LC Business/History/Geography/Biology

cfc.forever

Well these are the subjects I plan to do for the LC, I have a couple of questions though I'm currently doing my JC.

In business is there any accountancy what so ever or is it mainly just learning off facts?

What does the Leaving Cert History Project require? Explain it as if I don't know anything about it, what you have to do etc, what percentage is it worth. Is the LC History similar to JC History, just more learning required.

Geography - How many percent is the project worth? What do you have to do for the project, is it anything like JC Geography?

Biology - Is there a project in this if so what percent is it worth? Does lc biology just require learning loads of theory and experiments, similar to the JC, but way more to learn.

I'd appreciate if someone could respond with help for these, cause I don't want to start my LC un-prepared, I want some understanding of these subjects before I start my LC.

You'd be a pure gentleman/lady if you could help

-Cfc.forever

aimzLc2

cfc.forever wrote: »

Well these are the subjects I plan to do for the LC, I have a couple of questions though I'm currently doing my JC.

In business is there any accountancy what so ever or is it mainly just learning off facts?

What does the Leaving Cert History Project require? Explain it as if I don't know anything about it, what you have to do etc, what percentage is it worth. Is the LC History similar to JC History, just more learning required.

Geography - How many percent is the project worth? What do you have to do for the project, is it anything like JC Geography?

Biology - Is there a project in this if so what percent is it worth? Does lc biology just require learning loads of theory and experiments, similar to the JC, but way more to learn.

I'd appreciate if someone could respond with help for these, cause I don't want to start my LC un-prepared, I want some understanding of these subjects before I start my LC.

You'd be a pure gentleman/lady if you could help

-Cfc.forever

Hi, the business course is mainly theory , you will need to sit down for hours and learn it off and it takes up alot of time. If you are good at learning things off you should find it easy enough, there are just a few ratios/ cash flow, one or two random calculations but its one small chapter in the book

No project in biology but you do experiments , they are not counted but there are two compulsory experiment questions in the exam every year so you have to do and then learn all the experiments.It is a huge course so yes a lot of learning but quite interesting and most chapters are not too difficult any other questions?

cfc.forever

Nope you answered my questions for Biology/Business anyways, I should be grand because I'm good at memorizing. Now if someone could do geography/history

Hamza Malik

cfc.forever wrote: »

Nope you answered my questions for Biology/Business anyways, I should be grand because I'm good at memorizing. Now if someone could do geography/history

Geography is all about essays. The theory is very simple but you can get overloaded with the amount of essays to know. You also need to be able to draw sketch maps of countries and places. You also do a fieldwork project which is worth 20% or 25% before you even do your exam :P

missguided

The Geography project is worth 20%. I'm not sure about other schools but we examined a river- depth, speed and that. The course is way different to Junior Cert definitely, in JC you can get a B by glancing at the book and minimal study, LC is based much more on essays and the exam is really short for the amount you have to do. Short questions are pretty much the same as JC, obviously more complex but the same idea i.e labelling diagrams, matching definitions. You have to do long questions in regional geography and physical geography and then a longer section on cultural identity or something, not sure as I haven't done it yet haha

LostBoy101

History is a good subject to have if you find it interesting and I did but the paper is a nightmare and tortuous. It is very different to the JC course where in the LC you write essays and answer a document question. The document question is based on 3 topics and only one will come up.

It is a good course if you are interested in it but for me it's like a monopoly banking game as I found it very difficult to learn everything as it is an extremely broad course. This year I've prepared like a mad man and sadly the paper this year was a bitch apart from the Document question which was ok. As I've said, it's a monopoly banking subject and you may win some and lose some.

Canard

Geography is quite relaxing if you do it right. :P When you cover a topic, do the exam questions right away is my advice, get them corrected until you have 30/30 and it's organised in a way that you can learn, be it essay style or bullet points. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's not as hard as history or many other subjects if you put the work in. The exam is quite nice for choice and the economic elective overlaps with business.

History for me was a nightmare. It probably has more than geography to learn and the essays are all 100 marks, no small chunks to build up except for the document question. Anything can come up at any angle and you just don't have time to form opinions on it in the exam because you have to write so fast. My problem was never "this essay is lacking information", it was always "you're going to have to learn to write a little quicker". Unless you're extremely quick-thinking and into history, I think it'd be hard to get out what you put in. The project is easy enough though.

Generally I find people love or hate history, but with geography it's a lot more neutral. It's not a bad subject. History can be enjoyable, especially considering you might get to do 2 European books (depends if you do TY or not), but Irish history is dreadfully boring at LC level I think.

JOS2013

I did all 4 of these this year and I have a serious headache after business today! There is a serious amount of material and in parts they all overlap but use different points for the same topic. It can get very confusing. But the two projects mean you can have 20% in history and geography before you walk in.
If you enjoy those 4 subjects like me and are good at rope leaning then go for it they're no different then other subjects that way. But you really will have to put hours in to learn the material!

