Leaving Cert Physics - Mechanics...can you leave it out?

HPMS

So my question is can you leave out the mechanics part of the course (besides the experiments) and still be able to complete the exam? My teacher in school refuses to do it with us because she says the exam questions on it are always "catching students out" and she says we will still have plenty of choice on the paper (in 2013) without mechanics! Is this true? Or should I do it anyway? And is it really as hard as she makes it out to be? She did the experiments with us - just not the section B stuff!

Thanks for any help given

Salts

Personally, mechanics was one of my favourite parts of the course. I did Applied Maths as well though so it overlapped in a few areas so I found it easier. Our teacher did Mechanics with us but recommended that we stay away from it because it's tricky in his opinion. Q6 is always Mechanics and there's always a part of Q5 and Q12 that are mechanics. But if you have the rest of the course covered well then I'd say you'll be okay.. If you're interested in that part of physics though you could always do it yourself

TheBody

It's not that difficult either. If I were you, I'd have a go at studying it myself.

Bears and Vodka

My teacher left out mechanics too and it wasn't a problem at all. You will definitely have enough questions to do on the paper if you leave it out. Don't give yourself more work to do when you can avoid it with no problem at all!

Chuchoter

Do the experiments, they're very handy and they're nearly guaranteed to come up. I didn't do the mechanics question myself but I had learnt it. It can be a tricky question but in general I think its a bad idea leaving out sections of the course.

jumpguy

HPMS wrote: »

So my question is can you leave out the mechanics part of the course (besides the experiments) and still be able to complete the exam? My teacher in school refuses to do it with us because she says the exam questions on it are always "catching students out" and she says we will still have plenty of choice on the paper (in 2013) without mechanics! Is this true? Or should I do it anyway? And is it really as hard as she makes it out to be? She did the experiments with us - just not the section B stuff!

That's a real pity, if you like maths, and don't do applied maths, mechanics questions can be enjoyable (yes, I'm a serious nerd), and the section covers some important fundamentals.

But anyway, you can get away easily just doing the mechanics experiments. It will limit your choice in the short questions, and if it comes up in the topical question (where you get a paragraph and answer questions - I'd never do this question anyway, it's usually marked ridiculously) you can't do it. You also won't be able to do the mechanics part in the 4-parts-do-2 question. Obviously, you won't be able to do the full mechanics question.

I'd always avoided doing the full mechanics question myself and had only planned on doing it if I had time to do it as an extra question (I didn't) or if something went disastrous and I needed to do it. Even if you're mathematically gifted, it's just a dangerous question where a simple misunderstanding of the problem or concept could lead you seriously astray.

So while it is a fairly disgraceful paring down of a section of fundamental importance in physics (as a science, not a subject), you can get away with only studying the mechanics experiments and still be able to answer the required amount of questions on the exam.

finality

Mechanics was my absolute favourite section of the course, and I found it FAR easier than any other section, bar maybe radioactivity and particle physics.

It's completely mathematical, so if you prefer maths to rote learning, it might be good to cover it.

Your teacher is really failing your class, he's taking what he finds difficult and applying that to everyone, which is wrong. Different people like different sections of the course better and it's kind of disgraceful of him to take the choice away from you when it's completely possible to cover the whole course in good detail. My teacher was out sick for almost a month in sixth year and we missed a couple of weeks in fifth year due to floods, and he STILL got the whole course including the particle physics option done.

ride-the-spiral

A teacher can advise on what should or should not be done in an exam, but leaving out what becomes the basis for pretty much every aspect of physics should you study it further is an awful idea. Even from a pure LC stand point, Q6 isn't that bad, and there are parts of mechanics elsewhere in the paper, in Q12 I think it pops up.

Not only are they being shortsighted, but they're not being fair to people in the class who actually like physics.

TheChizler

What kind of questions were mechanics again?

LC '07

HPMS

Yes! I am quite annoyed with her (my teacher) as I think I would enjoy the mechanics aspect of the course - heck, thats one of the main reasons I chose physics in the first place! So I do not think it is fair that she should pass on her dislike of the subject to her students. She told us that the only people who ever answer Q6 are the people who do applied maths as well and so we should never ever answer it. And she also told us a story about her nephew where she warned him not to do Q6, he did it and got a B2 - his A1 out the window because he did Q6 - according to her anyway (but how is she to know if he lost the marks in Q6 unless she viewed the script - which I doubt)! She is a terrible teacher anyway so I think I'll go ahead and cover mechanics by myself- I mightn't end up doing it but it's better to be safe than sorry, am I right? And its good to know also that it isn't completely necessary in order to be able to complete a full LC paper. I might get a head start in it during august anyway!

Thanks for your replies everyone - you have all been very helpful!