Aiming for 625 points? (600+25 from maths)

sdiff

I'm wondering what the best way of going about this is. I'm a very mathematical person and am interested in economics so I have Maths, Applied maths, Economics, Physics, and Chemistry which I will be able to get an A1 in with enough work. I'm doing ordinary level Irish so forget that. Then the only other two are english and german.
I'm not very good at languages so I'd be worried that this'd be a risk. I'm just after finishing 5th year at the institute so I can take up another subject for sixth year if needed. I'm thinking accounting maybe? Would the workload be too big and should I just try get an A1 in english or German?

GoldFour4

Your aiming for 600 points, 625 doesn't exist. Your going to need to start studying in september especially in your lasnguages. Try reading as many books as you can over summer, it will really help with eng. Paper 1.

Bbbbolger

Does the new bonus points for Maths not increase the available total to 625?

dambarude

Roughly what points do you actually need?

Do as much work as you can, but don't burn yourself out, it won't be worth it. LC points are forgotten much quicker than fifth or sixth years would believe.

AFAIK, it will be possible to get 625 points from next year on.

PictureFrame

sdiff wrote: »

I'm wondering what the best way of going about this is. I'm a very mathematical person and am interested in economics so I have Maths, Applied maths, Economics, Physics, and Chemistry which I will be able to get an A1 in with enough work. I'm doing ordinary level Irish so forget that. Then the only other two are english and german.
I'm not very good at languages so I'd be worried that this'd be a risk. I'm just after finishing 5th year at the institute so I can take up another subject for sixth year if needed. I'm thinking accounting maybe? Would the workload be too big and should I just try get an A1 in english or German?

Do you realise how difficult it is to obtain an A1 an any subject?.

sdiff

Malachy - I'm going for six A1s. So Be that 600 or 625... Maths now awards up to 125 points so I think 625 is possible.
Dambarude - At the moment I'm looking at either Maths and Economics TSM in trinity (I think its 540 but it's hard to find the individual points requirements for each TSM combo.) or Actuarial studies in UCD (570). Either way its alot and will probably go up what with maths going up. And getting full points has to look good on a CV right?

sdiff

PictureFrame wrote: »

Do you realise how difficult it is to obtain an A1 an any subject?.

Yes but with study+aptitude you can get alot of A1s. It's not impossible.

DaveMur1

600 points is still the maximum, bonus points for maths is a scheme that has been agreed with the universaties in Ireland. By the logic of just apply extra points to a total, would mean a person going to UL this year could say they achieved much higher than they actually have. Points based grants and scholarships next year will also not include an extra 25 points for maths. The extra points are purely based on admissions into colleges.
Also, don't pick up accounting for sixth year it's much more time consuming then business/geog/or/ag science , economics also links in well with business.

Mr.Fun

So for instance if I got 605 points that would be brought back down to 600 points?
I dont fully understand.

Accounting in one year is possible but hugely time consuming.

scotty_irish

if you're mathematically minded, A1s are easy in maths, applied maths, physics, chemistry. languages are all logic just like maths - learn and understand a set of rules (granted not as strict as mathematical ones unfortunately - some nasty irregulars out there), so languages are worth doing. (french is way easier than german, spanish ain't too bad - certainly possible to get to an A1 standard in a year if you're committed). so one language. that's five A1s. geography - i could teach that to a monkey - if you're on for getting A1s in maths etc, A1 is geography will be píss easy. that's 6. BOOM!

BrendaN_f

he's right, 625 is the new maximum

dambarude

While the bonus maths points might not apply for other schemes (I don't really know), they will mean that you can have more than 600 points as your score for ranking by the CAO.

When I did my LC in 08 I got an A1 in HL Maths and 600 points. A slip from the CAO said that I had 640 points for my application for a course in UL (they have always give bonus points) but 600 points for the rest of my courses in other colleges (which didn't give bonus points).

Desire.

scotty_irish wrote: »

if you're mathematically minded, A1s are easy in maths, applied maths, physics, chemistry. languages are all logic just like maths - learn and understand a set of rules (granted not as strict as mathematical ones unfortunately - some nasty irregulars out there), so languages are worth doing. (french is way easier than german, spanish ain't too bad - certainly possible to get to an A1 standard in a year if you're committed). so one language. that's five A1s. geography - i could teach that to a monkey - if you're on for getting A1s in maths etc, A1 is geography will be píss easy. that's 6. BOOM!

