Why do people do 8+ subjects?

AdamD

Especially when they're all Higher Level.

I can understand 6 HL 2 OL but after that it just seems like a waste of time and an unnecessary risk of doing worse in your best 6 subjects due to putting extra time into the others.

I guess the question is really: Why do people do more than 7 HL subjects?

MegGustaa

As well as Maths, English and Irish, I'm doing:

• French
• Japanese
• Music
• History
• Biology
• Applied Maths

A grand total of nine subjects. I just couldn't decided which to drop! Honestly, I'm taking Music because I like it, not for points (it'd be great to get an A in it though). Japanese is purely because I love languages, it's a fascinating language and it's one of the few you can pick up in Fifth Year from scratch (I was considering also picking up Spanish because I know the basics, but I didn't have space in my timetable!). I'm taking Biology because I won the Biology section of the Irish EU Science Olympiad and know half the course already (taught myself out of the book). Applied Maths is an elective 8th in my school and it looks interesting, so why not?

Basically, I'm not really trying to play the points game. I'm more concerned with learning, having a broad range of subjects (two languages, two humanities, two sciences in my options) and liking my subjects. That's the key to success, for me anyway. I'm really interested in all of my options, as well as my core subjects. I enjoy learning, as weird as that sounds. It's also nice to know I have three extra subjects to cushion my points at the end of it!

But I can see why some people think it's insane.

LittleMissLost

Not a clue. Istarted off in 5th year with 7HL + LCVP and in 6th year I dropped to pass maths and focused on my 6 honours.

Maybe its the bragging rites they get from doing more than 6/7 honours but I can't understand why anyone would do it, unless for UK/US universities.

Most people know their weakest subject and I knew that although maths was not my worst I was spending a lot of time on it and dropping was definitely the right decision to make.

It's a total waste of time doing 8/9 HL subjects IMO

AdamD

In terms of needing them for the UK I know 2 people who got offers from Oxbridge on 7 subjects

MegGustaa

LittleMissLost wrote: »

It's a total waste of time doing 8/9 HL subjects IMO

It's a waste in terms of the points race, but in the long term I think taking extra subjects is worthwhile. The only one I'm doing outside school is Japanese, and I'm sure it'll benefit me at some point to have a grounding in another language.

It'd be great to get 9 A1s and be in the paper and all but that's not why I'm doing it (it's highly unlikely, let's face it). For me - and my friend who's also taking 9 subjects - it's for the love of learning.

muboop1

If you can, its a great thing for your CV or to get big colleges to note you.

But for average Joe, it can depend on a lot. What if for example you were utterly rubbish at English, Irish and Maths? So you wanted 6 "good" subjects? Well that's 9! For many its circumstantial like I described, for many its a challenge.

I'll ask you this, if you could would you not? If I could have gotten 9A1's, I damn well would have done it! Scholarships etc...

LittleMissLost

MegGustaa wrote: »

It's a waste in terms of the points race, but in the long term I think taking extra subjects is worthwhile. The only one I'm doing outside school is Japanese, and I'm sure it'll benefit me at some point to have a grounding in another language.

It'd be great to get 9 A1s and be in the paper and all but that's not why I'm doing it (it's highly unlikely, let's face it). For me - and my friend who's also taking 9 subjects - it's for the love of learning.

Fair play to you. If you're doing subjects for the genuine love for them and not for points then good on you. What I'm trying to say is that in reality most people ARE in it to win it in terms of points and therefore more then 6/7 subjects at HL would be a waste of time for them.

ClaireMarie

For a lot of people, maths and Irish aren't their thing. In my year, the amount doing honours Irish and maths was very small.
So in terms of points, it makes sense to take on an extra subject if you can't rely on maths and Irish.

AdamD

ClaireMarie wrote: »

For a lot of people, maths and Irish aren't their thing. In my year, the amount doing honours Irish and maths was very small.
So in terms of points, it makes sense to take on an extra subject if you can't rely on maths and Irish.

Yeah but they're a lot of people posting on boards saying they do 8/9 HL subjects..I can understand doing some OL ones

teenagedream

AdamD wrote: »

Yeah but they're a lot of people posting on boards saying they do 8/9 HL subjects..I can understand doing some OL ones

I have no idea why or how they do it. I was struggling with only 7. But maybe when there's more variety in subjects it keeps you fresh or something

RoutineBites

Simple really, if one were to achieve excellent grades in nine or more higher level subjects it would be a massive accomplishment. Top level universities would notice it and the student would be offered a scholarship.

I'm sure if you pulled off ten higher level A1s you'd be fierce proud of yourself too! Some people might just do it to test themselves purely because they believe they can attain these kind of results!

spurious

AdamD wrote: »

Yeah but they're a lot of people posting on boards saying they do 8/9 HL subjects..I can understand doing some OL ones

Don't take everything posted here as true.

Odd as it may seem, there are many people who lie on boards about what they got in the mocks, what they will get in the results, how many subjects they are doing.

They are more to be pitied than anything else, if that's what gives them their jollies.

You'll find the real 'all A1 in my Leaving' people do not feel the need to tell the world about it. Their own satisfaction at their achievement is all they need.

