Physics

Leavenotrace

Hi im a leaving cert student and Im looking at college courses and amn't quite sure what to pick. At the moment i looking at 3 courses and would just like to hear the students opinion yano hours, difficulty is it any good? that type of thing. Any help would be much appreciated the courses are:
physics
Chemical physics
Maths and Physics.

KnifeWRENCH

I'm in 3rd year of Maths & Physics and have a serious love/hate relationship with the course. It's not demanding in terms of hours (12 hours a week lectures plus labs and a few tutorials here and there) but it is very difficult. If you have a keen interest in maths and physics, you'll probably be fine though.

Leavenotrace

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

I'm in 3rd year of Maths & Physics and have a serious love/hate relationship with the course. It's not demanding in terms of hours (12 hours a week lectures plus labs and a few tutorials here and there) but it is very difficult. If you have a keen interest in maths and physics, you'll probably be fine though.

Why do you love/hate it?? aslo what type of job would most people in your couse be looking at?

KnifeWRENCH

Haven't got a clue what jobs people want to get out of it. I have no idea myself.

As for the love/hate thing, I do find both maths and physics really interesting, but the course is quite difficult and it's hard to enjoy your course a whole lot when you're always struggling to do assignments and don't do too well in exams.

Leavenotrace

Ahh ok. well is it worth it? in your opinion? as in would you reconmend it. (i am willing to work)

Richard Cranium

Here's my 2(-e^i*pi) cents:

I'm in 1st year maths science, which is pretty much the same as physics. I found the year quite challenging (we've finished lectures now), but I like the course, and I'm glad I chose it.

One thing that I think is very important is that you choose the course because you like it, and not simply because you are good at it. A handful of people in my class only seem to have chosen the course because maths or physics was their strongest subject for the Leaving Cert, and I get the impression that they are the ones who are finding things toughest at the moment. The physics modules in particular (which were elective for me btw) get extremely challenging, and it's just not possible to make it through them in one piece unless you really want to be there. There's also as much, if not more, maths in physics as there is in maths; so you'll really have to like both subjects if you want to do it.

I think you should also consider maths science (CK407) if you are thinking about maths and physics (and if you'll allow me to plug my own course:D). In 1st year CK407 is pretty much identical to CK408 (physics and astrophysics), and from then on you can go down the Maths and Physics or Applied Maths and Physics route just like with the physics entry stream, so it doesn't matter a huge amount which one you pick if you want a physics degree at the end of your 4 years in college. However, if you find that third level physics is not for you, which has happened to a lot of people this year, you have the option of dropping physics completely and doing a "normal" maths degree instead.

In summary, go for maths/physics if you really WANT to do (both) maths and physics at a very high level. If you just think you might be good at it, and may or may not like it, then stay very far away. I'd say the majority of people in maths and physics would say the same.

KnifeWRENCH

Leavenotrace wrote: »

Ahh ok. well is it worth it? in your opinion? as in would you reconmend it. (i am willing to work)

Hard to tell. I guess it's a pretty good course, and if you're willing to work then I don't see how you'd have too much trouble with it.
Just be aware that Physics & Maths has very little labs and no programming; if you're more into experimental physics, you should do single honours. If you're more into the programming side of things, Physics & Applied Maths would be your best choice.

Eliot Rosewater

Richard Cranium wrote: »

I'm in 1st year maths science

*wonders what his classmates real name is*

Richard (aka the guy who won a bottle of wine in the same UCC Maths table quiz I did :pac:) has some good advice regarding doing Maths instead. It leaves your options open. If you dont like Physics, especially the labs, you'll be able to drop it for Maths & Applied Maths.

Richard Cranium

My name is a star sign*. I do believe I know who you are now, after a quick snoop around your profile.







*Yes. It is I, Sagittarius!

Eliot Rosewater

DAMN! I thought I'd be able to tease you about my anonymity, Mr K.

Jay P

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

*wonders what his classmates real name is*

Richard (aka the guy who won a bottle of wine in the same UCC Maths table quiz I did :pac:) has some good advice regarding doing Maths instead. It leaves your options open. If you dont like Physics, especially the labs, you'll be able to drop it for Maths & Applied Maths.

I'm sure I'd know who you are if I attended some what regularly this semester... >_>
I know who "Richard" is though.


