HL: Physics vs French (For someone crap at both?)

stainluss

Which of these would be easier to get a C2 or better in at HL(65 points+), for someone going into 6th year, who was bad at both in 5th (putting it nicely)?

Im trying to get just over 500, and i have 5 HL subjects, but it would take a bit of pressure off the others if i could 'move up' in one of these to replace my 6th best subject, OL Maths.

Physics really does scare the **** out of me:eek:-

Advice from people who have done these at LC??

Call Me Jimmy

Having not done physics I can only say that I think languages would be the least reliable subjects to aim for certain points if yer bad at them.

For something like physics, there are definitions, equations etc. and it would seem more straightforward to know what you have covered and how well you are doing. With something like french, I think it is harder to gauge your improvement and turn hours of study into marks in an exam.

brennaldo

i am in an almost exact same situation, im repeating 6th year and i wanna attempt both higher french and physics but il really need to work at them

i agree with jimmy. a language is too hard to predict and could backfire, were physics is a subject you can prepare like hell for.

english4490

have you thought about economics? its managable to do in a year and if you are anyway business inclined it could be easy to pull up your points? a friend took up economics the week before christmas in 6th year, and passed his pre and got a B in the lc!

stainluss

english4490 wrote: »

have you thought about economics? its managable to do in a year and if you are anyway business inclined it could be easy to pull up your points? a friend took up economics the week before christmas in 6th year, and passed his pre and got a B in the lc!

Funny you should mention!

I took it up two weeks ago, and im reading through rapid revision hoping to get a decent mark at hl for the leaving:)

It looks like a decent course alright! Good to hear about your friend, too makes me feel bit more confident about the whole thing:D

Tar.Aldarion

Physics because you can just learn by rote. You don't really need to understand much...

english4490

stainluss wrote: »

Funny you should mention!

I took it up two weeks ago, and im reading through rapid revision hoping to get a decent mark at hl for the leaving:)

It looks like a decent course alright! Good to hear about your friend, too makes me feel bit more confident about the whole thing:D

I got countless revision books and that was by far the best of them! that book and the guide at the front of the folens exam papers and a bit of common sense and i got an A1!

english4490

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Physics because you can just learn by rote. You don't really need to understand much...

there is a lot of rote learning, but people keep saying oh its simply just putting the formulae and subbing in figures but i found it terribly hard! gave up on the subject by the end of 6th year and and was happy to get a D3! personally i felt physics had a lot of learning and understanding of concepts, and a lot of it aint really simple common sense!

but i think most people on boards disagree with me! while nearly all my class would feel the same! maybe it was the bad teacher who left for 5 months before the LC!:rolleyes:

Idjit

If you are of a shy, stage-frighty kind of nature, french is a no-no. I did french and im quite shy. The oral exam was so frightening for me i was stumbling and sweating every which way before it and it caused an awful lot of stress. Stress that isnt necessary because it all comes right in the end. ...but LC students never hear that part until its over and done with. I dont know much about physics..except that it seemed a bit mathsy when i looked at the textbook.
So i guess the question you have to ask yourself is, have you got a logical, numbers orientated mind or have you always been sharper grasping words and meanings? If this is all about doing your best, you cant really ask anyone else, you have to work out which is right for you personally.

Michaelrsh

stainluss wrote: »

Which of these would be easier to get a C2 or better in at HL(65 points+), for someone going into 6th year, who was bad at both in 5th (putting it nicely)?

Im trying to get just over 500, and i have 5 HL subjects, but it would take a bit of pressure off the others if i could 'move up' in one of these to replace my 6th best subject, OL Maths.

Physics really does scare the **** out of me:eek:-

Advice from people who have done these at LC??

My advice is not to take Physics at all, it's all a load of theoretical bull**** that will not help you at all in your future life.

Dubs

Michaelrsh wrote: »

My advice is not to take Physics at all, it's all a load of theoretical bull**** that will not help you at all in your future life.

The same can be said for a lot of subjects, it depends what he wants to do in college though.

Physics is the kind of subject, in my opinion, where you can't just learn the stuff off, you actually have to understand it. It always comes up in questions where you have to change facts and figures around to find what your being asked for.

French can be quite a handy subject if you set your mind to it. Learn the vocab for common things around your house and in your everyday life, it will help soooooo much, particularly in the listening. Verbs too!! Then just try speaking it instead of english when your with people. You will get used to the accents and it will greatly help your oral.

Both take time, but if your not up doing both, stick with whichever one you like better and actually study it!!!! You will find it easier to learn if you like it so keep a positive mind about it.

sock puppet

Michaelrsh wrote: »

My advice is not to take Physics at all, it's all a load of theoretical bull**** that will not help you at all in your future life.

Yeah you're right. I wish they'd hurry up and invent electricity so we can put our knowledge to good use:mad:

.:FuZion:.

