repeating leaving cert with geography as a new sub?

craxsham

hi, i m repeating leaving cert but i want to know if its good idea to repeat LC with geography as a new sub (higher level) instead of eng ... i will work hard... is it hard?..i atleast want a b1 in higher . n would i find it difficult to do the project ??....... thanks

IrishKnight

If you did well in JC geo you'll do well in LC geo. I found it a very easy subject, a lot of the physical stuff is the same as the JC just with a bit added on. The political stuff is fine if you have an cop on.

As for the project, I'm assuming your taking up geo in school rather than doing it outside. If that is the case, it is easy marks, as you can get your teacher to look over it a few times.

1huge1

I loved geography but it is a huge course in my opinion, not something id recommend to do in one year, sorry but I'd really advise against it.
1 year is simply not enough. I worked at it hard for 2 whole years and came out with a B2. I'm not questioning how much work you would be willing to put into it or anything.

muffinman

1huge1 wrote: »

I loved geography but it is a huge course in my opinion, not something id recommend to do in one year, sorry but I'd really advise against it.

+1, but I know it's the done thing in grind schools as I have two friends repeating there and both have taken it up on the advice of the guidance people.

blue-army

1huge1 wrote: »

I loved geography but it is a huge course in my opinion, not something id recommend to do in one year, sorry but I'd really advise against it.
1 year is simply not enough. I worked at it hard for 2 whole years and came out with a B2. I'm not questioning how much work you would be willing to put into it or anything.

Are you serious?

We had the worse Geography teacher on earth, who did nothing other than put notes up on a projector for us to put down.

We had probably on average one free class out of every 2.5/3 classes.
We didn't do any questions from exam papers..etc
We got homework ONCE in two years!

I got a C1 in the mocks....and a B2 in the real thing.
I'm repeating this year and I have a good teacher and I'll be going for an A.

You should have no problems doing it.


You should read through the books until January and then just concentrate on exam papers from then on.
Buy the edco exam papers as they have excellent sample answers on their site.
You basically need to learn a few facts on each topic and then use common sense to do the rest.

K4t

My uncle teaches it and says it's a lovely subject. Very achievable with a bit of cop on and a good project. Go for it is my advice.

A school year is plenty of time to get the course done with a good bit of work imho.

ColinGann

Do you do business?

That'd be a huge help because at the end of the day the Geog exam is just pure writing and the less thinking time the better. The exam is quite tight on time. It isn't a difficult subject but if you let the work get on top of you, then you'll struggle. No waffle jus reproduce the SRP's and blocks of factual info is what the marks go for. Linking sections is crucial too..

You'd be doing extremly well to get an A1 after one year, a B is very do-able however.

The project is very straight forward. Present it well and take good notes on the day then you'll be fine. Make sure it's clearly defined like planning, gathering and results etc.

The physical is longer JC and the Burren can be used nearly every year. Know it and Limestone pavement inside out!

Regional is tedious and you will go insane learning, I found this the most difficult and even the night before the exam couldn't remember it all!

Urban is very basic, no problems at all.

Option, do the Desert Biome, easy 80 marks and it is guaranteed!!

The best thing you can do is go to a Xmas and Easter revison course in Yeats or a grind school. That's what I did and I fluked earned got an A1.

Corruptedmorals

Warning, it has probably the most precise marking system of all..SRP's! No waffle, and you need to have a certain amount of facts depending on the marks going for the question. I lost out on the A1 because I couldn't think of enough 'facts' about desertification last year. Facts need to be plausible and if not true then easy to believe and not wildly guessed at.

Eegah

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Warning, it has probably the most precise marking system of all..SRP's! No waffle, and you need to have a certain amount of facts depending on the marks going for the question. I lost out on the A1 because I couldn't think of enough 'facts' about desertification last year. Facts need to be plausible and if not true then easy to believe and not wildly guessed at.

Exactly. It's a wildly vast and specific course spanning so many fields in the physical, regional, elective and option. It's actually ridiculous just how much you're expected to know...everyone says you can get by on your common sense and bit of cramming, so not true. I was an A student all through last year with my homework and in class tests - but as the date of the actual exam approached I realised just how demanding it was really going to be. And I was right...those 2 and a half hours in the gym with that paper were sheer hell. It's still a very new course with so many possibilities of topics and combinations that could come up, with so many decisions to be made and tasks to be completed in a very short time. You need to know those SRPs - those facts, figures, concepts and the geographical jargon inside out. My Geograpy teacher was extremely efficient and seemed to be covering all the bases with us last year but even she said she nearly died when she say the actual paper and realised how unprepared she'd left us. The course is just that vast...now I know there are people who did very well in the subject this year. Perhaps they were lucky with the paper and what they'd crammed. I'm just speaking from my personal experience - I really don't think there's a way you can feel confident about this subject. During the exam I don't think I managed to even complete every section. Thank god for that field report - it's mind numbing work but it earns you that 20% that will bump you up significantly. I got a C1 in the end, which I was more than happy with considering the circumstances...it was just soul-destroying to realise that all the work in all the different avenues of the subject had amounted to nothing as there was very little I could use on the day.

blue-army

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

No waffle, and you need to have a certain amount of facts depending on the marks going for the question.