Hamza Malik

Do biology and geography. If you like definitions do business too. I wouldn't pick history. Pick something challenging as a forth option like chemistry.

cfc.forever

History seems really exciting for me, because for the document q's you have too learn three topics, I'm good at memorizing I can learn three of them off no bothers, and learning essays [that was certainly my strong point for the JC+I'm looking forward to the project] I have a natural flare for Business and I'm good at learning for geography/business and biology, is the only one there I'm not particulary fond of but as long as I study I should be ok and put the work in. Thank you guys for your good advice and I'm confident I can pick these subjects for the Leaving Cert with confidence. But could someone do this, can you explain what "electives" are does this mean like you can pick what you do for each subject, would love to know.

Thank you very much once again!

- Cfc.forever

cfc.forever

cfc.forever wrote: »

History seems really exciting for me, because for the document q's you have too learn three topics, I'm good at memorizing I can learn three of them off no bothers, and learning essays [that was certainly my strong point for the JC+I'm looking forward to the project] I have a natural flare for Business and I'm good at learning for geography/business and biology, is the only one there I'm not particulary fond of but as long as I study I should be ok and put the work in. Thank you guys for your good advice and I'm confident I can pick these subjects for the Leaving Cert with confidence. But could someone do this, can you explain what "electives" are does this mean like you can pick what you do for each subject, would love to know.

Thank you very much once again!

- Cfc.forever

Well the Geography course has your core section which is physical and regional geography.
Then you do 1 of 2 electives. There is the economic elective or the human elective.
Then you do 1 of 4 options (Geoecology, Culture and Identity, The Atmosphere and the Ocean, and I can't think of the last one)

SeanyboyQPR

cfc.forever wrote: »

Well these are the subjects I plan to do for the LC, I have a couple of questions though I'm currently doing my JC.

In business is there any accountancy what so ever or is it mainly just learning off facts?

What does the Leaving Cert History Project require? Explain it as if I don't know anything about it, what you have to do etc, what percentage is it worth. Is the LC History similar to JC History, just more learning required.

Geography - How many percent is the project worth? What do you have to do for the project, is it anything like JC Geography?

Biology - Is there a project in this if so what percent is it worth? Does lc biology just require learning loads of theory and experiments, similar to the JC, but way more to learn.

I'd appreciate if someone could respond with help for these, cause I don't want to start my LC un-prepared, I want some understanding of these subjects before I start my LC.

You'd be a pure gentleman/lady if you could help

-Cfc.forever

Having finished my term studying history and business for leaving cert I'd recommend them both a lot!! The history project is great, especially if there's something local you have an interest in. Examiners love stuff they havent seen before and are very generous marks wise as a result. The actual exam is tough but very, very predictable!

Business is just a lot of learning but easy retention and straightforward, by no means rocket science!

Jolly Red Giant

cfc.forever wrote: »

History seems really exciting for me, because for the document q's you have too learn three topics, I'm good at memorizing I can learn three of them off no bothers, and learning essays [that was certainly my strong point for the JC+I'm looking forward to the project] I have a natural flare for Business and I'm good at learning for geography/business and biology, is the only one there I'm not particulary fond of but as long as I study I should be ok and put the work in. Thank you guys for your good advice and I'm confident I can pick these subjects for the Leaving Cert with confidence. But could someone do this, can you explain what "electives" are does this mean like you can pick what you do for each subject, would love to know.

Thank you very much once again!

- Cfc.forever

If you want to find out what is involved in the LC History course you could look here -
http://leavingcerthistory.net

Lots of stuff on the research project too.

Specifically on the Research Project - it amounts to 20% of the overall mark. You pick a topic, carry out research, evaluation your sources and write a report/extended essay. It take place over the two years - and my advice would be to start early and get it completed as soon as you can.

The remainder of the course is split into four topics - one is prescribed as the Document Based Question - for students starting in September it is the Pursuit of Sovereignty and the Impact of Partition - Ireland 1912-1949. The three case studies are
The Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/ireland-1912-1949/case-studies/the-anglo-irish-treaty/
The Eucharistic Congress 1932 - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/ireland-1912-1949/case-studies/the-eucharistic-congress-1932/
and
The Belfast Blitz 1941 - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/ireland-1912-1949/case-studies/the-belfast-blitz-1941/

One of the three case studies come up in the exam - you can find information about answering the Document Based Question here - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/ireland-1912-1949/case-studies/answering-the-document-based-question/

The remainder of the course is divided as follows - one topic from Later Modern Ireland - this will be chosen by your history teacher but a lot of schools do Politics and Society in Northern Ireland 1949-1993 - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/northern-ireland-1949-1993/

The there are two topics from Europe and the Wider World - most schools would do Dictatorship and Democracy 1920-1945 - http://leavingcerthistory.net/course-topics/europe-1920-1945/

The other options are usually - Division and Realignment in Europe 1945-1989
and
The USA and the Wider World 1949-1989

You can find the past exam papers here http://leavingcerthistory.net/exam-papers/

For each topic selected in the exam you answer one essay question from a choice of four. So that is one Document Based Question and three essay question - one from each topic your teacher will have selected.