That said, <true>I am a size 6 and an international spy. I got 15 A1s in my Leaving when there was no such thing as an A1. I also invent space saving devices in my spare time and won the euromillions last week.</true>

PictureFrame

AdamD wrote: »

Especially when they're all Higher Level.

I can understand 6 HL 2 OL but after that it just seems like a waste of time and an unnecessary risk of doing worse in your best 6 subjects due to putting extra time into the others.

I guess the question is really: Why do people do more than 7 HL subjects?

I started off this year (5th year), doing 7 Higher Level Subjects:

• English
• Maths
• French
• Business
• Accounting
• Music
• Geography

And ended up eventually doing 6 Higher level: :pac:

• English
• French
• Business
• Music
• Economics
• Geography

I decided to take Accounting as an outside subject as Maths wasn't my strongest subject and wanted a back-up. Eventually I did drop to Pass Maths leaving me with 6 Higher level subjects..

However, after a while Accounting started to become extremely tedious and boring and so, with a lot of thought I decided to drop it after Christmas. In my Christmas exams with 7 Higher Level Subjects I achieved 500 points.

After Christmas I was left with only 5 higher level subjects and was itching to take on another so I would have a good chance to achieve the points I need for college next year. With a lot of thought, I took up Higher Level Economics and absolutley loved it! It's now my favourite subject!. Eventually in my Summer Tests I ended up with 540 points (A1's in Geography, Business, Economics, A2 in English and B3's in French and Music).

So, my advice to oncoming fifth years is to try put your subjects for the first couple of weeks, if you don't like them change them!. Your not going to miss out on a huge amount!. I ended up changing my subjects around a lot and ended up with better points in my Summer Tests!

Best of luck!

not_so_civil

I don't know bout anyone else but I did 8 honours just to see if I could.
I think my pride got in the way and wouldn't let me drop :P

luciemc

I did nine. I'm not great at English, Accounting I did outside school without having done business for the junior cert and so was completely lost, only did it because I want to work in business in the future and was interested in it...:p Irish I hated the HL course so doing extra subjects meant I could drop to OL, I'm weird like that... I'd rather an A1 in the ordinary paper than have to work hard for a good grade in higher...

and that left me with:

English (not counting)
Irish OL (not counting)
Accounting (probably not counting)
Maths
Spanish
French
Chemistry
Physics
Applied Maths

so even though I did nine subjects, eight HL, I really only focused on six..

and I would definitely recommend taking up an extra if you know you can't rely on two or even all three of the compulsories.. another friend of mine did nine too, she wasn't great at irish or maths

Geo10

I do 9 subjects. Other than the 3 compulsary subjects I do Geography, Biology, Chemistry, German, Religion and Business.
I do German because I want to leave my options open (NUI arts courses etc.), also because I love the language
I do Geography in school because it's the best subject of all time!! :D (IMO)
Then when it came to choosing my other two subjects... I had a dilemma. I LOVE Biology, Chemistry, Business and Religion!
I knew I had to do RE outside school because my school hasn't introduced it for the Leaving Cert yet (and I have a great interest for world religions, ancient societies and philosophy!)
I then decided I would do one science and Business... choosing what science to do based on the teachers that would be teaching them. I ended up getting up brilliant teachers in biology and chemistry so I decided to drop the business. However by November of 5th year I couldn't take it anymore! I missed studying Business and envied people who did it! :P (I'm weird I know) So I decided to study that outside school too!
I've since dropped down to OL maths so I'm doing 8 HL subjects... guess it all worked out in the end! It's not difficult either because I'm only concentrating on my seven best (i.e. not English or maths) :):)
So I suppose the reason I originally did extra subjects was for the pure love of learning them but it ended up coming with additional benefits... being able to drop to pass maths and not having to study English properly (just focusing on passing which is easy!! )

J_E

I thought I could handle 8 HL subjects. Ended up dropping one out of sheer over-stretching myself.

dambarude

Some do it out of necessity, not being able to do a certain subject in school being the most common reason. Schools in which LCVP is compulsory (mine for instance) lead to 8 being done without much choice.

ChloeElla

I did nine because I liked all my subjects. We have to do a language, but I love German anyway so no problem. I'm almost certain I won't count Irish, but I wanted to do well in it because I like the language. I ended up hating Home Ec but that was more because my teacher was big on favouritism, while the rest of us were ignored. Sometimes people do HL subjects, not to count for points, but just to say they were able to pass them

MegGustaa

MegGustaa wrote: »

It's a waste in terms of the points race, but in the long term I think taking extra subjects is worthwhile. The only one I'm doing outside school is Japanese, and I'm sure it'll benefit me at some point to have a grounding in another language.

It'd be great to get 9 A1s and be in the paper and all but that's not why I'm doing it (it's highly unlikely, let's face it). For me - and my friend who's also taking 9 subjects - it's for the love of learning.

