Subject choice: Biology or Physics?

Emma.My.Chem

I'm in third year and I'm doing my subject choice next Monday. I'm doing H English, H Math, H Irish, H German, Music and Chemistry for sure. Right now, I don't know whether to do Biology or Physics. I love Science. I got 78% in my Mock. I also really like Maths (72% in Mock) and I'd like to maybe pursue a career in IT.

In my Science mock, my Physics was my best area, followed by Chemistry and Biology respectively. I enjoy Biology a lot more than physics and I've heard physics is extremely hard.

So, any help?

Bazinga_N

To the best of knowledge Physics would be more useful to IT... Another subject you may find useful to some Science course would be Applied Maths.. which is a bit like Maths and Physics (kinda.. :L)... Also, if Physics was your best in your mock.. you have to be doing something right! :P

ray giraffe

If you enjoy Biology much more than Physics, I would say go with Biology!

smurphy11

speaking as a person who is currently doing both and in 5th year i would definitely say go for physics. physics is way more interesting and relevant than biology, sure some people find biology easier (i dont) but the course is just so long and dreary its hard to keep an interest. physics however is interesting 90% of the time and your actually learning about stuff that matters. also if you like maths, physics is definitely the better subject

Indiego

smurphy11 wrote: »

speaking as a person who is currently doing both and in 5th year i would definitely say go for physics. physics is way more interesting and relevant than biology, sure some people find biology easier (i dont) but the course is just so long and dreary its hard to keep an interest. physics however is interesting 90% of the time and your actually learning about stuff that matters. also if you like maths, physics is definitely the better subject

I'd just like to point out two things before you get the wrong idea OP,
firstly if you have an interest in Biology you won't find the course 'long and dreary', I actually find it quite an interesting course and as long as you stay focused you'll have it all covered in no time.
Also, saying that you're actually 'learning about stuff that matters' in Physics seems awfully arbitrary and biased, considering you are basically implying that learning about how our bodies work and the basis of human life is stuff that doesn't matter, which I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with..

I do both Biology and Physics and I have to say that they are two very different subject that involve very different ways of thinking - Biology is very word based and involves a lot of understanding of different concepts and ideas, there is a good few definitions but you kind of just get to know them as you learn the information so I wouldn't worry about that. Physics on the other hand is more Maths based and simple logic, you need to understand concepts too, but there's not as much pure information to learn as in Biology for sure.

I wouldn't base your decision on your Science scores this year to be honest, I have a strong love of Biology, but in my Mocks it was my worst section, and Physics was my best, yet I find Biology easier to understand and study - the Physics section is said to be a lot easier at JC level because people can get scared off doing it for LC if it is set at the same standard, because of the Maths involved (apperently).

I would recommend you to go with which ever subject you find the easiest to understand, because at the end of the day the LC subjects you pick are more important in terms of gaining you points than determining what subject field you do in College.

Neodymium

Indiego wrote: »

I'd just like to point out two things before you get the wrong idea OP,
firstly if you have an interest in Biology you won't find the course 'long and dreary', I actually find it quite an interesting course and as long as you stay focused you'll have it all covered in no time.
Also, saying that you're actually 'learning about stuff that matters' in Physics seems awfully arbitrary and biased, considering you are basically implying that learning about how our bodies work and the basis of human life is stuff that doesn't matter, which I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with..

I do both Biology and Physics and I have to say that they are two very different subject that involve very different ways of thinking - Biology is very word based and involves a lot of understanding of different concepts and ideas, there is a good few definitions but you kind of just get to know them as you learn the information so I wouldn't worry about that. Physics on the other hand is more Maths based and simple logic, you need to understand concepts too, but there's not as much pure information to learn as in Biology for sure.

I wouldn't base your decision on your Science scores this year to be honest, I have a strong love of Biology, but in my Mocks it was my worst section, and Physics was my best, yet I find Biology easier to understand and study - the Physics section is said to be a lot easier at JC level because people can get scared off doing it for LC if it is set at the same standard, because of the Maths involved (apperently).

I would recommend you to go with which ever subject you find the easiest to understand, because at the end of the day the LC subjects you pick are more important in terms of gaining you points than determining what subject field you do in College.

That's a good post by Indiego, some useful advice in there. I would just add that Physics can be much less work than Biology if you can understand the concepts and apply logic to solve the problems. Biology doesn't really have many concepts to understand, its really just a case of learning off the information in your book.

ride-the-spiral

Unfortunately, I can't give you any information on biology, as I've never really liked it nor did I do it for the leaving cert. But I found JC physics to be incredibly boring, and I never really liked physics until 5th and 6th year, so much so that I'm studying it at 3rd level (although my love for applied maths weighed quite heavily on that decision too.) And conversely, I liked JC chemistry but then I found LC chemistry woefully boring. It would probably be a good idea to have a glance at the physics book/syllabus and see what the course looks like and if any of it interests you.

Overall, LC physics differs quite a bit from JC; The mechanics is better expanded at LC, and overall, things will fit in together moreso than JC, so everything seems a bit less arbitrary, you look at things like heat and optics in a more mathematical way, the whole electricity section actually works from the ground up, teaching you to see electricity physically as opposed to the somewhat misplaced emphasis on circuit diagrams at JC, and the modern physics section of the course introduces things like radioactivity and brushes off quantum physics and the like. You also get the option of doing an optional particle physics section at HL, which most people do and seem to enjoy (I did Applied Electricity, the other option).

