Applied Maths - 1 or 2 year course?

toadpenguin

Hey guys,

I've just started 5th year and I was planning on doing applied maths as an extra subject, only to learn that the only teacher in the school who taught it had retired and nobody else was going to teach it. Now I have the option of finding somewhere to study it outside of school, but I see a lot of grinds centres and teachers offering it as a 1 year course.

Has anyone done it in 1 year and if so how did you find it? I'm a pretty confident A/B student at the moment in HL Maths and Physics so I'm wondering if it's worth spending extra money on a 2 year course.

Cheers

CIARAN_BOYLE

You don't want to put too much pressure on sixth year.

I suppose i depends on what you want from it. Do you want an A1? If so I'd definitely make it a 2 year course. You probably can't put in enough hours in one year to get an A1 without it having a disproportionate effect on your other studies.

If you choose to do a 1 year keep in mind that you have it coming up and take your self study more seriously this year so that you can afford the extra hours next year.

What are you basing confident A/B student in fifth year. If you are basing it on your JC results it only gets harder from here.

iLikePiano99

toadpenguin wrote: »

Hey guys,

I've just started 5th year and I was planning on doing applied maths as an extra subject, only to learn that the only teacher in the school who taught it had retired and nobody else was going to teach it. Now I have the option of finding somewhere to study it outside of school, but I see a lot of grinds centres and teachers offering it as a 1 year course.

Has anyone done it in 1 year and if so how did you find it? I'm a pretty confident A/B student at the moment in HL Maths and Physics so I'm wondering if it's worth spending extra money on a 2 year course.

Cheers

2 year course. You could manage it in one year but then chances are you will only get 6 out of the 10 topic on the paper covered (which is dodgy!). I've just started 5th year as well and I am doing it as an extra because nobody in my school teaches it! I am learning it on a Saturday morning in the Institute of Education...They are still taking people if you wanted to go there...it's not that expensive either - like 400 up until Christmas. I would highly recommend it as well - the teacher is really good! Check it out...but bottom line is I wouldn't recommend it in one year especially since you'll probably only have one class per week!

scotty_irish

if you're any good at maths - which i assume you are if you're thinking of doing this - one year is plenty. applied maths is by far and away the easiest points possible in the leaving. don't waste your time and money with a two year course. personally, my father taught me the entire course over christmas holidays (A2). i've since taught it to people in very short periods of time(all high results - never heard of anyone not getting a decent grade in it). get the book and marking schemes from the DoE website.

FYG

scotty_irish wrote: »

if you're any good at maths - which i assume you are if you're thinking of doing this - one year is plenty. applied maths is by far and away the easiest points possible in the leaving. don't waste your time and money with a two year course. personally, my father taught me the entire course over christmas holidays (A2). i've since taught it to people in very short periods of time(all high results - never heard of anyone not getting a decent grade in it). get the book and marking schemes from the DoE website.

I always thought Applied Maths was seen as a very difficult subject?

Kavrocks

FYG wrote: »

I always thought Applied Maths was seen as a very difficult subject?

It is however I found it to be the easiest (and most fun/enjoyable) followed closely by regular maths but maths is something that appeals to me and I find extremely easy whereas others don't. It really just depends on the type of person you are.

The course hasn't changed in (I think) 30 years except for getting easier (just like regular maths). A better name for Applied Maths would be Applied Physics as it is really just slightly tougher/more abstract Physics questions minus all the experiments and wordy questions.

If you have chosen more maths/science based subjects for the Leaving Cert and are not good at or do not like languages or essay subjects I would recommend doing Applied Maths or at least trying it out for half a year in 5th Year.

I did Applied Maths over 2 years and after Christmas in 6th Year I could have went into the exam and have gotten an A1. Knowing this was very reassuring and did relieve some of the stress I felt and I would certainly recommend doing it over 2 years even though it could easily be done in 1 year. The Leaving Cert is a very stressful exam and you do not want to add anymore unneeded stress to yourself.

FYG

Do you think it would be possible to teach yourself Applied Maths? I'm doing Physics and Higher Level Maths.

Got an A in both in the Junior Cert. I know that means nothing when it comes to Leaving Cert, but just showing I have some aptitude for Maths.

Kavrocks

FYG wrote: »

Do you think it would be possible to teach yourself Applied Maths? I'm doing Physics and Higher Level Maths.

Got an A in both in the Junior Cert. I know that means nothing when it comes to Leaving Cert, but just showing I have some aptitude for Maths.

I do but I would make sure there was a teacher or somebody I knew who could explain something to me if I had any trouble. Even just that peace of mind could make it easier for you to teach yourself.

I would say that an essential need is to have the solutions (not just answers) of all the exam papers even back to the 80's.

ride-the-spiral

FYG wrote: »

Do you think it would be possible to teach yourself Applied Maths? I'm doing Physics and Higher Level Maths.

Got an A in both in the Junior Cert. I know that means nothing when it comes to Leaving Cert, but just showing I have some aptitude for Maths.

It is possible to teach yourself applied maths, I did so last year and got an A1. You'd want to be starting as soon as you can, as there are 10 topics, of which most people cover 8 or 9. It is hard work, and at times it can seem too hard but if you do enough work of it during fifth year then most of your sixth year will be dedicated to revision and mastering the exam questions, and by the time the LC comes round the questions will be a breeze.

It helps to have a teacher handy - my maths teacher was an applied maths teacher, he just didn't have the time to teach it - but in the end his main help was providing me with exam papers and answers as you'll end up working back to 2001 fairly quickly, but I think you can get previous years from Oliver Murphy himself.

Overall, if a class is available I say take it, as it can be easy to a self-taught subject fall by the wayside, especially when other subjects are of more immediate importance. However if you feel up to the challenge of teaching yourself, it is by no means impossible as long as you like the subject and can keep it up for the next two years.

scotty_irish

definitely possible to teach yourself it - but it will take dedication, with nobody breathing down you neck, you could easily let it slip. if you are determined and motivated, it can easily be done, but it comes down to the type of person you are.

Eathrin

We only had 1 class a week for 5th year and have 2 classes for 6th. Should have 8-9 questions done come June.

Very difficult subject but short enough.

On another note a friend of mine studied applied maths with his friend for 5 hours before the leaving cert, having never done a.maths or physics before, and got 23%. Not bad.

Commit yourself for 1 year and there wont be much to do in 6th year. You can teach yourself but it is difficult as many questions will be difficult to figure out without help.

toadpenguin

Thanks for all the advice guys

After reading everyone's posts I think I'll go for a 2 year course which means finding a teacher and starting as soon as possible. Does anyone know of a good grinds centre or teacher that does Applied Maths in the Cork area?

ray giraffe

scotty_irish wrote: »

if you're any good at maths - which i assume you are if you're thinking of doing this - one year is plenty. applied maths is by far and away the easiest points possible in the leaving. don't waste your time and money with a two year course. personally, my father taught me the entire course over christmas holidays (A2). i've since taught it to people in very short periods of time(all high results

As a teacher of applied maths, I just want to say that this post is complete rubbish.

If you are very good at maths, it may be possible to do applied maths in 1 year.

Scotty is the kind of guy who will tell you it is easy to get 8 A1's in the Leaving.

I'll put it this way: if scotty is telling the truth about covering the whole course in a few weeks he was easily the most gifted student who sat the Leaving Cert that year (out of around 60 thousand), and he is therefore not representative of the vast vast majority of students.