[theowen]

In the oral, would the examiner ask you to identify various arthropoda? Is/not would they ask you questions on them e.g. about lungs worms, stomach worms etc?

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by theowen

In the oral, would the examiner ask you to identify various arthropoda?

yes, it's any animal of agricultural importance and you have to be able to state their importance not just name them. you have to be able to identify 7 such animals, they're not all going to be arthropoda so if you name lungworms you should be able to say something about them, otherwise a student could effectively just rattle off a list of insects and have no understanding.

[theowen]

Originally Posted by rainbowtrout

yes, it's any animal of agricultural importance and you have to be able to state their importance not just name them. you have to be able to identify 7 such animals, they're not all going to be arthropoda so if you name lungworms you should be able to say something about them, otherwise a student could effectively just rattle off a list of insects and have no understanding.

Thanks. I was trying, in vain, to cut down my revision. One more

How do you tell the difference between a Belclare, Texel and a Charolais? I can't find anything about them regarding distinguishable features.

Am I leaving any breeds out that I could be asked to identify?: Scottish blackface, welsh mountiain. wicklow cheviot, kerry hill, welsh mountain, charolois, suffolk, belclare, texel.

Wheat vs barley? Is there anyway to tell them apart?

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by Lamph

hmmm, people are asking about what pictures of plants / animals need to go into their portfolios...

However my understanding is that NO plant or animal identification stuff needs to go into that portfolio!

The requirements clearly state that:-
(2) the Practical experience... and
(3) the investigations
...need to be recorded.

There is nothing in the guidelines that says there needs to be any written record at all of category (1) indentification.

Surely the identification is something your teacher has graded based on an oral examination... and the 20 marks available for that section are based purely on the teacher's grade without any written record to corroborate that grade. The people whpo get picked for the interrogation by an external examiner should get their mark adjusted depending on how well they respond to the interrogation...

...am I wrong about this?
...Because my interrogation is Wednesday, there are only 3 Ag Sci students in the school. I am guaranteed to be picked for interrogation, and I have NOTHING in my portfolio on identification. I was told I didn't need to put it in. -God knows that portfolio is long enough without it!!!

Can anyone clear this up?

You're quite correct Lamph, you don't need to put pictures of animals and plants in your portfolio, so no need to panic. Some teachers get their classes to do it so they will learn them and as you said you will be assessed by the external examiner on Wednesday and they will ask you to identify plants and animals from a selection.

...Try not to look at it as an interrogation and more as an informal chat, it's not going to be as bad as you think

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by theowen

Thanks. I was trying, in vain, to cut down my revision. One more

How do you tell the difference between a Belclare, Texel and a Charolais? I can't find anything about them regarding distinguishable features.

Am I leaving any breeds out that I could be asked to identify?: Scottish blackface, welsh mountiain. wicklow cheviot, kerry hill, welsh mountain, charolois, suffolk, belclare, texel.

Wheat vs barley? Is there anyway to tell them apart?

Wheat looks like the symbol on the Weetabix logo

You will generally be shown a selection of pictures and asked to identify the ones you know. Examiners are not there to catch you out on the finer points of sheep identification.

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by tictac__x

Hey I just have a few questions about the ag science oral
Ours is taking place on Wednesday, theres 9 in our class so its quite likely I could get called in Anyway, its just the project work that is being examined is it? Also I notice in a few posts back, rainbow trout mentioned that our experiments will be examined?! I don't remember our teacher mentioning this! Generally are students asked about the experiments in general? Thanks!

Yes the experiments will be examined. They make up 45/100 of the marks on offer.

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by tictac__x

Any one have tips on answering question 9's, biological explanation question? I read its a popular question but often badly answered by students, any tips?

You are quite correct. It's either answered very well or very poorly. Look at each statement and change it into a question beginning with the word 'Why?' then answer the question. A lot of students talk all around the point, but completely miss it.

Also the scientific explanations have been repeated over the years, so perhaps if you have a bit of time go back through the papers and write down a list and mark the ones that have come up several times. Go to the marking schemes and get the accepted answers for them. Learn them. At this stage that is what you need.


