what should I do?

Mayo_Boy

Hi all.
Im going into leaving cert in september and we will get to drop a subject (doing nine at the minute). The problem is that I am stuck between two subjects, Art and biology. I dont know which one I should drop . I find the history section of art to be my weakest point, and then the story with biology is that our class is way behind in the course and will have alot of work to do next year. If I drop biology im worried that I wont get into any course that I'd like, for example mechanical engineering. And if I drop Art I wont get the "easy points" people say you get out of it.
Could anyone help?:o

jumpguy

I assume you're going from TY in 5th year (out of 6 years)? In which case, I wouldn't really worry about being behind in the biology course, as many schools have to do it in 2 years when they've no TY, so ye're technically ahead if ye've anything done. :P

I can't really speak for other subjects. What are the rest of the subjects you're doing?

Junior D

Well theres definitely no easy marks in Art

Laika_

Junior D wrote: »

Well theres definitely no easy marks in Art

I agree here. It is extremely difficult to get a high mark in LC art. The exam is so subjective that your work may be marked very differently by different examiners. The marking scheme, imo, is just not rigorous enough to rely on for points in terms of the marking of the craft aspect of the exam. The history course is extremely broad and the appreciation section can often throw up questions that students did not expect.

I think biology is a much safer bet if you're looking for points. It is by no means an easy subject either but if you go through the exam papers, year by year, you should be absolutely able to do well.

dambarude

Even if you had no biology done at this stage it'd probably be less time consuming than Art, and more likely (given the statistics) to give you a higher grade.

But take what you actually like into account, it makes a difference when you come to studying any subject.

younggalway

DO BIOLOGY!! I know from friends that art is a bitch to do well in, and from experience i know biology is a good subject for doing good in. I had a very poor teacher in bio for 4th/5th (5th/6th whatever u call it) and i really started to dislike the subject. But as the LC drew closer i started to just revise things by myself and I realised that Biology is actually the most interesting subject I was doing. Its so relatable to everyone because were human obviously, the plant **** is really boring imo but it may be your cup of tea.

This is just my opinion but just go for whatever subject you think youll get most points from, i went with the whole 'pick the subjects you like' crap and that doesnt work. Its all a points game im afraid so think of that first

Rant over, hope it helps.. Enjoy next year

njd2010

Another vote for keeping Biology here. Didn't do Art myself, but I saw many of my friends struggle at it.

Biology is just about the fairest exam you can do for the Leaving Cert. You've got a huge choice of questions, some of which have a further choice of parts within them. That itself makes the exam nice in that you can often skip tough sections, but also since the exam is so short and you've got such a long time to do it many people do *every* part of every question in the hopes of hoovering up marks somewhere.

Good luck!

Mayo_Boy

Thanks for the help guys. Im think im gonna stick with Biology so. I did Art for the junior cert and I found it quite difficult so Im gonna stand well clear of it for the leaving

angela1711

I'm not doing Biology myself but I did art, well just for 5th year and now I dropped.
Art is very very difficult to do well in unless you have a natural talent and the ability and the passion for this subject. As far as art history it was my favourite part of the course but it is very broad so if you will have to do much study by yourself. I would say stick to biology and just do more work in it.

AnnaKin

no such thing as easy marks in anything :pac:
i thought that too, and what a stupid thing to do that was!!
biology theres a lot to learn, art theres a lot to do, and saying that- i'd go biology

RMD

Without a doubt Art. The workload my friends had this year was insane in comparison to other subjects. Biology you can pretty much teach yourself, all you need to do for Biology is read the book and answer every previous paper you can get your hands on using the marking scheme for answers. I found it's the easiest way to learn a science subject, as no matter what the question is you'll have either read over the answer or done the same type of question which came up before.

Chuchoter

Where in the world did you get the idea that art was easy marks? Its incredibly difficult to do well in, its only something you keep if you love. Biology is easy enough, so assuming you're going into 5th you have lots of time. If you're going into 6th, start now and move yourself. You can learn it from the book.

AnnaKin

Chuchoter wrote: »

Where in the world did you get the idea that art was easy marks? Its incredibly difficult to do well in, its only something you keep if you love. Biology is easy enough, so assuming you're going into 5th you have lots of time. If you're going into 6th, start now and move yourself. You can learn it from the book.

totally agree with the art thing...i havent even made a dent in the art history course :eek:

PictureFrame

Mayo_Boy wrote: »

Hi all.
Im going into leaving cert in september and we will get to drop a subject (doing nine at the minute). The problem is that I am stuck between two subjects, Art and biology. I dont know which one I should drop . I find the history section of art to be my weakest point, and then the story with biology is that our class is way behind in the course and will have alot of work to do next year. If I drop biology im worried that I wont get into any course that I'd like, for example mechanical engineering. And if I drop Art I wont get the "easy points" people say you get out of it.
Could anyone help?:o

Would it be possible to take up Biology in a year (no grinds or anything) just on my own and pull a B3 or better?. Be totally honest!

njd2010

PictureFrame wrote: »

Would it be possible to take up Biology in a year (no grinds or anything) just on my own and pull a B3 or better?. Be totally honest!

Are you asking can you wait a year then start Biology or are you trying to start it going into 6th year?

Anyway, yes it's possible (did you expect any other answer?) If you work at it.