Vastly overestimating how easy it is to get an A1.

teenagedream

sdiff wrote: »

I'm wondering what the best way of going about this is. I'm a very mathematical person and am interested in economics so I have Maths, Applied maths, Economics, Physics, and Chemistry which I will be able to get an A1 in with enough work. I'm doing ordinary level Irish so forget that. Then the only other two are english and german.
I'm not very good at languages so I'd be worried that this'd be a risk. I'm just after finishing 5th year at the institute so I can take up another subject for sixth year if needed. I'm thinking accounting maybe? Would the workload be too big and should I just try get an A1 in english or German?

Honestly, don't pick up another subject. You don't need it just please don't do it. I had seven higher level subjects and if I was doing it again I'd have dropped to pass in either maths or irish. I kept on honours maths because I needed it for my course and irish because I had a fear of dropping it and then wanting to be a primary school teacher. Which was ridiculous, I hate kids and they hate me. You do not need another subject. You cannot count more than 6. I sat all my exams at higher level because I'd worked myself into the ground for those 7 subjects and I wasn't going to waste 2 years of work. I had 9 subjects at the start of 6th year, and I could not be more delighted to have dropped to 7. I only wished I'd dropped to ordinary level in one of them. My advice is if you really don't gel well with languages then drop to ordinary german and concentrate on your 6 subjects. It'll save you a lot of hassle in the long run. And it's never going to be easy to get an A1 so don't listen to anybody who says you can get an A1 in accounting but not English.

jumpguy

Tbh, in my mind you should play to your strenghts to get 600, and if there's no way you'll improve your English or German (although German is easily improvable IMO) you need to do another subject that you can get an A1 in, as far as I see it. If the workload gets too high, drop to OL in a subject you're weak at (i.e. one you won't get an A1 in).

You really need to play the points game for 600 tbh.

martineatworld

Although I agree with the route that's being recommended with being the best for 600 points, it's a shame the system doesn't put an emphasis on another language instead of maths imo.

AdamD

The system does, you have always needed 3 languages to get into uni.

teenagedream

AdamD wrote: »

The system does, you have always needed 3 languages to get into uni.

Not true. Trinity doesn't require a third language, neither does DCU or most IT's.

randylonghorn

AdamD wrote: »

The system does, you have always needed 3 languages to get into uni.

That used to be more true than it has been for the last few years.

Geo10

scotty_irish wrote: »

if you're mathematically minded, A1s are easy in maths, applied maths, physics, chemistry. languages are all logic just like maths - learn and understand a set of rules (granted not as strict as mathematical ones unfortunately - some nasty irregulars out there), so languages are worth doing. (french is way easier than german, spanish ain't too bad - certainly possible to get to an A1 standard in a year if you're committed). so one language. that's five A1s. geography - i could teach that to a monkey - if you're on for getting A1s in maths etc, A1 is geography will be píss easy. that's 6. BOOM!

How do you know? Did you do both? Everyone I know who did both for Junior Cert dropped French for the leaving and kept German. According to them German is much easier. I can see why.. English is a Germanic language (originates from German) unlike French which is in another language category. That's why German vocabulary is so easy... it's very much like English and the grammar is very systematic. Also statistically it's easier to do better in German and it has a much lower fail rate than French.

Geography has one of the lowest A1 rates at around 3% I believe. Did you actually do this subject? So many in my class struggle with it and it's a very big course. Although I love it, it is not easy (like any other LC subject). Many of my friends say it is their most difficult subject.

scotty_irish

Geo10 wrote: »

How do you know? Did you do both? Everyone I know who did both for Junior Cert dropped French for the leaving and kept German. According to them German is much easier. I can see why.. English is a Germanic language (originates from German) unlike French which is in another language category. That's why German vocabulary is so easy... it's very much like English and the grammar is very systematic. Also statistically it's easier to do better in German and it has a much lower fail rate than French.

