Subject Help!!

Fhfm

Im nearly finished 5th year and have decided to drop either chemistry or applied maths.The problem is I cant decide which one to drop.
I know applied maths is easier but i only have 1 hour class a week and i feel that its not enough to do the honours paper.Also i find chemistry extrememly hard

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Holly91

Fhfm wrote: »

Im nearly finished 5th year and have decided to drop either chemistry or applied maths.The problem is I cant decide which one to drop.
I know applied maths is easier but i only have 1 hour class a week and i feel that its not enough to do the honours paper.Also i find chemistry extrememly hard

Any help would be greatly appreciated

ino i found chemistry really hard in 5th yr but i had a brilliant teacher and i would have to say it is one of my favourite subjects now....i brought my grade fail....summer test....to a b3 in my mocks....hoping with a bit more work to get an A in the real thing...i dont know what your teacher is like but tbh chemistry is ok if you contiously do exam papers and refer to marking schemes after you tried them...they can be really picky on certain things like!! just if your teacher is half decent and you work a little bit, chemistry wont be as tough as you think it is.....and as for applied maths i dont do it so i cant tell you which would better to drop....i just thought id let you know what i think about chemistry! sorry if im no help..:/
best of luck with deciding

Chuchoter

Only having the hour a week was the major contributing factor to my dropping Applied Maths, because I honestly think its too little time for a course that is not considerably smaller than any other course. In my own opinion its one of these things where unless you are already very good at it, you're not really going to get anywhere.

What parts of chemistry are you finding hard? My teacher is horrific this year and I've found literally just not listening to her at all to be the trick to it. Follow the book, make lots of notes and do all the questions in the book.

If its the theory part of the whole thing, check out this guy
http://www.youtube.com/user/bannanaiscool
He has loads and loads of American AP chemistry which is in effect LC chemistry and he is very good at explaining it very clearly.

To be honest, if I was going to pick one I'd pick chemistry, as it is an entry requirement for several courses, you have 5 classes a week and its a relatively short course.

partyatmygaff

Pick Chemistry. Applied maths is a nasty subject unless you're already excellent at maths.

Fhfm

Thanks for the quick replies you were all a really great help

One more thing i was wondering is if i would be completely crazy to take up geography in 6th year? ive heard its a very long course but that the exam itself isnt really hard..or would i be better sticking with the chem(I need 560 points and ive only ever got D's in chem)

In response to crayolaestro(i think) its mostly the organic chemistry and water that i have trouble with ...Ive had to start halfway through the course

PictureFrame

Fhfm wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies you were all a really great help

One more thing i was wondering is if i would be completely crazy to take up geography in 6th year? ive heard its a very long course but that the exam itself isnt really hard..or would i be better sticking with the chem(I need 560 points and ive only ever got D's in chem)

In response to crayolaestro(i think) its mostly the organic chemistry and water that i have trouble with ...Ive had to start halfway through the course

Hey there. I'm in 5th year and took up Economics after Christmas. I have done 12/20 Chapters so far and am flying the exam papers. I think it would be definitely possible to take up another subject but why not start now and work over the summer aswell?. I plan to have the Economics course finished by the end of the school year. Revise the whole course again over the summer with exam papers. The Revise the course again between September and the Mocks. Then I plan on Revising it at least once/twice more between the Mocks and the LC. That means i'll have done and revised the course at least 4 times before the LC and I only took it up after Christmas!

Chuchoter

Fhfm wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies you were all a really great help

One more thing i was wondering is if i would be completely crazy to take up geography in 6th year? ive heard its a very long course but that the exam itself isnt really hard..or would i be better sticking with the chem(I need 560 points and ive only ever got D's in chem)

In response to crayolaestro(i think) its mostly the organic chemistry and water that i have trouble with ...Ive had to start halfway through the course

Are you in one of those mixed 5th/6th year classes? They sounds impossible tbh, you could maybe try spending the summer doing the first half of the course. I can't imagine trying to do the second part of the course without having done the basics.

Geography could be a really good bet, it seems (don't want to seem offensive or anything) like an easy enough subject and everyone I know who does it seems to find it very interesting. What you could do is join the class now and say you will catch up on all the other 5th year work over the summer

Fhfm

Yes im in a mixed chemistry class.i do find it pretty tough especially when they're doing past papers and i have no idea whats going on
Geography might not be an option anymore because i wont be allowed to join the class until 6th year and they're starting the project after easter

The only other option is to drop chem and app maths and rely on the 6 subjects im taking for the points.only that would be a HUGE risk as my french is terrible,like failing pass terrible(although i am getting grinds)

Any ideas at all?