Hope this helps

cfc.forever

Yes that helps.. you just made me love history even more but I'm worried, if you want, can you not study the topics in your own time and pick the one you like, because for some reason my teacher tries to avoid Irish politics and I have such an interest it. So bascially you're telling me if you revise and put the work in you're pretty much guranteed a B/A

SeanyboyQPR

cfc.forever wrote: »

Yes that helps.. you just made me love history even more but I'm worried, if you want, can you not study the topics in your own time and pick the one you like, because for some reason my teacher tries to avoid Irish politics and I have such an interest it. So bascially you're telling me if you revise and put the work in you're pretty much guranteed a B/A

Yes, butyou need a decent to high standard of English too. Its essentially an "applied english exam" as someone on here so aptly once put it!

Jolly Red Giant

cfc.forever wrote: »

Yes that helps.. you just made me love history even more but I'm worried, if you want, can you not study the topics in your own time and pick the one you like, because for some reason my teacher tries to avoid Irish politics and I have such an interest it. So bascially you're telling me if you revise and put the work in you're pretty much guranteed a B/A

The course must involve two topics from Irish History and two topics from European/World History - within each section there is a choice of six topics. For next year the Case Studies come from one Irish topic - so the teacher will pick the second topic from

1. Ireland and the Union, 1815-1870
2. Movements for political and social reform, 1870-1914
4. The Irish diaspora, 1840-1966
5. Politics and society in Northern Ireland, 1949-1993
6. Government, economy and society in the Republic of Ireland, 1949-1989

Similarly the teacher will pick two from the following -
1. Nationalism and state formation in Europe, 1815-1871
2. Nation states and international tensions, 1871-1920
3. Dictatorship and democracy, 1920-1945
4. Division and realignment in Europe, 1945-1992
5. European retreat from empire and the aftermath, 1945-1990
6. The United States and the world, 1945-1989


If there is a topic that you are really interested in then go ask the teacher if the teacher will select it as a topic - some teachers will ask their students for input before deciding.

As for the grade - like every subject - the more effort you put in the better the grade you get in the end. The course (particularly how it is marked) is designed to allow students that work to get a B - there is a step in quality (in terms of how you write your essays) required to get an A. But remember this - you are not expected to be able to write essays in your first week - writing an essay is a skill to be learnt - you want to be writing your best essays the day of the exam in two years time.

user.name

I absolutely love history it was my favourite subject! Many people find it a nightmare by the way they learn the course, they treat it as rote learning and learn off mountains of essays. I didn't, just learnt all the facts and just wrote the essay in the exam. Much better way i think, plus the course is so large they can ask you topics from many different angles. Good luck i found it enjoyable and going to study politics in college because of it

cfc.forever

I have a very strong interest in Irish Political History and I notice that is a big chunk of the course, I'm doing ty but when the time comes I'm looking forward to it but one thing I can't do is not study, I'm studying from day one and not just doing the book with the teacher in class, doing a lot of work at home.

I'm not doing this subject just because of points but because I have a flare for the subject.

Jolly Red Giant

SeanyboyQPR wrote: »

Yes, butyou need a decent to high standard of English too. Its essentially an "applied english exam" as someone on here so aptly once put it!

I actually disagree with this - the skills required for English and for History - while similar are not the same. The ability to write English helps - but History is very much its own subject. I know one student who came to Ireland at 15 years old without a word of English and got the highest grade in the class in History three years later.

Jolly Red Giant

user.name wrote: »

I absolutely love history it was my favourite subject! Many people find it a nightmare by the way they learn the course, they treat it as rote learning and learn off mountains of essays. I didn't, just learnt all the facts and just wrote the essay in the exam. Much better way i think, plus the course is so large they can ask you topics from many different angles. Good luck i found it enjoyable and going to study politics in college because of it

I would very much agree with this.

cfc.forever wrote: »

I have a very strong interest in Irish Political History and I notice that is a big chunk of the course, I'm doing ty but when the time comes I'm looking forward to it but one thing I can't do is not study, I'm studying from day one and not just doing the book with the teacher in class, doing a lot of work at home.

I'm not doing this subject just because of points but because I have a flare for the subject.

And as a result I would expect you to do very well in History.