Geography has one of the lowest A1 rates at around 3% I believe. Did you actually do this subject? So many in my class struggle with it and it's a very big course. Although I love it, it is not easy (like any other LC subject). Many of my friends say it is their most difficult subject.

i did both for JC, german grammer is much more complicated, pronunciation much harder and in general a harder language. don't even attempt to say german grammer is easy, far from it. look at the difference in standard in people just finished the JC in the two languages, i had a reasonable level of french, couldn't string a sentence in german (As in both). and we're not talking about the lower end of the scale here with failing, the OP clearly doesn't intend on being anywhere near this.

i did geography and took me 100 easy points. i did it in 2005, maybe there's been some massive changes to the course, although i believe the LCs being getting easier every year.

mrboswell

Desire. wrote: »

Vastly overestimating how easy it is to get an A1.

Well said Desire.

There seems to be a lot of "high fiving" going on about how easy it is.

No matter how hard you work or how good a student you are you still need a bit of luck on the day.

Anyone that I know who got an A1 (in various subjects) were excellent students from 1st year and didn't have to decide that they were going to get an A1...

Geo10

scotty_irish wrote: »

i did both for JC, german grammer is much more complicated, pronunciation much harder and in general a harder language. don't even attempt to say german grammer is easy, far from it. look at the difference in standard in people just finished the JC in the two languages, i had a reasonable level of french, couldn't string a sentence in german (As in both). and we're not talking about the lower end of the scale here with failing, the OP clearly doesn't intend on being anywhere near this.

i did geography and took me 100 easy points. i did it in 2005, maybe there's been some massive changes to the course, although i believe the LCs being getting easier every year.

Yes the course has changed drastically since 2005. My teacher said it was easy before 2006 as it was a really short and predictable course. BTW, I don't speak French but do speak Irish, German and Spanish. Out if the three German grammar is definitely the easiest. Really easy once you sit down and learn a few rules.:)

MathsManiac

In 2010, 136 people got 600 points. That's 1 out of every 400 applicants.

Some of those people will have got an A1 in Maths and others won't. So, the proportion of people getting the 2012 maximum of 625 will probably be a little bit lower than that.

Call Me Lia

sdiff wrote: »

I'm wondering what the best way of going about this is. I'm a very mathematical person and am interested in economics so I have Maths, Applied maths, Economics, Physics, and Chemistry which I will be able to get an A1 in with enough work. I'm doing ordinary level Irish so forget that. Then the only other two are english and german.
I'm not very good at languages so I'd be worried that this'd be a risk. I'm just after finishing 5th year at the institute so I can take up another subject for sixth year if needed. I'm thinking accounting maybe? Would the workload be too big and should I just try get an A1 in english or German?

I'm going into 6th year also, and I'm doing Applied Maths, Accounting, Physics, Chemistry, French. In my opinion so far, Accounting can take up quite a bit of time like everyone has been saying. The actual figuring out how to do each account can vary from about half an hour to a few hours, and even then can be rote learnt off (not a good idea), but thats not enough for the Leaving. To do well, you have to improve on timing and accuracy, as I find that's what lets me down. Your times for each account have to be on the dot in the actual exam so much so that that requires a lot of regular practice. And contrary to what one might think, there is some theory involved, just one or two qs after most accounts (which adds up to quite a bit in the end), and for that the whole account has to be very well understood (that's why it's a bad idea to rote learn everything). But I think it CAN be done in one year if you really want it. Plus it can be very relaxing and a break from actual thinking because it gets very repetitive

This is just my opinion of everything so far bearing in mind that I'm only going into 6th year in September like you.
Now would you care to tell me if I should take economics as an extra subject for 6th year? I really wanted to study it in school because I loved it for the Junior Cert but there wasn't enough places available. I'm in the same boat as you with the languages.

sdiff

Call Me Lia wrote: »

I'm going into 6th year also, and I'm doing Applied Maths, Accounting, Physics, Chemistry, French. In my opinion so far, Accounting can take up quite a bit of time like everyone has been saying. The actual figuring out how to do each account can vary from about half an hour to a few hours, and even then can be rote learnt off (not a good idea), but thats not enough for the Leaving. To do well, you have to improve on timing and accuracy, as I find that's what lets me down. Your times for each account have to be on the dot in the actual exam so much so that that requires a lot of regular practice. And contrary to what one might think, there is some theory involved, just one or two qs after most accounts (which adds up to quite a bit in the end), and for that the whole account has to be very well understood (that's why it's a bad idea to rote learn everything). But I think it CAN be done in one year if you really want it. Plus it can be very relaxing and a break from actual thinking because it gets very repetitive

This is just my opinion of everything so far bearing in mind that I'm only going into 6th year in September like you.
Now would you care to tell me if I should take economics as an extra subject for 6th year? I really wanted to study it in school because I loved it for the Junior Cert but there wasn't enough places available. I'm in the same boat as you with the languages.

