Studying Chemistry externally.

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Hi all

I'm repeating my leaving cert from September and I will need chemistry for medicine. Thing is, since I haven't previously studied chemistry, the repeat leaving cert course won't allow me to take it up at the college.

This means I'll have to take it up by myself. Can anyone recommend what's the best books to study? Any advice?

Thanks!

spurious

If you are in Dublin, or near it, you could do it as a night class in Plunket College in Whitehall. Two nights a week. It would be hard work, but the support of others and a teacher can only be helpful.

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spurious wrote: »

If you are in Dublin, or near it, you could do it as a night class in Plunket College in Whitehall. Two nights a week. It would be hard work, but the support of others and a teacher can only be helpful.

I'm in Cork, unfortunately I'll have a chat with the teachers in September and see what I can do!

spurious

retweet wrote: »

I'm in Cork, unfortunately I'll have a chat with the teachers in September and see what I can do!

Talk to the other students too. If there are enough of you wanting to do it they might form an extra class. It's possible there is a night LC in Cork ETB schools too, but I don't know enough about them, sorry.

everesteduc

For the Leaving Cert Chemistry experiments, NUI Maynooth run one-day practicals days usually in January where they cover a lot of the Leaving Cert Chemistry (they do Physics and Biology too) experiments. So you'd be in the lab doing the experiments with other LC students. I don't know if UCC or CIT do that.

A97

If you have eir broadband, you can make use of eir StudyHub for free. They have video lessons on Chemistry among other subjects. If you don't, you can still access the content through examsupport.ie but it is quite costly.

SuperRabbit

I hope it is okay to ask this question, because it is related.

I know there are "mandatory" experiments in Physics and Chemistry, if you are studying on your own do have to actually do them, or just memorize what is involved and understand them?

Are there any projects in Physics and Chemistry that require you to have a teacher rather than just study by yourself? Thank you

What I am asking is, if you know the courses inside out, is it enough to sit down on the day and do the exam, or were there things that the teacher needed to supervise with you.

A97

There are no project components to either course. You assessment is 100% based on the exam. I'm not entirely sure how it works for external candidates, but there are mandatory experiments in both courses that the syllabus requires you to complete. You don't receive any marks for them. However, there are multiple mandatory questions on both papers that require you to have good knowledge of the experiments. Some questions could be answered well enough without having done the experiment such as the mathematical components. However, some questions ask about what you did and how you did something, as well as intricate questions such as what colour some chemical is for example. There details are a lot easier to remember if you did them yourself or at least if you've seen the experiment being performed. They want to assess lab skills as well as theory because experimentation is a very important part of being a scientist.

I don't know exact details, but I believe that quite a small number of schools are investigated each year to make sure that the experiments are actually being done. You're meant to keep a written record of each experiment which details the apparatus, experimental method, sources of error, results, calculations and conclusions as well as a labelled diagram of the apparatus. As you won't be doing Physics and Chemistry in a school, I would guess that it would be unlikely for you to get checked out by the SEC. They can withhold your grade if they check you out and don't believe that you have done the experiments however so it's definitely worth your while doing one as it can aid your learning also.

In summary, you could probably get away with not doing the experiments but it would be extremely beneficial to do them. At the very least, I would recommend going to one of those courses that run through all of the experiments in a day so you can get a bit of a feel for them.

Good luck.

leesadin

Hi there, I sat LC chemistry in 15 as an external student. I done it myself and got a small number of grinds from a teacher in the local school.. I managed to get a hold of all the experiment videos from somewhere, can't remember exactly where. The videos definitely helped with the experiment questions and it really helps you remember when you've seen them. I only sat the chemistry exam. But I covered the course in 6 months while working full time and moving house and I got a C2.

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leesadin wrote: »

Hi there, I sat LC chemistry in 15 as an external student. I done it myself and got a small number of grinds from a teacher in the local school.. I managed to get a hold of all the experiment videos from somewhere, can't remember exactly where. The videos definitely helped with the experiment questions and it really helps you remember when you've seen them. I only sat the chemistry exam. But I covered the course in 6 months while working full time and moving house and I got a C2.

Well done! I'll have a chat with the college in September and try get some material from them!

leesadin

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Well done! I'll have a chat with the college in September and try get some material from them!

Thanks.. Officially got my acceptance to pharmacy in UCC last week. So was all worth it.. Went looking there to find where I got the videos from. It was from the website of the chemistry book I was using. Chemistry live. Hope that helps. 😄

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Thanks a million, I was actually looking at that book during the week! - might try get a head start!

SuperRabbit

leesadin wrote: »

Thanks.. Officially got my acceptance to pharmacy in UCC last week. So was all worth it.. Went looking there to find where I got the videos from. It was from the website of the chemistry book I was using. Chemistry live. Hope that helps. 😄

They still use chemistry live? I used that 11 years ago when I did my leaving first. I suppose it is a new edition with completely different content.

katiekilg

I took up Chem this year in 6th year outside of school, it's a totally doable course in one year in my opinion! Chemistry Live was the book i used, I found the older version better but i had to get the newer one for the 2 new experiments as well. You'll be able to do very well with just yourself and the book, I did about 1.5 hours of study a week and got a few grinds from a teacher coming up to the exam and I was very happy with how the exam went, I don't even need it for my course but i know i'll be better off having studied it. Such an interesting subject, hope you enjoy your studies as much as i did!

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katiekilg wrote: »

I took up Chem this year in 6th year outside of school, it's a totally doable course in one year in my opinion! Chemistry Live was the book i used, I found the older version better but i had to get the newer one for the 2 new experiments as well. You'll be able to do very well with just yourself and the book, I did about 1.5 hours of study a week and got a few grinds from a teacher coming up to the exam and I was very happy with how the exam went, I don't even need it for my course but i know i'll be better off having studied it. Such an interesting subject, hope you enjoy your studies as much as i did!

Thanks for that! It doesn't sound too bad now!

spurious

In terms of registering, since you will already be sitting some subjects, just get your Examinations Secretary to add Chemistry to your list of subjects. You don't need to apply separately yourself as an external candidate.