Also give at least three relevant points for full marks, more if you can. On some of the older marking schemes you will see marks were given for only 2 revelant points but that has changed to three points over the years.

Sample Question: Give a scientific explanation for the following:

The wilting of sugar beet tops before feeding them to cattle.


Answer: Sugar beet tops contain oxalic acid. Oxalic acid causes scour in cattle. Wilting them reduces the levels of oxalic acid making them safe to eat.

You do not need to explain what wilting is. It is a waste of time.

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by Keen2win

I was wondering if it's alright for three people to do their project on the same farm? They will be handed to the same teacher.

Yes, that's no problem at all as you will be writing up your own experience. Just don't be lazy and all three of you go out with one camera and take photos and then just get copies and all use the same. Plenty of students don't have access to farms - particularly in Dublin and the whole class is brought say to the UCD teaching/research farm and everyone does their project on it. It's fine once you are not copying someone else's work.

[seanyfarrell]

for the last 2 years ive been trying to learn the Phylums for animals and plants but............ its just not happening... anyone got any newmonics or something to remember these?

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by seanyfarrell

for the last 2 years ive been trying to learn the Phylums for animals and plants but............ its just not happening... anyone got any newmonics or something to remember these?

No easy way of learning them I'm afraid, none that I know of anyway.

What I normally do is I give my class a list of animals/plants and get them to fill in which phylum they come from. Then go back and fill in the ones they don't know after looking them up. They won't remember them by me telling them the answers. Rinse and repeat.


This would be a sample of what I do. By the time you've finished the list a couple of times you should know them:

Animals

1. Aphid
2. Babesia
3. Bluebottle
4. Cheviot
5. Chicken
6. Duck
7. Earthworm
8. Flea
9. Friesian
10. Goose
11. Greenbottle
12. Greenfly
13. Hereford
14. Hookworm
15. Ladybird
16. Landrace
17. Large white
18. Leather jacket
19. Liver fluke
20. Maggot
21. Mange mite
22. Mud snail
23. Red spider mite
24. Roundworm
25. Slug
26. Tapeworm
27. Texel
28. Tick
29. Turkey

Plants



Apple
Barley
Beans
Blackberry
Broccoli
Buttercup
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Cocksfoot
Cow parsley
Daisy
Dandelion
Dock leaf
Garlic
Italian ryegrass
Maize
Meadow fescue
Meadow foxtail
Oats
Onion
Pear
Peas
Perennial Ryegrass
Potato
Red clover
Rice
Strawberry
Sugar beet
Thistle
Timothy
Wheat
White clover
Wild carrot

[wonderfulname]

Another good thing to work from is the characteristics of each phylum, for example I know that with regards to the family Compositae, a pretty big characteristic is flowerheads that look like this.
Knowing this I can then work out that the sunflower is a member of this family.
Another example would be the tapeworm, I know from looking at it first it is some form of worm, so either Platyhelminthes or Annelida, but I can cancel out Annelida as creatures from this phylum have a clitellum, or saddle.

I find the characteristics far easier to learn, and it also covers you for every eventuality.

[MaighEoAbu]

Hi,

In the oral, for plant identification, I was going to learn off a huge list of about 20 types of weeds and other plants. This seems very long to me but the reason I'm doing it is because I'm afraid I'll be asked to identify a plant that I've never seen before! Am I right in thinking like this? Or can the examiner just ask you the plants that you have identified in the project?

Also, my teacher brought us to a farm for our project but I also want to do my project partly on my uncle's farm. It would only be a little bit extra on dairying as the farm my teacher brought me to didn't have a dairying enterprise. Is this okay?


Just on last question! On the 2010 paper, a question on scutch grass came up. I hadn't met any explanation of this weed in my green book before and was wondering why the book doesn't go into detail on the different types of weed? What sort of weeds and their properties should we be aware of?

Thanks so much to anybody who can help!!!!!!

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by MaighEoAbu

Hi,

In the oral, for plant identification, I was going to learn off a huge list of about 20 types of weeds and other plants. This seems very long to me but the reason I'm doing it is because I'm afraid I'll be asked to identify a plant that I've never seen before! Am I right in thinking like this? Or can the examiner just ask you the plants that you have identified in the project?

