Higher level Irish or Maths for leaving cert.

nailvarnish16

I just finished TY and I'm going into 5th year (obviously) and in my junior cert I done no study but still got a B in honors in both, but I'm doing 9 subjects for the leaving and I know that's too much and I've decided to do pass in either Irish or Maths but I don't know which to choose
I know it's impossible to decide for someone else but I can't decide!!
Any help??

rosualt

A lot depends on you personally, but unless you have a real passion for Maths, I'd say drop in that. The jump in difficulty is huge between junior and senior cycles: I got an A in the junior cert but I'd say I'll be lucky to even pass it in August, whereas I got a B in Irish and have stayed at that level with fairly minimal work. What's more, the leaving cert workload for maths is huge, and can be very time-consuming- so if you're doing nine subjects that's the last thing you'd want!

....That being said though, its up to you in the end, don't just take my word on it :P

Canard

I got a B in both in my JC and planned to do OL maths in 5th year because I had 6 higher without it, but a friend convinced me not to and I ended up doing HL last week and I'm pretty sure I got an okay grade. But I have a better aptitude for languages and did fairly/relatively little work for Irish and definitely did better than in maths though, despite working relatively hard at it - the extra points are really important there. :P

My advice would be to stick with both...or unless you're really sure which you're more suited to (I never realized I was better at languages than other subjects until mid/late 5th year). That way you wont regret dropping in either.

finality

I'd recommend keeping both on at first, then if it becomes too much, you'll know which you prefer. I wanted to drop to pass Irish in fifth year (did 8 HL subjects) but my mother and teacher wouldn't let me, in the end I kept up all 8 and I'd say I got around a B1 in Irish. I didn't find the workload too much (though that's because I just definitely didn't put the work in, I'm a bit of a minimalist).

But yeah, basically if I were you I'd keep up all 9 for the first few weeks and see how it goes, then think about dropping to pass.

Cruel Sun

Honestly with the extra points for Math it would probably be wise to do HL, but it depends on the person as well, maybe keep them both up for awhile and see how you get on in class tests etc...but with that extra 25 points..... I got a B too in HL junior cert Math and I really regret dropping to pass.

amyleaving

If you are quite good at maths the 25 extra points would be a good reason to stick with it but otherwise i would say drop the maths as i know this year all my friends would spend all their time on maths , you can't afford to be doing this.
I think alot more time and effort needs to be put into higher maths than higher irish , if you do higher maths your grades in other subjects could fall a little if you don't have enough time for them .
Higher irish needs just the same work as any other higher subject but maths needs more than any of them, thats just my opinion though, oh and i would definitely drop one! you don't need to count all your subjects so whats the point wasting your time when you could put that time towards your other higher level subjects.

leaveiton

Definitely keep them both up for the moment and then see which suits you better! I'd be very similar to rosualt: Got an A in JC maths but probably only passed it last week, but got a B in JC Irish and probably remained around the same. Even though I prefer maths and would actually be better at it, I had a really bad teacher. I don't even like Irish, but my oral went very well and the papers really suited me. I did about 10 times as much work for maths, but even with the bonus points I think I'll still get a better grade in Irish. I'd been planning on not counting Irish at all because I thought that I'd get more points from maths, but it just didn't go that way for me.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, if I'd been told to drop in one on the first day of 5th year, I would have chosen Irish without a doubt. But I actually ended up doing a lot better in Irish than in maths without nearly as much work. Try them both, and see what suits. Don't be scared off immediately in either subject, either. I remember going into 5th year and looking at all the prose and poetry in Irish and thinking "Oh god, I could never do this!" and I was considering dropping then. You have plenty of time to learn it and get your head around it. Do drop in one if you're going to be doing 9 subjects, but don't make any decisions yet.

Ally7

What are you planning on doing after school? If you have any interest in primary school teaching then definitely keep up honours Irish.

Naomi00

Keep up HL Irish, they've changed the course this year and it's much better.

