rate and comment on my subject choices for the LC course!

BigL90

Chemistry, Biology, History and german, as well as the 3 mandatory.

Am I in for a hard/easy/average 2 years? (relatively spleaking)

carlowboy

Pointless thread.

tolosenc

Biology & History are deemed difficult and work intensive. TBH, I didn't do any of those, but there are so many easier ones to choose.

Naikon

The above would also come under the "memory intensive" catagory:)

Alanstrainor

Kind of a stupid thread, If you're interested in those subjects then they're right for you, some subjects are considered easier than others, like music, but if you have no interest in music then there's no point in doing it,
Alan,

adam_ccfc

Biology and Chemisty, keep them for sure! Lots of opportunities with those two under your belt.

Haven't a Clue

History's a bitch. That's all you need to know about that.

lemansky

Well if you're interested inthem you'll be fine but be prepared to work....very hard....

sezconz

I HATED chemistry and wudnt recommend any1 2 do it but then thats just my opinion! If i had2 choose my subjects again I would do:biology, economics, geography and german!!They seem 2 be the easiest subjects to do well in...well in my school anyway, statistics might say differently!There's a **** load of work 2 cover in history but never did it so cant help u there!good luck..

óbriain1988

I don't think this is the way to go about judging how the subjects are going to be for you. if you like them they'll be easier. if you're naturally good at them they'll be easier still. people hated history and thought it was hard. i love history so i thought it was ok, just needed a bit of work. pick subjects that you like and will be useful for possible careers later. don't mind what's meant to be hard or easy... it's all dependent on yourself. saying that, get rid of the science subjects, desperate choice and too hard

powerofone

Biology- nice interesting subject, but you'll have to have a liking for it as theres lots to remember

Chemistry- Only thing Im gonna say, You really need to have a GOOD teacher for this subject

Dont know about the rest, but you'd have a fair idea yourself what you're good at and what you're not so good at.

I did accounting for the leaving and its probably my only regret, I should have done business/economics

Corruptedmorals

I did Biology and History. Biology...there is LOADS in that book, you'd want to genuinely like the subject. It's definitely a lot of work. Don't fall for 'it's the easy science subject' because it's still hard. I don't know about Chemistry, you'd want to really love that to do it though. You seem to be sciencey, so picking history is a bit odd. Did you love it for JC? The amount to learn is still a lot...think about that one too..

I'd recommend Economics, if you wanted to change one of them? Shortest course of them all, and keeps your options open..

BigL90

Thanks everybody, for your input.

The general consensus seems to be that:

Chemistry is a difficult subject, and should not be taken on if it is disliked.

Biology requires lots of learning as there is lots to learn.

History requires a lot of work, but shouldn't propopse a problem if the student is interested in the subject.

My goal after school is to study Law. for this, no particular subject is required, except History is advised because of the large amount of English.

I chose Chemistry and Biology to keep my options open, should i wish to do medicine or pharmacy, though I doubt my ability to get enough points for these courses. i also picked them because I believe that these subjects would be the best to have a knowledge of in later life, biology in particlar, having a lot of interesting information that can be used in everyday life. These subjects also give one a comprehensive understanding of the world around us.

I am not particularly good at science, in fact I am only just above average, but owing to a good memory, i believe i can handle Biology. Chemistry however, is a different kettle of fish, and i will probably get a poor teacher, so i will have to do lots of hard work at it. English is my game, so I don't think history will pose too much of a problem.

Lucas10101

I personally think Biology is an easy A1. The material is relatively easy, skip Genetics for exam and move on, I did and should get an A1.

I agree that Chem is not to be taken if you really don't like it as you will find the Higher Paper demanding at times. If you had a smidgeon of interest like me you'll do well as I didn't really like it but will get a B HL.

If you're doing Law, why do a Law degree, you don't need a law degree to be a solicitor or barrister,?? Your choice though. Do History anyway considering this.

BigL90

^How would you become a solicitor/barrister without a law degree?

It wasn't me!

You don't need a law degree, you can just do any other degree and do an extra year before doing the King's Inn exam as far as I know.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

BigL90 wrote:

Chemistry, Biology, History

:eek: you are in for a hard 2 years if you take them at higher level

cocoa

BigL90 wrote:

I chose Chemistry and Biology to keep my options open, should i wish to do medicine or pharmacy, though I doubt my ability to get enough points for these courses. i also picked them because I believe that these subjects would be the best to have a knowledge of in later life, biology in particlar, having a lot of interesting information that can be used in everyday life. These subjects also give one a comprehensive understanding of the world around us.

vis keeping your options open for medicine and/or pharmacy, chemistry is much more useful and biology not necessary at all. And to be honest, you can learn as much biology as you like on the side if you're still curious. I know I enjoyed flicking through the biology sections of my quick revision magazine thingies and it gave me as much knowledge as I really wanted, without any pressure.

I'm really not sure why so many people are flagging chemistry as extremely difficult, I mean all of the hard maths has been removed from the course to "be fair to students studying ordinary level maths" and the amount of information to be learned off by heart is far from fast. Also, in the same way as in physics, quite a large amount of marks is given for doing small, simple calculations. I did chemistry, with a mediocre teacher, she knew her stuff but if you had a problem she just couldn't grasp how to explain it to you. I still got on ok and if you have any interest whatsoever, you should be fine.

*necessary caveat* I am a mathsy person, my best subjects were maths, applied maths, chemistry and physics. By all means check the advice of "non-mathsy" people to get the full story

History I didn't do, but anyone I know who did, agreed that the course is quite vast and work consuming.

German, I did do, and quite enjoyed because I had an excellent teacher. Now, according to a teacher I know, who teaches both french and german, the french exam is easier, but this is only if you have an equal proviciency in both languages. I got a C in french and a B in german for JC, so my choice was simple.