Also, my teacher brought us to a farm for our project but I also want to do my project partly on my uncle's farm. It would only be a little bit extra on dairying as the farm my teacher brought me to didn't have a dairying enterprise. Is this okay?


Just on last question! On the 2010 paper, a question on scutch grass came up. I hadn't met any explanation of this weed in my green book before and was wondering why the book doesn't go into detail on the different types of weed? What sort of weeds and their properties should we be aware of?

Thanks so much to anybody who can help!!!!!!

Learn the plants and weeds your teachers tells you to learn. Your teacher will be putting out the plant selection on the day. If the teacher doesn't do it the examiner will bring their own. They will stick to the common ones.

Yes you can add in your own information on your uncle's dairy farm.

I think scutch might be listed in the list of grasses in Ch 19 of the green book. The green book is not the bible. Just because it's the main book it doesn't mean it covers everything on the syllabus.

I've said it before Textbook =/= Syllabus.

From the syllabus, to show you how vague it is:

Identification of plants of agricultural importance in the school environment and study of characteristics and habitat.
Principles of classification of plants. Ability to classify plants in at least six natural orders.

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/en/Po...al_Science.pdf

The book was printed in 1992 so it's out of date and it doesn't have information on everything that is being asked. Also because the syllabus is so vague lots of things are appearing on the paper which are not in the textbooks but could be asked under the guidelines of the syllabus.

E.g. Maize silage was asked this year. Silage is on the syllabus, cereals are on the syllabus. No specific cereal is mentioned so by that reckoning it should be allowed, but I don't know any book that contains information on maize or any teacher that teaches it. That will change in time though.

[LC2010HIS]

Hey guys
Repeating..
Took on Ag science new this year..
Thing is, our ag science teacher is somewhat a tyrant if im being honest.
We were warned how intense the course would be and I accepted.
But Im really stuck on Soils - confused - and she expects us to know the book by John Breen WORD FOR WORD??..Literally
Thing is, the book doesnt even make sense. Like, Id enjoy physiology etc cause I like Bio but Soils is bogging me down!
Any tips ? Any good site or notes online? etc! Thanks

[rainbowtrout]

Originally Posted by LC2010HIS

Hey guys
Repeating..
Took on Ag science new this year..
Thing is, our ag science teacher is somewhat a tyrant if im being honest.
We were warned how intense the course would be and I accepted.
But Im really stuck on Soils - confused - and she expects us to know the book by John Breen WORD FOR WORD??..Literally
Thing is, the book doesnt even make sense. Like, Id enjoy physiology etc cause I like Bio but Soils is bogging me down!
Any tips ? Any good site or notes online? etc! Thanks

Personally I find soils the most agonising part of the course to teach. Students find it boring, teaching it isn't much fun as there isn't a lot you can do to make it interesting ..not as cool or interesting as cows calving etc.

get yourself Rapid Revision Ag Science by Elaine Buckley Murphy (Folens). It'll cut out the waffle and tell you what you need to know for the most part.

The soil section in the green book is long and cumbersome. It can be easy to lose track of the sections and how they link together, but do make the effort because Q2 on the paper is a full question on soil every year and there is often an experiment as well in Q4, so worth a good few marks overall

I would suggest make out your own notes on the following topics:

Parent Rock Materials: A small grid with three types of rock (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, two example of each, one county in which each is found.

differences between basin and blanket peats, Bord na Mona have some good fact sheets and summary table of both.
http://www.bnm.ie/corporate/index.js...ID=102&nID=391

Physical and chemical weathering: know 3-4 examples of each.

Chapter 1 done.

Chapter 2 and 3 :

Properties of Soil: Physical, Chemical and Biological:

5 Physical: Texture, Structure, Air, Water, Temperature
2 Chemical: pH, Cation Exchange Capacity
1 Biological: Living Organisms

Also know Carbon Cycle and Nitrogen Cycle


Chapter 4

Know the different Soil horizons, leaching in horizon A and accumulation in horzion B.

be able to describe a podzol


Chapter 5: know the importance of Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus
Liming and Soil Testing.

You will need to know the experiments for each as well, particularly in chapter 2 and 3