Physics

Miss_Theresa

Okay, I need advise! I'm going into 5th year next year. Originally the subjects that I have chosen were french, biology, history and physics. Unfortunately the subjects I got were french, biology, history and business due to way the classes are. I am pretty sure I'm going to do something in science after school and I am considering physics! I don't mind doing business but I did originally want at least two science subjects. I could try change from biology to physics and then do biology outside of school but I don't want to do an extra subject really! Do I have to do physics if I want to a course in college? Any suggestions?

Ruski

I know in UCD they have an introductory course for people that haven't done leaving cert physics.

Turtwig

Unless your desired course is heavily physics based then you won't really need LC physics. In fact, in all honesty, if your course of choice is physics based unless it's on the CAO requirements you're probably best off without LC physics. Best to start physics afresh in Uni and avoid picking up bad habits.

Bears and Vodka

Jernal wrote: »

Best to start physics afresh in Uni and avoid picking up bad habits.

Bad habits like what?

finality

Jernal wrote: »

Unless your desired course is heavily physics based then you won't really need LC physics. In fact, in all honesty, if your course of choice is physics based unless it's on the CAO requirements you're probably best off without LC physics. Best to start physics afresh in Uni and avoid picking up bad habits.

My teacher always said that physics is very difficult to pick up in college and that leaving cert physics is very helpful. I've never heard anyone advise against LC physics on that basis before. To my knowledge I haven't picked up any bad habits, but maybe I will discover otherwise when I start college.

On the other hand, I can only imagine that knowledge of SI units and scientific notation along with experience with calculations and formulae will be useful to me when I start my course (engineering). I know these are very basic but I think physics is something you need a good foundation in before you can move on to more difficult concepts, and correct me if I'm wrong but I do think LC physics provides that foundation.

OP, are you confident of getting the points for your course? If points are unlikely to be an issue and you really want to do a science-based course, the general consensus seems to be that biology is much easier to pick up in college than physics. On the other hand, most people find it easier to get high grades in leaving cert biology. It's a pretty tough choice.

I personally loved the mathematical side of physics but didn't like the theory all that much. I think I did quite well in the exam without learning off much of the theory, because I was good at the maths (and did applied maths, that helped too). Biology is all theory, but I found it so interesting and that made it very easy to remember. The two are very different, if I had to choose between them now I don't know if I could.

What about chemistry? I passionately hated it for junior cert and swore I wouldn't keep it on, but ended up keeping it on anyway due to limited choices :L I actually started to like it in sixth year and I hopefully got an A in it. I thought it was the most difficult of the sciences but it all came together in the end (and I think I did better in it than physics). There's really no comparison between junior cert and leaving cert chemistry.

I don't think there are many courses you need 2 sciences for. You could check that up on college websites, I could be wrong because I didn't pay that much attention as having 3 sciences made me eligible for everything haha.