History is pretty much all about -
1. You are asked a question
2. You give your opinion / interpretation
3. You back up your opinion with evidence.

So if you are asked - who was more successful in terms of economic policy between 1922-1939, William T. Cosgrave or Eamonn DeValera? - you can argue -
1. Cosgrave
2. DeValera
3. they were both very successful
4. they were both ***** at it

Then you back up your opinion by going through
1. the problems face by their governments
2. the policies they adopted
3. how the policies were implemented
4. whether they were successful or not.

And within this you can argue which individual policies worked and which didn't.

So its about your opinion/interpretation and how you argue your case.

In my opinon the best way to gain a more rounded and comprehensive understanding of each topic is not to try and learn off the individual facts (rote learning) - but to read as many different books /articles etc as you can. While reading you will pick up the facts you need while being exposed to different opinions and how historians formulate and present arguments for and against. Your teacher should be able to advise you on wider reading material outside your textbook and you will find links to articles on website I linked to earlier.

cfc.forever

I'm very very opininated and tend to like debating, I wouldn't just learn for the sake of learning, I would do follow-up research on the stuff I learn. Hopefully I end up putting the work in and getting an A1, I wasn't very good at picture questions for JC so at least I won't have do them for LC. Thank you guys for your help, my history teacher said not to worry about your LC yet.. so like yeah thats why I fealt the need to ask you guys. This is why I love boards :d

olazbabes

I did History this year It has been the biggest pain ever. 4 books and a research topic and all you do in the end is write 4 4 page essay from anywhere in course. you are picking subjects with a lot of theory. Accounting is good i like it because it is a break from theory you just walk in and do a question. dont you like music, art. You are going to be stressed in the last few weeks/months of LC as geo and hist projects and orals are all due close to each other. For Geo your whole class does they same topic-you basically copy off each other. History is hard. you pick an event/person you are interested in and start yourself . it reequires all lot of re drafting and referencing as you go along. Your teacher can guide you but not donit for you. It reaches a point when i got bored of mine. because im unorganised I stopped studying for two weeks in May because of it. but everyone is different.

orlabobs

As a future History teacher I would encourage you to study history. If you enjoy it the study will be relatively ok.
The course is quite different from the JC - what it does is it takes materials from the last part of the JC course (Ireland 1916, Hitler, Britain WW2) that were done briefly and just expands on those great topics in far more detail. Whilst what sections of history you do is at the discretion of your teacher, you often get to study Ireland 1912-45 so War of Independence and all that and Europe (Britain, Germany, Italy and France mainly) before the war, during the war and stops at the end of war. There is also an American part.
These modules are really great and there is so much opportunity for you to just go look up cool things on youtube relating to the course (eg Stalin's show trials) That sort of thing just makes it easier.
The project is 20% (or 25%) of your overall grade, that means that going into your exam you already have some of your marks - and assuming you give it a good go, you'll get most of those marks. (I got like 99% in my project) You can do it on ANYTHING so long as it is before 1992/1993 in Ireland. That means that if there is something in history you find so fascinating but you never get to cover it, you can - and get marked for it.

Lastly, classroom sizes generally tend to be smaller for LC history as so many shy away from it. That means you'll get more teacher time.

History is a wonderful subject and whilst some run away from it because they don't like it, if you do like it its an excellent subject to do. There is more in it than Business - but at least its interesting.

It's your LC at the end of the day, but History was my all time favourite subject at school.

SeanyboyQPR

orlabobs wrote: »

As a future History teacher I would encourage you to study history. If you enjoy it the study will be relatively ok.
The course is quite different from the JC - what it does is it takes materials from the last part of the JC course (Ireland 1916, Hitler, Britain WW2) that were done briefly and just expands on those great topics in far more detail. Whilst what sections of history you do is at the discretion of your teacher, you often get to study Ireland 1912-45 so War of Independence and all that and Europe (Britain, Germany, Italy and France mainly) before the war, during the war and stops at the end of war. There is also an American part.
These modules are really great and there is so much opportunity for you to just go look up cool things on youtube relating to the course (eg Stalin's show trials) That sort of thing just makes it easier.
The project is 20% (or 25%) of your overall grade, that means that going into your exam you already have some of your marks - and assuming you give it a good go, you'll get most of those marks. (I got like 99% in my project) You can do it on ANYTHING so long as it is before 1992/1993 in Ireland. That means that if there is something in history you find so fascinating but you never get to cover it, you can - and get marked for it.

Lastly, classroom sizes generally tend to be smaller for LC history as so many shy away from it. That means you'll get more teacher time.

History is a wonderful subject and whilst some run away from it because they don't like it, if you do like it its an excellent subject to do. There is more in it than Business - but at least its interesting.

It's your LC at the end of the day, but History was my all time favourite subject at school.

+1 goooo history!