Choice problems - Leaving Cert

stevefennelly

So I wanted to do Physics for the leaving, but nobody else did. The school took away the option of Physics but the Leaving cert physics teacher offered me a private class to teach me physics if I wanted, which would mean I'd have to more or less teach myself when I had a free class but she'd assign me work/help/time etc. Is this a stupid decision as you wouldn't really NEED to have done it for the leaving to do a course after school, but I also have a fairly big interest in physics and will be doing higher maths too.

Would taking physics be a bad option and most likely end up in failure, or is it possible to do so? Schools coming back around and don't want to leave it until I go back to make up my mind. Anyone encounter this problem before, or know of anyone with a similar issue.

Lbeard

There is a huge benefit to teaching yourself. It's a skill in itself. That will really stand by you in later years. (the real secret to success in study is to be a good self teacher - or autodidact, if you want to be fancy).

Read the school book cover to cover - even if you don't understand it - and then read it again. Do it now before you head back to school.

Any bits you don't understand come on an internet forum and ask questions. And don't trust internet physics, it's often wildly wrong.

If you can do higher maths there's none of the physics maths you should struggle with. Leaving cert physics is not too difficult - if you work through the past papers you'll see a recurrence of the same questions or similar. These days they even have silly childish questions about wind turbines. Questions on motion, velocity etc are things that can be done in seconds.

stevefennelly

I bought my books already so that's a good idea, I should read the book before I go back, I've plenty of time to get the general idea of it to help get a good head start.

If higher maths can help me a through the majority of Physics maths it will help loads considering throughout 4th year I haven't done really anything only a start on leaving cert maths.

Just seems like a daunting task teaching myself.

shell18244

What other subjects were you planning on choosing ? I'd advise against picking 3 sciences as it is very weighty ! Also you will need a good standard of maths , why do you want to do physics ? I chose to do applied maths as an extra subject and it was too tough... So I ended up dropping it .

Are you going into fourth or fifth year ?

I'm in my third year of physics in dcu so any questions just ask...

stevefennelly

I'm planning on doing 3 science Subjects and LCVP but I'm down for chem, bio and accounting. Which was just the the best of the worst subjects that were left, mainly only picked LCVP as a worst case scenario without adding any extra work. I got a solid B in higher level maths in the Junior Cert without putting in any effort what so ever, so applying myself when it comes to the leaving should give myself a good chance of scoring high and help with the Physics workload. My cousin did very well in leaving cert higher level maths and she said she would give me grinds in 6th year if I was in need.

I'm going into 5th year and was wondering is Higher Physics stupid to try teach myself, from reading over the first few chapters of the book it seems like I'll either need to spend a lot of time reading things on the internet to understand it or get some books from the library. It's not exactly common sense when it comes to working out the problems hehe. Then again it's so interesting some of the stuff you can't help but look up more stuff on it. It's by far the subject I was looking forward to the most but then again, myself or my school haven't really gone in dept with the other two subjects so far, so I can't say for sure which I'll prefer the most. But I spend way more time reading and watching videos/films on physics related subjects rather then the other two. But the other two subjects are a lot less common from what I understand via tv programs, popular science books, films etc.

Mainly I just want to know is teaching myself higher level physics for the leaving a far fetched idea, or should I just keep learning it as a sort of hobby. At the moment Physics after secondry school seems the most appealing but I haven't even started my leaving cert so I can't really have a feel for what suits me best.

Wall of text, sorry

shell18244

Are u dead set on bio ? That's a heavy memory game !! And realistically if your gonna go into a science that you want a job in you WON'T pick to study it in college ( maybe I'm biased)


And also check to see if you can sit the exam without having done any of the experiments on the syllabus ?

stevefennelly

I really only picked it because I like science over all the other subjects and don't want to confine myself to just one subject if I can help it. The other reason is because the options along with biology were Home economics, french and art (Maybe 1 more). None of which I've any interest in so that edged me towards biology but It's not something I was fully sure I was really needed/had to do.

And you're saying that if I was going to get a job in Physics for instance, I wouldn't study it in college? Or by college you mean secondary and I'm supposed to choose what job/course I want before I pick my leaving cert subjects so I don't pick hard subjects I won't need?

About the experiments I've no idea, I could ask when I go back in a month but I couldn't find much about it on the internet, unless you can find something.

Lbeard

stevefennelly wrote: »

I'm going into 5th year and was wondering is Higher Physics stupid to try teach myself, from reading over the first few chapters of the book it seems like I'll either need to spend a lot of time reading things on the internet to understand it or get some books from the library.

It's not really that difficult. I don't think any of the maths in LC physics is higher than junior cert maths.

Don't worry about not understanding it at this stage. You can down load the past exams, and the answer sheets so you can see how the questions are answered.

A problem with education is people can memorise and cram, then sit exams and score high points without having the slightest clue as to what they've done.

