Switching from physics to biology?

spoonbadger

Hi all, i've been wondering what i'd be up against if i switched from physics to biology going into 6th year?.

I've have a useless teacher for physics, we've badly covered about 6 of the physics chapters so far (i think there's close to 30?!) and it turns out that biology would open up another college option for me, which would be great!.

I do like physics, but i'd like biology as much if not more. So, what kinda chances would i have of squeezing the biology course into 1 year?.

Thanks for reading.

amacachi

I found biology pretty easy. Depending on the layout of the book for which chapters, theres about half the course that could easily be covered in about 2 months of class, and it's straightforward stuff. Biology is the only subject I did that I would advise anyone to attempt to squeeze into one year. Probably better off asking a friend who already does it with the teacher you'd be having tho.

cHaTbOx

I would contact your teacher straight away and start on all of the work covered in the last year,the next 2 months you could have all of it covered as you are only concentrating on one subect.

challengemaster

It's easy enough, tbh. I've been using it as my recovery class - if I didn't sleep well lastnight, fall asleep in biology. Still getting 100% in tests, despite

There's some stuff to learn alright, but in comparison to physics, its a walk in the park (I'm doing Biology/Chem/Physics)

It's a nice subject, but you'll have to work to catch up on the years work.

ps. 6 chapters in physics?! jesus. We got through about 22 :eek:

Xavi6

A few years ago I would have said no way but with this revised course biology is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be.

Maybe even try get a summer grind to get a heads up for September.

spoonbadger

Hmmm,you guys are making it sound really tempting .

Thanks for the replies, i'm gonna get some biology books and see what i can cover between now and the end of the summer. Gonna be hard though, 3 weeks in gaeltacht starting the 27th. Gonna have to bring mah stuff with me :eek:

Thanks all!.

KnifeWRENCH

I did both Biology and Physics for my Leaving Cert. I'm going to disagree with the other posters and advise against switching (unless you really really want to do that college course that requires Biology)

The Biology course isn't overwhelmingly difficult, but it is one of the longest courses in the LC. It was the only course we didn't have covered by the exams.
Scarily, the course was so much longer a few years ago!!

I'd say you'd be better off sticking with Physics - at least you have some of that course done. I'd say it'd be easier to squeeze the rest of that course into one year than trying to do an entirely new course.

I do sympathise with you about the useless teacher - we had a bad teacher in 5th Year, who was replaced with another bad teacher in 6th Year But you say you like the subject, so you might be able to do a bit of the course on your own. If you think grinds might help then do that.

You've a few months left to decide - I'd say talk to as many people as you can who did both of/one of those subjects. Take a look over textbooks and past exams and try and determine which option is better for you.

strawberryfield

Hiya,

Tough going with the physic's teacher. That's really not a subject you can teach yourself. However!...Biology totally is. I went back to repeat my leaving cert this year after a couple of years out of the system. I chose 3 new subjects biology, ag science and business and I'll be hoping for high grades in all of them. In biology in particular you need to be smart about what your learning if you've only got one year.

I'd suggest you to get the biology book now (the green one with the DNA strands is best) and begin to get comfortable with it when you've got a couple of spurts of motivation. Find out what they've completed in your class and do your best to get a gist of them for september. If you're serious about a higher grade then try and go over the experiments this summer. They, although they're related to the chapters, can be learnt on their own and are worth at least 60/400 in your leaving cert paper.

Then if you're not too overwhelmed by all of that I'd go over the following chapters and try and get a grasp of them cause they really are the most important and are all, to a certain extent, linked...

• The cell structure
• Food (Its alway features as a really easy short question which is 20/400)
• Respiration (Not that hard if you go over and over and over it)
• Photosynethesis (Again not as hard if you stick at it)
• Enzymes (Very easy)
• Cell division (Sounds more comple than it is, its actually mainly learning definitions for mitosis, meiosis, haploid number, diploid number and then the process of mitosis...trust me when you get going all those words will make alot more sense)
• DNA and RNA (This will be tough to get going on but once you understand it, thats half the battle)

I think that'd be a really good basis for starting study, don't worry that much about it. Once you find a course you would love to do, study will be alot easier than you think. Ok, hope i didn't come across snobby or up my own ()(), I just had really really great teachers!