hardest subject

dindinium

Hey Guys,
What do you think is the hardest leaving cert option subject?
For me I think art is. It's so hard to get an A in it.

It's completely subjective, thus impossible to say. If your weakness is learning large amounts, then I'd imagine it'd be biology or business etc. But if your weakness is more on the maths side, then it's bound to be applied maths or just maths. It really is impossible to say. For me personally, it's Irish.

Pigwidgeon

for me personally it's biology but having had 5 teachers since last christmas i think that affects it.

SarcasticFairy

For me, I'd say French or Irish. I used to be good at languages until a string of bad teachers meant we all got really behind and have sinced tried to catch up, and failed miserably.

Piste

Maths, definitely maths, worst subject by far! Though that said, seeing as it's the subject I find hardest, it's much more rewarding to get a question right in maths than in an easier subject like biology.

deleriumtremens

em.. i think i remember reading that the ratio of people who get an a1 in honours maths to the number who sit maths altogether (as in all 3 levels) is the lowest of all the subjects. Supose though thats just because you are forced to do it.

SarcasticFairy

deleriumtremens wrote: »

em.. i think i remember reading that the ratio of people who get an a1 in honours maths to the number who sit maths altogether (as in all 3 levels) is the lowest of all the subjects. Supose though thats just because you are forced to do it.

I do honours maths, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's completely true! I'm not a natural maths genious, find it much easier to learn things off and reproduce so I won't be one of the few a1 people.... I'll be in that 5000 or so people failing honours maths!

I'll add that to my list so!

Fad

In terms of understanding, Chem sometimes, I love it, and its my favorite subject but sometimes I can be hopelessly lost.

In terms of just not doing well irrespective of how much effort i put into it definitly English, result for me NEVER reflects effort. But whats worse is that know the stuff, it just never really seems to work out in exams.

Davidius

Irish.

The most horrible subject ever.

Fringe

Hm... I'll say Applied Maths because of how hard it is. It has a vague syllabus so technically, anything can come up. This does happen and you get some really tricky questions. I find it really challenging but I really like the subject. It's a very difficult subject and unlike other subjects, not everyone can pick it up.

K4t

Honours Maths is the hardest subject. End of.

History requires as much time as it (if not more) but it is easier to get a grasp of, especially for average students.

Business, Biology etc. have a lot of material to learn but again they are understandable.

French is my hardest subject at the moment. My teacher for 5 years left this year and although the new one isn't bad, he's not a patch on the old one. A lot of my friends are getting grinds off the old one aswell.
Going to have to devote a few hours on the weekend to french from now on as I really like it but don't want to fail!

KnifeWRENCH

It all depends on your own personal strengths/weaknesses, and also the quality of teaching you get.

I'm more of a learner than a mathsy person, so I found HL Maths quite difficult. However, I always liked Maths better than the subjects I was better at (like English and Irish) so while it was the most difficult subject for me, it was also the most rewarding/enjoyable. I found Irish fairly easy but didn't particularly like studying it.

In terms of the actual exams, English is probably the most daunting because there's so much writing in it. Most difficult thing anyone has to do for LC imo is the composition piece on Paper 1. But I enjoyed studying poetry and Macbeth, so Paper 2 was easier for me than Paper 1.

So in conclusion:
Hardest subject = Maths. Toughest exam = English.

K4t

square_igloo wrote: »

In terms of the actual exams, English is probably the most daunting because there's so much writing in it. Most difficult thing anyone has to do for LC imo is the composition piece on Paper 1.

In fairness, you just have to write a few pages of bull-**** (with good grammar etc.) and you're nearly bound to get 80 or 90.

xXxhotstuff xXx

am i think either physics or irish.. all the poems and stories you have to learn for irish is a joke not to mention stair na gaeilge(i mean what is the point in it lyk) , i like the language itself and would love to be fluent but physically cant learn nearly 10 pages of notes for evry f*ckin poem.. in physics there are so many formulas for the same thing tis impossible to know which one to use!!

bmcgrath

For me Maths and Irish.
However when I done my LC this year I done really well in Irish??
Considering since 4th yr I never passed an Irish exam and then all of a sudden I got a C.......
Me thinks the LC people find marks just so we don't fail our national language....

