Taking 8 subjects if 2 are OL

Laauren

Hey there,

Just looking for peoples opinions on this. I had to drop out of 6th year this year due to illness and didnt get to do the LC. I was doing 7 higher level subjects at the time.
Im going back to school now as basically a repeat student. I know people say its too much work to do 8 subjects, but if I dropped to OL maths and irish it would take a lot of the pressure off me.
Because of the course i want to do I need to do 6 HL subjects. So i was going to pick up ag science. This would leave me with 6HL subjects and 2OL.

Basically i want to know am i crazy to do eight subjects even if two of them are OL??

Thanks for taking the time to read this

Ash_M

I did 8 HL because my school didn't offer Music, nor would they let me drop History when I started doing Music after school. As long as you're disciplined it's do-able, but it's a lot of work so just be aware of that. It might be easier just to drop to OL in one of the two?

Laauren

Ash_M wrote: »

I did 8 HL because my school didn't offer Music, nor would they let me drop History when I started doing Music after school. As long as you're disciplined it's do-able, but it's a lot of work so just be aware of that. It might be easier just to drop to OL in one of the two?

Thanks for the reply i understand that its a lot of work definitely. Its just that I need at least 565 for my course and i dont think i could get that with maths or irish at higher level. I appreciate your advice though. Ill definitely think about just dropping to OL in one subject. I have a while to decide anyway

Local_Chap

Laauren wrote: »

Thanks for the reply i understand that its a lot of work definitely. Its just that I need at least 565 for my course and i dont think i could get that with maths or irish at higher level. I appreciate your advice though. Ill definitely think about just dropping to OL in one subject. I have a while to decide anyway

Remember tho,theres extra points for honours maths

Ash_M

Bear that 25 point boost from Maths in mind, if you've any aptitude for Maths at all then scraping a D3 in it would be well worth your time.

Laauren

Local_Chap wrote: »

Remember tho,theres extra points for honours maths

Yeah i dunno because i failed my maths mock in HL. That may have been due to illness.. But i still found it very tough. Plus that result was with me doing an hour and a half of maths homework EVERY single evening thanks for the Advice though

Ash_M

Failing a mock doesn't mean anything a lot of the time. Friend of mine failed horrifically and came out smiling with a decent C2. Just break it down and study it by areas, focusing on stuff you know at first to perfect it, and then working on to stuff you struggle with. That 25 point boost is worth it!

spurious

It's really impossible to answer these sort of queries without knowing what your ability and work levels are.

ChemHickey

If I were repeating the LC, I'd definitely 100% drop English to OL or drop it altogether. It is very time consuming and really doesn't hold any academic value unless you plan on going into English. I'd stick with HL maths if I were you and drop English.

gaeilgegrinds1

We don't know your level. My gut is that 7 seems easier, go up in one of those if you can. Irish results were bonkers high this year, a few weeks concentrating on your oral would see you right.

Laauren

spurious wrote: »

It's really impossible to answer these sort of queries without knowing what your ability and work levels are.

Sorry. Em well im a very capable student. I know people say that junior cert is a totally different ballgame from the leaving cert, but i got the best junior cert results in my school. I would be an A student in german, biology, accounting and business. I got 530 points in my christmas tests of 6th year. Plus the fact that im good at biology i think ag science would be doable in a year. One other thing, please dont view me in a different light for this, but i was in a grind school last year and i will be this year. I am a serious hard worker though. Before my illness earlier this year i was doing evening study every evening and i did study at weekends for 8 hours from the start of the year. Im very determined to get the results i need

spurious

Well if you're in a grind school, there's the massive motivation of knowing someone is paying crazy money, so motivation shouldn't be an issue.

It's important to be honest with yourself and know when it is getting too much for you (if it ever does). We've had people come to us from grind schools where no-one seemed to pick up they were struggling and they were entered for all sorts of inappropriate subjects and levels.

Good luck.

Laauren

spurious wrote: »

Well if you're in a grind school, there's the massive motivation of knowing someone is paying crazy money, so motivation shouldn't be an issue.

It's important to be honest with yourself and know when it is getting too much for you (if it ever does). We've had people come to us from grind schools where no-one seemed to pick up they were struggling and they were entered for all sorts of inappropriate subjects and levels.

Good luck.