This kind of scenario happend to me in 5th / 6th year.. I loved Physics but I hated French.. My teacher in Physics never had any control over the class so I never paid much attention and thus didnt do well in the subject.. With French, I was just bad at it.. Got D's in both of em summer of fifth, and christmas of 6th and then the Pre's came.. I failed physics ( 38 % ) and got a D in French ( 48 % ).. I decided to put effort into physics with good notes I made and worked fairly hard for it alongside HL Maths ( The 2 were good subjects to study together I feel ).. Just before the Orals then I dropped to Pass french, the drop in standard is incredible.. It gave me more time for physics and made french non - existant.. All you have to do for physics is know the layout of the paper well, know your definitions, know your formulae and KNOW your experiments.. I didnt do anything with french til the night before the LC exam.. I was actually out of the exam by 10:20 and managed an A2, easy.. Physics kind of all came together a few weeks before the exam and I got a B1.. If you put your mind to it ( And you actually like Physics ) its not so hard to get a good grade.. It just looks hard..

Sorry for the essay.. :pac: Hope that helps ya anyways..

Michaelrsh

Go for physics. It's a lot easier to learn definitions and equations etc. than it is to gain a proficiency in a language. Physics isn't that bad once you get the hang of it, infact I would have called it one of my easier subjects: the course is very short in comparison to the other sciences, and you can gain a huge number of marks by just learning your experiments and definitions. 'tisn't as hard as people say.

Michaelrsh wrote: »

My advice is not to take Physics at all, it's all a load of theoretical bull**** that will not help you at all in your future life.

What a load of absolute rubbish.

.:FuZion:.

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

What a load of absolute rubbish.

Couldn't agree more. How did you do in Physics Jammy?

.:FuZion:.

.:FuZion:. wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. How did you do in Physics Jammy?

I got an A1 in the end, so perhaps I'm a bit biased! You'd a great improvement from your mocks, I see.

.:FuZion:.

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

I got an A1 in the end, so perhaps I'm a bit biased! You'd a great improvement from your mocks, I see.

Fair play Jammy! Thats an amazing result! I did ya, I think knowing the paper really helps alot, you actually know what ya have to do like. So I was happy with that.

Maths, A1 aswell?

amen

there is a lot of rote learning

everyone is saying this and Its a long time since I did LC Physics but I always found that if you liked the subject you didn;t have to learn it you sort of knew it as it made sense. That said you should be able to get a pass by using the formula and knowing some experiments

.:FuZion:.

.:FuZion:. wrote: »

Fair play Jammy! Thats an amazing result! I did ya, I think knowing the paper really helps alot, you actually know what ya have to do like. So I was happy with that.

Maths, A1 aswell?

No, unfortunately, I messed up a few parts of the paper, and now I've to make do with a B1. Ah well, could be worse.

.:FuZion:.

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

No, unfortunately, I messed up a few parts of the paper, and now I've to make do with a B1. Ah well, could be worse.

Stil a very impressive result! I know how ya feel thou, messed up a few parts aswell and got a B3.. At least I got the B, cant complain too much..

Well done again..

.:FuZion:.

.:FuZion:. wrote: »

Stil a very impressive result! I know how ya feel thou, messed up a few parts aswell and got a B3.. At least I got the B, cant complain too much..

Well done again..

A B is a B in my eyes! Thanks, well done to yourself as well.

.:FuZion:.

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

A B is a B in my eyes! Thanks, well done to yourself as well.

True, true.. Cheers Jammy..

The guy

If you do honours maths then you should be fine for Physics.

thedizzler

I'm language-y, so I'm biased I admit, but I have to go against the grain here! The French exam at Leaving Cert Higher Level is verrrry predictable. If you can write in three set formulas, learnt basically off by heart beforehand, you can do every written section for the past 15 years. The topical questions can throw you, but again, with pre-learnt responses (education has a role to play, etc.) you can work your way out of a sticky situation much easier than in a Physics paper. The same is true at the oral, if you've five topics well-prepared and good linking sentences, you're home-free.
That said, I agree with the earlier poster who mentioned nerves at the oral stage. If you know for sure you'll freak out, that' worth taking into consideration too. Don't stress yourself out more than necessary!
Best of luck either way.

poetryinmotion

If you do physics make sure you have higher level maths..Experiments in physics=easy marks.Know a few definitions and ur sorted.Got an A1 in HL maths so with a bit of theory the A1 in physics came no bother.Saying that i was useless at french(did ordinary level) but give me physics any day of the week.

And who says physics isn't predictible???? Most of the topics that were predicted came up this year.

Plus french tape is reallllllly hard and you have to put on that crap fake french accent for the orals

thedizzler

poetryinmotion wrote: »

Plus french tape is reallllllly hard and you have to put on that crap fake french accent for the orals

Eh, I believe you mean that deadly fake French accent!