A Levels V Leaving Cert

Iceman_5000

I'm currently studying at the Christian Brothers and I'd just like to see what the general idea southern students have about A-Levels, i get the impression that people seem to think that the leaving cert is far superior, mostly on the basis that there are 7 or 8 subjects learned at leaving cert and 3,4 or 5 at a-level. There is no way the a-levels are going to be the same level of detail that your 7 or 8 subjects are when we are doing 3,4 or 5, they are alot more detailed. I'd be surprised if the leaving cert are any more detailed than the as-level we take. When i was chatting to somebody in dublin one weekend he said that down south people do the equivalent of 7 or 8 a-levels. As an a-level student my self i can safely say without any doubt that, that is a load of balls. There is no way that 7 or 8 a levels could even be taught in a school year nevermind learned! I think that a-levels should be given alot more credibility by the cao board, and the recent change to the points system conversion to a-levels are a joke, there seems to be a road blocks in place for northern students making it nearly impossible for them to get the points needed.

Rob30888

What are a-levels worth points wise here?

coffee_cake

As an a-level student my self i can safely say without any doubt that, that is a load of balls. There is no way that 7 or 8 a levels could even be taught in a school year nevermind learned!

The LC is a 2-year course.
Could you provide some details of say, the Maths and English exams? Maybe if you have a link that says what the courses would cover...

http://www.wolverhamptoncollege.ac.uk/courses2/matas.html
Interesting, do you guys mix maths and applied maths?

Do you have just one level of maths or do you have ordinary and higher levels like we do?

St_Crispin

In a load of uk courses they have two entry standards. Level 0 and Level 1. Level 1 is for ppl who do well in their A levels and get certain required grades. Level 0 is for those that are close. Level 0 requires that one does an extra year in catch up. The reason I mention this is because a lot of LC students have to go into Level 0 courses.

The reason the leaving cert is considered, by some, to be better than A levels is because it gives a broader education. If someone wanted to be a mathamatican from the age of 5, the argument could be used that they should never need to study any other subject. But the simple fact is that most aren't that singleminded. So it makes more sense to give a child/teenager a broader education which gives them more options.

A levels are to a higher standard (although Honors maths used to actually be harder at one stage). But it does remove a lot of options. And it also removes a lot of diversity from a childs education. The benefits of a broad education go far beyond simply getting the marks for college.

Iceman_5000

Revised points system is, for the whole A-Level A-150 points, B-130, C-105, then for AS-Points (AS is the exams done after the first year the A-Level is the combined score of the AS exam and the final year exams). These points are only even taken if you take on 4 A-Levels, normally a student would only take 4 subjects if they needed to get into a course like dentristy or medicine. The manditory subjects are only kept here till age 16, to provide the essential basics in a broad spectrum of subjects. Here is a link for the maths spec for a-level,
http://www.rewardinglearning.com/development/qualifications/gce/docs/specs/a0506specs/a05maths_v3.pdf

Iceman_5000

That wolverhapton site follows a different board, we are CCEA.

St_Crispin

http://www.scoilnet.ie/S_Post_Prim.aspx

is a site that deals with a lot of leaving cert course materials. I think some of the past papers are there. So it's a good place to get an understanding of what level of knowledge a LC student needs.

coffee_cake

Iceman_5000 wrote:

Revised points system is, for the whole A-Level A-150 points, B-130, C-105, then for AS-Points (AS is the exams done after the first year the A-Level is the combined score of the AS exam and the final year exams). These points are only even taken if you take on 4 A-Levels, normally a student would only take 4 subjects if they needed to get into a course like dentristy or medicine. The manditory subjects are only kept here till age 16, to provide the essential basics in a broad spectrum of subjects. Here is a link for the maths spec for a-level,
http://www.rewardinglearning.com/development/qualifications/gce/docs/specs/a0506specs/a05maths_v3.pdf

Since the max points you can get here anyway is 600, 4x150=600, so what's your problem?
The most WE can get on an honours subject is 100, and ordinary level is A=60, I think.

Iceman_5000

bluewolf wrote:

Do you have just one level of maths or do you have ordinary and higher levels like we do?

No, we have also have differnt levels of maths and sciences. Lower, Intermediate and higher. There can also be further maths taken, but this is done at GCSE not A-Level

Iceman_5000

Honours maths can be done as an extra a level in the north.

Since the max points you can get is 600, 4x150=600, so what's your problem?
The most WE can get on an honours subject is 100, and ordinary level is A=60, I think.

The point being that the vast majority of students do not take on 4 AS-Levels and are so at a disadvantge. Last year 3 Bs would have got me into a course down south now 3 As would not. What a differance a year makes eh...

coffee_cake

The point being that the vast majority of students do not take on 4 AS-Levels and are so at a disadvantge.

Oh...really? o.o

As for the maths - looks interesting. I don't think it goes into much more detail than ours, though I don't think statistics was on our paper. It's been a few years and I didn't study much so I forget >.< Don't see a vast difference though I could be wrong

yeah as crispin said, it used to be a lot harder, so I heard - I'm annoyed they dumbed it down, it's not that hard to start off with

d4gurl

Woah thats a big difference! Good Luck! I would say the Lc and the A levels are a lot different! My cousin doing his GCSE at the mo is learning the stuff Im learning for my leaving! Also the stuf learned at A levels say ecconomics is covered in first year college again if the student was to cover ecconomics, Here are courses are kinda watered down! Look at bio and chem!

phantom_lord

But haven't they been making the a-levels easier year on year? And isn't 70% or something an 'a'?

phantom_lord

d4gurl wrote:

Here are courses are kinda watered down! Look at bio and chem!

skimping on english too....