Thanks, I appreciate your opinion and I respect the fact that you have experience with these matters.
To be honest thats why I did not want to mention that I go to a grinds school. For one, going to a grinds school was not my first option. I was bullied out of my old school in wexford. So I got the number of every single school in dublin that was accesible to me. They either didnt offer my subjects or had no space for me. Others advised my parents that if I started in their school that the bullying would be worse. So a grinds school was my last resource.
Just secondly, my 'grinds' school advised me NOT to do 8 subjects for the leaving cert. I hadnt made any decisions about this yet. Ive just seen many people here doing 8 subjects and I wanted to know would it be crazy to do so??
Lastly, no matter how great the teachers are in my school or whatever. The support I've gotten from my grinds school has been triple whatever I got in my old school. In fact i recieved no support in my old school, no matter how hard I looked for it.

Ill get the points I need whether its in a grind school or not. I suppose this is demonstrated by the fact that my grades increased minimal amounts since I started in a grinds school. Just thought I'd get that out there :pac: I would like people to give me their opinions based on my ability, and not the fact that I go to a grind schoool

ray2012

I don't think taking 8 subjects is crazy at all. I'm going into 6th year myself and I'm doing 8 (7 higher 1 ordinary) - the maths is ordinary. I'm starting economics by myself this year, seems like a doable course with enough work.
But yeah, you'd be well able for it if you are determined enough and work long and hard!
Good luck

Laauren

ray2012 wrote: »

I don't think taking 8 subjects is crazy at all. I'm going into 6th year myself and I'm doing 8 (7 higher 1 ordinary) - the maths is ordinary. I'm starting economics by myself this year, seems like a doable course with enough work.
But yeah, you'd be well able for it if you are determined enough and work long and hard!
Good luck

Thank you i appreciate hearing this from someone whos done it themselves! Best of luck to you too

dropinthocean

I did my LC in 2007 and had to do 9 subjects to avoid having to use OL Irish for points. It worked and I'm now entering final year medicine in TCD. It's tricky and you have to be pretty dedicated, but it can be done! Best of luck.

dcam

Hi Laauren. I did my Leaving this year and did eight subjects 6HL and 2OL. Anyway I did OL maths and English and it worked out really well for me. I would say that if you find maths a struggle doing OL is probably a good strategy because if you're going for at least 565 points you will be going for A'S or at least a B1 in all of your subjects so if you only got say a D in HL maths you wouldn't even be counting it in your points. i.e. if you got a D1 in HL maths it would give you 80 points whereas a B1 in another subject would give you 85 points. Also if you find maths difficult HL maths might be too time consuming and your other subjects might suffer as a result. Hope this helps.:)

Laauren

dcam wrote: »

Hi Laauren. I did my Leaving this year and did eight subjects 6HL and 2OL. Anyway I did OL maths and English and it worked out really well for me. I would say that if you find maths a struggle doing OL is probably a good strategy because if you're going for at least 565 points you will be going for A'S or at least a B1 in all of your subjects so if you only got say a D in HL maths you wouldn't even be counting it in your points. i.e. if you got a D1 in HL maths it would give you 80 points whereas a B1 in another subject would give you 85 points. Also if you find maths difficult HL maths might be too time consuming and your other subjects might suffer as a result. Hope this helps.:)

Thanks thats brilliant hearing from someone who has done it themselves I definitely feel like i put too much time into HL maths with little result at the end of the day, bonus points or no bonus points! Im sure ill be able for 8 subjects.. Ill just have to think it through

Powpowbambam

I did 8 subjects with 2 being ol... I didn't find it too difficult at all I'm not super clever but got what I needed... My school told me to drop something. I did honours English and it was my lowest but still a c3 I did ol Maths and French.... (didn't see the point as I don't need 7 honour subjects)

Laauren

Powpowbambam wrote: »

I did 8 subjects with 2 being ol... I didn't find it too difficult at all I'm not super clever but got what I needed... My school told me to drop something. I did honours English and it was my lowest but still a c3 I did ol Maths and French.... (didn't see the point as I don't need 7 honour subjects)

Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it

Lord Ned Stark

I did 8 subjects 2 ol dropped to ol for Maths and Irish and took up economics for 6th year and got a B2 it's definitely very manageable I only focused on economics properly for the last month or so . Personally I think you need to have a certain mind for Maths which I certainly didn't so I focused on theory subjects and found it very manageable