Well it depends. What school are you going into? if it's a good school that will cover the course in sixth year then yeah go for it. It's actually a very easy subject. Even more so if you're interested in economics as I am. Myself and someone else in the class when we'd be doing something really trivial at the start of the year like drawing a graph "this is the hardest part of all of economics, pay attention" :pac: So it's a pretty easy subject. As for learning it on your own, hmm. If you started during the summer and if you could dedicate a few hours each day I'm sure you'[d have no difficulty. As I said it's an easy subject. Probably the easiest that I'm doing.

Cakes.

Does the extra 25 points for Higher Maths not only go to those who get below a C or something around that ?

I remember a teacher telling us that the max would still be 600 and if you get an A1 you still only get 100 points not 125.

Call Me Lia

sdiff wrote: »

Well it depends. What school are you going into? if it's a good school that will cover the course in sixth year then yeah go for it. It's actually a very easy subject. Even more so if you're interested in economics as I am. Myself and someone else in the class when we'd be doing something really trivial at the start of the year like drawing a graph "this is the hardest part of all of economics, pay attention" :pac: So it's a pretty easy subject. As for learning it on your own, hmm. If you started during the summer and if you could dedicate a few hours each day I'm sure you'[d have no difficulty. As I said it's an easy subject. Probably the easiest that I'm doing.

I would have to learn it myself because I'm not moving school Might give it a shot now that I've got some time and I'll see after that :cool: You going to try accounting?

sdiff

Call Me Lia wrote: »

I would have to learn it myself because I'm not moving school Might give it a shot now that I've got some time and I'll see after that :cool: You going to try accounting?

Not sure, It seems it's a big workload and I think it'd be easier to just work harder for the German. What school are you in out of curiosity? Doing applied maths in school?

Belmono

Geo10 wrote: »

How do you know? Did you do both? Everyone I know who did both for Junior Cert dropped French for the leaving and kept German. According to them German is much easier. I can see why.. English is a Germanic language (originates from German) unlike French which is in another language category. That's why German vocabulary is so easy... it's very much like English and the grammar is very systematic. Also statistically it's easier to do better in German and it has a much lower fail rate than French.

Geography has one of the lowest A1 rates at around 3% I believe. Did you actually do this subject? So many in my class struggle with it and it's a very big course. Although I love it, it is not easy (like any other LC subject). Many of my friends say it is their most difficult subject.

Just a friendly word of caution regarding anybody wanting to make a decision on choosing a language for Leaving Cert. First off, English is a Germanic language, but that (a) does not mean it originates from German (they share a common ancestral language, which is usually referred to as Proto-Germanic, a hypothetical language based on studying English, German, Dutch and a whole host of other Germanic languages and (b) does not necessarily make it easier to learn than, say, a language like French. This is not to undermine Geo10's success with learning German, but more a cautionary word for anyone assuming that German is necessarily easier than French because it is categorised by linguists as being part of the same language family. In fact, because of the various waves of influence of French throughout the history of the English language, there is a lot of vocabulary borrowed into English from French, making it look perhaps, to the untrained/innocent eye, that English is more 'related' to French because of the shared vocabulary (religious and administrative language, for example).
On another note, I'd also caution against using the LC stats published when the results are released in August as a reliable indicator of how 'easy' a subject is. As much fewer students take up German compared to French, it is difficult to come to any really valid conclusions about how easy/difficult learning foreign languages is. Neither is the failure rate for languages a suitable measure of the relative ease with which you can learn a language.

Call Me Lia

sdiff wrote: »

Call Me Lia wrote: »

I would have to learn it myself because I'm not moving school Might give it a shot now that I've got some time and I'll see after that :cool: You going to try accounting?

Not sure, It seems it's a big workload and I think it'd be easier to just work harder for the German. What school are you in out of curiosity? Doing applied maths in school?

It's a school in Lucan Co. Dublin and sort of to the Applied maths question. A group of us do it before and after school with our physics teacher. You're in the institute lucky... Love to go there What school were you in before it? :P