chemistry or biology?

smurphy11

which is the best option for a 5th year, atm im doing english, irish maths french biology business app maths and physics, all h.l except irish. its not that i dont like biology its fine and im not struggling in the slightest but i have the option of doing chemistry, and i hear that it actually less learning in it than biology.

so should i switch, btw time is no prob im repeating 5th year anyway, i have a big interest in science in general, and i will work my ass of no problem to understand a subject. also my fav subjects are maths, app maths and physics and will prob do that something along them lines in college, but should i might do a general science degree so in that case doing chemistry would help, wouldnt it?

anyone who wants to share their opinion will be muchly appreciated thanks.

0mega

Biology, Chemistry can be quite hard to grasp. I think Biology is more straightforward and easier to learn and overall, a more enjoyable subject.

leaveiton

I do both subjects at the moment. There's a lot more understanding in chemistry, biology is more learning off really. The chemistry course is shorter, so yes, there is less to learn, but it can be much more difficult to grasp in the first place, which then makes learning it quite difficult.

I remember when I was picking my subjects, there was a chance that I wasn't going to be able to do the combination that I wanted to do. My guidance counsellor said to me that if I had to pick between biology and chemistry, that I should do chemistry. I want to do science in college, and she said that chemistry is the better one to have for it in case I wanted to do anything like medicine.

Could you possibly switch back into biology next year if you do take up chemistry? If you could, then I see no reason why you shouldn't try it. If you needed to go back to doing biology, you'd already have a lot of the work covered, so it shouldn't be a problem.

crayon1

I only do biology so can't really comment too much on chemistry. My friends find chemistry quite challenging but they say if you grasp the concepts that it's quite enjoyable. Biology is my favourite subject and it's the subject I find easiest simply because i'm really interested in it. Pick the one you think you have more of an interest in.

If your mind is science orientated, you don't have a preference which you do and you wish to study it in college I would choose chemistry now. Most science courses require you to do all 3 in 1st year but I would imagine it would imagine it would be easier to pick biology up at 3rd level than chemistry. I wish I had taken chemistry also myself.

conorod

If you're thinking of studying science in college, chemistry is probably a better subject to have. There is more understanding required than in biology, but if you're doing subjects like physics & applied maths and enjoying them then this is unlikely to be a problem for you. Also, studying chemistry and one other science subject opens you up to most science/medical courses, and in my experience (currently doing first year science in college) people who didn't do chemistry have a harder time catching up than people who didn't do biology.

PictureFrame

smurphy11 wrote: »

which is the best option for a 5th year, atm im doing english, irish maths french biology business app maths and physics, all h.l except irish. its not that i dont like biology its fine and im not struggling in the slightest but i have the option of doing chemistry, and i hear that it actually less learning in it than biology.

so should i switch, btw time is no prob im repeating 5th year anyway, i have a big interest in science in general, and i will work my ass of no problem to understand a subject. also my fav subjects are maths, app maths and physics and will prob do that something along them lines in college, but should i might do a general science degree so in that case doing chemistry would help, wouldnt it?

anyone who wants to share their opinion will be muchly appreciated thanks.

This isn't really a constructive comment as I am doing neither of the above subjects, but I have always, always regretted the day I chose Music instead of Chemistry.. Never choose a subject because it may be perceived as "easy". In the long-run you will benefit much more from studying what you enjoy and are interested in.

Ally7

If you have any notion of studying science in college, I would pick chemistry. I do both, but from speaking to people it seems biology is much easier to pick up than chemistry.

Ryan100

I did Biology and Chemistry for my LC. I think it depends a lot on the person and what will suit them best. For me though, and with most people I've spoke to, Biology is the easiest of the two. Biology is a hefty course though and a lot of learning, and I mean a lot :P I think you could learn off Biology without having any understanding of the content although based on last year's paper, they seem to phase the rote learning out, but that said, if you have an interest go for it. Now, Chemistry on the other hand is a shorter course but the concepts are more difficult to grasp and you'd want to have a decent teacher. Also, there's a bit of maths in Chemistry i.e. Titrations, Thermochemistry and so on, and they can be quite tricky to get down sometimes.
If you intend on studying Science in college, I'd advise doing both subjects if it's possible but if you can only pick one, go for Chemistry.

Geo10

I do both:
Chemistry is way easier than biology, a lot less learning.
Biology is way more interesting and relevant than chemistry though.

Coeurdepirate

I do both. Chemistry is in my opinion a lot more challenging than Biology, but it's also a lot more interesting and the course is a lot shorter. Also I like the paper layout, and if you learn all the experiments on the course (I think there's 28) and 4 chapters (Organic and Equilibrium) perfectly, that's 6/8 questions!

montown

Coeurdepirate wrote: »

I do both. Chemistry is in my opinion a lot more challenging than Biology, but it's also a lot more interesting and the course is a lot shorter. Also I like the paper layout, and if you learn all the experiments on the course (I think there's 28) and 4 chapters (Organic and Equilibrium) perfectly, that's 6/8 questions!

This.

However, although chemistry is harder overall, I personally find the hardest part of biology (which in my opinion is protein synthesis, dna replication and the human defence system) a lot more complex than anything on the chemistry course.

Chemistry all the way!

siobhan1894

Unless you are thinking of doing a course that specifically requires chemistry after your LC then I would choose Biology. I myself do both biology and chemistry, and although there is less learning in chemistry (as in less definitions) it is the more difficult subject. It requires a fairly good understanding and you must be able to grasp titrations and the ability to do all kinds of different calculations, such as, calculating molarity, concentration etc. Chemistry is a diffcult subject to just take-up. Biology is the easier subject and although there's more to 'learn off', it pays off.

Coeurdepirate

siobhan1894 wrote: »

Unless you are thinking of doing a course that specifically requires chemistry after your LC then I would choose Biology. I myself do both biology and chemistry, and although there is less learning in chemistry (as in less definitions) it is the more difficult subject. It requires a fairly good understanding and you must be able to grasp titrations and the ability to do all kinds of different calculations, such as, calculating molarity, concentration etc. Chemistry is a diffcult subject to just take-up. Biology is the easier subject and although there's more to 'learn off', it pays off.

If you're having difficulty with calculating molarity and concentration then god help you when you start Equilibrium and Organic Chemistry! :rolleyes:

siobhan1894

Coeurdepirate,

I'm only in 5th Year so haven't begun to look at Organic Chemistry at all... I don't find the calculations particularly hard, in fact becuase they're all the same, they're fairly easy but I think it could be hard to grasp at first... However can't say I'm excited about starting organic chemistry! :P