Iceman_5000

70% is a B and 80% is an A.

Iceman_5000

Not easier, more like the students are working harder because they know what they have to aim for to get into uni. Places are getting harder and harder to get in colleges up north, 4 A at Level might not even guarantee a student a place in medicine in queens as they also look at GCSE results and the marks got in the papers now because it is so hard to get places.

paddyc

well mucker

i grew up in the north doen a-levels and now teach in the south...

A levels far more indepth, far far more especially maths, honurs maths at the leaving cert is like ad-maths at GCSE ... I kid you not...

hope this helps

paddy

eth0_

The leaving cert is really a total joke. The course choices are crap, the material is boring, and there's hardly any emphasis on course work, unlike with a-levels.

Imagine being able to do A-level law, psychology, human biology instead of the boring crap we have/had to study in the south!

Psychedelik

My impression is that the Leaving Cert. is a broader and better education for all. There's a far higher percentage of A's awarded in the A-Levels than the LC. At least with the LC, if you got an A you know (i) you deserved it and (ii) it's worth something.

As for the Leaving Cert. being easy, I don't think so. Statistics show >450 points or so is not easy to attain. It's not easy to do super well in, but overall I think it's a good system.

Iceman_5000

My impression is that the Leaving Cert. is a broader and better education for all.

What the hell do you mean by this?

At least with the LC, if you got an A you know (i) you deserved it and (ii) it's worth something.

:mad:

And i thought the taxi man was talking balls! LOL You have to be kidding with this one right? No... I'd like to see you trying to get an A! I'd say you'd have bother passing it. FOOL

X-SL

^very mature

Sangre

My physics and Applied my Maths teacher was English (phD from Oxford). He said that the LC was mostly definetely more challenging.

Dman_15

Psychedelik wrote:

There's a far higher percentage of A's awarded in the A-Levels than the LC.

A LC "A" is >85%
An A-level "A" is >80%

Possibly accounts for a lot of the difference

seraphimvc

i would like to say that A-level is a little bit harder than LC ,BUT in some cases,LC can be more difficult than A-level,it depends.Example,we dont need to do much detail about Meiosis in LC as u do in A-level,BUT A-level dont need to study tat broad area of biology knowledge as we do in LC (we got more stuff to learn eventhough we dont have to go into tat much detail).

Imagine that,like me,doing Honours in Chemistry,Biology,Physics,Maths and Applied Maths(aka all hardest subjects in LC),and Ordinary English.My maximum score will be 560.Do u think that if i get 540,u can say ur 600 A-level marks (aka full marks for 4 subs) is much better than me???...........u cant be 100% sure,aint u??

tats the point of the new rule......fair game for everyone.........

Attractive Nun

As a general rule, the Irish have to kill themselves at Leaving Cert level and then can doss about in college, whereas it's apparently the opposite elsewhere. Or at least college better be a doss!

dalys36

seraphimvc wrote: »

i would like to say that A-level is a little bit harder than LC ,BUT in some cases,LC can be more difficult than A-level,it depends.Example,we dont need to do much detail about Meiosis in LC as u do in A-level,BUT A-level dont need to study tat broad area of biology knowledge as we do in LC (we got more stuff to learn eventhough we dont have to go into tat much detail).

Imagine that,like me,doing Honours in Chemistry,Biology,Physics,Maths and Applied Maths(aka all hardest subjects in LC),and Ordinary English.My maximum score will be 560.Do u think that if i get 540,u can say ur 600 A-level marks (aka full marks for 4 subs) is much better than me???...........u cant be 100% sure,aint u??

tats the point of the new rule......fair game for everyone.........

Yeah Biology isn't one of the hardest subjects and if you had done higher level english and hisotry you'd think twice before saying that the science subjects are the hardest because history is one of the toughest exams to actually take seeing as you muct complete 3, 4 page essays and a document question plus half an essay has to be completed in less time then you get to sit a physics paper.

dalys36

seraphimvc wrote: »

i would like to say that A-level is a little bit harder than LC ,BUT in some cases,LC can be more difficult than A-level,it depends.Example,we dont need to do much detail about Meiosis in LC as u do in A-level,BUT A-level dont need to study tat broad area of biology knowledge as we do in LC (we got more stuff to learn eventhough we dont have to go into tat much detail).

Imagine that,like me,doing Honours in Chemistry,Biology,Physics,Maths and Applied Maths(aka all hardest subjects in LC),and Ordinary English.My maximum score will be 560.Do u think that if i get 540,u can say ur 600 A-level marks (aka full marks for 4 subs) is much better than me???...........u cant be 100% sure,aint u??

tats the point of the new rule......fair game for everyone.........

Yeah Biology isn't one of the hardest subjects and if you had done higher level english and history you'd think twice before saying that the science subjects are the hardest because history is one of the toughest exams to actually take seeing as you muct complete 3, 4 page essays and a document question plus half an essay has to be completed in less time then you get to sit a physics paper.

Kremin

dalys36 wrote: »

Yeah Biology isn't one of the hardest subjects and if you had done higher level english and history you'd think twice before saying that the science subjects are the hardest because history is one of the toughest exams to actually take seeing as you muct complete 3, 4 page essays and a document question plus half an essay has to be completed in less time then you get to sit a physics paper.

Uhh his post was 9 years ago... I think hes gone.