What Your Favourite Subject Says About You (IBDP Edition)
Introduction
Have you ever wondered why you may feel especially drawn to certain subjects? Or why you particularly excel in one area, but find you may need to spend more time on others? Often, the subjects we love give us important insight into how we think, how we learn, and even how we see the world around us. Just as MBTI (Myers-Briggs) tests and horoscopes can help explain parts of our personality, subjects can too. Our academic preferences often align with deeper cognitive traits–reflecting our strengths and learning style. Read below to see what your favourite subject says about you!
The Arts (Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Film)
Whether you’re a current or retired Art student, you’re likely someone who views the world a little differently. You think in colour palettes, judge cafés by their lighting, and rank universities based on whether the campus layout matches your preferred aesthetic (yes, we see you romanticising the U.K. because you want to live out your full dark-academia-at-Hogwarts fantasy). You likely thrive on creative freedom and somehow manage to produce your finest work nights before the IBDP Arts Exhibition. You also make for the best possible group members, not necessarily because you love group work, but because you know the slides will be absolutely immaculate. With balanced layouts, tasteful fonts… Art students will single-handedly carry the ‘organisation’ criterion, while everyone else fumbles with the content.
Humanities (History, Economics, Geography, Psychology, Global Politics)
If your favourite subject is humanities, you are the type to love understanding how people, systems and societies work. You are the student who claims to prefer writing essays over exams, and who probably grinded their EE in a caffeine-fueled two-day sprint before the deadline. When it comes to writing IAs, you somehow manage to turn a simple research question into a full-blown philosophical investigation. For group work, you take charge: organising the research, delegating roles, structuring the argument and making sure everyone actually sticks to the thesis. In your eyes, the world isn’t fixed or factual; rather, it's interpretative, entirely dependent on the eyes of the beholder. So long as there are credible citations to back them up!
STEM (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths AA, Maths AI, D.T)
If your favourite subject is science or maths, you are not one to fear a challenge. STEM students thrive on logic, patterns and getting to the bottom of how everything works–from chemical reactions to complex functions. You’re probably the student who always carries two calculators in your bag ‘just in case’, and panics if one of them even looks low on battery. For sure, you also have admirable amounts of resilience; you accept that IA or EE experiments never work the first time, yet somehow still manage to hold onto hope. Bonus points if you’re a Design & Tech student, because you sit perfectly between STEM and the Arts–you can 3D-model your idea, engineer it, and still make it look aesthetically pleasing.
Languages (English, Foreign Languages, Ab Initio)
You are the student who sees the world through words. Whether it's analysing Shakespeare, identifying poetic devices in English Lit, or learning idioms in a foreign language, you thrive on communication, nuance and expression. Much like humanities students, you likely insist that writing essays is far better than exams, and pride yourself on your ability to craft a compelling argument, a sharp debate, or a perfectly annotated text. For those of you who took an ab initio language, you likely chose it thinking it would be ‘easier’ – yet when reality hit, you somehow finessed language acquisition with ease. You probably have a folder full of beautifully colour-coordinated notes, ready to tackle any essay or language challenge that arises.
Final thoughts
Whether you are a current IB student, retired, or soon-to-be, hopefully these descriptions offer a little insight into how you think, learn and tackle your favourite subjects. Regardless of your preferences and the unique ways you approach them, those are what make your journey truly yours. So, do you resonate with what was said about your favourite subject?