Try to keep them both up instead of doing extra subjects, that's a waste of time.

emmamurphy233

As someone who did higher in both, I'd say maths. I neglected Irish a lot and I'll probably get a C in September. whereas I might get an A in maths.
I'd say keep on both though. Like I said, I really neglected Irish, did no study at all and I'd say I'll get a C1. 70 points. You can't even get that many points at ordinary level. And that's with no work. The course has changed and it's a lot easier. Keep on both at higher and see how it goes.

Mr. Tambourine Man

Are the 25 extra points not just for the 2012 and 2013 leaving certs? It was in my head that they are, on account of the course being new to us and teachers

MegGustaa

Mr. Tambourine Man wrote: »

Are the 25 extra points not just for the 2012 and 2013 leaving certs? It was in my head that they are, on account of the course being new to us and teachers

Bonus points are to the best of my knowledge for the 2012-2015 CAO applications at least (4 year trial basis). If you apply through the CAO counting a pass in HL Maths (from any year I think), you get 25 bonus points added onto your points for Maths. It's got nothing to do with Project Maths.

earwax_man

Why not just drop to either 7 or 8 subjects? I did an 8th subjects for over a year, and I simply didn't have time for applied maths by the end of it. The 25 points are a good incentive, but unless you have the grades to make it worthwhile then it'll just be excess stress to justify it.

MegGustaa

I'm going into 6th Year and I'm doing 9 HL subjects. To be honest, there have been times when I thought about dropping one of them, but at the moment I'm fairly happy to keep them all up as long as possible. I wouldn't make a decision about levels or anything until you've given it a good shot. If you're absolutely crumbling with the stress by the end of the first half term, or say you keep them all up until your Christmas Tests and your results aren't great, then make a decision. But it seems pre-emptive to decide now that you won't be able for it.

Plus, everyone's experiences of 5th and 6th Year are different, and everyone's got different strengths. Give yourself a chance to try out LC Irish and Maths (they're v different to the Junior Cert) before you make any decisions. OL Irish in my school at least seems to have as much of a workload as HL, even if the standard isn't as high. You still have to learn poetry and prose, just not in as much detail. Some girls in my year regret dropping to Ordinary Irish in TY because they feel like they might as well have been doing the work for HL.

123 LC

try them both first, but for me i would drop the irish. for me i had to do way more work for irish, and still probably only got a C, whilst in maths im naturally Ok'ish at it, im fairly confident in getting a C2 or C3, so thats 85 or 90 points thanks to bonus points!

Daniel S

Drop to pass Irish. Maths is so much more useful. Even if you're only thinking as far as getting into college, the bonus points will be a nice help.

Still, you should be making this decision yourself and not asking for our opinion. You may have a nack for maths/Irish so it depends, but my opinion is above.

nailvarnish16

thanks for all the advice!!! ahm im thinking of doing either either clinical psychology which is about 500 in UCC or Banking because I was the Bank Manager in the build a bank at my school and I really got passionate for business which I would never have expected :P
I like math and with actual study it could turn out well....but for Irish I hated the language but when it came to it I could learnt my poetry and pros 2 weeks before the exam. And after that I had positive ideas of the subject.

ChemHickey

nailvarnish16 wrote: »

thanks for all the advice!!! ahm im thinking of doing either either clinical psychology which is about 500 in UCC or Banking because I was the Bank Manager in the build a bank at my school and I really got passionate for business which I would never have expected :P
I like math and with actual study it could turn out well....but for Irish I hated the language but when it came to it I could learnt my poetry and pros 2 weeks before the exam. And after that I had positive ideas of the subject.

If you're able to do them both, do them both.

Up until you said you're planning on doing psychology, I was going to mention that if you are going to drop to pass for the sake of study/work-load, you could consider dropping to pass English. It has an incredible amount of work involved with it! But, seeing as you are planning on doing psychology, I don't think it'd bode well with your aul CV.. :L