Subjects to do at home for leaving cert

snoopytoop

Hi guys I'm going into 5th year in a few weeks and I'm not doing Irish for LC as I'm exempt. Unfortunately that means I can only do 6 subjects at school. I'm aiming for 500 points (want to do sports science in UL) and the subjects I'm doing are English, maths, french, biology, geography and DCG. I'm probably just going to take English at pass level and will be relying on this subject to help get my 500 points. I was interested in chemistry but was wondering if that would be too complicated? Or physics? My favourite and strongest subject at school is geography if that's any help!
Thanks!

thelad95

Economics and Business. You could take both of them up if you're exempt from Irish as you'll have more time. Physics and Chemistry would probably require a grinds teacher. Their is a combined subject for Physics and Chem which apparently is basically the OL course of both. You could do this as well.

Raspberry Fileds

thelad95 wrote: »

Economics and Business. You could take both of them up if you're exempt from Irish as you'll have more time. Physics and Chemistry would probably require a grinds teacher. Their is a combined subject for Physics and Chem which apparently is basically the OL course of both. You could do this as well.

It is definitely not the case that Physics and Chemistry is the equivalent of a combination of Ordinary Physics and Chem.

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

It is definitely not the case that Physics and Chemistry is the equivalent of a combination of Ordinary Physics and Chem.

No it's not, but it goes nowhere near the depth of either of the separate courses. And it has a very good choice 3 questions out of 6 for physics and same for chemistry

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

No it's not, but it goes nowhere near the depth of either of the separate courses. And it has a very good choice 3 questions out of 6 for physics and same for chemistry

The bolded is misleading. Ofc, the syllabus content of P&C isn't equal to the standalone subjects of Physics and Chemistry combined. But that doesn't mean that depth in specific topics is sacrificed.

Looking at past papers of the last few years, the standard of many of the questions is identical to what would be found in P and C papers.

So, IMO, the specific challenges of each subject remain; in other words, anyone who is successful at P&C could, with a good deal less effort than that required for an extra subject, have studied both individually.

Also, AFAIK, the subject has mandatory experiments, and therefore can't be taken outside of school.

electric applause

Business is a great subject to pick up on your own. The book that I used (Business Express) goes into the right amount of detail on what you need to know for your exams without completely overdoing it, and a lot of it is either common sense or stuff you'll actually need to know about in the future! But if you're picking up a subject outside of school, test yourself regularly. Do all the past papers you can and get someone else to correct them. The online marking scheme for leaving cert business is also really beneficial! If you scroll to the end you get proper sample answers for everything you're asked

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

The bolded is misleading. Ofc, the syllabus content of P&C isn't equal to the standalone subjects of Physics and Chemistry combined. But that doesn't mean that depth in specific topics is sacrificed.

Looking at past papers of the last few years, the standard of many of the questions is identical to what would be found in P and C papers.

So, IMO, the specific challenges of each subject remain; in other words, anyone who is successful at P&C could, with a good deal less effort than that required for an extra subject, have studied both individually.

Also, AFAIK, the subject has mandatory experiments, and therefore can't be taken outside of school.

It's not misleading. The combined course is about half the full physics course and about half the full chemistry course. Therefore it is not as in depth in physics or chemistry. Not all of the topics on the separate courses are on the combined course.

The syllabus is four pages long and there is no requirement to answer an experiment question on the exam.

There isn't even a list of experiments on the syllabus.

It hasn't changed in donkey's years. I did it for my LC in 1996.

Syllabus:

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/a3c83bc8-6b45-4076-bd09-5f25a07c5c98/SCSEC28_physicsChem_syllabus_eng.pdf

BrianBoru00

depends on your on strengths- what were you JC results?

I would suggest that the easiest subjects to get a good grade in would include Geography, Ag Science and Home Economics..... they might seem out of left field but they are very doable - particularly over 2 years.

electric applause

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

depends on your on strengths- what were you JC results?

I would suggest that the easiest subjects to get a good grade in would include Geography, Ag Science and Home Economics..... they might seem out of left field but they are very doable - particularly over 2 years.

From personal experience, Geography is quite hard to get a good grade in unless you have a very good memory and a way with words. The words "overall coherence marks" were my best friend but for someone thats dropping to ordinary level english, OC marks might not be that easy to get (theres no offence intended here at all, so many people struggle with OC marks but we found in our class those with OL English struggled more with them). There is also so so much to learn for Geography and timing your answers are unbelievably difficult! I have to think before I write because I'm not great at learning things off by heart so timing was my downfall for this. I cant speak for Ag Science or Home Ec though, I never took either subject. Hope I've been of some sort of help!

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

It's not misleading. The combined course is about half the full physics course and about half the full chemistry course. Therefore it is not as in depth in physics or chemistry. Not all of the topics on the separate courses are on the combined course.

The syllabus is four pages long and there is no requirement to answer an experiment question on the exam.

There isn't even a list of experiments on the syllabus.

It hasn't changed in donkey's years. I did it for my LC in 1996.

As I said before, the content may be half as much, but the challenge of each component isn't halved. Of the topics that are on the P&C syllabus, it appears to me that the depth is the same.