The guy

BigL90 wrote:

Chemistry, Biology, History and german, as well as the 3 mandatory.

Am I in for a hard/easy/average 2 years? (relatively spleaking)

I did pretty much the same as you for the leaving cert(Except physics instead of Chemistry), it more depends on your intelligence, were you good at those subjects in the JC?

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

The guy wrote:

I did pretty much the same as you for the leaving cert(Except physics instead of Chemistry), it more depends on your intelligence, were you good at those subjects in the JC?

tba, physics and Chemistry are a lot different for the leaving. Physics consists mainly of maths, higher level maths!!, there is a good bit of maths in Chemistry as well

cocoa

Elaine Spoiled Sunset wrote:

tba, physics and Chemistry are a lot different for the leaving. Physics consists mainly of maths, higher level maths!!, there is a good bit of maths in Chemistry as well

going to have to disagree with you there. any difficult maths has long been removed from physics, chemistry and biology. the hardest maths in physics simply involves manipulating rote-learned formulae which is hardly higher level maths.

nedward

If you're looking for an A or B in Chemistry, you need to work hard and either have a good teacher or be very interested in the subject. It's awful boring stuff too. Do Business or Ag Science if possible. They're great!

Piste

To do HL Chemistry, how good woul you hav to be at HL Maths?

philologos

obl wrote:

Biology & History are deemed difficult and work intensive. TBH, I didn't do any of those, but there are so many easier ones to choose.

Agree totally with History did it since the start of fifth year and I'm planning on dropping it for the LC now. (I do 8 subjects).

lemansky

Piste wrote:

To do HL Chemistry, how good woul you hav to be at HL Maths?

Not very. The maths element of chemistry is just learning and re-arranging formulae. You don't even need to learn the formulae as its always the same ones over and over again in all the types of questions, so you'll be so used to them by exam time it won't be an issue.

Dr.Slurm

I don't know why people find History so hard:eek: . In my opinion it's actually a very easy subject.

People make out that there is so much to learn, but there really isn't that much at all.

There's a bit of Irish, a bit of European and a bit of American depending on which sections you choose and each question gives you 20%.There are 4 choices of question for each section on the exam so you don't have to know the full sections at all.

Most people will have quite a good knowledge of some of the course without even studying History eg. World Wars and 1916 rising, making it easier to study the topics in more detail.

There's 20% going for a project that is based on almost anything to ever happen in History, so there is a great chance to get high marks for it.

Another 20% goes to 3 tiny little case studies with very easy questions accompanying them.

I really can't see why people think it is so hard, but I do recognise that a lot of people do find it hard.

I would encourage anyone thinking of doing the subject to do it. If you think of it as reading a story rather than learning off a load of facts, it makes it a lot more appealing.

EamonnKeane

Chemistry probably has the narrowest course, I mean my notes for it were half the length of my bio notes. History seems like too much work, so I didn't bother.

JC 2K3

Elaine Spoiled Sunset wrote:

tba, physics and Chemistry are a lot different for the leaving. Physics consists mainly of maths, higher level maths!!, there is a good bit of maths in Chemistry as well

What are you talking about?

There's not all that much maths in Physics and it's about JC standard tbh and there a small amount of maths in Chemistry that's even easier.

Piste wrote:

To do HL Chemistry, how good woul you hav to be at HL Maths?

Pretty crap. If you can grasp simple concepts like basic algebra and proportionality then you're grand. I don't think it'd even be very challenging for someone getting Cs in OL.

Naikon

JC 2K3 wrote:

What are you talking about?

There's not all that much maths in Physics and it's about JC standard tbh and there a small amount of maths in Chemistry that's even easier.


Pretty crap. If you can grasp simple concepts like basic algebra and proportionality then you're grand. I don't think it'd even be very challenging for someone getting Cs in OL.

Yeah, I would consider myself a B2 standard in Ordinary Maths which isnt amazing, but the Maths problems in Physics is really nothing more than manipulating a few formulae or else substituting a value to find one unknown variable , where usually you are givin you the others:D
Only some of the Mechanics maths is a bit of a challenge.
I thought there is barely any algebra in Physics.
Not even a little bit of Calculus is present:D

What I hate about Physics is the non maths questions can be a pain sometimes.How does rote learning definitions make you "understand" the material any better?.
Still, this years paper was a bit nasty tbh.
Physics is still a much better option than Biology, could never stand all the learning off material in Biology.

Naikon

Dr.Slurm wrote:

I don't know why people find History so hard:eek: . In my opinion it's actually a very easy subject.

People make out that there is so much to learn, but there really isn't that much at all.

There's a bit of Irish, a bit of European and a bit of American depending on which sections you choose and each question gives you 20%.There are 4 choices of question for each section on the exam so you don't have to know the full sections at all.

Most people will have quite a good knowledge of some of the course without even studying History eg. World Wars and 1916 rising, making it easier to study the topics in more detail.

Its more of an "information overload" subject than anything that might tickle your brain a bit tbh.

There's 20% going for a project that is based on almost anything to ever happen in History, so there is a great chance to get high marks for it.

Another 20% goes to 3 tiny little case studies with very easy questions accompanying them.

I really can't see why people think it is so hard, but I do recognise that a lot of people do find it hard.

I would encourage anyone thinking of doing the subject to do it. If you think of it as reading a story rather than learning off a load of facts, it makes it a lot more appealing.

History is more of an "information overload" subject type.
History would make the Rain man proud:D

lemansky

EamonnKeane wrote:

Chemistry probably has the narrowest course, I mean my notes for it were half the length of my bio notes. History seems like too much work, so I didn't bother.

Allied with a good teacher chemistry becomes easy for precisely that reason.