Subject Choice

Mayo1

Hi guys,
I'm in Junior Cert and have to pick my Leaving Cert subjects soon. I want to do medicine, so if I do all 3 science subjects(physics, biology and chemistry) I only have to do 5 years of medicine in nuig. But i'm not sure about physics-is it really hard? I am not too gone on it, but i like and am very good at maths, so i would try my best at it anyway.....
These are the subjects ive picked so far:

Irish
English
Maths
French
Biology
Chemistry
Geography

and these are the ones i'm not sure about-i need to shoose ione of them:

Accounting
Business
Economics
Physics
History

Also, my school only does 7 subjects,so i will have to go outside the school for one of the other 5 i have listed. I live in Galway City-does anyone know what places I can go to to do this extra subject?

So, my questions are:
Is physics really hard?
What is history, economics, business, physics and accounting like?
What centres in galway provide tuition for an extra subject?
Also, is maths higher level hard?

Thanks very much!!

Des23

I'm from cork, so I can't help on the Galway front..but

Physics is not hard, well no more so than any other subject. Personally I don't understand the stigma which is attatched to it. A bit of mathematical aptitude will definitely help but is certainly essential. I don't have a fantastic teacher but it would be the subject of which I would be most confident in. I do chemistry aswell and I would think they are pretty even in terms of difficulty.
There is also a decent bit of crossover when you do both subjects in tandem.

While higher level Maths certainly easy I wouldn't say that it is impossible provided you understand what you are doing and put in the work.

Hope that helped.

irishmonkey

Economics is lovely

Im doing my LC in 6 weeks, and only picked it up in April.
If you did Business for the JC, it should be quite doable.

If you're doing an extra subject outside school, try Physics.
If you find it too difficult, you can always either switch to Economics/Business/Accounting during 5th year, or at the start of 6th.
(its very possible to do a subject in 1 year - or less in my case :P )

Good Luck

Dante

History involves a load of learning and nothing else. If you're prepared to put in the work and learn 4 books worth of mostly boring information then do history! History was my favorite subject for junior cert and I got an A in it, but now I hate it due to the horribly broad course and the boring aspects of Irish politics(2 whole books!) I'd be lucky to get a B now I do have a big interest in some parts of the course but it is only a minority.

english4490

Physics: i find this my most difficult subject by a mile. i got an A in the jc in science, and a B in maths (h) but i find it horribly hard and a pretty good standard of maths is required. i am doing pass maths now for the LC and would be an A2/B1 standard and find the maths in physics very hard as do most of my classmates. if you do applied maths this should not be a problem.

History: this is a very long course, and i would only recommend it for points building if you greatly enjoy history, currant affairs and politics. i love history and even woth the long course it is not a bother because i love it so much and if you have an interest it does not matter how long the course is becasue you will revise it very easy if you like it. and it is very different to JC history.

Economics: along with history this is my favourite subject, i enjoy it, and an interest in currant affairs will be a bonous but i wouldn't say a requirement. the choice in the exam is great, 8 questions answer any 4. and you can have it all prepared and almost have each question you are going to do picked before the exam. as said above maths is not my strong part and the maths in economics is very basic, and as long as you have a logical mind you will be fine!

As a 6th year my biggest advice to you would be to do subjects you enjoy and think you will do best in. yes cover your entry requirements, but there is no point doing science subjects and struggle at them in LC just to have every option open, you will have a bit of an idea as to what direction you want to go in most likely, as in businessy artsy law, or medicine sciencey etc.. i understand you wont know what you want to do right now but if you do you are lucky!
Really do subjects you enjoy and studying them is so much easier... i need to study and work at physics so much but i leave it to last because i hate it.. history or economics its easy sit down and revise something you like!:rolleyes: hope this helps!

Piste

As much as this goes against the entire idea of eudcation: if you want medicine, do subjects you can do well in, not necessarily ones you think will be interesting.

By all means pick subjects your interested in, but make sure they're suited to your strengths. Do you have to do 8 subjects? If you only do 7 you can concentrate on them more. That said, there's nothing wrong with doing 8 subjects for the points, I'm doing music for points. You have a good mix of subjects chosen. For a lot of colleges Geography counts as a science so you mightn't need physics, but I don't know what the NUIG requirements are so I can't say for sure.