I have just checked and there are mandatory experiments which are required to be written up and may be inspected.

Tesco TripleChicken

If you're good at maths (basically just capable of higher level) you should do Physics and Applied maths. The paper is the same every year in Ap maths just with different numbers basically. It has one of the highest (if not the highest) A rate. If you're doing HL maths and HL physics, the HL Ap Maths will be an easy A if you put in the work

DCG this year was piss (especially for people like me who didn't study much). I'd say it will be harder for your year though, but put in the work and it's an easy enough subject. Do a good project, download SolidWorks now and learn how to use photoshop and powerpoint as these will all help you make a good project that stands out.

If you're good with your hands and have an interest in how stuff works, Engineering is also an easy A, a lot of the theory in it is common sense. If you do Engineering and DCG together, you can make a really good Engineering project on Solidworks

Raspberry Fileds

Tesco TripleChicken wrote: »

If you're good at maths (basically just capable of higher level) you should do Physics and Applied maths. The paper is the same every year in Ap maths just with different numbers basically. It has one of the highest (if not the highest) A rate. If you're doing HL maths and HL physics, the HL Ap Maths will be an easy A if you put in the work

I don't concur with that at all. A-rate is largely the result of it attracting those with a mathematical aptitude. I do think that an averagely-able maths student could study their way to a B of some sort, but I don't think it would be pleasant. If you're doing App Maths, Physics will be easy; I don't think the reverse is true.

Tesco TripleChicken

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

I don't concur with that at all. A-rate is largely the result of it attracting those with a mathematical aptitude. I do think that an averagely-able maths student could study their way to a B of some sort, but I don't think it would be pleasant. If you're doing App Maths, Physics will be easy; I don't think the reverse is true.

I think it works both ways to some degree. HL maths (if you're decent at it) will obviously help with Applied maths, and if you do Physics too, then it will help get your head around some of the concepts in Applied maths (relative velocity, pressure etc.)

Raspberry Fileds

Tesco TripleChicken wrote: »

I think it works both ways to some degree. HL maths (if you're decent at it) will obviously help with Applied maths, and if you do Physics too, then it will help get your head around some of the concepts in Applied maths (relative velocity, pressure etc.)

The "maths" of App Maths is little more advanced than JC. Ofc, one studying Higher Maths is more likely to be successful at AM, but it needn't be so, IMO. There is actually very little overlap between AM and Physics, and, where there is, AM soon greatly eclipses Physics.

japester

I think a decent ability in maths will help with the applied maths course but, to be honest, the course is more about problem-solving and using equations of motion from the physics world than anything else. I'd certainly agree also that the AM course goes well beyond the level of physics covered in the physics subject for a particular topic so, even though there is overlap between AM and Physics, it is really the case that knowing the more in-depth physics from the AM course will help you more easily appreciate the relatively easy physics covered in the physics subject. Again, I would strongly recommend that you dip your toes into the AM course by checking out the uniform accelerated motion section and, when you have worked your way through the fundamentals of it and attempted some questions from a book (someone earlier suggested Oliver Murphy's book), see how you get on with a series of past exam questions, say the last 10 years worth (they are Q1 on the paper). This will give you an excellent idea about whether you think you'd like to pursue the subject or give it a miss. For what its worth, I personally think that Q1 can often be a tricky enough question so its a good one to use as a gauge - in terms of maths for Q1 you'll just need to be able to use linear and quadratic equations and, on a rare occasion, differentiation to find a minimum. If you find you like solving problems then AM could definitely be a very rewarding subject for you to take on.

I do agree that the high level of A results can be attributed to the fact that the subject is taken up mainly by those who are academically strongest anyway and naturally put in a lot of effort to mastering the subject. But I honestly believe that if you have decent maths (especially algebra), like solving problems and are interested in the physical world about you, you can combine these to achieve a good score in AM. The post about the same questions coming up every year and just changing the numbers is a bit of exaggeration really and should not be taken seriously (just read the thread about this years exam) - however, what doesn't change from year to year is the kinds of equations of motion you end up using to solve the problems presented, hope this helps you out anyways.

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

As I said before, the content may be half as much, but the challenge of each component isn't halved. Of the topics that are on the P&C syllabus, it appears to me that the depth is the same.

I have just checked and there are mandatory experiments which are required to be written up and may be inspected.

Can you provide the link showing where the mandatory experiments are listed in the syllabus??? Because I can't see them.

Phys/Chem syllabus: http://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/a3c83bc8-6b45-4076-bd09-5f25a07c5c98/SCSEC28_physicsChem_syllabus_eng.pdf

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Can you provide the link showing where the mandatory experiments are listed in the syllabus??? Because I can't see them.

Phys/Chem syllabus: http://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/a3c83bc8-6b45-4076-bd09-5f25a07c5c98/SCSEC28_physicsChem_syllabus_eng.pdf

Unfortunately not. However, a CareersPortal summary of the subject says, "It includes mandatory practical experiments which must be completed and written up", and a summary on CurriculumOnline says, "It is an experimental and practical subject and practical work by students is regarded as an integral part of the course." The first may be a mistake and the second allows for experiments not being mandatory, but it would seem they are.