Like any LC subject, physics isn't going to be easy and you will have to work at it, but if you do then you should be ok. The mathematics isn't difficult, especially if you're good at maths as it's mostly basic algebra, rearranging formula and stuff like that, and the emphasis is moreso on logic than pure mathematical derivation a lot of the time.

Anyway, good luck with your subject choice and the LC, and may I add than if you do want to do physics, then applied maths would also be a good choice. It makes the mechanics section of physics seem quite elementary and in some ways is a better representation of what physics is really like (at least the mechanics) so I found it to be very beneficial in my overall understanding of physics.

Wesc.

Emma.My.Chem wrote: »

I've heard physics is extremely hard

Nah, it's actually quite easy. Nothing to it! Just keep steadily workin' away and you'll be flying I got an A in the mock without too much study. Also, the biology course is huuuuuuuugee!!

LostCorkGuy

Short answer for you here , I did the 3 sciences + applied maths


Biology = do it if you're good at learning by heart nothing challenging in there

Physics = do it if you're smart , less studying off and more understanding

Chemistry = mix of both lots of learning and understanding , found chemistry the hardest of the three

Fourth year is for making you're mind up , you can always change subject choice

Togepi

If you weren't 100% adamant you wanted to do Chemistry, you could always do Biology and Phys/Chem. The latter is a really easy science, though it's probably not offered in your school.

Just an idea! If you've no interest in that, I'd have to say go for Physics, it'll be more useful to you down the line if you're thinking of going for a career in IT.

mcpaddington

Basically:
Physics = Interesting but more difficult, has less learning but more understanding
Biology = An eejit can get an A1 as long as they can remember stuff, literally all learning(it's also boring)

Bazinga_N

mcpaddington wrote: »

Basically:
Biology = An eejit can get an A1 as long as they can remember stuff, literally all learning(it's also boring)

Not really true as it has the highest rate of fails among the sciences..

jumpguy

If you enjoy biology more, I'd go with that. But I wouldn't say physics is much harder than any other subject, if you've a decent standard of maths it's a fairly handy subject.

leaveiton

Ask your teacher/any 5th or 6th year students in your school if you can have a look at the books used for both subjects. That'll give you an idea about whether or not you'd find the subject interesting at LC level. I remember looking at a biology book in 4th year and being very excited to study it :P

I was always the same as yourself in JC science - I did well in the physics sections despite not really liking it, but didn't perform as well in biology. However I knew I liked biology a lot more so I chose that. Funnily enough my other 3 subjects are the same as the ones you've picked. I'd say do a bit of research and go for what you find more interesting.

biolog.ie

Having taught and studied both Biology and Physics, I personally find Biology far more interesting. When making a decision wrt to career and therefore subject/course choice, follow your heart, not your head! If you don't, you'll wish you had, sooner or later.

Missmiddleton

I'm doing physics for the leaving cert and it focuses on visualization of mechanical problems and understanding the theory while i hear biology is a lot of learning stuff off by heart

smurphy11

plus physics is more of a mans subjects where biology is more like home ec and more feminine

Bobsammy

smurphy11 wrote: »

plus physics is more of a mans subjects where biology is more like home ec and more feminine

I think that's a load of rubbish, when I was studying Maths and Physics at college most people in both classes were girls.
What on earth makes you say Physics is manly?

iliketwixbars

smurphy11 wrote: »

plus physics is more of a mans subjects where biology is more like home ec and more feminine

What a stupid thing to say.

How exactly is physics more of a "mans" subject and biology "feminine"?

cathalio11

iliketwixbars wrote: »

What a stupid thing to say.

How exactly is physics more of a "mans" subject and biology "feminine"?

Haha

I agree that that comment was rather strange but maybe his point was that more males do Physics than women and seem to have the better statistics while more females do Biology and seem to have the better statistics.

iliketwixbars

Have you looked at these OP??

Biology:

http://www.careersportal.ie/ed_training/leaving_cert_subjects.php?course_id=6&ed_sub_cat_id=7&menu_parent_id=2&course_name=Biology&search1=biology&search2=


Physics:
http://www.careersportal.ie/ed_training/leaving_cert_subjects.php?menu_parent_id=2&course_id=26&ed_sub_cat_id=7&course_name=Physics&search1=physics&search2=

spurious

cathalio11 wrote: »

Haha

I agree that that comment was rather strange but maybe his point was that more males do Physics than women and seem to have the better statistics while more females do Biology and seem to have the better statistics.

He was trolling and if he does it again he'll be taking a break.

In terms of boys and girls at Physics, while it's true more boys than girls take Physics, the levels of success are much the same, slightly weighted towards girls overall.

PictureFrame

smurphy11 wrote: »

plus physics is more of a mans subjects where biology is more like home ec and more feminine

Sexism at it's finest! :rolleyes:

Just to add that there's 7 people in my School's Physics class, 3 girls and 4 boys. One girl got an A2, the other's got a B2/B3 I think. I'm 100% definite that 2 of the lads failed it (good friends with them) and almost positive the other guy failed it too!

And since when has Biology been defined as a feminine subject? :rolleyes:. That doesn't even make sense..

biolog.ie

Missmiddleton wrote: »

I'm doing physics for the leaving cert and it focuses on visualization of mechanical problems and understanding the theory while i hear biology is a lot of learning stuff off by heart

The biology syllabus is quite long, though due to be changed this year, with more of a focus on practical work.
Many teachers require their students to simply learn off the definitions and get on with it! However, this is not always the case.
Visualisation and logic can also be applied in the study of biology and personally, I use a lot of drawings/diagrams when teaching. Also it is very easy to draw on examples of everyday life which we can easily relate to when learning biology as, after all, it is the study of life.

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