Out of the second list you have there I think Economics would be the best. Apparently it's a very short course so you'd have it finished quickly leaving plenty of time for revision.

gemxpink

I'm in 5th year right now but I did Physics from September-January until I dropped it (and took up another subject) in February. I find personally that its really hard and if you don't get it from the start its really hard to catch up. I haven't missed a day of school this year so its not like the reason I was behind was because I was out but I'd advise you to revise what you've done every night.

As for business and accounting, accounting is handy if you've done well in Biz in the JC. There's a lot of learning to be done in business plus the applied business questions require you to write a couple of pages of analysis and if you haven't covered that topic/don't know it that well you'll lose a load of marks. I'd be inclined to pick accounting over business if you're really into accounting and know your stuff, accounting is probably easier than business.

Higher level maths is difficult if you don't revise it. You've got to keep it fresh in your head and do one or two sums a week of each question you've covered.

I don't do economics but a few friends do and they say its easier than business but harder than accounting.

Best advice is check out examinations.ie and look through the 2008 papers for the subjects you're considering and see which ones look more doable right now for you, i.e. if you think you'd never be able to write a huge paper on the business structure of a business etc.

Whatever you do don't base it on how good you are at the subject in the JC, the LC courses are so much different and harder that just because you're good at it in the JC doesn't mean you'll be good at it in the LC.

Also these might be useful http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055046797 and http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055488509

Good luck choosing!

soccymonster

One question.. Is chemistry hard? Because i put it down as one of the subjects i want to do for da LC but now people are asking why i picked it as its very hard.. So everytime someone says it, i just think to myself 'omg what have i done!' am i crazy? i love science to bits (well for the JC anyways) but ive had lik 6 or 7 people question my choice..

Corkfeen

I think business is easier than economics but both of them are relatively easy tbh. Business is common sense alot of the time and economics is more on the theory side of things.

pathway33

Mayo1 wrote: »

Is physics really hard?
What is history, economics, business, physics and accounting like?
Also, is maths higher level hard?

check out the past papers on www.examinations.ie and see if that throws any light on it. They will probably scare the bejayzuz out of ya but shu in for a penny in for a pound

bythewoods

soccymonster wrote: »

One question.. Is chemistry hard? Because i put it down as one of the subjects i want to do for da LC but now people are asking why i picked it as its very hard.. So everytime someone says it, i just think to myself 'omg what have i done!' am i crazy? i love science to bits (well for the JC anyways) but ive had lik 6 or 7 people question my choice..

It depends.
I do it, and I don't think it's all that difficult. A little tedious in parts, perhaps. But not all that difficult.
Some questions are very easy to master.

If you like the chemistry section of science at JC then go for it.
Do it if YOU want.. it opens you up to a good few courses at 3rd level too as well, like Medicine, Dentistry, etc.

I would say though, that in terms of getting points, I think Biology's a lot easier. But that's just my opinion.

marblesolutions

soccymonster wrote: »

One question.. Is chemistry hard? Because i put it down as one of the subjects i want to do for da LC but now people are asking why i picked it as its very hard.. So everytime someone says it, i just think to myself 'omg what have i done!' am i crazy? i love science to bits (well for the JC anyways) but ive had lik 6 or 7 people question my choice..

Chemisy is far more interesting than any of the other science subjects, so stick with it. You will probley find it difficult at first but stick with it it does get easier. The questions are very predictable in the LC and remember 20% of students will get an A at the higher level paper, so it can't be that hard , can it ?

SligoBrewer

The guy wants to do med. You'd be shooting yourself in the foot if you didn't do it in fairness.

waheyyy

Im in 5th year and hope to do med, i'm doing the 3 sciences and physics is definitely my least favourite.. it's not necessarily that hard it's just a lot of the stuff we learn doesn't particularly interest me... but if you're prepared to learn off a lot of formulas and definitions it's fine. also i don't know why but it seems there are way more experiments in physics than the other two.. maybe cos they're tedious (for me).
i'd reckon chemistry is the hardest, but i like it a lot so it's grand. just most people in the class consider it really hard. i don't know if this is true for other schools but my chemistry class is really intense compared to my other subjects; everyone (mostly) tries in it and wants to do well. and the chem class is packed with like the smartest people in my year.
i like bio a lot too, i think it's pretty straightforward compared with the other 2. i'd say it's the easiest of the 3 (for me)