That's not entirely true.
I was just in looking over my paper.
I got 70/80 on the last section on Global Warming - And I only spent 15mins on it! To be fair the correctors throw marks at you.
I wrote about really basic things which most people would know about. eg. CFL Bulbs replacing ordinary bulbs in Ireland nxt yr. Rising sea levels (effecting low lying countries eg. Holland), Recycling...more centres needed.., blah. blah, blah.....
Couldn't believe I got 2 marks for stating that cows and sheep farting releases harmful toxic methane gas into the atmosphere!!!:D

I was dissapointed to only get 79/100 in the project though... got a B2 overall...

Cost Boy!!

During LC1 I didn't have a geog teacher so basically I did little bits by myself but not much. We only got a teacher for LC2 and we covered the whole course by easter, we then spent the last term revising and the night before the exam I spent 2 hours on geog and that was just making sure I could draw maps of countries correctly and I got an A1 so yeah it isn't hard to cover geog in a year.
For the options i wouldn't just learn desert biome because it is not guaranteed, definitely learn the formation of an igneous rock (basalt) and a sedimentary rock (limestone) and also a destinctive landscape from each,
unless you really like and are good at plate tectonics I would leave out the long questions on it, just focus on the stuff for short questions like plate boundaries etc.
The best thing to do for short questions is keep practicing the short questions out of exam papers.
Know india inside out as a region and also the impact of colonialism on its economy.
Also know about the E.U policies its such an easy question and nearly always comes up.
Alternatives to fossil fuels is becoming a popular questions because of obvious reasons so make sure you know at least two alternatives.

ColinGann

Cost Boy!! wrote: »

For the options i wouldn't just learn desert biome because it is not guaranteed

The Biome IS GUARANTEED! In Geo-ecology there has to be one question on a soil and one question on a Biome. The other question will be either a biome or a soil. You could potentially get two on a Biome, which was the case this year!

And leaving out the theory of Plate Tectonics but learning Plate Boundaries instead would be a bit stupid. Considering they are more or less connected! and the more info you have the more srp's you can get and you will get marks for linking them anyway!

ryanj

i think english is an easier course - geography is a mammoth course while english can be cut down to a doable amount for the exam.

Cost Boy!!

With the biome question it might not always suit what you have learned, plus the question might be easier to answer with reference to a tropical rainforest biome instead of desert biome thats my opinion and thats why I wouldn't recommend just learning desert biome.
As for plate tectonics I didn't do anything on it just learned about the plate boundaries for the part A questions on section 1 and it worked out great for me.

JSK 252

Firstly, the geography course looks substantially long but in theory it is relatively short. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COVER EVRYTHING ON THE COURSE TO GET AN A GRADE. I know what Im talking about as my teacher is an advising examiner in the subject for the past 15-20 years and knows exactly how the paper is layed out. The questions they can ask on the new geography course has been exhausted ( the exam had a life-span of about 2 years, or not even that, before question repetition ) and this is going to continue for years to come so you can relatively hone into what you need to know instead of ploughing your way through a 300 page book thats like a college manual!:pac:

I have the course covered practically since 5th year bar the elective ( which I could answer fairly well anyway ) and got an A2 ( 86% ) in my summer exam which was based on the full 2 hour 50 minutes 2007 paper. More than likely if everything goes my way I will get and A1 in the lc.

OP, you should defo do it but make sure you get a good teacher who knows what he/she is talking about.;)

cellardoor36

i think geography's tougher. i'm doing an online revision course for english and I can already see from this how little you actually have to cover for the exam if you know how to go about it. geography seems to be tougher work and at this stage its all about what's gonna be easier for you to study.

annie19

as a sudent who just got an A1.( i got 98/100 in the fieldwork.)iviewed my scripts
my advice for the option is to do biome (soils Q) even if ur teacher is doin a different option, its nearly the same question every year. 20% in the bag short qustions easy .... another 20%

elective is easy as well .......migration settlement tc ............another 20%

the hardest is the regional nd physical. you can get a high B no bother once u put in the work.

if u find one area hard ............dont dwell on it...............coming up to the exams know them by heart and do them qs first on the day of the Lc.

i made sre to do the mocks and it made a huge difference
make sure u do the mocks.

i repeated my LC this time and took up Home Ec and Ag science and did them in one yr and acheived B1s in both. i didnt no grinds and only 2 classes in each every week.

go 4 it

its possible

imfreein09

im goin into 6th now and did geo for 5th its quite an easy one just some common sense and learinig... i got a2s in it this yr in 2/4 exams. sayin that my new teacher this yr is a complet dick who makes u learn 2a4 pages WORD byWORD a nite.!!! stupid grind schools!!