Choosing subjects advice

Oisin4

Hi before I choose my LC subjects I'd like to know what the following subjects are like compared to JC;
Chemistry
Biology
Art
Business
Also what are English Irish Maths and French like for the leaving?

plmko

Chemistry is tough; I'd only recommend it for someone who absolutely loves science, who has patience for figuring out maths problems and also if you can retain a lot of specific information.

English; tough, tough, tough. An unforgiving subject. There's a lot to learn for it. But I think it really develops the student as a person.

Irish; if your not near fluent by exam time if will be your hardest subject. Grammar needs to be addresssed often. And your Oral is so important!

Maths; challenging and time consuming. If your not maths orientated, a nightmare.

French; very do-able. Make sure you put in the work from the start though.

Sorry I couldn't tell you about the rest, I wouldn't know.

starlit

What are you planning to do after school, have you an idea what you like to pursue?

I did business as one of my Leaving Cert honour subjects. To tell you the truth was the hardest of the honours LC exams I did, and the other honours were in Geography and Home Ec. It was a fair paper from what I can remember. It was a number of years ago for me. I did a business and IT course for my top CAO choice and a few others, did one recently related to business even though I went down the IT path previously.

If you not really into accounting or economics or plan to do a business course I suggest to do business if you like to do a business subject as part of the LC. Its gas I did a pass business paper for the JC as it had included accounting and economics I found them hard so chose business instead for LC as I wasn't great at accounting, economics and not great at most of the science subjects bar biology but I didn't do science for JC I did do biology in TY. I had it in the head to do that instead of Home EC but I felt Home Ec suited me better. I recommend doing business for LC if you plan to do a business course in the future even if you ended up doing a different one in college or after you leave school. You could end up doing a business course in the near future you never know. Business is a very practical subject biology is too.

I did Chemistry in TY and found it very hard, only do it unless you like science or plan to study something in relation to it in the future.

Business isn't much different for JC and LC but more terminology and concrete detail is required for LC business. There is bit a of business maths in it but not much couple of formulas but mostly all theory stuff. There be no accounting in it maybe a little economics remember a graph of some sort. It would be handy subject if you were doing a business course after school.

All depends on your interests and what you are good at too and don't let anyone make you do a subject they think you should do. Make that decision yourself and what you think is best for you!

I was thinking of doing Art and History but decided to go with Home Ec and geography felt I was better at them and when I was doing LCVP I couldn't do history and geography made my choice easier to do one of them and went with geography. For LCVP I did Home Ec and Business as part of those type of module choices. Only do history unless you really love it, I loved geography made it easier for me to study it.

English pretty much the same just a bit more learning off poetry, prose and comprehension and knowing the poets be the extra bits.

Art I did it up to TY I did it in JC and was grand if you have an eye for design do it but the standard goes up in LC unless you really good at it its not an easy grade to get in it unless you very good and plan to further your career in it someway but its good to do if you not into music or home ec.

Irish similar just a lot of learning off, stories, poetry, prose and comprehension. French pretty much the same but no poetry or prose. Mostly writing letters etc and having an understanding of the language. I did pass French for both JC and LC and the level and standard does go up and gets harder. For both languages be sure you know your Oral stuff, questions can be tricky in the Oral exam sometimes. Aural, just practice at home if you can get copies of the tapes that the teachers have.

Maths very similar but there are a lot more formulas alright for LC maths. I know that there was a bit of difference when doing honours and pass maths for JC. Honours JC maths bit like what you do in Pass LC maths but honours maths LC do extra formulas and extra chapters from what I can remember. Its a hard subject and you need to work hard at it to pass, keep at it bit by bit on a regular basis and you be grand. I wasn't great at maths throughout school yet I did very well in the LC.

XtotheZ

biology serious amount of learning, like literally all learning. If you like that or have a head for thats fine but i hated it since the start since im a maths/physics type.

Oisin4

doovdela wrote: »

What are you planning to do after school, have you an idea what you like to pursue?




