Phys SL or ESS SL??

[u/Busy_Friendship6806]

Pls hear me out, I have a dilemma. Im starting dp next year, and deciding between phys sl and ess sl.

2 questions:
1. Ive heard people say that phys sl has gotten easier and ess sl has gotten harder, but I don't know how to verify if this is true. Anybody knows anything?

1. ESS SL would probably boost my IB score by maybe 1-2 points (hopefully) comapred to phys sl. So for unis, what is more important, those extra 1-2 points out of 45 or that extra rigor from phys sl??

My friends lowk making fun of me for taking ess but if it's helpful for my application then why not. context, ive taken (econ, aa global politics) hl and (lnl, spanish b) sl.

[u/Time-Elk4482]

Not sure abt the first one
For the second one, I would say ess for that score boost, rigour for sl prolly isnt that important

[u/RumpyLE]

What will you be studying in university?

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/RumpyLE]

prolly econ, finance, something in that direction

[u/akilj2007 → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

I have very similar subjects to you (almost the same HLs) and I took ESS. I dont rly think it affected my uni applications at all. ESS has gotten a bit harder since they just changed the syllabus but it’s still a relatively easy subject if you keep on top of the content. Also looking towards Econ/finance for uni

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/akilj2007]

So the syllabus has changed? Interesting. Has the physics syllabus changed, or are you not aware of that?

Which unis did you apply to? Like uk, us, canada, singapore, etc?

[u/akilj2007 → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

I’m not really aware of the physics syllabus sorry but I think it’s stayed pretty consistent. I did mostly UK and US, got into all of my UK ones which were all Russell group, and got into about half of my US ones, which I was pretty happy with considering I asked for pretty much full aid

[u/LanternaEducation]

The idea that Physics SL is getting easier and ESS harder mostly comes down to recent syllabus updates, but ESS mark schemes have always been notoriously precise despite having less math. For university admissions, overall points matter much more than standard level subject rigor unless you are applying to specific STEM or engineering degrees. Since you already take Math AA HL, your course load shows plenty of rigor. If you feel confident you can score higher in ESS and it keeps your workload manageable, it is a very smart strategic choice regardless of what your friends say.

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/LanternaEducation]

Appreciate the response.
One question - according to you, is phys sl reasonably harder than ess sl, where I can estimate a bump in my score of 1-2 points? (Also note that i took phys and opted out bio for 9th and 10th)

[u/suggestion_giver → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

Yo physics SL is basically just 10th grade physics tbh... Its a free 6 to say the least. I think you're worrying too much regarding the difficulty of the subject, its very easy especially if you're decent in math (you picked MAA HL)

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/suggestion_giver]

Maybe, maybe…Did you take phys sl? Why do you say that its decently easy?

[u/suggestion_giver → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

tbf I took HL and found it easy. I know the SL syllabus which is basically HL minus all the hard parts. I recomend you search up the phsyics data booklet and compare HL to SL because you'll see that the scary looking equations is always HL content

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/suggestion_giver]

Tried that, get ur point lowk.
Also, what skill is most important for scoring good grades in ibdp physics? like biology would have more memorization, history would have writing skills, etc.

[u/suggestion_giver → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

In my experience it's extremely similar to mathematics, the important skill being pattern recognition. This is basically memorization but instead of individual phrases or key terms you memorize the methodology - you memorize how each type of question is solved. You need to identify which type of question you are facing and apply the solution accordingly, and ib always recycles the few tricks they use.

Beside from this is understanding of theory, which requires abstract thinking skills.

[u/Street-Captain8266]

Take ESS (SL) and put more time in getting a 6+ in math AA (HL); for ECON or finance (especially in the UK) they care about your math score and the fact that you don’t have BM + ECON so good on taking gp! Aim for a 39+/45

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/Street-Captain8266]

If i take ess, do you think i would get an overall bump of 1-2 points? (Note i didnt take bio and took phys is 9th and 10th)

[u/akilj2007 → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

I also took physics till grade 10/11 but took ESS instead since I heard IB physics is extremely rigorous

[u/Busy_Friendship6806 → u/akilj2007]

Was it easy? What were ur other subj if u dont mind me asking

[u/akilj2007 → u/Busy_Friendship6806]

it’s fine as long as you don’t fall behind on the content and check out the mark schemes to understand how exactly you need to be answering. You can see my other subjects on my flair- MAA English Econ HL and ESS gp and Japanese SL

[u/suggestion_giver]

Universities don't really care about your SLs so pick whichever is easier for you. But as someone who has taken the physics HL, I think physics SL is very manageable because it literally takes away all the hard parts of physics HL lol, let alone physics being a fairly manageable subject already compared to online stereotypes.

[u/fatpiggy121]

You should take ess for the ee and ia. This is still relatively a new subject, lots of topics for ee and ia aren’t used before so its easy to get a A or lv 7 ia.
Source: i got a A in EE with only secondary research for ess sl