-ME-

For me it's definitely art... I really shouldn't have picked it as i'm only very average. For the majority subjects if you're motivated and study loads your grades will improve but in art, if you're not naturally talented you're kind of stuck! I'm gonna have to make sure I get an A1 in the art history!

callaway92

-ME- wrote: »

For me it's definitely art... I really shouldn't have picked it as i'm only very average. For the majority subjects if you're motivated and study loads your grades will improve but in art, if you're not naturally talented you're kind of stuck! I'm gonna have to make sure I get an A1 in the art history!

You do know you have 6 other subjects that can be your L.C points...Dont worry...Be Happy

-ME-

callaway92 wrote: »

You do know you have 6 other subjects that can be your L.C points...Dont worry...Be Happy

Ha i realise that.. but i'm hoping that i won't have to count my probable D3 in Ordinary Level maths!

Gloom

I think the creative subjects would be more difficult like art and music.

It's basically the examiners opinion on whether it's right or wrong and how many marks to give you.

Whereas in the sciences - maths, bio, physics and chem, there is a right and wrong answer - making the exams "easier".

Still, studying for these exams is a lot different.

I'm finding my hardest atm to be Art/Biology! Art because I'm very weird, I'm into gothic art and drawing like that. So I'm worried the examiner will not agree with my methods. Biology because no matter how much I study, it's not going in! Argh!

gemxpink

For me its definitely English.

Beau x1

Geography was published as the hardest subject to get an A in this year. I believe it too, the course is sickeningly long and I've still yet to actually understand stuff like Plate Tectonics. Furthermore, they nit pick at absolutely any sketch maps/diagrams you draw. A really annoying course to pick up the marks tbh.

Aisling(",)

chemistry is definietly my hardest subject by far!

I think the subject that has a reputation of being the hardest, but isn't necessarily the hardest, is applied maths.

Gloom

I suppose because the notion of higher maths is ":eek: - - " so doing further stuff makes it worse.

I think it comes down to what kind of person you are! If you suck at science and maths, obviously the sciences.

If you are crap at grammar and punctuation, then the languages.

If you can't learn a lot, then stay away from history, business and geography.

If you aren't creative/good with hands to an extent, any practical subject is not for you (art/music/woodwork/metalwork/tech).

JSK 252

Hardest: Maths

In Between: Gaeilge, English, French, Biology ( lovely subject but the course can be long and tedious but sure thats life! )

Easiest: Chemistry ( when all goes well which is mostly all the time for me! ) geography, economics

manicmonoliths

It totally depends on your own strengths and weakness.
Applied Maths isn't generally seen as that difficult. Most people who've done it would actually probably consider just regular higher maths as being the tougher. App maths just has a reputation as being a course for people who are aiming for As in maths and physics, though a lot of the time you'd see people getting As in app maths and Bs and Cs in honours maths.

Personally my toughest subject was Irish, never had a good teacher in my life and generally was never motivated to put in the effort to learn it myself.

Though Geography isn't really a hard subject, I think it's hard to do well in especially for the 'social geography' part of the course which is pretty much BS in my opinion.

I never did Economics in school but having done it in college it seems it would be tough for LC, you really have to have the right mindset for it I think. Same with Physics I'd say, wheras Chem and Bio are more read regurgitate kinda things.

rebel girl 15

it depends on you personally, what subjects you are weak in.

Honours maths is widely regarded as one of the harder subjects.

manicmonoliths

manicmonoliths wrote: »

Applied Maths isn't generally seen as that difficult. Most people who've done it would actually probably consider just regular higher maths as being the tougher. App maths just has a reputation as being a course for people who are aiming for As in maths and physics, though a lot of the time you'd see people getting As in app maths and Bs and Cs in honours maths.

Yah I totally agree, honours maths is by far the harder of the two. I was just meerly saying that many people (who don't do app maths) view it as one of the hardest, because of it's reputation. At least in my school thats the case anyway.

aine-maire

There's no way that you can say that one subject is definitively harder than another...if there was, why would anyone do it?:D

A lot of people are saying honours maths, but I genuinely find it ok! And I'm not a really maths/science person, I prefer languages...

I think that it really depends on one's own preferences, the particular syllabus and the teacher.

