URGENT.Need Advice! Biology Vs Chemistry for LC. Must have subjects picked by Feb 2nd

Unseen365

I'm a Transition Year student and must have my subjects for senior cycle picked by this Thursday (Feb 2nd).
I am certain on keeping on German as a third language is very usefull, however after this is where my dilemma begins

I had a massive interest in science for the JC and felt it came a lot easier to me than other subjects. I'm fairly certain on Keeping up Physics, Biology, Geography, Applied Maths and German.
My reason for this is I have the option of going down the Engineering route (preferably Aeronautical) with Applied Maths, (Honours Maths as well) and Physics. However maths dose not come easy to me. I got a B in the JC but received grinds for most of the year and worked pretty hard to achieve this grade. Am I mad to consider Engineering when I do not have a natural flare for maths?
If this dose not work I have the back up option with Biology and Geography, maybe Earth Sciences or something along that line... But would not having chemistry affect my choices in those types of courses ?
I have checked out requirements on qualifax and careers portal however I've been told that just because something isn't required doesn't mean that there may not be a strong element of that subject in that course...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I really have no idea if i'm making the right choice and I only have until Thursday ! Also if people know any courses that combine Physics and Biology please let me know
Many Thanks

Geo20Limerick

It's nice that you have decided what you want already, but i think your still a bit young yet. I don't think you should pick your subjects pending on what you want to do later (because i can guarantee you will change your mind A LOT of times)

Pick what you are good at, remember its all about strategy, for a science course u only need one science subject requirement. (dont pick all sciences, it will make your point aim really high) have a strategy! another thing is you might want to do something after school but the subject in school may disinterest you to such a point you hate it! Always have strategy and go for what your good at. having a combination of different types of subjects is always good:)

kate.m

I actually think you need 2 science subjects for some science courses.

In my opinion, if you're good at maths, you might prefer chemistry? Quite a few questions have some maths in them. That being said I loved biology, and thought it was easier than chemistry. If you're into anatomy and things like that you'll find it interesting.

I also think *if* you were considering a science degree (don't totally make your mind up yet!) that biology is far easier to take up in college than chemistry. I've friends in science and the ones without chemistry are really struggling to catch up.

Good Luck

finality

I'm doing all 3 sciences and applied maths. A word of warning, applied maths is VERY hard. It's much harder than honours maths. I generally get over 95% in maths tests, but in applied maths I'm lost half of the time. The thinking is completely different. I'm not trying to scare you, but I absolutely love maths and yet I find applied maths really difficult. It's also probably the most unpredictable subject, in that it's very hard to know where you stand with it. I'm definitely not counting on it for points, I'm just sort of hoping for the best haha. You should definitely try it for a while and give it a fair chance though, it might turn out that you love it. :P I'm glad I did it, actually, because it has made honours maths and physics a lot easier for me. It really really helps with algebra and trigonometry, as well as understanding concepts in physics. The equations in applied maths are so crazy that it makes maths and physics seem easy.

As for your biology/chemistry conundrum, if you think you might do medicine, I mean if it's even the slightest thought at the back of your mind, you should probably do chemistry. I HATED chemistry in third year, and had only ended up keeping it on due to limited subject choices, but now I am applying for medicine - I never thought I would in fourth or fifth year or even up to about 2 months ago, I wanted to do computer science or electronic engineering. Now as it turns out I'm pretty set on medicine... I was really lucky.

As for the subjects themselves, I find chemistry much harder than biology. Essentially, chemistry involves a lot of calculations and understanding concepts, and biology involves a lot of learning. I'm a bit biased here because I love biology and don't particularly like chemistry. People in general find chemistry more difficult. Over half of my chemistry class have been getting grinds since fifth year.

Hmm, I can't really tell you which to choose, because everyone is different and you could easily be the exact opposite of me. If you are really struggling, you should probably go on the basis of interest. Are you more interested in how our bodies and the living things around us function, or in things like how substances react with one another to form new compounds and why they react in the way they do?
hmm. examples of topics in biology: the digestive system, the brain, the heart/blood, plant reproduction, genetics, respiration
examples in chemistry: the periodic table, the structure of the atom, how petrol is made and improved, radioactivity, reactions between acids and bases, pH...