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

Unfortunately not. However, a CareersPortal summary of the subject says, "It includes mandatory practical experiments which must be completed and written up", and a summary on CurriculumOnline says, "It is an experimental and practical subject and practical work by students is regarded as an integral part of the course." The first may be a mistake and the second allows for experiments not being mandatory, but it would seem they are.

Not the same thing. Curriculumonline.ie provides the syllabus which is what is to be taught and examined. Careersportal.ie is owned by a guy with a masters in psychology. It's a privately owned website. It's not definitive.

Anyone could have written that for the website, and it was more than likely lazily copied and pasted from a summary of the physics or chemistry syllabi.

I take my direction from the NCCA and not from a randomer's website.

The second part of the sentence from the NCCA allows for experiments not being mandatory. Because that is what they are. Nowhere in the syllabus is the word mandatory used. In fact the word experiment doesn't appear in the syllabus amazingly enough. The word experimentally appears once. That's not to say teacher's teaching the subject aren't doing experiments because they probably are, but they are not a requirement of the course explicitly.

Nor is there a mandatory experiment question on the exam paper. In fact you could do the whole exam paper and not touch an experiment question.

Like ag science, and economics it's an ancient syllabus in need of an update. Not likely to happen any time soon. Which is a shame, it was a nice course when I did it for my LC. But I suspect it will be left to die out naturally given that there's just over 400 sitting it these days.

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Not the same thing. Curriculumonline.ie provides the syllabus which is what is to be taught and examined. Careersportal.ie is owned by a guy with a masters in psychology. It's a privately owned website. It's not definitive.

Anyone could have written that for the website, and it was more than likely lazily copied and pasted from a summary of the physics or chemistry syllabi.

I take my direction from the NCCA and not from a randomer's website.

The second part of the sentence from the NCCA allows for experiments not being mandatory. Because that is what they are. Nowhere in the syllabus is the word mandatory used. In fact the word experiment doesn't appear in the syllabus amazingly enough. The word experimentally appears once. That's not to say teacher's teaching the subject aren't doing experiments because they probably are, but they are not a requirement of the course explicitly.

Nor is there a mandatory experiment question on the exam paper. In fact you could do the whole exam paper and not touch an experiment question.

Like ag science, and economics it's an ancient syllabus in need of an update. Not likely to happen any time soon. Which is a shame, it was a nice course when I did it for my LC. But I suspect it will be left to die out naturally given that there's just over 400 sitting it these days.

"Physics and Chemistry (Phy/Chem) is a combined subject featuring elements of both Leaving Cert Physics and Leaving Cert Chemistry. It includes mandatory practical experiments which must be completed and written up, as well as a written examination on the theory and applications of both disciplines."

Senior Cycle Options - Beaufort College

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

"Physics and Chemistry (Phy/Chem) is a combined subject featuring elements of both Leaving Cert Physics and Leaving Cert Chemistry. It includes mandatory practical experiments which must be completed and written up, as well as a written examination on the theory and applications of both disciplines."

Senior Cycle Options - Beaufort College

Why do you think random websites created by all and sundry supercede what's laid down in the syllabus by the NCCA????

I can make my students write up 20 soil experiments in ag science. It doesn't mean it's mandatory. The practical coursework guidelines stipulate a minimum of 3.

brian888

Economics is definitely a lot more straight forward than most of the others that I know of.

rainbowtrout

brian888 wrote: »

Economics is definitely a lot more straight forward than most of the others that I know of.

It is also meant to be shorter than a number of other LC subjects. General advice would be to keep an eye on what is going on in the world and read the papers to pick up some points for the high grades.

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Why do you think random websites created by all and sundry supercede what's laid down in the syllabus by the NCCA????

I don't. The last I linked is from a school that offers the subject. The "syllabus" you link makes no mention of any form of examination.

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

I don't. The last I linked is from a school that offers the subject. The "syllabus" you link makes no mention of any form of examination.

Yes, but it still doesn't back up your point on mandatory experiments.

Don't know why you have syllabus in inverted commas. That is the official syllabus.

Raspberry Fileds

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Don't know why you have syllabus in inverted commas...

Because it describes itself as the "Leaving Certificate Programme" and is possibly unique among syllabuses in making no mention of the exam; even the notoriously brief Applied Maths one (not changed since inception in the 70s) does.

rainbowtrout

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

Because it describes itself as the "Leaving Certificate Programme" and is possibly unique among syllabuses in making no mention of the exam; even the notoriously brief Applied Maths one (not changed since inception in the 70s) does.

The Ag Science one mentions 'the examination' but nowhere does it mention the words Leaving Certificate!!

There's a nice typed syllabus these days. Until a few years ago the Ag Science syllabus was a pdf which was photocopied at an angle and scanned in from an old book.

It doesn't mention the Leaving Cert in the whole two pages of the Ag Economics syllabus either.

All 3 pages of the economics syllabus are devoid of the words leaving, certificate, examination and assessment.

Physics and Chemistry is by no means unique.