Well fair play to you !!! Just out of interest what do you plan on studying after, and do you think your chosen course will contain enough 'learning' to whet your appetite for it? Best of luck in your LC, wish I had some of your capacity for learning when I did my LC all those yrs ago !! I have a much bigger love of learning and finding out about things now than back then

MegGustaa

Sweetface wrote: »

MegGustaa wrote: »

It's a waste in terms of the points race, but in the long term I think taking extra subjects is worthwhile. The only one I'm doing outside school is Japanese, and I'm sure it'll benefit me at some point to have a grounding in another language.

It'd be great to get 9 A1s and be in the paper and all but that's not why I'm doing it (it's highly unlikely, let's face it). For me - and my friend who's also taking 9 subjects - it's for the love of learning.

Well fair play to you !!! Just out of interest what do you plan on studying after, and do you think your chosen course will contain enough 'learning' to whet your appetite for it? Best of luck in your LC, wish I had some of your capacity for learning when I did my LC all those yrs ago !! I have a much bigger love of learning and finding out about things now than back then

Why thank you

Eh, like most 16 year olds I'm mostly at a loss as to what exactly I want to do (^-^) But I'm thinking about European Studies or Law & French in Trinity at the moment. European Studies in particular is so broad, especially with two languages, that it seems like a good fit for me

MegGustaa

MegGustaa wrote: »

Why thank you

Eh, like most 16 year olds I'm mostly at a loss as to what exactly I want to do (^-^) But I'm thinking about European Studies or Law & French in Trinity at the moment. European Studies in particular is so broad, especially with two languages, that it seems like a good fit for me

Well if it's any consolation I'm about twice your age, have a BSc and HDip, have worked at many different jobs and after all that, I'm going back to study something in the pharmaceutical sector in September. The world is your oyster, whatever you do, keep us posted on how you get on

MauraTheThird

I do eight higher level subjects purely as I enjoy studying the subjects and since Im able for higher level, why not!?:D I study english, irish, maths, french, chemistry, physics, applied maths and art! I love all the subjects I do and because of that, studying them isnt a chore....(ima nerd:pac:)

not_so_civil

MauraTheThird wrote: »

(ima nerd:pac:)

Yey nerds :D:D:D

JamJamJamJam

I did 8:

Irish
English
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Applied Maths
German
Biology (Outside of school)

7 obviously is in case one goes balls up. I did 8 because I didn't like German but I needed it. Meanwhile I LOOOOVED biology. I would happily have done 9 or 10 if I liked whatever those extra subjects were as much as I liked biology. So for me it's because I enjoyed it...

*nerd snort*

Superbus

I do 8 Higher Level- the three, French, History, Music, Latin (because I genuinely enjoy them) and Physics (due to timetable necessities).

DM360

Just did the Leaving Cert this year and sat 8 exams

English, Irish, Maths, French, Latin, Physics, Chemistry, Construction Studies
All HL.

To be honest, approaching the LC I was considering dropping to OL Irish. I didn't do much work on it and mainly relied on the fact I have good oral Irish (my spelling and grammar are absolutely woeful). But I kept it up and actually found the exams among my easiest. The main reason I did HL is because I support compulsory Irish at LC and wanted to back this, purely because I love the language and think it's far too valuable to lose.

Also, often people who study 8+ subjects don't do all HL labour-intensive subjects, e.g Geography, Biology, Maths, etc. I tried to balance my subjects, trying to cover all bases and expose myself to all options.

I really enjoyed studying each subject except for English and Construction. Pride kept me from OL English and I only took Construction because the teacher told me I'd be capable of an A1 with little work (bloody liar).

Admittedly at times before June I felt horrible and stupid for having overestimated my abilities but now, post-Leaving I couldn't be happier having done 8 HL subjects.

anonomousangel

I had 8 subjects, the three and then
Physics
Chemistry
French
Geography
Applied Maths

Started off with 8 HL but dropped in irish at Christmas of 6th because I kept failing it. It was really good though, the higher level grounding in irish meant I was pretty ok for my oral and the literature on the course so I just had to remember stories and letters for the OL course.
I ended up with 8 subjects because my school had me doing 7 then when I took up applied maths I was far better at it than at french or geography so by keeping it I only had to try focus on one of those. Having an extra subject that I liked from the beginning was a serious bonus

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

muboop1 wrote: »

If you can, its a great thing for your CV or to get big colleges to note you.

Very, very few employers cares about your leaving cert. For a summer job, its minimum wage stuff, its all in the interview. I dont even have my LC results on my CV. If you are going for a job that requires a degree, all they look at are you degree results and experience.

For colleges, unless you are applying to a college outside Ireland, or are going for a course that requires an interview, it wont matter. Nobody knows who the students are with the CAO. Unless of course you do get 9A1s!

mockshelp

Answer: To have at least 6 higher level subjects to maximize points. I did 8 subjects. 6 Higher level and 2 pass (they won't count points wise).

I did pass maths and pass irish. If I did Higher maths or higher irish I would have probably dropped one other subject.

But people doing more than 6 subjects at higher level? I don't know why. Nerds!

That Handsome Devil

As someone doing 9 HL, the reasons for my two extra, were couldn't do it in school and need it for college (App maths) and I was forced to go into the exam RE class for a few weeks to see if I liked it, and I did so... yeah

But really for most people, I guess its just enjoyment of the subject or necessity, of which I got one of each :P