Chuchoter

Hmmm, could you try biology? Its interesting and pretty easy, just read the book. I wouldn't give up on Chem just yet. Or if you are reasonable at applied maths you would probably love Physics, most of the course is just maths.

Fhfm

i already do physics and business which i love... i just need another subject that would be good for points and not tooo hard

Crayaloestro i hate biology biology . i might just take your advice and stick with the chemistry( but im still not sure because the exam is reallly difficult)

partyatmygaff

Fhfm wrote: »

i already do physics and business which i love... i just need another subject that would be good for points and not tooo hard

Crayaloestro i hate biology biology . i might just take your advice and stick with the chemistry( but im still not sure because the exam is reallly difficult)

Chemistry can either be difficult or easy depending on how well you work. If you understand the basics and don't be lackadaisical with the basics then it will be very nice. If you are careless it will be nightmarish.

Chuchoter

Yeah but he's stuck having never done the basics because its a 5th and 6th year class, he's starting at the 6th year course.

Daire10

Geography is certainly the most interesting course but it is much longer than the chemistry course. It is still manageable if you pick it up now and maybe work on over the summer.
If you plan to stay with chemistry I recommend you never try and trawl through that long textbook when studying. For me, what always gets me top marks is by studying from:
Rapid Revision Chemistry
Exam Edge Chemistry (does out all qs and as from past chemistry papers by chapter)

partyatmygaff

Daire10 wrote: »

Geography is certainly the most interesting course but it is much longer than the chemistry course. It is still manageable if you pick it up now and maybe work on over the summer.
If you plan to stay with chemistry I recommend you never try and trawl through that long textbook when studying. For me, what always gets me top marks is by studying from:
Rapid Revision Chemistry
Exam Edge Chemistry (does out all qs and as from past chemistry papers by chapter)

I'd have to disagree with that. You may get a question that has never before been asked in a previous exam.

Last year people were asked to give the full name of EDTA. If you hadn't read the book you wouldn't have known it's ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

Daire10

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I'd have to disagree with that. You may get a question that has never before been asked in a previous exam.

Last year people were asked to give the full name of EDTA. If you hadn't read the book you wouldn't have known it's ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

Actually it says what EDTA stands for in Rapid Revision.

NotExactly

partyatmygaff wrote: »

it's ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

I hope you didn't get marked for spelling :eek:

partyatmygaff

Daire10 wrote: »

Actually it says what EDTA stands for in Rapid Revision.

I was talking about the book with exam questions and answers in it.

NotExactly wrote: »

I hope you didn't get marked for spelling :eek:

It's not that hard if you split it up...

Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid

NotExactly

partyatmygaff wrote: »

It's not that hard if you split it up...

Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid

Fair enough..:rolleyes:

Daire10

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I was talking about the book with exam questions and answers in it.

Sorry I might have been unclear. I meant I studied from both the revision book and then the exam edge not just exam edge. That's what always works

LilMissCiara

I would say Applied maths. Once you learn the methods (which are pretty easy) you can answer nearly any question.

I'd really recommend keeping up Applied Maths... Plus if you drop Chemistry you'll free up 5 or 6 classes in school per week!

Exothermic

On the topic of revision books I found the Essentials Unfolded one for Chemistry was a life saver. Picked it up at the start of this year and (along with hard work and plenty of practice) it's brought me up from being a C student who disliked the subject to a confident A student Essentials Unfolded by Peter Jackson (Celtic Press).
I think Chemistry is definitely a subject where you can majorly improve your grade. Work with your revision book and text book together. Make our your own notes on chapters and do exam papers galore. You'll see a massive improvement. Sometimes, it just takes patience with the topic till it clicks but keep at it!

Fhfm

Ugghhhh!!:mad: i cant decide

Thanks to everyone for their help though, i really appreciate it

AlanBr

Hi well ive just started applied maths now and considering last year nearly 30% of app maths students got As id defo stick with it...also l hour a week from the start of 5th year is loads of time for app maths plus you only need to know 6 qs in the leaving cert...with regards to geography i switched to the that subject and it's piss easy to understand but there is a lot of learning off required...Get a rapid revision chemistry book and gradually study it , write out notes to EVERYTHING you've done in 5th year and by 6th year you'll see everything will become easier.All in all i think you should keep those subjects and if needs be get a grind in them if you're not confident in your ability

EuropeanSon

Do Applied Maths. It's the answer to everything. (see what I did there?)

Seriously, though, the course IS very short, but pretty difficult. If you are good at Maths it should be easy enough to do reasonably well..