Honours Maths-Yes or No?

Indestructable

Hi,
The advice of present and past Leaving Certs. is very much appreciated.

I am currently doing 8 subjects at honours level- English, Irish, French, Maths, Biology, Ag. Science, Chemistry and Geography

I am aiming for around 510 points in the Leaving. I got 500 in the Mocks.

I failed honours Maths with 39%
The teacher is now looking to take us for 2 free study classes I have on Thursday mornings and use them solely for Maths.

My question is this: would it be worth my time and effort keeping on honours??

Thanks for your advice

AirBiscuit

Indestructable wrote: »

Hi,
The advice of present and past Leaving Certs. is very much appreciated.

I am currently doing 8 subjects at honours level- English, Irish, French, Maths, Biology, Ag. Science, Chemistry and Geography

I am aiming for around 510 points in the Leaving. I got 500 in the Mocks.

I failed honours Maths with 39%
The teacher is now looking to take us for 2 free study classes I have on Thursday mornings and use them solely for Maths.

My question is this: would it be worth my time and effort keeping on honours??

Thanks for your advice

It's your 6 best that count. I would say to go down to pass as it will free up a lot of your time, and you would get points for the equivalent of an honours fail at pass.

But this is a biased opinion, as I'm about to drop to pass anyways.

Rodin

You're either good at maths or you're not. It's an innate ability.
Looks like you don't have it. Drop down.

partyatmygaff

At 39% you're pretty much at a pass mark. With a bit of work you can easily get a D or even a C of some sort.

theowen

Depends what course your planning on doing really. If you're thinking mathsy type stuff, obviously keep it up. Otherwise honours maths is quite useless. Think of the extra time you'd have for your other subjects if you dropped down to ordinary...

Chuchoter

Just look through the ordinary course first, I've heard from people its a very different course and you might not have done parts of it.

If you think it looks grand, I'd drop and use that extra time to bring yourself up a bit in another subject

Aoifey!

Unless you're doing a course that will involve Maths, I'd drop down. Judging by those points you're doing well in all your other subjects so you won't be looking for those 50 points you could get for Maths, and you'll have more time to concentrate on things you will need the points from.

jumpguy

Indestructable wrote: »

Hi,
The advice of present and past Leaving Certs. is very much appreciated.

I am currently doing 8 subjects at honours level- English, Irish, French, Maths, Biology, Ag. Science, Chemistry and Geography

I am aiming for around 510 points in the Leaving. I got 500 in the Mocks.

I failed honours Maths with 39%
The teacher is now looking to take us for 2 free study classes I have on Thursday mornings and use them solely for Maths.

My question is this: would it be worth my time and effort keeping on honours??

Thanks for your advice

Unless you NEED honours maths for the course that you want to do, I'd drop down. However, if you do want to do a course that requires honours maths, you must seriously consider if you'd manage the course - as the maths demand of the course is probably quite intensive (for example, engineering or computer science).

With 7 other honours subjects, and if I didn't need HL maths for my course, I'd drop down to pass.

J_E

HL Maths is very intense and very frustrating if you haven't got a natural aptitude for it. If you can get the points elsewhere don't give yourself more stress than is necessary.

Unless you need honours maths, I wouldnt advise it.

Honours maths takes up far too much time and effort,
and if you were to drop down to ordinary. . it would leave
you with more time to spend focusing on your other subjects.

EuropeanSon

Rodin wrote: »

You're either good at maths or you're not. It's an innate ability.
Looks like you don't have it. Drop down.

Wholly incorrect. Like anything, being more talented will make it easier for you, but saying it's just "an innate ability" is an excuse used by people who aren't willing to put in the work as to why they aren't succeeding.

I have given grinds to students who went from Es and Fs to Bs and Cs, just by putting in a bit more work and approaching questions in the right way.

Noo

How much can you rely on doing well in all your other subjects? Theres always a chance a couple of papers might not go your way on the day. Of course you're doing 8 subjects so you're in a better position than those with 7.

Pass maths is not easy in that theres stuff on the course that is not on the honours course that you'll have to learn new, remember a C3 in honours is the same points as a A1 in pass. You are more likely to get a C in honours than an A1 in pass, just put the effort into areas of honours that you can improve on (pick certain topics that always come up) as you'll still need to put the time and effort into learning parts of the pass course.

I went through the same dilemma when i did the LC with Irish, i was the worst in the class, failed my mocks oral and aural spectacularly, but i used the reasoning that I'm capable of a C in honours but not a A1 in pass...and sure it'll be the subject i dont count. In the end i got a C1 and thank everyday i stuck with it...in the end i did worse in french and needed to use the irish points. Got 515, so on the same academic level you're aiming for.

BOHtox

In the leaving cert they'd move that up to a D

GV_NRG

dont forget, if you fail maths, you fail the WHOLE leaving!! that isnt a misprint, you really do FAIL the WHOLE leaving if you fail maths.

Chuchoter

GV_NRG wrote: »

dont forget, if you fail maths, you fail the WHOLE leaving!! that isnt a misprint, you really do FAIL the WHOLE leaving if you fail maths.

No, you really don't:rolleyes: Just a few entry requirements.

Digits

crayolastereo wrote: »

No, you really don't:rolleyes: Just a few entry requirements.

Yeah practically all of them.

partyatmygaff

GV_NRG wrote: »

dont forget, if you fail maths, you fail the WHOLE leaving!! that isnt a misprint, you really do FAIL the WHOLE leaving if you fail maths.

This isn't sound advice.


Better advice would be that you need at the very minimum an OD3 in English, Maths, Irish and in some cases a foreign language in order to meet the matriculation requirements of most universities.

elefant

I did 8 subjects aswell, and I took pass maths because honours maths took up way too much time, and I had no need for maths (also I wasn't much good at it).

Pass maths was simple. I'm not sure I even bought the book for it. Basically it's honours junior cert with a few extra bits and pieces.

I got 560 points and my lowest result was a b2, which was in pass maths. If you don't need honours maths I'd advise you to drop to pass.

Indestructable

Thank you all for your replies. Some very sound advice there

I don't need Honours Maths as an entry requirement for my first choice and I don't think Maths is a huge part of the course.