, opting for History HL and Mathematics SL will be the way for you. However, if you enjoy deducing the essence of your studies, consider taking Physics and Maths as your HLs. 

This is an infamous point and, thus, the last one to be addressed. Although narrowing down your IB subjects should be your decision alone, it would be nice to take the suggestions from the teachers who have taught you before. Doing so will help you evade your delusional self. Often, students need to understand what the course structure of IB is like and assume that their skillset is fit for a specific IB subject combination when, in fact, it is not. Consulting with a teacher who has taught you before will help you avoid this mistake. Ideally, that teacher should be familiar with the IB curriculum. If not, even then, sitting down with someone who knows your academic strengths and weaknesses will put you on track for choosing the proper IB subjects! 

Stuff like 'go with your guts' or 'take up subjects that you like studying' are vague suggestions that need to be revised. Let's face it, one only knows how a subject will turn out after studying it. Many students end up resenting the issues they initially thought they would love. Choosing an IB subject should be a subtle combination of what piques your interests and challenges you the right way. An ideal issue would be the one about which you have some fair knowledge and would like to learn more. The subject should also be tough enough to make you work for it instead of being a breeze, in which case, you will lose interest and only study a week before the exams.

One fun trick in narrowing down the subject list and understanding how to choose IB subjects is to close your eyes, take a deep breath and speak out the first subject which crosses your mind. Do this until your list has at least 12 subjects. This will be one of the initial steps in your journey of answering how to choose IB subjects. Once you have your list prepared, you must confide in your trusted ones who know you inside out and would better guide you in choosing your IB subjects. Do note that to do the activity mentioned above, you must have a fair idea of what to expect from various IB subjects. 

As you go through the IB Diploma, you will need to do mandatory projects like writing your Extended Essay and doing your ToK Presentation. Nail IB provides you with the best resources to ace all your IB projects. Here's to hoping that you will make Nail IB your virtual hustle partner and sail through the IB Program. Good Luck in choosing your IB Subjects!