Anyway, like the other two, I'm in First year maths science. I also picked the two physics modules, because I loved physics for the leaving cert and thought it would be great. And I hated it. Every second of it.
Regarding physics, it's nothing compared to Leaving Cert so there's no guarantee that you'd like it. It's very theoretical, and I found nearly all of it very heavy. I seriously regret not switching to something else in the first few weeks, but I'll get over it.

I love the maths parts though. Again it's not comparable to the leaving cert in many ways, but if you have a love for maths and you put in the effort, then you should do grand.

Eliot Rosewater

Jay P wrote: »

I'm sure I'd know who you are if I attended some what regularly this semester... >_>.

You know who I am babay :cool:

You doing maths next year then?

Jay P

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

You know who I am babay :cool:

You doing maths next year then?

I do?...

Well, the main plan is to pass first, which is a big obstacle. I missed a serious amount, so I'm hoping for some devine intervention one of these days...
But I've been thinking about the Financial Maths course. I've looked at the exam papers, and it mostly seems to be stuff I'd be interested in. I haven't looked at exams from the straight maths course yet, but I can't see myself going for that. I like the stuff we've done this year (mostly), but I can't see myself being able to stick that kind of thing for three more years. I mean, the software module is a load of rubbish I think. It's just a version of programming, not a huge amount of maths is involved. Abstract was great, especially because of Des (HERO), but I can't see myself sticking with stuff like that further down the line. I find it immensely difficult to grasp, though I find it equally interesting at times when it doesn't frustrate me to hell.

I dunno overall. We have untill October to decide, so it's possible it's going to be a last minute decision.

Leavenotrace

Some of you have mentioned labs as being bad? what exactly do you do in labs and what makes them bad? by the way all of you doing the maths course have completely freaked me out :P Ive googled a few of the topics on the course and i think they are quite interesting (although googling isnt laways reliable)

Richard Cranium

They are just a bit boring and tedious, a bit of a pain in the arse. Mine were from 3 to 6 on Friday afternoons, so while everyone else was heading off home for the weekend with a big happy hangover from Thursday night (if you'll excuse the massively unfair sweeping statement just there), I was stuck inside measuring the period of motion of a simple pendulum or investigating Boyle's Law or whatever. Writing the lab reports was a pain too, but again it was just a matter of feeling sore about having to do some actual work each week.

To be fair, a lot of the people in my lab group really enjoyed the labs- they loved the opportunity to do some real physics, if you know what I mean. I didn't particularly want to be there in the first place so I didn't enjoy them as much. It's absolutely nothing worth dismissing the course over tbh, and they do help with understanding parts of the course.

How did we scare you exactly?
I'd still recommend the course highly (before my exams start tomorrow...), I just think it would be a good thing to have the option of dropping physics if you find it's not what you were expecting. Apart from that safety net, if you want to call it that, and a slightly different choice of elective modules, there's no difference between the maths and physics courses in first year.

I'm starting to ramble a bit now, but my final word is that being interested is much, much more important than being good at maths and physics, and should be the main reason you pick the course.

Leavenotrace

Richard Cranium wrote: »

How did we scare you exactly?

just with the talk of a lot of people not liking the physics modules because they werent what people were expecting physics at third level to be.
By the way good luck with the exams

Richard Cranium

Thanks:), you too!

Yeah you do need to be aware of that. I got an A1 in LC physics and the module I picked (the *easy* one) is easily going to be the toughest exam I have, I'll be delighted with a pass. It was a very interesting course btw, but it was extremely hard.

Are you doing applied maths? I didn't do it, but most of the people who did seemed to find the going easier. There's quite a lot of differentiating and integrating and breaking vectors up into components- stuff that just isn't on the Leaving Cert physics course. It really threw me at the start but I got the hang of what was going on after a while.

Leavenotrace

Yeah Applied maths is actually one of my favourite subjects, also i like differentiation and integration. I'm kind of on the edge with lc physics. I like modern physics electromagnetism and mechanics, things like mirrors/lenses tends to be very boring. thats kind of why im wondering how diff 3rd level physics is

samf

My advice? Chose anything but this course! I would say that though, I originally did physics because I quite liked the stuff for the leaving cert, and the astrophysics element interested me. But it turned out to be (in my opinion) a horrifically difficult course. I passed first year (its not too much of a leap from the concepts learnt in leaving cert physics) but in second year things just got crazy, with thermodynamics, quantum physics, and some crazy maths modules, some of which were taught by some absolutely awful lecturers, who were smart but couldnt teach to save their life.