Anyway, your choice of career is likely to change several times over the next few years (I wish I could stop changing my mind) and at the end of the day you should probably make your decision based on your interests. Hope I could be of some help, subject choices are hard.

edit: btw, most science courses in Ireland have a year of general science for the first year, which starts pretty much from scratch. If you have one science subject you are covered for almost anything, medicine is the only exception I can think of (and even so you can still do medicine without chemistry as long as you have one science, it just takes a year longer - you can do it in UCD or galway I think). I'm fairly certain you only need one science to do a science degree in Trinity, UCD or UCC, and for engineering you only need a C3 in honours maths - you don't actually need any science subjects.

as for combining physics and biology, what about biomedical engineering?

EmmetOT

As someone who does both biology and chemistry, I heartily recommend the former. Biology is a lot more interesting and engaging than chemistry.

KKBL

EmmetOT wrote: »

As someone who does both biology and chemistry, I heartily recommend the former. Biology is a lot more interesting and engaging than chemistry.

This is completely subjective. Some people find Bio more interesting then Chem while others think the opposite.
If I were you, I'd pick Chemistry. As someone previously mentioned Chemistry is much more about gaining an understanding of concepts whereas Bio is mainly focused on learning things off by heart. Chemistry is the core Science, so having a foundation chemistry is much more valuble if you plan on going down the Science route and chemistry is also one of the subjects Engineers study which Biology isn't. I can also tell you from personal experience that Chemistry is a much more rewarding and valuble subject than Biology. If you do Chemistry you actually feel like your learning complicated yet really logical concepts that not many people understand and I can imagine Physics is the same. Biology on the otherhand is one of the most popular LC subjects and its more generic, tbh a lot of it is general knowledge.
Basically if you want to learn about science and you want to gain knowledge about things that most don't have a clue about, then Chemistry is the better choice. & it makes perfect sense to take chemistry with physics as they go hand in hand, they're both physical sciences.

montown

go for chemistry! its actually a lot easier if you put in the work. absolutely breezed through the mock today, 100% confident that i got an A. on the other hand, im dreading biology...curse you protein synthesis!

Unseen365

Thanks to everyone for the info and advice I appreciate it. The career guidance teachers in my school are rubbish so yeah lol
Thanks to everyone for the info and advice I really appreciate it.
I handed in the subject form today... Ended up putting down Physics, Chemistry, Georgraphy, German and Applied Maths... Having serious after taughts about it now though
It's not written in stone though. I have the option of changing if things prove too hard. For someone who's not grey at Maths I've picked a lot of Maths based subjects which may not be a good thing but anyway.
I'm thinking that if Chemistry proves too hard I might switch to Biology or Agg Science... And I've nothing to loose with Applied Maths as its actually taught as an extra subject in my school and can be dropped at any time.
Just from the people who studied Chemistry... Once you learn off however many elements on the periodic table do all these mad chemical equations I've been seeing so much of in ye Chemistry book make sense? Cause I've no problem with the Theory part of it like I understand a lot of that... But this 10NaOh4 s**t looks horrible lol
I'd say points wise I'd be better off with biology.
Would there be a crazy workload in Chemistry and Physics... That's what I'm most worried about.
Again thanks so much for all the info

Unseen365

Unseen365 wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for the info and advice I appreciate it. The career guidance teachers in my school are rubbish so yeah lol
Thanks to everyone for the info and advice I really appreciate it.
I handed in the subject form today... Ended up putting down Physics, Chemistry, Georgraphy, German and Applied Maths... Having serious after taughts about it now though
It's not written in stone though. I have the option of changing if things prove too hard. For someone who's not grey at Maths I've picked a lot of Maths based subjects which may not be a good thing but anyway.
I'm thinking that if Chemistry proves too hard I might switch to Biology or Agg Science... And I've nothing to loose with Applied Maths as its actually taught as an extra subject in my school and can be dropped at any time.
Just from the people who studied Chemistry... Once you learn off however many elements on the periodic table do all these mad chemical equations I've been seeing so much of in ye Chemistry book make sense? Cause I've no problem with the Theory part of it like I understand a lot of that... But this 10NaOh4 s**t looks horrible lol
I'd say points wise I'd be better off with biology.
Would there be a crazy workload in Chemistry and Physics... That's what I'm most worried about.
Again thanks so much for all the info

Sorry didn't meen to repeat myself my phone went crazy lol