Leaving cert chemistry....

Alcoholocaust

What ya think of it? I'd like to do it but I'm hearing wayyy too many horror stories about how hard it is....I'm not good at maths.
Should I avoid it at all costs? What's the course like?

Yuugib

if you are good at memorising stuff, then its going to be a nice subject for you to do. The calculations are not that hard, and the whole course doesnt depend on them really..
otherwise imho its a very nice and interesting subject, i love it but sometimes it just gets tiring memorising it word by word

the exam papers are quite nice, if you mention keywords even most of the time without explanation you can get away with full marks. But again it has its own disadvantages, if u explain everything right, but forget to write this keyword.. then there is a big possiblity that you will get no marks for it at all:(
Well.. all i m trying to say is thats its a very accurate subject.. and you have to like/enjoy it in order to be good at it

Fad

you have to be quite precise, but its not tooo difficult,

there are some tricky parts but if you can understand them you set:)

johnk123

Im in 5th yr and taking it. I'm a "hard working" student(lol) and i find that i need to spend a lot of time, to even begin to understand it. That said, i'm hoping it'll get easier later in the year and it all comes together; somehow???. My advice would be only take it if you need it for a college course, or found JC science particularly interesting

Fad

johnk123 wrote: »

Im in 5th yr and taking it. I'm a "hard working" student(lol) and i find that i need to spend a lot of time, to even begin to understand it. That said, i'm hoping it'll get easier later in the year and it all comes together; somehow???. My advice would be only take it if you need it for a college course, or found JC science particularly interesting

theres meant to be a moment of revaltion just after the mocks, where you realise you love chemistry and understand it all:)

Fringe

You don't really need maths for it. You only need to know basic algebra and good logic in how the calculations work.

I think it's a really good subject though. Probably my favourite subject. Depends how keen you are on doing it.

Cost Boy!!

When I was in 5th year I couldn't get my head around somethings but everything came together this year and I love it now, if you are interested in science I think it will suit you and you find alot of topics are linked together including calculations.

Zonda999

Fad wrote: »

theres meant to be a moment of revaltion just after the mocks, where you realise you love chemistry and understand it all:)

Certainly hasnt happened to me.....

EamonnKeane

It's probably the easiest science, less mathematics and abstract reasoning than physics, and a lot less to learn than biology (I had 110+ pages of bio. notes compared to 50 chem.)

johnk123

EamonnKeane wrote: »

It's probably the easiest science, less mathematics and abstract reasoning than physics, and a lot less to learn than biology (I had 110+ pages of bio. notes compared to 50 chem.)

Just wondering, did you do those notes for chemistry in 5th yr, or 6th????? I was thinking of doing up some notes this year, hoping it might save some time next year. Should i do it??? Or wait??

nc0987

Start writing notes on what uve done so far id say. it'lltake the pressure off in 6th. for me all or most of the theory is fine, not too complicated. the maths really gets me though, its never the exact same method for the sum and its really easy to forget to do something. sometimes u have to change it to moles, others not. sometimes u hav to divide by litres.. its just all a little messy and difficult to get 100 % right

Tan90'

I looooovvvvvveee Chemistry! It's really interesting and i think it's one of the easier Leaving subjects. I don't do alot of learning for it, just try to understand it first time round :rolleyes: The course isn't that long really and unlike y'know Gaeilge or something you'll be able to close the book come June and say you've finished studying it. Are you ever really finished studying the languages??

Bajingo

Fad wrote: »

theres meant to be a moment of revaltion just after the mocks, where you realise you love chemistry and understand it all:)

Thats true I swear I just finished my mocks got 78% its my favourite subject..if youre going to choose a science you should choose chemistry its the easiest.

Fad

we just started organic chemistry today, I LOVE IT!

and the experiments are fun, how could you not like chemistry

Piste

I adore Chemistry!


It's a wonderful mix between figuring stuff out for yourself, understanding and grasping concept so you can apply them, and good ol' fashioned learning stuff off

Chemsitry and English are the two classes I never dread going to!

Parsley

I found that it really comes together for ya in sixth year, no matter how bad you might be at it in fifth year! That's if you're willing to do a moderate amount of work!

Killaqueen!!!

I'm so confused I don't understand a word of what my teacher says. Apparently, the topics are all 'linked' together, so when you finish most of them it all comes together. Certainly hasn't happened to me yet. I actually prefer the theory to the experiments though, cos they're the most confusing. Having to remember what chemical you add to what and why...arrrrgh hurts my head!

Parsley

Killaqueen!!! wrote: »

I'm so confused I don't understand a word of what my teacher says. Apparently, the topics are all 'linked' together, so when you finish most of them it all comes together. Certainly hasn't happened to me yet. I actually prefer the theory to the experiments though, cos they're the most confusing. Having to remember what chemical you add to what and why...arrrrgh hurts my head!

Don't worry about it! It really will come together for you, Just try your best and study it, work at the bits you don't understand. Don't just say you don't understand, get the book out and read and re-read till you make sense of it. Works for me.

kisaragi

Dear God I hated Chemistry... I loved it for JC but for the LC it was just painful rote learning... So since I was doing 8 subjects I just gave it the middle finger haha... Ended up with a HL C3 (and I got an A in HL science for the JC haha), but to be honest I didn't really care since I'd hated it so vehemently during the whole course... I just found it incredibly boring...

However that's just my opinion... I excelled more in languages and creative subjects in school, although i miraculously managed a B3 in Applied Maths haha (still tied for 2nd lowest grade).

KeyLimePie

chemistry is like my second best subject
do it! but make sure you understand EVERYTHING the day you're thought it
but it's easier for me i guess cause there's me and 2 other people in my class lol

johnk123

Ha, i'd love to have a small chemistry class. There are two chem classes in my year, one has 22(not including me), the other has 7. And the stupid thing is, is that they're both on at the same time. The small class is due to a lot of drop-outs i think.

KeyLimePie

johnk123 wrote: »

Ha, i'd love to have a small chemistry class. There are two chem classes in my year, one has 22(not including me), the other has 7. And the stupid thing is, is that they're both on at the same time. The small class is due to a lot of drop-outs i think.

lol if no one dropped out of my chemistry class we'd have 7 :P it started with 5, a teacher kicked one guy out, another person left after 6 months, a girl left after a year and someone was repeating so he came into our class!

x_Ashy_x

theres only 6 in my class which is great! but its torture!!! i loved jc science but i kinda find myself doin the whole 1 step forward 3,000,000 steps backwards now lol! the teacher was out sick for the first half of 5th year so thats prob why i got so lost but even after putting in alot of work i still think that its an extremely hard subject! defo dont pick it unless you need it for college....of are some sort of einstein! lol