The equations in physics are all algebra. People do algebra without being able to conceptually understand what is happening. They get confused with simple equations. In maths, algebraic equations are usually written as z = xy, or something like that in physics they're written as s = vt (that's distance is equal to velocity by time) - although I'm not sure if they use this form in the leaving cert, differentiation is also used. Instead dy/dx = 3x, you have ds/dt = v...And that is the change in distance over change in time is equal to the velocity. And integration is used too, Kinectic Energy = 1/2mv^2 , that's the integral of momentum which is p = mv (mass by velocity). ....in the junior cert you would have had questions as simple as y = 1/2(3)x^2 or 3/2x^2

Don't be worried that you don't fully understand the physics because it's not fully explained in the leaving cert. You just need the level of knowledge to answer the exam questions. If you know enough to answer a question, then you have a enough, even though there's more to it than that.

If you print off the past exam papers and practice them - once you have the concepts down, you might be able to blast through them in few minutes.


Don't panic.. get over the feeling of being overwhelmed......start by overwhelming yourself.

stevefennelly

I see, Should I focus on exam papers in 5th year or should I leave them off until 6th and focus on learning off the books until then, or would doing exam papers all throughout 5th year help significant when it comes to the leaving cert. My brother, who did his leaving last year said that my particular school doesn't really do any exam papers until maybe the last month of 5th year and focus big on it in 6th year. Similar to the way the junior cert works I suppose.

But I understand It's do-able but thought I'd ask this as an extra question :P

Lbeard

stevefennelly wrote: »

I see, Should I focus on exam papers in 5th year or should I leave them off until 6th and focus on learning off the books until then, or would doing exam papers all throughout 5th year help significant when it comes to the leaving cert.

Familiarise yourself with the exam papers as soon as possible. Just read them, you don't need to understand them. The more familiar something is the less anxiety, the less you'll feel overwhelmed - and it's fine to be overwhelmed (just not in the exam hall). At first you'll be slow, but the more accustomed you come to it, the quicker you can scan through a paper. You'll see keywords repeated, what at first looks impossible will eventually look easy.

It works like this. If you read an exam paper, and you haven't clue what any of it is about - you become completely overwhelmed, you leave down the paper and do something completely unrelated. A few days later you look at the same paper, and you feel less overwhelmed - the longer you have to repeat this, the easier it gets.

The formulas are algebra. You don't even need to understand what they mean to do them. Instead of y = kx, it's F = ma, Force equals mass by acceleration.

Don't wait for your teachers. A lot of teachers end up causing more confusion than anything else. You can often learn more, faster from a 3 minute Youtube clip, than 90 minutes of double physics.

stevefennelly

Thanks, you're after explaining exactly what I was trying to find out. I have a much better image now of what I want to get done and how to go about it.

Everything seems a whole lot clearer and I have a fairly decent mental plan of what I want to get done rather then just going back to school and maybe finding out what I should do about it. Thanks for the help

gline

stevefennelly wrote: »

So I wanted to do Physics for the leaving, but nobody else did. The school took away the option of Physics but the Leaving cert physics teacher offered me a private class to teach me physics if I wanted, which would mean I'd have to more or less teach myself when I had a free class but she'd assign me work/help/time etc. Is this a stupid decision as you wouldn't really NEED to have done it for the leaving to do a course after school, but I also have a fairly big interest in physics and will be doing higher maths too.

Would taking physics be a bad option and most likely end up in failure, or is it possible to do so? Schools coming back around and don't want to leave it until I go back to make up my mind. Anyone encounter this problem before, or know of anyone with a similar issue.

Similar experience happened to me. I loved science and got an A in higher for the JC, chose physics for the LC, but no one else picked it, so had to do chemistry instead. I also could have taught myself, but never bothered and kind of lost interest in school as that was the subject I most wanted to do. Fast forward 12 years and I am teaching myself it now as I will be studying it in UCD starting in Septemeber. So if you really have an interest in it either teach yourself now with the help of the teacher (much easier to learn when you are younger and with the help of a teacher), or later on when it will be harder, this is assuming you have a love for it. The maths can be the hard part for most people, so if your doing Higher maths already, you are halfway there.
Fair play to the physics teacher also doing this outside class hours, it sounds like they will get you through it anyway if theres things you cant understand on your own, that is a great resource, the teacher must see potential in you.

stevefennelly

I can't say for sure but I would think the same thing would happen to me, I would end up getting sick of doing subjects I didn't want to do and do bad in them as a result. But yeh, the physics teacher is one of the good teachers, not too strict but just enough so you don't get lazy.

Before I left school for the summer I asked her about doing an all science LC, and what colleges offer what courses and she helped me loads, printed me off stuff, told me loads and even spoke with the principal with regardless to me being an exception when it came to subject choice. So instead of going into the 4th option (mine being physics), I can either leave the school or go into her class and do my physics there while I have a free period.

I can't really complain, couldn't get better help then that. Not to mention she'll help keep me on track of what needs to get done when. A whole lot easier then trying to teach myself without any help at all.