Should I drop to OL English to have a better chance of 625 points?

ecquestions24

Hi guys I'm going into 6th year now and my school and I are trying to push me to get 625 points this year, it'll give me a shot at a scholarship I'm interested in. I'm doing English, Irish, Maths, French, Chemistry , Engineering and Music. My top 5 subjects are strong, but English and French are going to be my bottom subjects without a doubt. I was considering dropping to OL Engish and working extremely hard at French (I'm getting tutoring in school also), as opposed to having to put the work into HL English and it more than likely being my 7th subject and it taking loads of my time up.
Thoughts?? Would appreciate any advice given.

codrulz

It's quite easy to do ok in HL english. You can do little work and pass so I would not drop.

UnknownEntity

ecquestions24 wrote:

Hi guys I'm going into 6th year now and my school and I are trying to push me to get 625 points this year, it'll give me a shot at a scholarship I'm interested in. I'm doing English, Irish, Maths, French, Chemistry , Engineering and Music. My top 5 subjects are strong, but English and French are going to be my bottom subjects without a doubt. I was considering dropping to OL Engish and working extremely hard at French (I'm getting tutoring in school also), as opposed to having to put the work into HL English and it more than likely being my 7th subject and it taking loads of my time up. Thoughts?? Would appreciate any advice given.

Yep yep yep would STRONGLY recommend it

twiz

Like codrulz said, for most people it's not too difficult to pass HL English so dropping doesn't make much sense unless you feel there's a strong chance of you failing it.You could still work hard on French and leave English to the side, with just a little work. Personally, I think it's a little bit risky to just do 6 HL subjects if you want a H1 in all of them, because you never know what will happen on the day! That said, I know people who've done it and it worked out for them.

kanadams123

When i went into 6th year i was very similar. I told my english teacher i was dropping to OL, but she convinced me to stay untill the pre exams at least. I got a H5 in the pre and told her again that i wanted to drop and she told me i could, but that it would be better not to as it was too late (Basically i am a pushover and every time i wanted to drop english, i was convinced not to by a teacher or one of my elder sisters)
I too wanted to drop as i thought if i did OL, i could put more effort into my 6 other HL subjects (Irish, Maths, French, Biology, Business, Chemistry)

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when i got my results, I surprisingly got a H3 in English. (It was joint lowest, so technically, i used the points for it...but if i had gotten lower in English, i would have gotten the same overall points.)

Basically what i am trying to say is, I put very little effort into HL English as i HATED it and I managed to get a H3 (betwen 70 and 80 percent...which i was so shocked about!!!)

Just don't underestimate your own abilities.

Also, its handy to have 7 HL subjects, for a backup. For eg, lets say you unexpectadly find the maths exam really hard on the day and do badly in it. You will have another HL subject as a backup, even if it is english, wheras if you do OL, the most points you can get is 56 points (assuming you manage to get an O1 in English!.

At the end of the day though, it is entirely YOUR decision.

Best of luck.