For me accounting would be the hardest subject, but really that's because our teacher is completely incompetent!...:rolleyes:

rebel girl 15

Don't know how scientific this is - I have derived a list of the hardest subjects to the easiest based on the number of A1's awarded at higher level only, these numbers are a percentage of the number of A1's awarded based on the number of candidates taking the exam

Art
Construction Studies
Geography
Home Economics
Classical Studies
Arabic
Economics
Music
English
Engineering
Agricultural Economics
Business
Religious Education
Irish
History
Technical Drawing
French
Spanish
Agricultural Science
Maths
German
Lithuanian
Biology
Accounting
Latin
Physics
Chemistry
Italian
Physics & Chemistry
Applied Maths
Latvian
Japanese
Russian

For further info go to http://www.examinations.ie/statistics/statistics_2008/nat_stats_2008n.pdf

rebel girl 15

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Don't know how scientific this is - I have derived a list of the hardest subjects to the easiest based on the number of A1's awarded at higher level only, these numbers are a percentage of the number of A1's awarded based on the number of candidates taking the exam

Art
Construction Studies
Geography
Home Economics
Classical Studies
Arabic
Economics
Music
English
Engineering
Agricultural Economics
Business
Religious Education
Irish
History
Technical Drawing
French
Spanish
Agricultural Science
Maths
German
Lithuanian
Biology
Accounting
Latin
Physics
Chemistry
Italian
Physics & Chemistry
Applied Maths
Latvian
Japanese
Russian

For further info go to http://www.examinations.ie/statistics/statistics_2008/nat_stats_2008n.pdf

Going most A1's to least A1's?

Theres a flaw with the list though, for example: People who do, just say, applied maths generally have an ability and an interest in doing it, making them likely to do better, thus more A1's will be rewarded. The same is also true for Japanese or Latvian etc.

aine-maire

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Don't know how scientific this is - I have derived a list of the hardest subjects to the easiest based on the number of A1's awarded at higher level only, these numbers are a percentage of the number of A1's awarded based on the number of candidates taking the exam

Art
Construction Studies
Geography
Home Economics
Classical Studies
...
Physics & Chemistry
Applied Maths
Latvian
Japanese
Russian
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That's all well and good...but there's going to be a small percentage of people getting A1s in art because so many people do it as they perceive it as 'easy', or a doss class. (at least in my school:rolleyes:)
And all of the 'easiest' ones are subjects that are not commonly taken. People are only going to do Russian, Japanese or Latvian if they're good at it because they're not generally offered in schools.
Also Applied Maths is near the bottom because so many perceive it as terrifyingly impossible and therefore only do it if they're competent at it.

That's my take on it anyways...;)

Creeping-Death

Higher Maths, from someone who's done the leaving twice, its not only hard, but the work thats needed to get an A1 is much more than in any other subject. And ive always been pretty good at maths but leaving cert higher is a joke its so difficult

aine-maire

Yeah, it is hard but it's really doable........like the same type of questions come up every year really.

It really depends on your own personality and the amount of work you invest!

bythewoods

How the hell is geography so high up in that list?
It's the simplest subject ever, and I'm surely not the only one saying it.

The reson there's less A1s, I guess, is because so many people sit it. People who are less likely to be aiming in the 500+ points region take it because it's apparently an easy paper? So the ammount of poor grades negates the ammount of A1s or something?

PurpleFistMixer

Fair few people in my year did pretty poorly in Geography in the LC, expecting to get A1s actually...

I think just nobody gets an A1 in art (grumble grumble). It's such a mad subject, how can you learn what is essentially a subject in itself (art history) while spending most of your time drawing is what I want to know.

But yeah, the list is flawed. Russian etc. is done by fluent speakers obviously. What could be more interesting perhaps is a grade distribution curve for each subject. If you could be bothered. : p Art is just hideous and wrong, though. They may as well say that A2 is the highest mark you can get. (I may be slightly biased because I got an A2, admittedly...)

A subject is hard if you don't enjoy it, I find. Or perhaps better put, you will do worse in a subject if you don't enjoy it. "Hard" isn't a problem if it's something you're interested in. (Though if you simply cannot add, I don't recommend you do honours maths.) I'd say when I was doing my LC the hardest subject was possibly Applied Maths, because I was doing it outside school, and unlike most other subjects, it requires you to actually solve problems and think laterally now and again, instead of just reiterating a formula you've learned off for answering a question. That said, it wasn't the subject I did worst in in the LC. I did worst in French... because I spent the 2 years of LC French doodling in frustration. At least my French notes were a sight to behold.

rebel girl 15

bythewoods wrote: »

How the hell is geography so high up in that list?
It's the simplest subject ever, and I'm surely not the only one saying it.

quote]

They are very hard with the marking scheme because they can only give a certain number of A1's

JSK 252

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

That said, it wasn't the subject I did worst in in the LC. I did worst in French... because I spent the 2 years of LC French doodling in frustration. At least my French notes were a sight to behold.