So halfway through second year, knowing i'd struggle to pass the year and futher years I left to do computer science (one module of which i'd done in first year and really liked it) so it was an obvious choice, and probably (no exaggeration) the best decision of my life. Everyone in my original class that made it to 4th year (there werent very many) has ended up either unemployed or in further research/doing a masters. Its a highly unemployable degree, and the only employment prospects are really in further research.

That said, if you're passionate about it, and very intelligent, and are really good at maths then dont be too worried about it, you'd probably fly through it like a lot of my class did, but unless you're 100% committed to it, chose a more employable and less difficult course. I wish someone had told me that on day one.

Jay P

Richard Cranium wrote: »

Thanks:), you too!

Yeah you do need to be aware of that. I got an A1 in LC physics and the module I picked (the *easy* one) is easily going to be the toughest exam I have, I'll be delighted with a pass. It was a very interesting course btw, but it was extremely hard.

You got it so easy with just Physics I. I'm going to fail Physics II, pretty much guaranteed.

But just to echo what Mr. Cranium said, the labs can be very tedious. I was usually just bored out of my skull. Also, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of my lab partner, but that's another story...
I think physics in general is a bit tedious to be honest. In class all we did was derive formulae, which definitely is not my idea of fun at all.

Leavenotrace

Jay P wrote: »

But just to echo what Mr. Cranium said, the labs can be very tedious. I was usually just bored out of my skull. Also, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of my lab partner, but that's another story...
I think physics in general is a bit tedious to be honest. In class all we did was derive formulae, which definitely is not my idea of fun at all.

You sorry you chose it?

Jay P

Leavenotrace wrote: »

You sorry you chose it?

I'm not going to lie, yes. I really do regret it. I don't regret the fact that I'm doing maths though. I genuinely love the subject and all that has come with it, even if it has been difficult. The maths was usually made of win

Richard Cranium

I know that question wasn't directed at me but I feel the need to reply anyway, as I've got an important point to make:

I love my course (CK407). I absolutely love it. I find it very hard, and I'm nowhere near the top end of the results in exams/assesments or anything, but I love it and I can't think of a single other course in the country that I'd rather do (except maybe maths in UCD, at a push:pac:). Of course there are parts of it that I find boring, and parts that I will be lucky to pass (my first exam today didn't go all that well, and that was one of the easier ones), but that would be the case in any and every other college course I could possibly do.

I like maths though, and I'm happy that I got the chance to study it (I honestly didn't think I'd get the HB3 I needed to get into the course in the first place). If you do like maths and physics, and I get the impression that you do, you'll get over the boring bits, and you'll (hopefully) get through the impossibly complex parts.

If you think maths/physics suits you better than any other course, then go for it. (But choose CK407 ahead of CK408:cool:)

Btw, what year are you in now, Leavenotrace?
EDIT: Leaving Cert students are normally in 6th year, aren't they?

Leavenotrace

6th year. i got the big bad exams in a month :P

Papa_Lazarou

6th year. i got the big bad exams in a month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssWYnRlW_CM

Cows Go µ

I'm 3rd maths science, dropped the stats so I'm just maths and applied maths now. Just thought I would mention that if you are thinking of doing maths and physics or applied maths and physics, I would highly recommend applied maths in physics. Knife Wrench will probably back me up on this point.

I started off liking maths, but I now seriously hate it, with a passion. Its nothing like maths from school, its all set theory and I swear I haven't seen a number in it in absolutely ages. Most of it is learning of random proofs that I don't see the point in. Its just not my cup of tea at all (though I do know one or two guys who love it, but they are weird. But then we all are in maths )

Applied maths on the other hand, is actually still fun, I'm planning on doing a masters even (that incorporates coding so I might even get a job ) Its all integration and differentiation and actually doing things with equations. And it compliments physics a lot better as its more real life situations where as maths is completely abstract.

I would recommend doing the applied maths part, it is actually really good. Not sure about the physics side, most of my friends are doing physics and they all have varied opinions but if you are fairly smart and willing to work hard, you'll be grand.