I don't find accounting that bad Well I thought that I might like to do medicine or biochemistry. Maybe commerce with French but I like French and Science in school but I had an awful French teacher in first year and an awful Science teacher for Three years

Nocofee

Chemistry has a good choice on the paper, but with chem and bio you need to know absolutely EVERYTHING that is in the book to do well.

booblefoop

I didn't do Biology or Physics, but my understanding is that Biology is mostly rote memorisation and Physics is all about understanding concepts - on the other hand, Chemistry is a fairly even mixture of the two, which I think makes it particularly difficult. You have to remember tons of specific words and definitions, and you have to be able to apply them to any question. However, the exam itself tends to be fairly simple once you know your stuff; questions always repeat themselves, and they don't usually ask things in strange ways, it's straightforward like that.

With French all I can really say is that if you work hard for your oral, it'll bring up your written and listening so much. Really try to get comfortable with speaking and listening to French as soon as possible, and don't be afraid to sound ridiculous trying to do the accent.

paddybarry

I would strongly advise students to make their choices based upon what subjects they are genuinely interested in.

That way, you will more than likely end up doing something at third level that you like and ultimately in a career that you enjoy.

Don't go down the road of picking subjects because they are perceived as 'easy' etc. All subjects are 'easy' if you enjoy them.

pa95

Chemistry is not as tough as people make it out to be, the course is short and very manageable. It is a big jump from the JC though, and it is challenging trying to understand the concepts. However, once you understand them, they stick with you and it reduces the amount of revision you have to do for it later. The only tedious part is the experiments, there's a fair bit of rote learning in them about reactions that are never fully explained. I would recommend it if you're interested in science, it was one of my favourite subjects.
Biology is very long so try and keep up with it from the start. Cramming is a nightmare for it, given the volume of the course. French is one of the best courses IMO, if you have good french, you'll get a good mark (unlike what can sometimes occur in Irish, with all the rote essays etc). I'd definitely try and do some language course this summer or next summer, it's invaluable for the oral. Maths steps it up a fair bit. If I have any advice for it, it would be to get up to a very high level in algebra, as the concepts in it follow you around in almost every part of the course ! With English, try and be familiar with your single text, and make sure you answer the question. It sounds simple but they crucify you for irrelevant waffle in English essays.
Gluck anyway, the two years aren't as bad as they're made out to be by some !

bb1234567

pa95 wrote: »

Chemistry is not as tough as people make it out to be, the course is short and very manageable. It is a big jump from the JC though, and it is challenging trying to understand the concepts. However, once you understand them, they stick with you and it reduces the amount of revision you have to do for it later. The only tedious part is the experiments, there's a fair bit of rote learning in them about reactions that are never fully explained. I would recommend it if you're interested in science, it was one of my favourite subjects.
Biology is very long so try and keep up with it from the start. Cramming is a nightmare for it, given the volume of the course. French is one of the best courses IMO, if you have good french, you'll get a good mark (unlike what can sometimes occur in Irish, with all the rote essays etc). I'd definitely try and do some language course this summer or next summer, it's invaluable for the oral. Maths steps it up a fair bit. If I have any advice for it, it would be to get up to a very high level in algebra, as the concepts in it follow you around in almost every part of the course ! With English, try and be familiar with your single text, and make sure you answer the question. It sounds simple but they crucify you for irrelevant waffle in English essays.
Gluck anyway, the two years aren't as bad as they're made out to be by some !

Theyre even worse I swear

BauBau19

Oisin4 wrote: »

Hi before I choose my LC subjects I'd like to know what the following subjects are like compared to JC;
Chemistry
Biology
Art
Business
Also what are English Irish Maths and French like for the leaving?

I haven't done Business, Art or Irish, but I have done the rest.

Chemistry - For the love of God do not make that mistake. Somehow my highest result in the mocks was Chemistry, I have no idea why and how because I hated the subject. It is quite a big jump from JC and it can get very tricky. From what I heard people say Business is a doddle compared to chemistry.

Biology - My favorite subject. I did so much work for this and the only subject I really studied intensively in the weeks coming up the leaving. Yet I can't but think that I did horrible. I was expecting an A2 and I probably ended up with a C3. The paper was shocking.

French - Keep on top of the work and you should be fine. Keep reading and doing essays on different topics. That's what I did, only I did it with a few weeks to go haha. In my opinion even the worst person at french can get a C with a very minimum amount of work.

Maths - Dropped down to pass halfway through sixth year. Expecting an A2 or a B1.

English - Neglected it waaay too much. It does require quite a bit of work. I did get lucky this year, the only poet I studied really came up ( Dickinson ) and I had an answer for Macbeth learnt off and surprisingly it came up.