If my memory serves me correct. You got an A2 in French didnt you?

PurpleFistMixer

JSK 252 wrote: »

If my memory serves me correct. You got an A2 in French didnt you?

Aye. And Art. Despite all the hours of French spent drawing.

Fad

and she's bitter about 2 A2's


(Why am i up at 3 32?)

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

PurpleFistMixer

I'm not bitter about it, I was merely making the point that while I didn't find French particularly hard or anything, I wasn't interested in it and frankly didn't enjoy the classes, so I did (comparatively) badly in it. Art was just because nobody ever gets A1s in Art ever, which I am slightly bitter about.

KnifeWRENCH

bythewoods wrote: »

How the hell is geography so high up in that list?
It's the simplest subject ever, and I'm surely not the only one saying it.

The reson there's less A1s, I guess, is because so many people sit it. People who are less likely to be aiming in the 500+ points region take it because it's apparently an easy paper? So the ammount of poor grades negates the ammount of A1s or something?

I'd say that people see Geography as a doss subject, go through 5th and 6th year thinking "oh this is easy" and then get to the Leaving Cert and realise "Oh wait, this is actually quite a tough paper."

Geography has always been considered one of the easiest subjects (and, in fairness, Junior Cert Geoegraphy has very little work compared to other JC subjects!) but it was the only subject where I was desparately caught for time in the LC. You have to write a load of SRP's (significant relevant points) to get the marks, but you must also stick strictly to a time plan so that you answer every question. And of course there's the fieldwork study.

When it comes down to it, Geography really isn't any easier than other LC subjects. I did well in Geography because I enjoyed studying it and worked really hard at it, not because it was easy.

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

A subject is hard if you don't enjoy it, I find. Or perhaps better put, you will do worse in a subject if you don't enjoy it. "Hard" isn't a problem if it's something you're interested in. (Though if you simply cannot add, I don't recommend you do honours maths.)

That's true in general, but I was an exception. My three best results in the Leaving were Geography, English and Irish. Of the three, Geog was the only one I enjoyed studying.
My favourite subjects were Maths & Physics, the two subjects I'm now doing a degree in at college. I only got a B2 in Maths because even though I love the subject I do find it difficult. I got an A2 in Physics after desparately trying for an A1.

It's actually really frustrating - I loved Maths, yet often struggled with it and I was always very good at English, yet I absolutely hated it (although we had a brilliant teacher for Leaving Cert, which made it a bit more bearable.)

bricky10

History, construction and maths!! they are really hard subjects to get A1's in!

LivingDeadGirl

My 3 options are all in the top 8 most difficult to get an A1 in :rolleyes:

phasers

Honours Maths for most people, but I have an amazing teacher and it's all grand. I'd say for me it's Irish, because I have THE WORLD'S MOST IMCOMPETANT WOMAN as a teacher.


There's no "hardest subject" tbh, everyone has different strengths

regob

its your bloody leaving cert, dont worry about whats the bloody hardest subject just sit down and do some bloody work. its a leaving get some god damn points. honestly what difference does it make discovering whats the hardest subject, hard or easy its a bloody subject just do it

Sea Devils

Personally never liked Home Economics. It was the only Science based subject I did so it wasn't too bad but couldn't grasp my way around the defintions e.g. "Omega 3 fatty acid" or define "dextrinsation":(.

Loved History though despite struggling with it. Was lucky enough to have a brilliant teacherwho was very enthuiastic about the course which made it bearable:)

Fad

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I'm not bitter about it, I was merely making the point that while I didn't find French particularly hard or anything, I wasn't interested in it and frankly didn't enjoy the classes, so I did (comparatively) badly in it. Art was just because nobody ever gets A1s in Art ever, which I am slightly bitter about.

I wasnt being particularly serious, I think the time that was posted at might be an indicator of that, apologies.

Im am seriously apathetic towards french so, I cant see myself getting more than a B

xOxSinéadxOx

I just think they hardest ones are the ones I have the worst teachers in. Higher maths and Irish and english. I have **** teachers in all of them. it isn't fair :mad: I find french quite difficult even though I have a good teacher. and art history is hard for me cos I'm just interested really

ReacherCreature

Maths, Irish.

Head-wreckingly impossible!